Every week someone asks us how much it costs to build a website. The honest answer is “it depends”, but that answer doesn’t help you make any decision. In this guide we give you market reference ranges for 2026 so you know what to expect and can compare quotes with judgment.
Price ranges by type of website
Price depends less on the technology or the agency than on what you need to do. These are the usual market ranges (a general reference, not a fixed rate):
| Type of site | Reference range | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page or one-page site | USD 500 – 1,500 | Independent professionals, local businesses, one-off campaigns |
| Corporate website (5 to 10 pages) | USD 1,500 – 5,000 | Most SMEs |
| Standard online store | USD 3,000 – 10,000 | Businesses that sell products online |
| Custom project or with integrations | From USD 8,000 | Customer portals, CRM, automations |
Landing page. A single page with vertical sections: about us, services, contact. It doesn’t need a blog or a complex admin panel.
Corporate website. Home, services, team, contact and, often, a blog. Forms, responsive design and basic SEO. It’s what most SMEs need to have a professional presence.
Online store. The range is wide because a store with 20 products has nothing to do with one that manages inventory, variants, volume discounts and warehouse integrations. Platform configuration, payment gateways and shipping rules add layers of development and testing — if you haven’t chosen a platform yet, in Tiendanube vs Shopify vs WooCommerce: 2026 comparison we compare the costs and limits of each.
Custom project. When what you need isn’t a website but a system: private areas, CRM integrations, automations or specific features. At that point we’re no longer talking about web design but software development.
What nobody tells you: the factors that move the price
Two sites with the same number of pages can cost very different amounts. These are the factors that really weigh:
- Custom design vs. template: a premium template only needs adapting; a design from scratch involves wireframes, mockups and iterations. The difference can be an extra USD 1,000 to 3,000.
- Content and copywriting: the most underestimated cost. The text defines whether the site converts and whether Google ranks it. Professional writing for 5-10 pages usually runs around USD 1,000-2,000, and photography adds another USD 200-1,000.
- Specific features: online bookings, calculators, advanced filters, live chat, private area. Integrations are the factor that makes a project most expensive.
- Technical SEO and AI visibility: today many people ask an AI assistant before searching on Google. Having meta descriptions isn’t enough: a strategy with keyword research, structured data, optimized speed and an architecture designed to rank adds between USD 500 and 2,000 to the initial project.
- Languages: every additional language multiplies the content work and adds technical complexity. A bilingual site costs between 30% and 50% more.
Total cost of ownership: what quotes don’t show you
The price of the website is only the initial investment. To evaluate it properly, calculate the total cost over 36 months:
- Initial development: the bulk of the budget.
- Professional hosting: between USD 150 and 300 a year. It isn’t a minor expense: the quality of the server directly impacts speed and rankings, as we explain in What is hosting and how it affects your website’s speed.
- Domain and SSL: from USD 20 a year depending on the extension.
- Technical maintenance: between USD 40 and 150 a month, depending on the service level.
An SME that doesn’t plan for maintenance finds that the first technical error or the first update that breaks something creates an unexpected expense. That’s why it’s best to agree on it from the start — in Web maintenance: why your site needs an SLA we explain what it should cover.
Which option to choose according to your budget
Under USD 500. The options are limited: a “do it yourself” builder with a monthly subscription. But the cost in time is real: if your hour is worth USD 75 and you spend 40-60 hours building the site, you’ve invested between USD 3,000 and 4,500 of your own time in a site that may not rank well.
Between USD 500 and 2,000. The most common range for an independent professional or a small company. A reliable freelancer can deliver a solid template-based site with reasonable customization. Pay attention to timelines and to how much they’ll charge you for future changes.
More than USD 2,000. Here there are already specific needs that call for strategy. A senior freelancer is justified if you’re after a very specific design or custom features; a studio or agency, if the project is complex (online store, multilingual, CRM integration) or you need complete strategic support.
The lowest price is almost never the cheapest. What defines whether a website was a good investment isn’t what you paid on day one, but what it costs you —and what it generates for you— over the following years.
With these ranges in mind, the next step is to ask for quotes based on the same briefing and compare them point by point, not just by the final number.