If you've spent any time getting quotes, you've probably seen numbers anywhere from $200 to $50,000 for what sounds like the same thing: "a website." That range isn't agencies being dishonest, it's that "a website" isn't one product. Here's how to actually think about it.
What drives the price
Four things move the number more than anything else:
- Page count and complexity. A 3-page brochure site and a 14-page site with custom animations and a CMS are different amounts of work, not different tiers of the same work.
- Custom design vs. a template. A $200 site is almost always a pre-built theme with your logo dropped in. That's a legitimate option for some businesses, it's just a different product than a custom-designed site built around your brand and your users.
- Development complexity. Static marketing pages are cheap to build. Booking systems, user accounts, custom checkout flows, and integrations with other software all add real engineering time.
- Who's building it. A freelancer, a small studio, and a large agency all price differently, mostly because their overhead and the seniority of who actually touches your project differ.
Realistic ranges for 2026
As a rough guide, based on what we and comparable studios actually charge:
- $250–$500: A focused, custom-designed 3-page site for a business that just needs to exist online credibly.
- $500–$800: A fuller custom site, 6–14 pages, with a CMS so you can edit content yourself, and real SEO fundamentals in place.
- $1,500–$3,000+: Custom e-commerce, booking platforms, or web apps with backend logic, user accounts, or non-trivial integrations.
- $5,000+: Larger platforms, marketplaces, or anything requiring ongoing custom backend development.
See our own current package pricing for exact numbers on what we charge for each tier.
Questions that tell you if a quote is fair
- What exactly is included? Page count, revisions, and what happens after launch should all be written down, not implied.
- Is the design custom, or a theme? Neither is wrong, but you should know which you're paying for.
- Who owns the final files? You should own your site outright once it's paid for. Some agencies quietly keep you locked into their platform.
- What's the timeline, and what happens if it slips? Vague timelines are the most common source of frustration in web projects.
The honest takeaway
The cheapest quote and the most expensive quote can both be the wrong choice, depending on what your business actually needs right now. A local service business with one location doesn't need a $10,000 site. A growing e-commerce brand that's outgrowing a template does need more than $300 of work, no matter what a quote says.
If you're not sure which category you're in, our two-minute quiz will point you at a realistic package, or you can just tell us what you're working with and we'll give you a straight answer, even if that answer is "you don't need us yet."