It's one of the first questions every business asks, and honestly, one of the hardest to answer straight — because "how much for a website" is a bit like asking "how much for a car." A run-around and a sports car are both cars. Both do the job. They're not the same price, and they're not solving the same problem.
Still, there are real factors that drive the cost up or down, and knowing them means you can spot a fair quote from a dodgy one — in either direction.
What Actually Drives The Cost
How many pages, and how much real content. A five-page site with content you've already written costs less than a fifteen-page site where someone also needs to write all the copy from scratch.
Custom design vs. a template. A proper bespoke design — built around your brand, not adapted from a theme — takes more time, and should cost more. That's not a rip-off, that's the actual work.
What's under the bonnet. A simple brochure site is a different job to one with bookings, e-commerce, or client logins. More moving parts, more cost.
Who's doing the graft. A freelancer working from home has lower overheads than a big agency with a city-centre office and a large team — that difference shows up in the price, and neither is automatically "better."
Red Flags Worth Knowing
- Suspiciously cheap, no explanation why. Someone's cutting corners somewhere — usually SEO foundations, mobile testing, or ongoing support.
- Guaranteed rankings bundled into the price. Nobody can honestly guarantee a #1 Google ranking. If it's promised, be sceptical.
- No mention of what happens after launch. Websites need occasional care — updates, tweaks, security. If that's not discussed upfront, ask.
What To Actually Ask For
Rather than asking "how much for a website," try asking for a quote based on what you actually need — the number of pages, whether you need ongoing support, and whether design is bespoke or template-based. A proper agency should be able to break that down for you plainly, without smoke and mirrors.
That's genuinely how we quote every project — nothing fixed, nothing hidden, just an honest number based on what the job actually involves.