How Much Does a Website Cost?
Website development is the need of today but how much does website development cost, is a question that everyone has. Here is a comprehensive guide, compiled by our experts, that has everything from the development process to technologies used and cost analysis bifurcated with each stage of web development.
Complete guide to cost to get a website developed?
Websites are integral and will always be, no matter how far we dive into portability. To some extent, websites are also digging their way deeper into mobiles through PWAs, and are doing a decent job. A website is your online portfolio, a proof of your existence to the world, it tends to cost at least some money.
A simple website might cost you just over $50, while an extravagant one might cost you thousands of dollars, but that depends on the type of web development services you opt for. So, in case you are thinking you will be able to get an exact quote, that isn’t possible, as without analysing your exact requirements, all we can do is estimate the cost of getting a website developed.
We would rather break down the website development cost, into different available approaches (while giving you the tentative cost of each), ensuring that you can easily calculate the cost according to your very own requirements. A simple formula lies just below, but before going to that, you need to know the cost to maintain and run a website, which can cost you a lot too, and we will get on it in a section below.
Simply multiply the average cost to the total working hours (for every separate component), for an estimated total cost of your website.
You can find a description of each, and how some points highly affect website creation cost, below.
1. Research and Development
Without proper planning nothing could work and same goes with website development. You need certain planning and steps to make sure the website you make is just as you imagined, no one should risk the difference when it comes to “A thought about something vs. what’s actually available and implementable”.
Plan the team, people, and the website itself, intricately. A website can be a real ordeal if not done in the right direction, that’s exactly why most medium to large enterprises always prioritize finding a top website development company and planning your website with their help. But of course, even if you go with this option, you will still be 2 steps forward, as you would have a list for yourself on how to proceed, so let’s get started.
What purpose does your website serve?
Knowing the purpose of your website is important and only then you will be able to find the best website development services for your project. A website means different things for different users, it may be a portfolio, and online store, an app for services, an app for content, there are a lot of things a website can be. You should make it your top priority to pen it down to the extreme level, before starting actual work on your website, as the work moves forward from there.
Who will be the end-user?
This is often overlooked, but we can tell from our experience as a web development agency, the customer is the king in online business. You can never overlook the needs of customers and specifics of the target group, as satisfying the customers will be the ladder your business will climb up upon. Ensure that you build your website according to users, other than anything else. Once you know what your users are looking for only then you will be able to integrate the features into your website and that will affect your web development cost.
Number of pages required on the website
Now there are two simple strategies, to keep it minimal, or to take it to the maximum and be a symbol of providing every single service in your niche. Plan the sitemap intricately, and always follow different paths a user could take to scroll your website. The number of pages of different types on a website will directly add on the website development cost, analyze your average users, and then decide how you want it to be.
Functionalities Required
Different functionalities can be achieved in this time with a website, you can get it made into a web app, a full-fledged desktop-like app through getting a PWA, any functionality can be implemented. This is one of the most important steps, to determine how much your website will cost. Functionalities like separating the website content according to who logins, making different panels, could cost you many times more, than if you have not.
CMS Selection
There are different options here, mainly categorized into two, getting a custom CMS made and choosing a pre-built CMS like WordPress. There are pros and cons of both, here’s our take on why choose Laravel over a CMS like WordPress. This was just one of the options, a lot more technologies exist, and it is recommended to get your requirements analyzed by web development experts and take help from them to choose the best for you.
Marketing planning
Planning a source of getting noticed would be a good head start in terms of planning, as you can simply plan your website accordingly. There are over 1.5 billion websites worldwide, so we recommend it’s best to inject your marketing strategy, right in the roots of your website. There are two main marketing types, organic, and inorganic, whichever you choose, or if a combination of both, will have a direct impact on the cost to create your website. There are many website development companies that offer website marketing services too, so you can hire them for you project.
SEO & Content
Indexing the website on top of SERPs isn’t just a want anymore, it is a need. If someone can’t find your business when they search for it online, what’s the point of having a website at all? Don’t plan on people searching exact URLs and coming on your website directly, as probably no one in the entire world does that. SEO & Content run the internet world, and knowing it before entering it, would be much more benefitting, than realizing the value of it after.
