How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? The Honest Guide for SMEs and Professionals
If you search “how much does a website cost” on Google, you’ll find offers starting at 199€ and quotes for 15,000€ for the same service. How is this possible?
The answer is that there is no such thing as “the website” as a single product. There are completely different levels of complexity, quality, and goals, and the market—especially online—tends to mix everything together. Someone selling a site for 199€ and someone asking for 10,000€ are offering fundamentally different things, even if they both use the same word.
This guide was created to bring clarity. You won’t find vague figures like “it depends on complexity”—you’ll find realistic ranges, an explanation of what determines the price, and the tools to evaluate a quote in an informed way. Without advertising disguised as advice.
The 5 Factors That Determine the Cost of a Website
Before talking about numbers, it’s useful to understand what makes the price go up or down. There are five main variables.
- The type of site. A showcase site with five pages has a radically different complexity than an e-commerce site with a hundred products or a web app with user access and custom logic. The type of site is the primary determinant of cost.
- Design: template or custom. A site built on a WordPress template purchased for 50€ costs much less to build than a site designed from scratch to the customer’s specifications. The template is faster but has structural limits—performance, customization, and often security. Custom design requires more work hours, but the result is unique and built around your business’s specific goals.
- Content production. Often the quote doesn’t include writing texts, producing photos, or videos. If you come to the agency with all the material ready, times (and costs) drop significantly. If you need the agency to handle this too, the budget increases accordingly.
- Required integrations. A site that connects to your CRM, manages online bookings, sends automated emails, has an AI chatbot, or synchronizes inventory with management software requires much more work than a “static” site. Every integration has a development cost and often a recurring cost for the services it uses.
- Post-launch. This is where the cost item that most often surprises customers hides. You don’t pay for a site only once: it has an annual cost for hosting, domain, security updates, and maintenance. Ignoring this item when comparing quotes is one of the most common mistakes.
How Much Does a Showcase Website Cost in 2026?
Realistic Range: 800€ – 3,500€
A professional showcase site typically includes: custom or semi-custom design, 5-10 pages (home, about us, services, contact), basic on-page SEO optimization, mobile adaptation, a working contact form, and acceptable loading times.
Below 800€, it’s hard to find anything professional built to measure. There are 50€ WordPress templates that someone assembles in a weekend—and it shows. The result is a site that looks like thousands of others, often slow, with obsolete plugins and zero optimization for search engines.
Above 3,500€ for a showcase site, you enter territories where professional content (copywriting, photography), advanced animations, or additional features like multilingual support or integration with external tools are included.
Who it’s for: professionals (lawyers, accountants, doctors, consultants), small local businesses, restaurants, studios, and activities that need a credible online presence but not complex features.
What is often NOT included in this range: text production, professional photography, social media management, continuous SEO, advertising campaigns, monthly maintenance.
How Much Does a Corporate Website Cost?
Realistic Range: 3,000€ – 8,000€
A corporate site is more than a showcase: it has a more articulated structure, a content strategy designed to convert, and often integrates elements like news areas, blogs, portfolios, advanced contact forms, and connections with CRMs or marketing automation tools.
The difference compared to a showcase site is not just aesthetic—it’s strategic. A corporate site is designed thinking about conversion paths: where the user comes from, what they need to see to trust you, and what action they should take. This requires more analysis work before the actual development.
At this price range, it’s reasonable to expect wireframes and prototyping before development, a thought-out information architecture, extensive on-page SEO optimization across all main pages, and a content management system that allows the company team to update the site independently.
Who it’s for: structured companies that use the site as a sales and communication tool, not just as a digital business card.
How Much Does an E-commerce Site Cost in 2026?
Realistic Range: 2,500€ – 15,000€+
The range is wide because it mainly depends on two factors: the chosen platform and the complexity of the catalog.
| Platform | Initial Development | Recurring Monthly Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify (custom theme) | 2,500–6,000€ | 30–300€ + commissions | Small-medium catalogs, fast starts |
| WooCommerce | 2,500–5,000€ | 30–100€ hosting + plugins | Those already using WordPress |
| Custom (SvelteKit, Astro) | 8,000–20,000€+ | Hosting + maintenance | Large catalogs, specific needs |
Shopify is the fastest choice for those starting from scratch with a small-medium catalog. Development costs start at 2,500€ for a personalized theme with full configuration, but recurring costs apply: Shopify subscription, transaction fees, and additional plugins.
WooCommerce on WordPress is technically free but requires adequate hosting, premium plugins for advanced features, and constant maintenance. The development cost is similar to Shopify, but the management cost over time is more variable.
Custom development (on frameworks like SvelteKit or Next.js with a dedicated backend) is the choice for those with specific needs: catalogs with thousands of products, complex pricing logic, integrations with company management software, and B2B with personalized price lists per customer. Costs start at 8,000–10,000€ and have no precise ceiling.
