Ask five web designers what a website costs and you'll get five numbers that don't seem to be about the same thing. They usually aren't. A website can be a template you fill in yourself, a theme someone sets up for you, or a site designed and coded for your business with the systems behind it. Those are three different products, and they're priced like it.
Here's how to tell them apart, what actually moves the price, and the costs that show up after launch.
The three ways to get a website
- Do it yourself on a site builder. A monthly subscription to a drag-and-drop builder. The cheapest way to get online, and fine for a hobby or a brand-new business testing an idea. You pay with your time, and you live inside the builder's limits on speed, structure and search.
- A freelancer or small shop with a theme. Someone sets up a pre-made theme or builder site for you and adds your content. Faster for you, and often a decent result, but the site is usually only as good as the theme and the plugins underneath it.
- A custom build. A designer and developer build the site for your business, from the layout to the code, with search and speed built in from the start. It costs more up front and it's the only option that can grow into booking, payments, portals or an app without starting over.
What we charge, as a real example
Prices are only useful with numbers attached, so here are ours. Huttenlocher Technologies is a custom shop in Myrtle Beach, and these are starting points, not packages:
- Business website: from $5,000. Custom design and build, local SEO, a clean move off your old platform.
- Online store: from $8,500. Products with real options, prices that are right at checkout, no monthly store platform.
- Systems and apps: from $15,000. Booking, customer portals, payments, iPhone and Android apps.
- Care plan: from $249 a month. Hosting, security, same-day changes by text, and an eye on how Google sees you.
That's not the cheapest option in South Carolina, on purpose. Every project gets a written quote with the exact price and launch date before any work starts, so the number you agree to is the number you pay. See what's included.
What makes a website cost more (or less)
- How much it has to do. A brochure site that explains your services is one job. Taking bookings, deposits, orders or subscriptions is software, and costs like software.
- How many pages it needs to earn. One page per service and per town you want to be found in is the backbone of local search. Ten real pages cost more than three, and they also bring in more.
- Who writes the words. Copy written around what your customers actually search for is a big part of the work. Ask whether it's included or whether you're expected to supply it.
- Moving off an old site. Redirecting every old address, keeping your email running and carrying your Google history across is careful work. It's also the part that decides whether you lose rankings in the switch.
- Online store options. A handful of simple products is quick. Products with sizes, colors, add-ons and option-based pricing take real engineering to charge correctly.
- Integrations. Connecting to your booking tool, shipping software, accounting or CRM adds scope, and usually saves hours of retyping every week.
The ongoing costs nobody mentions
- Your domain name, renewed every year. It should always be registered in your name.
- Hosting, the cost of keeping the site online. Builder subscriptions include it; a custom site needs it separately or through a care plan.
- Email, if your business address runs through a paid email service.
- Card processing fees on any payment, whichever platform or processor you use.
- Changes and upkeep. New prices, new hours, a new service. Either your time, or someone's fee.
- Plugins and apps, if your site runs on a builder or theme that needs paid add-ons to do the job.
How to read a quote
- Does it say exactly what you're getting: the pages, the features, the launch date?
- Who writes the words, and who supplies the photos?
- Is moving your old site included, with redirects and email handled?
- Who owns the domain, the site and the content when it's done?
- What does it cost per month after launch, and what does that cover?
- Can you see live sites they've built, and tap through them on your phone?
If a quote can't answer those, it isn't really a price yet. We wrote a whole guide on what to ask a web designer before you hire one.
Written by Nikita Huttenlocher, founder and lead engineer at Huttenlocher Technologies, a web design and software company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.