How Much Does a Custom Website Really Cost in 2026?

"How much does a website cost?" is a question with no single honest answer. It depends entirely on what you're actually building. But founders deserve a real number range to plan against, not a "contact us for pricing" wall. Here's a transparent breakdown.

Typical ranges by project type

• Simple landing page (1 page, no CMS): From $250. Quick to build, lowest cost. Good for a single product launch or campaign.

• Marketing website (5-10 pages, CMS-backed, blog): Typically $800-$2,000. The most common starting point for a startup: home, services/product, about, blog, contact.

• E-commerce site: Typically $2,000-$5,000. Adds product catalog, cart, checkout, and payment integration, meaningfully more scope than a marketing site.

• Web application (dashboards, user accounts, payments, admin panel): From $2,500, and $10,000+ for a multi-role SaaS product. The largest range, because scope varies enormously. A simple internal tool costs far less than a multi-role SaaS product, like the ordering and admin system we built for Grill Bucket.

A UK or US agency will typically quote 2-3x more than an offshore studio like ours for the same scope, because you're also paying for their local overhead: office space, higher salaries, account management layers. (If you're weighing that trade-off, see our guide to vetting an offshore agency.)

What actually drives the cost

• Custom design vs. template. A from-scratch Figma UI/UX design costs more than adapting a proven template, but it's the difference between a site that looks like everyone else's and one that looks like your brand.

• Number of integrations. Each system you connect (payments, a CRM, an email tool, a booking system) adds scope. Ask for these to be itemized in your quote.

• Admin dashboard complexity. If you need to manage content, orders, or users yourself, that's a second application being built alongside your public site.

• Content volume. 5 pages of ready copy and images is a very different job from 50 pages that need to be written from scratch.

• Timeline urgency. Compressing a normal 6-week timeline into 2 weeks usually means a rush premium.

Hidden costs to ask about before you sign

• Hosting and domain. Is this included, or billed separately?

• A maintenance retainer. What happens after launch if something breaks?

• Revision limits. How many rounds of feedback are included before extra rounds are billed?

• Ongoing SEO. Is basic on-page SEO included, or is that a separate line item?

Why a written estimate matters more than fixed vs. hourly

What actually protects your budget isn't whether you're quoted a fixed number or billed hourly. It's whether there's a written scope document before any work starts, and whether the agency flags overruns before they hit your invoice, not after. A fixed price with no scope document behind it is just as risky as an open-ended hourly contract with no cap. In both cases you're trusting the agency's judgment with no way to check it. Ask for the scope in writing regardless of which billing model an agency uses, and ask how they handle it when something turns out more complex than expected. That answer tells you more than the pricing structure itself. (We go deeper on how we handle this in How We Price Web Development Projects.)

Want an actual number for your project instead of a range? Talk to us and we'll give you a real one.