How Much Does a Web App or Custom Application Cost?
Realistic Range: 8,000€ – 50,000€+
Web apps are digital systems with their own application logic: portals with user access and roles, company management software, SaaS platforms, complex booking systems, and data dashboards. They require an in-depth functional analysis before development, a dedicated backend, a structured database, and months of work.
The cost depends mainly on the complexity of the application logic and the number of integrations with external systems (ERP, CRM, third-party APIs). These are significant investments that are justified when the digital system replaces expensive manual processes or creates a measurable competitive advantage.
Summary Table — Website Costs 2026
| Type of Site | Estimated Investment | Timing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Showcase Site | 800€ – 3,500€ | 2–4 weeks | Professionals, local SMEs, artisans |
| Corporate Site | 3,000€ – 8,000€ | 4–8 weeks | Structured companies |
| Basic E-commerce | 2,500€ – 6,000€ | 3–6 weeks | Retail, artisans with physical products |
| Advanced E-commerce | 6,000€ – 15,000€+ | 6–16 weeks | Large catalogs, B2B, complex logic |
| Custom Web App | 8,000€ – 50,000€+ | 3–6 months | SaaS, portals, digital management systems |
The Hidden Costs No One Tells You
The quote price is only part of the total investment. These recurring costs are often underestimated or not clearly communicated.
- Domain and hosting: 50€ – 300€/year. The domain must be renewed every year. Hosting—the server that hosts your site—has a cost that varies greatly based on the quality of the infrastructure. Cheap hosting may seem like a saving but slows down the site and negatively impacts search engine rankings.
- Maintenance and security: 300€ – 1,500€/year. If your site is on WordPress, it must be updated regularly to avoid security vulnerabilities. If it’s on modern static technologies like Astro, the attack surface is much smaller, and maintenance costs are lower.
- Continuous SEO: 300€ – 1,500€/month. A site optimized at launch doesn’t stay at the top of Google forever. Competitors move, algorithms change, and content ages.
- Professional content: variable. Quality photos, texts written to convert, institutional videos. If the agency doesn’t include them in the quote, someone will have to produce them.
Template or Custom Development: Which is the Right Choice?
Templates (WordPress with premium theme, Wix, Squarespace) make sense when the budget is limited, times are tight, and needs are standard. The limits are equally real: lower performance on Core Web Vitals, limited customization, and a structure shared with thousands of other sites that Google doesn’t prioritize.
Custom development (Astro, SvelteKit, Next.js) starts from a blank page and builds exactly what is needed. The initial cost is higher, but the result is a faster, more secure, and more flexible site over time, built around your company’s specific goals.
At MarfCode, we use Astro for static and corporate sites, and SvelteKit or Next.js for web apps. The reason is technical: Astro generates pure HTML with zero superfluous JavaScript, resulting in measurably superior performance compared to any WordPress-based solution.
How to Evaluate a Web Agency’s Quote
You’ve received three quotes with very different prices. How do you compare them?
- Verify what’s included, item by item. A serious quote lists in detail: number of pages, design (template or custom), on-page SEO, mobile responsiveness, integration with specific tools, copywriting, and training on CMS use.
- Ask who does the work. Some agencies outsource to external providers. This is something you need to know because it impacts communication and final quality.
- Ask for references. An agency that works well has satisfied customers willing to be cited.
- Beware of prices that are too low. A 300€ site is not a bargain—it’s a site that someone assembled in a few hours with a free template, without SEO and without optimization.
- Verify what happens after launch. Is there a maintenance plan? Who handles technical issues?
FAQ about Website Costs
Can I have a professional site for less than 1,000€? For a showcase site with very few pages, a semi-custom template, and ready-made content, it’s possible. However, expect limitations in terms of performance and SEO optimization.
Does the price change if I’m in Pisa or Milan? Partly, yes. Agencies in large cities tend to have higher rates. An agency in Pisa like ours can offer equivalent quality at more competitive prices thanks to lower structural costs.
How long does it take to build a website? A showcase site takes 2-4 weeks, an e-commerce site takes 4-8 weeks, and a web app can take months.
Do I have to pay every year? Yes, there are always recurring costs: domain, hosting, and maintenance. On modern technologies like Astro, these costs are very low.
Is SEO included in the cost? Basic on-page SEO (speed, H1-H2 structure) is almost always included. Continuous SEO is almost always a separate service with a monthly cost.
The Right Cost is the One That Returns
A 300€ site that brings no customers is not a saving: it’s a double expense. A 5,000€ site that generates three new customers a month pays for itself in a few months.
The right question isn’t “how much does the site cost me?” but “how long until I recover the investment?”.
If you’re evaluating a new site and want an honest analysis of your situation—without obligation—fill out the form below.
