How much does a website cost for a small business?

For a small business, a professionally designed website typically costs between €1,500 and €8,000 from a freelancer, or €5,000–€25,000+ from an agency, depending on complexity, page count, and whether copywriting, SEO, and photography are included. DIY platforms (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) cost €20–€60/month plus significant time investment. The right budget depends on how much business the site needs to generate — a site that consistently generates leads pays for itself quickly.

How much does a freelance web designer charge per hour?

Freelance web designer hourly rates vary significantly by experience and location. Entry-level freelancers typically charge €25–€60/hour. Mid-level specialists charge €60–€120/hour. Senior or specialist freelancers (with deep expertise in SEO, AEO, performance optimisation, or a specific industry) charge €100–€200+/hour. Most freelancers prefer project-based pricing over hourly billing, as it gives both parties budget certainty.

What should be included in a web design quote?

A complete web design quote should specify: number of pages, number of design rounds/revisions, whether copywriting is included, SEO setup (title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup, sitemap submission), mobile responsiveness, page speed optimisation, analytics setup, training or handover documentation, post-launch support duration, and who owns all accounts and files at completion. Quotes that only list 'website build' without these details leave room for significant scope creep.

Is it worth paying more for a web designer who does SEO?

For most businesses, yes — significantly. A beautiful site with poor SEO may look impressive but generates no organic traffic. The cost difference between a designer who ignores SEO and one who builds with it from the start is typically €500–€2,000 upfront. The cost of retrofitting SEO onto a poorly-built site, or paying separately for an SEO audit and fixes afterwards, is usually much higher — and lost organic traffic in the interim has a real business cost.

How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? Web Design Pricing Explained

Web design pricing is confusing — not because it's complicated, but because the range is enormous and the reasons for the difference aren't always obvious. You can spend €300 or €30,000 on a "website" and both are technically correct answers to the question.

This guide breaks down what you actually get at each price point, what drives the variation, and how to decide what your business actually needs.

The real price ranges in 2026

Option	Typical cost	Best for	Main trade-off
DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace)	€20–60/month + time	Very early stage, testing an idea	Time investment, limited customisation, generic result
Pre-built WordPress theme + setup	€500–1,500	Tight budget, standard needs	Looks like a template, limited performance, SEO often neglected
Freelancer (standard)	€1,500–4,000	Small business, brochure site	Quality varies significantly; SEO may not be included
Freelancer (specialist)	€3,000–8,000	Businesses where the site needs to generate leads	Higher upfront, but built for results not just appearance
E-commerce (WooCommerce / Shopify)	€3,000–12,000	Online stores	Complexity, payment integration, product management
Small/mid agency	€6,000–20,000	Larger projects, multiple disciplines needed	You pay for overhead; may not talk to the builder directly
Large agency	€20,000+	Complex platforms, enterprise, large teams	Cost, timeline, layers of communication

What drives the price difference

Two websites can look similar on the surface and cost 10× different. Here's what you're actually paying for:

Custom design vs templates

A template is a pre-built layout that the designer customises with your logo and content. Custom design starts from your brand and builds something unique. Templates are faster and cheaper; custom design creates differentiation and often performs better for conversion because it's built around your specific goals.

Number of pages and complexity

A 5-page brochure site (home, services, about, work, contact) takes far less time than a 30-page site with individual service pages, location pages, case studies, and a blog. Each additional page is additional time for design, content, and SEO setup.

What's included in the scope

This is where quotes become incomparable. One freelancer's €3,000 quote may include copywriting, photography sourcing, SEO setup, analytics, and a launch checklist. Another's €3,000 quote may include only the design and HTML — everything else is extra. Always ask what's explicitly included.

Things commonly not included in basic quotes:

Copywriting (writing the actual text for each page)
Photography (sourcing stock or commissioning shoots)
SEO setup (title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup, sitemap)
Analytics configuration
Post-launch support and training
Domain and hosting costs (ongoing annual fees)

Experience and specialisation

A freelancer who has built 5 websites will charge less than one who has built 100. The experienced one will also make fewer mistakes, solve problems faster, and know what works — which has real business value. A specialist (in your industry or in a specific capability like SEO or e-commerce) charges more and tends to be worth it.

The hidden cost of cheap

A €500 website from an inexperienced freelancer or template-only service typically has real ongoing costs:

Poor performance — slow sites lose rankings and conversions. Retrofitting page speed is expensive and time-consuming.
No SEO foundation — a site with no title tags, no schema, no sitemap gets no organic traffic. Adding SEO afterwards often requires rebuilding sections.
Lock-in — cheap websites built on proprietary or obscure platforms can be impossible to migrate without starting over.
Redesign sooner — a site that doesn't convert or rank tends to be rebuilt within 2–3 years, meaning you pay twice.

This isn't an argument for spending as much as possible — it's an argument for understanding what you're getting. A €2,000 site from a careful freelancer who includes SEO setup and performance optimisation will almost always outperform a €500 template job over 3 years.

What Bisyri projects look like

For context: the projects I build typically run €3,000–7,000 for a custom site with SEO built in from the start. That includes:

Custom design (not a template)
Fully custom HTML/CSS/JS — fast, lightweight, no WordPress overhead
Title tags, meta descriptions, and heading structure on every page
LocalBusiness or Organisation schema markup
Sitemap and robots.txt configured correctly
Google Search Console and analytics setup
Core Web Vitals passing (LCP, CLS, INP in green)
AEO-ready content structure for AI search citation

Most projects take 4–8 weeks. The sites I build rank, generate enquiries, and tend not to need replacing every 3 years.

See the work portfolio for examples, and the guide to choosing a web designer for the questions to ask any designer before hiring.

Ongoing costs after launch

A website has running costs beyond the initial build:

Domain name — €10–30/year depending on the TLD (.com, .co, .ie, etc.)
Hosting — €5–50/month depending on type (shared hosting, VPS, Vercel, Netlify). Static sites often host for free.
SSL certificate — usually included with hosting. Never pay extra for this in 2026.
Maintenance and updates — WordPress sites need plugin and core updates (security risk if ignored). Custom static sites need almost no maintenance.
SEO content — blog posts and content updates to build organic traffic over time. This is optional but one of the highest ROI activities for most businesses. See the SEO checklist and keyword research guide for a starting point.

How to get a useful quote

The quality of a quote depends on the quality of your brief. Before approaching anyone, know:

What the site needs to achieve (leads, bookings, sales, trust-building)
How many pages you need and what they are
Whether you have copy and photography, or whether that needs to be created
Your target launch date
Your budget range (even a rough one helps enormously)

A designer who asks all of these before quoting is a good sign. One who sends a quote within an hour of "I need a website for my business" is estimating blindly.

Ready to talk through what your project needs and what it would cost?

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