GuidesPricing
How much does a custom website cost for a small business?
Most quotes vary not because one agency is greedy and another is cheap, but because they are pricing different amounts of work. Here is what actually moves the number.
Short answer
Our custom website projects start at $2,500, with most small-business sites landing between $2,500 and $5,000 depending on page count, e-commerce, and how much content has to be written from scratch. Ongoing hosting and support starts at $100/month. Every project is quoted after a scoping conversation, not from a price list.
On this page
01What actually drives the price?
Five things account for most of the variance between a $2,500 site and a $12,000 one. None of them is design talent.
- Page count and template count
- Ten pages built from three repeating layouts costs far less than ten pages that are each designed individually. Most of the cost is in unique layouts, not in pages.
- Content
- If you supply finished copy, that is a smaller project. If we research, interview, and write it, that is real hours. Content is the single most common reason a quote comes in higher than expected.
- E-commerce
- A catalogue, payment processing, shipping rules, and tax configuration roughly doubles the scope of an equivalent brochure site.
- Integrations
- A booking system, CRM, patient portal, or inventory feed each add scope. A contact form does not.
- Migration
- Moving an existing site with earned rankings means redirect mapping and content migration on top of the build.
02What do the ranges actually look like?
| Project type | Starts at | Typical range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brochure site, 5–8 pages | $2,500 | $2,500–$3,500 | 3–5 weeks |
| Larger marketing site, 10–20 pages | $3,500 | $3,500–$6,000 | 4–6 weeks |
| Redesign of an existing site | $2,500 | $2,500–$5,000 | 4–6 weeks |
| E-commerce store | $3,500 | $3,500–$25,000+ | 6–14 weeks |
| Hosting, security and support | $100/mo | $100–$450/mo | Ongoing |
These are honest starting figures, not teaser pricing. If your project does not fit any of them, we will tell you that in the first conversation rather than after a proposal.
03Why do agency quotes differ so much for the same brief?
- Scope interpretation. One agency quotes the eight pages you asked for; another quotes the eight pages plus the copywriting, photography, and migration you will need anyway.
- Template vs custom. A themed build is genuinely cheaper and genuinely more limited.
- Overhead. A studio and a 40-person agency have different hourly economics for identical work.
- What happens after launch. Some quotes end at launch. Ask what the first year costs, not just the build.
The useful question is never "what does a website cost" but "what is included, and what will I be billed for later." Compare quotes line by line, not by total.
04What should be included at any price?
- Mobile-first build, tested on real devices
- Reasonable page speed — not a site that takes six seconds to load on a phone
- Accessibility considered during design, not retrofitted; the ADA.gov guidance on web accessibility explains why this applies to businesses open to the public, not just government sites
- Ownership of the site, the content, and the domain — in writing
- A redirect plan if you are replacing an existing site
- Training or documentation so you can make small edits yourself
If any of those is quoted as an add-on, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Common questions
Why do you not publish a full price list?
Because the same page count can be a three-week project or a nine-week one depending on content, integrations, and migration. A price list would either be misleadingly low or unfairly high for most people who read it. The starting figures above are real, and a 20-minute conversation gets you an accurate number.
Is there a payment schedule?
Yes. Projects are typically split across a deposit and milestone payments tied to design approval and launch, so you are never paying far ahead of delivered work.
What if my budget is under $2,500?
Tell us anyway. Sometimes the right answer is a smaller first phase, a template-based build, or fixing the site you have rather than replacing it. We will say so rather than stretching your budget to fit our process.
Do you charge for the consultation or the quote?
No. Both are free, and there is no obligation attached to either.