What a small business website should actually cost
Quotes for the same website range from $500 to $15,000. Here is what actually drives the number, and how to tell which end you are being sold.
Ask three studios to quote the same website and you will get three wildly different numbers. That is not because one is honest and two are crooked — it is because "a website" describes at least four different products.
What you are actually paying for
A landing page is one screen with one job: get the call. A business website is five to eight pages that explain a company and answer the questions customers ask before they buy. An online store adds products, payments, tax and shipping. A web application — booking, portals, dashboards — is software with a login.
The price follows the category, not the page count. A five-page site with real copywriting and a booking flow takes more work than a fifteen-page site of stock text.
The three things that move the number
- **Copy and photography.** If you have neither, someone has to create them. This is the single biggest hidden cost and the one most quotes leave out.
- **What happens after the click.** A contact form is cheap. Online booking that checks a real calendar, takes a deposit and sends reminders is a system.
- **Who maintains it.** A site nobody updates gets stale in a year. Ask what changing your own hours or adding a service costs.
How to compare quotes fairly
Ask every studio the same three questions: what exactly is delivered, who owns the files and the domain afterwards, and what a change costs once it is live. The cheapest quote that answers all three honestly is usually the right one — and the expensive quote that cannot answer them is the one to walk away from.
We quote a fixed price after one scoping call, and you own everything at the end. No hourly surprises, no lock-in.
