Author: ArtWebPublished: 4 min read
How much does a website cost in 2026?
A custom landing page typically costs $240–$5,000, and a business website $490–$15,000, depending on who builds it. Quotes for the "same" site can differ by 10×, and the gap almost always comes down to scope, not greed. Here is what you are paying for, what it costs to run a site after launch and where you can safely cut.
The short answer
These are typical market ranges, from small studios to full-service agencies. Our own starting prices sit at the low end of each row.
| Website type | Price | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | $240 – $5,000 | 3 days – 3 weeks | One product or offer, paid traffic |
| Business / marketing site | $490 – $15,000 | 1–8 weeks | Several services, organic search |
| E-commerce | $730 – $30,000 | 2–12 weeks | Catalog, checkout, integrations |
| Web app / SaaS front end | $610+ | 2+ weeks | Users interact with an interface |
Freelancers usually come in lower and full-service agencies higher. The rest of this article explains why.
What drives the price
Almost every quote breaks down into six line items. If a vendor gives you a single number, ask for the breakdown — it is the only way to compare offers.
1. Discovery and information architecture
Keyword research, competitor review, sitemap and wireframes. It is the first thing cut to save money and the most expensive thing to skip: without pages mapped to search demand, the site will not rank no matter how much you spend on SEO later.
2. Design
The main cost driver is the number of unique templates, not pages. Fifty service pages built from one template cost less than ten pages that are each designed from scratch. Custom design costs more than a tweaked theme, but it does not look like a hundred other sites.
3. Development
Front end, CMS, forms and responsive layouts. The platform matters:
- Website builders (Webflow, Wix, Squarespace) — fast to start, but you pay monthly, accept their performance ceiling and often rebuild from scratch when you outgrow them.
- WordPress — powers roughly 40% of all websites according to W3Techs. Familiar admin and countless plugins, but without discipline it gets slow and needs constant updates.
- Astro, Next.js and other modern frameworks — best-in-class speed and security with minimal maintenance; ideal for marketing sites, blogs and landing pages.
4. Content
Copy, photography, video. Professional copywriting built on keyword research typically runs $40–$120 per page. Original photos almost always outperform stock.
5. Integrations
CRM, payments, gated content, calculators, user accounts. Each integration is a separate line item, often $240–$1,220 or more — and they are what turn a brochure into part of your sales pipeline.
6. Launch and SEO foundation
Domain setup, 301 redirects from old URLs, Google Search Console, analytics with conversion events, schema markup and a sitemap. Good vendors include this in the base price. If it is missing from the quote, ask.
Why quotes differ by 10×
Three vendors might quote $600, $2,400 and $7,300 for a “business website”. Usually that reflects different scope:
- Theme vs. custom design. The cheapest quote is almost always a purchased theme with your copy dropped in.
- Who owns the outcome. A freelancer builds what is in the spec. A studio is accountable for the site actually working — indexing, converting, staying up.
- What happens after launch. Support, training and fixes, or “handed over, good luck”.
- Overhead. Larger agencies carry account managers, offices and sales teams, and that is built into the rate.
Compare line items, not totals.
Ongoing costs after launch
Build cost is not the full cost of ownership. Budget for:
- Domain — roughly $10–$50 per year.
- Hosting — often free for static Astro sites on Cloudflare Pages or Vercel; $10–$50+ per month for managed WordPress.
- Subscriptions — builders, premium plugins, chat widgets and email tools.
- Maintenance — updates, backups and small edits on a retainer or hourly.
- Marketing — SEO, ads and content. Even a great site gets little traffic without them.
Over three years, builder subscriptions and premium plugins can cost more than the difference between a cheap build and a good one.
Where you can safely save
- Start with a landing page to validate demand; a good one can grow into a full site without a rebuild.
- Prepare content yourself — company story, photos, case studies and FAQs.
- Reduce unique templates. Ten service pages on one template beat five bespoke ones on budget.
- Skip heavy animation. It is expensive to build, slows the site down and rarely moves conversions.
Do not cut information architecture, performance or analytics. Those determine whether the site brings in customers.
Why speed is a budget issue
Google states that Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems. Good thresholds are LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 ms and CLS of 0.1 or less. A slow site loses visitors before they see your offer — and if you run ads, you are paying for that lost traffic.
Before you hire anyone, run two or three of their recent projects through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. It takes a minute and tells you a lot.
How to get an accurate quote
- Describe the business, the customers and what is not working today.
- Collect 3–5 sites you like and explain what you like about each.
- Decide who provides copy and images.
- List the integrations you need: CRM, payments, booking.
- Ask for a milestone-based quote with dates in the contract.
For a quick ballpark, try our project cost calculator.
Bottom line
In 2026, our landing pages start at $240 and business websites at $490, while agency quotes can run ten times higher. Price gaps between vendors reflect scope: custom design, search-driven architecture, integrations and accountability. Compare itemized quotes, and do not cut corners on structure, speed or analytics — they decide whether the site pays for itself.