Websites
How much does it cost to have a website made?
Short answer
The cost of a website depends mostly on three things: the number of different page types, the functions it needs and how much of the design is made to measure. A site with five pages and a form is a small project; an online shop with integrations is many times that. On top of that you pay every year for hosting, your domain name and maintenance. Ask every quote what comes after delivery.
What is the price made of?
A website is hours of work. The price follows from how many hours, and they sit in five parts.
| Part | What it is | What makes it bigger |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Deciding what the site must do and for whom | Many stakeholders, an unclear goal |
| Design | How it looks, on every screen | A new house style, many different page types |
| Build | Turning the design into a working site | Custom work, special functions |
| Content | Text, photos, translations | Many pages, several languages |
| Integrations | Connecting to other systems | Every system that is added |
The number of pages says less than you think. A hundred news items in the same template are little work. Ten pages that each look different are a lot.
Why do we not name a price?
Because a price without knowing what you need is a guess, and somebody always pays for a guess in a quote. After we have discussed what the site must be able to do, you get a quote from us. It is fixed for what has been agreed.
What are the costs after delivery?
This is the part missing from many quotes.
- Hosting. Per month. Depending on how heavy the site is.
- Domain name. Per year. A small amount.
- Maintenance. Per month, if the site has a content management system. Updates, backups, monitoring.
- Licences. For paid extensions or themes, per year.
- Changes. New pages or functions, per job.
A site without a content management system needs almost no maintenance. A WordPress site with twenty plugins does, and an online shop even more.
How do you keep the costs down?
Start small. Build the pages you need now. You can always expand.
Supply the content. Text and photos that are ready save weeks of waiting and a lot of back and forth.
Choose what exists where you can. A payment module, a form, a map: there are good ready-made parts for those.
Be clear about the goal. A site that has to do one thing is cheaper than a site that has to do everything a little.
What should you not cut back on?
Speed, how the site works on a phone and the technical basis for being found. Those are not extras. A site that is slow or that Google cannot read well earns nothing, however good it looks.
And ownership. Make sure the domain name is in your name, that you receive the files and that you can leave. That costs nothing extra, provided you agree it beforehand.
What do you ask a builder?
- What exactly do I get delivered?
- Who owns the site, the code and the domain name?
- What do I pay per month and per year afterwards?
- Who does the updates, and what happens if they are not done?
- Can I change the text myself?
- How do I get out if I ever want to switch?
A builder who answers these questions clearly is usually clear about the rest too.