Maintenance Planning
Maintenance should be considered right from the start, even if it might be a bit demotivating for some. Being a realist will always help you proceed forward in an entrepreneur’s journey, so is the case with the website for your business. Make sure to weigh in the cost for maintenance of the website, as adding new features and support could cost you more than what you paid for getting the website, every single year.
These are the components to be planned, before actually beginning work on your website. You can DIY through research, or can hire website development consultants, to evaluate both these points, and the cost to develop your website. If you directly hire a web development company their team of researchers and analysts will help you in answering these questions. The cost of web development isn’t directly affected for options 1 &3, but outsourcing to web development consultancy could mean adding a few extra thousand dollars to your budget.
2. Types of Websites
The end goal of every business website is to convert visitors to leads to customers. Always ensure you make the website compliant to this and work your way to maximize the rate of conversion. There are a lot of elements to get people to visit, usually a great marketing strategy, and then comes the time for your website to shine.
No matter what your website type is, the above will always stay the basic purpose of every website in the first stance of someone visiting a website. So, maintaining your website’s stature for a possible conversion is absolute, and the website development cost would vary accordingly. Every website type is different, and they will need different elements to make it work, with a highly differentiated costing factor.
Depending on your business and requirements, there are a lot of different types you can get made. A fitting website will not only help you solve user’s queries faster and better, but would also help the user in gaining a better understanding of your business. A website can be used for anything and everything, providing information, selling products, selling services, showcasing portfolios, or all of them together, we have compiled a list of getting different types of websites developed, with a tentative price of their development.
The most common website types are:
I. Blog/Personal Website
Usually made for letting people in on some information about you, or the product or service, you are selling/providing.
Blogs are the top way of managing and maintaining public relations, especially if your website is about you. Business owners always think about how much developing these websites would cost. It might seem like, these websites cost too much, but it isn’t actually the case. The blogs can easily be managed through a basic CMS, while the rest of the content is usually static.
Average cost to build a website like these start from $500
II. Corporate Website
These websites are built to represent a business online, usually, the ones which sell services or offline products. They are also called a business’s online portfolio, as they are usually the sole online representation of what a business does and the services it provides, to the global internet users. Since these websites are closely linked to marketing, they might require regular maintenance and updates to keep up with the competition.
Average cost to build a website like these Start from $1000
III. Ecommerce Website
Ecommerce websites are built to sell products online, they can be both marketplaces, as well as a business selling only their own products online. E-stores can be one of the most expensive web development projects, if built from scratch, they can cost well over hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ecommerce websites are also one of the most popular website types, and still gaining pace rapidly as the e-commerce market continues to grow.
Average Ecommerce website development cost Start from $5000
IV. Landing Website
A landing website is a page you want your users at and is typically limited to gaining leads through a CTA or a form. Don’t perceive it wrong, the cost in their designing and development only depends on the intricacy you want them developed with, and not their size. Most businesses prefer to focus a lot of resources on their landing page as they can make or break their marketing strategy and work. A landing website works on simple logic
Average landing website cost Start from $500
V. E-learning Website
An e-learning website or web portal enables users to do their learning online, they are usually filled with courses on the website itself or have them downloadable in PDF formats. As a business, it can mean a high investment if you want to get a custom education website developed, at the same time it can easily convert to a very high RoI. An education website will typically cost you thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars + a high maintenance price.
Average E-learning website cost Start from $5000
VII. Social Website
Social websites serve the purpose as a platform where people can socialize, just as the name suggests. Social websites generally need to be highly scalable, pushing the server and hosting cost to well over thousands of dollars. Now that is over and above actually finding and hiring a web development company that has the expertise to create an optimized and scalable social website for you.
Average social website development cost Start from $5000
VIII. Catalog Website
A catalog website serves the purpose of displaying a list of different types of things online. A catalog website is differentiated from an eCommerce website based on what is listed. You can find properties, used products, hotels, flights, and more in a catalog website. The cost to develop such a website can be less, but in some cases, it can be at par with a medium-sized eCommerce website, as they relatively share the basic genes.
