"How much does a website cost?" is the question every business owner wants answered before they'll even pick up the phone, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you're actually asking for. Here's what actually drives the price, so you can budget with realistic expectations instead of guessing.
Why there's no single number
A website isn't one product. A five-page presentation site and a custom online store with inventory management are both "a website," but they take wildly different amounts of work. Pricing follows scope, not a flat industry rate, which is why quotes you find online can range from a few hundred euros to tens of thousands.
The three biggest cost drivers
Template vs. custom design
A template-based site reuses an existing layout and swaps in your content. It's faster and cheaper, but you're sharing a design with thousands of other businesses, and customization is limited. A custom design is built around your brand and goals specifically, which costs more upfront but pays off in how distinctive and conversion-focused the result is.
Number of pages and features
A simple presentation site with a handful of pages costs far less than a site with a blog, a booking system, multiple languages, or an online store. Every added feature means more design, more development, and more testing.
Content and copywriting
Clients often assume a quote includes writing the actual text on the site. It frequently doesn't. Professional copywriting, photography, and video are their own line items, and skipping them to cut costs usually shows.
The cheapest website is the one that actually brings in clients. Everything else is a discount on your own results.
What a realistic budget actually includes
- Design and user experience planning
- Development and technical setup (hosting, domain, security)
- Content structure and, often, copywriting
- Basic SEO setup so the site can actually be found
- Testing across devices and browsers
- A period of post-launch support
The hidden cost of going too cheap
A very low-cost site often comes with real trade-offs: generic design that doesn't differentiate you, poor mobile performance, weak SEO foundations, or a platform you can't easily update yourself. The savings on day one quietly turn into a redesign bill within a year or two, which is exactly the pattern we covered in our post on the signs your business needs a new website.
Ongoing costs nobody mentions upfront
A website isn't a one-time purchase. Domain renewal, hosting, security updates, and occasional content changes are ongoing costs, usually modest, but worth budgeting for so there are no surprises a year in.
How to actually budget for it
Start from your goal, not a price ceiling. A site meant to generate leads for a high-ticket service can justify a bigger investment than a simple digital business card. Ask any agency exactly what's included in a quote, especially around copywriting, revisions, and post-launch support, so you're comparing like for like.
Not sure what your project should realistically cost? At Apex Link, we give clear, itemized quotes before any work starts, because a client who understands what they're paying for trusts the result more.