For business4 min read
How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026: Real Price Ranges, What Drives the Price and What Not to Pay For
A landing page from €200, a business website for €500–1,000, an online shop priced after analysis. What makes up the price, why two quotes can differ fivefold, and which line items in a quote are empty.
"How much does a website cost?" is the question most agencies answer with "it depends" and a request to get in touch. We will answer with numbers. Below are the ranges we work with ourselves, an explanation of what doubles the price, and a list of things you should not be paying for.
Three price tiers
| Type | What it is | Price | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | One page with a clear goal: call, fill in a form, book. For a service business, an event, a single product. | €200–300 | 3–7 days |
| Business website | 4–8 pages: services, about, portfolio, contact, blog. Several languages, a form, a map, SEO foundations. | €500–1,000 | 1–3 weeks |
| Online shop or web application | Product catalogue, cart, payments, shipping, accounts; or bookings and internal tools. | priced after analysis, typically from €1,500 | 3–8 weeks |
These are prices for coded work — no templates and no monthly rent for a site builder. The website is yours: files, domain, content.
What actually raises the price
Not the number of pages. A fifth "About us" page costs almost nothing if the structure is shared. What raises the price:
- Content that does not exist yet. If texts and photos need to be created, that is separate work, often bigger than the development itself. Having your texts ready saves 20–40 %.
- Languages. A second language is not double the price, but +15–25 %: translation, a language switcher, separate meta data for search.
- Custom design from a blank page. A specific visual style for your brand — yes; "we want it to feel like Apple" — dozens of designer hours.
- Integrations. A booking calendar, payments, a CRM, accounting software. Each runs from €150 to a few hundred, depending on the quality of the API.
- Moving parts. Animations, interactive calculators, configurators. Pretty, but each one is hours of work and testing on phones.
The difference between quotes of "€800 and €4,000" for the same website almost always lives here: one included content and design from scratch, the other only development based on your materials. Before comparing, ask what exactly the price covers.
What you should not pay for
- "SEO optimisation" as a separate line. Correct structure, speed, meta data and a sitemap are part of a normal website, not an add-on. You pay separately only for content strategy and article writing.
- A "mobile version". In 2026 a website that does not work on a phone is not a website. It is included.
- An SSL certificate. It is free (Let's Encrypt, Cloudflare). If a quote lists €50/year for SSL, ask why.
- A monthly "licence" for a site builder. Wix, Squarespace and the like charge €15–40/month. Over five years that is €900–2,400 for a website you cannot take with you. A fuller comparison of site builders, WordPress and code is coming as a separate article.
What it costs to keep running
The one-off price is not the whole story. Yearly costs, honestly:
| Cost | Per year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | ~€10–15 | via a registrar |
| Hosting | €0–60 | static site — free (Cloudflare Pages, Vercel); with a database — a €5/month VPS |
| Email on your domain | €0–70 | Cloudflare forwarding is free; Google Workspace ~€6/month per mailbox |
| Maintenance | €0–300 | a static site needs none; systems — as needed |
A business website without a database can cost €15 a year. Seriously. What maintenance includes and when you need it deserves its own article.
Check before you sign
Who owns the domain (it must be you), where the files live (you must receive a copy), what technologies it is built with (another developer must be able to continue). Three questions that save thousands two years later.
What to do tomorrow
Write down what the website must do — not "look nice" but "capture an enquiry with a phone number" or "take a booking". Gather the texts, photos and logo you already have. Decide on languages. With that material you will get a quote within a day, and it will be exact rather than "from–to". Our ranges and examples are on the website development page.
Frequently asked questions
Why do some offer a website for €150 and others for €3,000?
For €150 you usually get a template with your logo and texts swapped in — it works if the template suits you. For €3,000 you get design from scratch, content creation, several languages and integrations. Both can be honest; what matters is understanding what you are buying.
Can I expand a landing page into a full website later?
Yes, if it is built in code with a sensible structure. Pages, a menu and a blog can be added. A €200–300 landing page then becomes phase one, not wasted money.
How long until the website appears in Google?
Indexing takes 1–14 days after launch (faster if you submit it through Search Console). Rankings for competitive keywords take months and depend on content, not development.