Average catalog website development cost Start from $5000
3. Back-End Development
The back end of the website is where the data is managed, stored, manipulated, it is also where the paths to data being fetched on the front end are developed. The server side serves as the powerhouse of the website and every dynamic website needs one. Wherever there is data involved, you need a back end to work with it. There are many technologies, and many more frameworks built through them, available to create the back end that serves the purpose of your website.
Most good web development companies you approach, be it anywhere in the world, will have web developers available for working in the technology of your choice. We will be listing the top technologies and, frameworks of those technologies, which can help the website be highly optimized and usable for your customers. You will need to deeply research when choosing the back end technology for your website, as it will be a deciding factor on how your website actually performs and costs.
Here is the list of top 3 back end technologies.
PHP
Hypertext pre-processor, as it is called, is a server-side scripting language. The world’s most used CMS WordPress is also based on PHP, apart from the custom PHP website, this makes PHP the most used choice for website’s back end development in the world. There are various reasons why this PHP development services were highly in demand in the past and is still is for web development.
The average cost to hire a PHP developer for your website’s backend development would range from Start from $15 per hour, lowest being for the moderately experienced ones, highest being for the highly experienced ones. This is the average price here and further would be for hiring your web developers from India.
The top reason for PHP’s popularity is its scalability, a good website development company could create a custom back end using PHP, which can easily handle millions of monthly users. There are PHP frameworks too, which can get you more benefit and less hassle if you choose the right.
Here is a list of top PHP frameworks, with cost to hire expert developers in the same.
- Laravel - Start from $15/hr
- CakePHP - Starts from $15/hr
- CodeIgniter - Starts from $15/hr
- Symfony - Starts from $15/hr
Python
Python is one of the simplest languages ever developed while being of the highest possible calibre and capabilities. Why we explicitly mentioned its simplicity is because this makes the resource pool of Python developers much greater than other development languages. When there is a lot of availability, the cost to hire Python developers tends to be lower than other available development technologies. There are many web development companies in the market that are known to offer Python development services to their clients.
The average cost to hire Python developers is currently seeing a downward trend. The average cost to hire Python developer from Asia begins at about $12, but goes up to $100+ per hour due to extensive experience the top Python developers hold. But if you are planning to hire them from the USA the numbers would be about $80 to $400+ per hour. This difference is mostly due to the high numbers of proficient Python developers available in Asia.
The top reason to choose Python is its capabilities and ultra-fast speeds your website can achieve with Python on the back end. Python can significantly reduce the complexities associated with bigger websites, significantly future-proofing your business website and online presence along the way. Another amazing thing about Python is the availability of full-stack frameworks, for rapid full-stack web development.
Here is a list of top Python web development frameworks, with cost to hire developers for the specific.
- Django - Start from $15/hr
- Pyramid - Start from $15/hr
- Flask - Start from $15/hr
- Bottle - Start from $15/hr
- Sanic - Start from $15/hr
- Tornado - Start from $15/hr
Ruby
Both Ruby and Python are very similar on the fundamental end, apart from Ruby being developed for code being written simple English than awkward syntaxes and symbols. The real ace up Ruby’s sleeve is the Rails, as Ruby in itself, cannot really be used to create a web app for your business. Another important factor about considering Ruby is, it serves the web app space, there is no real point to use Ruby if you do not want your website to be dynamic and app type. Due to its simplicity and ease to use, Ruby on Rails development services are quite popular both among users and web developers.
The average cost to hire Ruby developers is a bit on the higher end when compared to the other three. You may have to pay starting from $25 to about $100 on average to hire Ruby on Rails developers from India. If you are planning to hire the same from the USA, you will have to pay a lot more than this amount.
It can be a bit tough to actually find Ruby developers, the reason is simple, Ruby isn’t very popular, and it can be hard for web development companies to retain and hire Ruby developers without paying extra money. But if you look hard enough, you will certainly find quality Ruby developers up for hire from India, be it for remote hiring.
Here is a list of top Ruby web development frameworks, with cost to hire developers for the specific.
- Rails - Start from $15/hr
- Sinatra - Start from $15/hr
- Padrino - Start from $15/hr
- Cuba - Start from $15/hr
Node JS
JavaScript rules the frontend, so of course, people went ahead, and developed frameworks based on Node.js, through which developers can construct a solid backend. These frameworks can be used to create robust web apps and can be one of the fastest ways to develop one, for early market entry. This is all thanks to full stacks based completely on JavaScript, stacks like MERN and MEAN can get your website/web app up and running in no time.
