Ask three studios for a quote on "a website" and you can get three very different numbers. Usually that isn't because one is cheap and another is greedy — it's because they're quoting for different things. Here's what really drives the price, so you can compare quotes properly.
The number of unique page designs, not the number of pages
A site with 40 blog posts doesn't cost 40 times more than a site with one. What matters is how many different layouts need to be designed and built: a home page, a service page, a product page, a blog article, a contact page. Once a template exists, adding more pages that use it is cheap.
So when you plan, think in page types rather than page counts.
Custom design or an adapted theme
Starting from a ready-made theme is faster and cheaper, and it's the right call for some projects. A custom design takes longer, but it's built around your brand, your customers and your content rather than someone else's demo site.
Neither is wrong. Just make sure you know which one you're being quoted for.
Features and integrations
This is where prices diverge most. Each of these adds real design, development and testing work:
- online payments, a shop or a checkout,
- bookings and appointments,
- member logins, dashboards or customer portals,
- more than one language,
- connections to other systems — a CRM, an inventory tool, an accounting package or an email platform.
A simple brochure site and a site that takes bookings in two languages are different projects, even if they look similar.
Content: who writes it and who supplies the photos
Text and images are often the slowest part of a website project. If you supply finished copy and good photos, the project moves faster. If the studio needs to write the copy, organise a photoshoot or source images, that's extra work — and usually worth it, because content is what convinces visitors.
Ongoing costs that aren't in the build price
A website keeps costing a little after launch. Ask about:
- domain name renewal,
- hosting, which varies a lot with traffic and features,
- paid plugins, themes or apps that renew yearly,
- maintenance: updates, security patches, backups and small fixes,
- marketing: SEO, ads or content if you want the site to bring in customers, not just exist.
Questions to ask before you choose
When you compare quotes, ask each studio:
- Exactly which pages, templates and features are included?
- Is the design custom or based on a theme?
- Who writes the content and supplies the images?
- How many rounds of revisions are included?
- Will we be able to update the site ourselves?
- What will it cost per year to run after launch?
- Who owns the domain, hosting accounts and the finished site?
A good studio will answer all of these clearly and put them in writing.
How we price
We give every project a fixed quote after a short discovery call, so you know the full cost before any work starts. If you'd like one for your project, tell us what you're planning.