How much does a website cost?

The budget levels

$5,000 – $15,000

A template build, lightly customised. Five to ten pages, stock imagery, client-supplied copy. Good for a first site or a temporary presence.

$15,000 – $40,000

A designed brand site on a CMS. Custom layouts, a proper content model, basic SEO structure and some original copy.

$40,000 – $80,000

Bespoke design across a larger sitemap, custom interactions, full copywriting, e-commerce or integrations, and a real discovery phase.

$80,000+

Multi-market or multi-language, complex integrations, design system work and ongoing iteration after launch.

Page count is a weak predictor. Twelve simple pages can cost less than four which each need their own layout and original photography.

What moves the number

• Bespoke versus template. A designed site costs more upfront and dates more slowly. A template costs less and constrains what you can say.
• Content model. Sites that publish regularly need a CMS designed around real editorial workflow, not a page builder someone has to fight.
• Integrations. CRM, booking, payments, inventory, analytics. Each one is a small project on its own.
• Discovery. Sitemaps, user journeys and stakeholder interviews cost money and prevent expensive rework later.

Copy and content

This is where most website projects slip. Design waits on copy, copy waits on someone internally who has a day job, and the launch date moves twice.

Decide at proposal stage who writes the words and who supplies the imagery. If it is you, put a date on it and treat it as a deliverable with an owner. If it is the studio, make sure it is quoted, because copywriting for a full site is weeks of work rather than a line item.

Photography is the same question. A site designed around imagery you do not have is a site that launches with placeholders.

What happens after launch

Ask before you sign, not after.

• Who hosts it, and what does that cost annually?
• What is included in support, and for how long?
• Can your team edit pages without going back to the studio?
• Who owns the design files and the code?
• What happens when you want a new page template in six months?

A site nobody on your team can update becomes a site nobody updates.