You will have to hire JavaScript developers for quality front end development any which way because the choices are lesser in that part of the segment. Expect to pay the median of all technologies listed above, in case you plan to hire JavaScript developers for the development of your back end, or if you hire them for full-stack development, expect to pay about 10-20% more than a hiring regular back end and front developers separately.
Here is a list of top Node JS backend development frameworks, with cost to hire developers for the specific.
- Express - Start from $15/hr
- Hapi - Start from $15/hr
- Meteor - Start from $15/hr
- Koa - Start from $15/hr
4. Front-End Design and Development
The front end is basically the complete architecture, and everything a customer ‘sees’ when they visit your website. The front end is also called the client-side for the very same reason, it is the umbrella term for everything related to what’s visible to the customer/user/visitor. While backend development and front end development may cost you more, the front end design should also be considered highly important by businesses. Know that both design and development go hand in hand, but the choice would be wider for hiring front end developers, both in options and experience.
Node JS
People can often overlook the backbone of the website if the design is top class, but it doesn’t work the other way around. And that’s why you should focus a good amount of resources on getting a fitting front end designed for your website. A good graphic designer may be hard to find, you should look at their portfolios or the web development company’s portfolios to determine the core design language of the person you hire. Expect to pay upwards of $35 per hour for a medium level graphic designer, while expect to pay in the package for a top-level graphic designer.
| Simple Design | Basic Design | More Complex Design | Complex Design |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1500 - $2000 | $2500 - $3500 | $4000 - $6000 | $8,000 + |
Development
If you aren’t associating with a top front-end web development company for your project, it could be tough to find quality freelance developers, as most of them prefer to be associated with website development companies. Try looking for mid-size web development companies, as they are the ones who employ top talents and charge less. The things about front end developers are, they need to know the core values of front end development so that the user always remain satisfied. And user satisfaction can be a very tough thing to achieve, without a top front end developer on your side.
There are only 3 technologies that make most of the front end, and front end developers, are those who have in-depth knowledge about all three.
The three technologies are:
The top frameworks used for front end development are:
5. SEO & Content
Search engine optimization and content creation are two things that no business can escape the overhead cost of. Whether you hire your own team of digital marketing experts for it or outsource it to some company anywhere in the world, it carries a significant cost associated with it. Even though they do come under marketing, you would still want quality content even if you plan on inorganic marketing, as the user needs to draw out value from the content you are displaying on your website.
Out in the search for this particular service, you would find companies offering SEO and content marketing services for as little as $200 per month, to $150000+ per month, all depending on the quality of marketing you are planning for.
Hiring your web development partner for marketing:
- SEO cost: Start from $100 per month
- Content cost: Starts from $20 per page
- Alt project cost: small to medium to large SEO pricing
Hiring one of the core marketing agencies:
- SEO cost: Starts from $500 per month
- Content cost: Starts from $100 per month
6. Common and Recurring Cost
There are things you need to buy to get your website up and running, we have kept the list short to keep it common for everyone. These costs are usually to be paid annually and are recurring in nature. Unless you pay for years together, you will need to take care of ensuring timely payments to avoid loss of important things like domain names and visitors to the website. There are a lot of choices under each, you can also ask your web development consultant to do the same for you, none would charge an overhead fee in general cases. However, all these things add up to your web development cost.
The common costs to get your website up and running:
Domain name
A domain name is the website address you buy to represent your website online, any user can type in that particular domain name and it will open your website. The address will be exclusive to your website when typed inexact and usually gives the idea to the audience what your website is about. Small and common domain names can cost 100s of thousands of dollars, but the non-taken and non-generic ones are usually $10 to $30. This small cost will stay forever, as the domain name needs to be renewed every year and comes under recurring costs in website maintenance.
SSL Certification
This is one of the most important steps to keep the user data secure and to prevent duplication of the website on the same domain by a third party or hacker. Many modern browsers give a safety prompt to users when they visit a website that doesn’t have an SSL, to ensure smooth access it is a must to be bought and renewed every year. The cost of SSL certification typically varies from starts from $10 annually. You must also include this cost in the total cost of website development.
Website Hosting
The website needs to be hosted on a server to be accessible by a user, and this service is called website hosting. There are thousands of website hosting available on the internet, and you need to choose from them wisely. Most promise 99% uptime and will charge you according to the size of your website. But the catch here is, if you have a lot of incoming traffic, you will need an expensive widespread website hosting service to ensure minimal loss of speed on the users’ end. Website hosting usually starts from $10 per month for VPS annually, depending on the unique visitors you expect.
7. Cost of Website Based on Location
While planning to get a website developed the first thing that come to our mind is how much does it cost to make a website and that also depends on the price on which you hire web developers for your project. There are different salaries for web developers around the world, so there ought to be different web development costs too. You must be well aware of how by outsourcing to some countries, you might get the same work done in 10th the price of what’s quoted in your home country, or on the contrary, pay 10 times the price too. To bring an end to this confusion, which is faced by many of our clients, we have made a list of prices you would expect to pay on average, for about the same quality of work across the world.
Now, the primary thing about this is outsourcing, if you cannot handle remote workers or aren’t planning to outsource the complete project development, take into consideration hiring on-site developers. People usually skip this as a possibility, but several web development companies offer various engagement models for their clients. You can directly hire from India, and ask the company to send the developer onsite, for a minimum hassle experience, while still saving a lot of money.
We have kept the list to only the popular countries; you can simply research on per capita income and developer availability in your own country to get an approximate idea through comparison from below.
Asia
The most prominent players in this continent are India and China, the two of these combined has the highest developer availability around the entire world. The is a lot of supply coming out from these countries, so you can expect to pay the minimum prices around the world for your web development project when hiring remotely or for onsite, from India and China.
The average web development cost is rather lowest in the list, starting at about $12 per hour, and if you would want the best of the best, the highest average price would be around $120+ per hour.
India takes the stage further, as China is mostly manufacturing-based, and a hub of manufacturing industries. On the other hand, the software industry is one of the most important industries in India, and a lot of big names are focused and based on providing web development services to the world.
North America
North America and Asia are the two hubs of software development in the world, so most web development work is either done in Asia, or in North America. While most work is done in the United States, Canada is in no way lagging behind. The industry is booming, and the prices to hire web developers are soaring and reaching the skies.
The average cost to hire a web developer is around $80 per hour and moves up to $400+ per hour in the North American region.
Some of the top startups and universities both are in the US, making it one of the greatest places to establish a company. While prices in Canada are lower compared to the US, companies that prefer working from the US usually hire from India or other Asian countries, to keep the prices and costs low. The average difference between the hourly rate of web development in India and the US can be anywhere from 2 to 5 times.
Rest of the world
Europe, South America, Russia, and of course the rest of the countries except North America and Asia are all a part of this list. But the fact is that most development work done here stays here, the remote work culture is still growing, And, since they are providing pricing of a median range between the highest and the lowest, they usually aren’t the first choice to outsource the work to.
Expect the average web development cost to be in a bracket of $30 to $140+ per hour, if you are planning to develop your website in, or outsource to any of the countries in this list.
FAQs
Most popular questions by our clients, we decided to make a list for easing things at all ends.
Web design is one of the most important components of your web development process. Generally, seeing the front-end or the design and graphics, within 3 seconds users decide whether or not to stay on your website. Now, talking about web design cost, it depends on the theme you choose, graphics, and UI/UX components. The more complex design you want for your project the more time it will take thereby increasing the cost. On average a basic web design may cost you somewhere around $12,000 to $150,000 / design.
Depending upon the location from where you are planning to hire web developers and their experience, will determine the cost. You may easily find web developers around the world and with a varied price range. The more experienced a developer is the more will be his hourly rate. Also, demographically the hourly rates of the developers change. For instance, developers in North America and Europe will charge you more as compared to the ones in Asian countries like India. On an average, you may find the developers starting from $15, and based on the experience this price may go up.
Calculating the cost to develop a website is a complicated process and it cannot be calculated without knowing the requirements. However, we have compiled a guide to calculate website development cost, and seeing that you can easily calculate the cost based on what technology you want, what features you are planning, and so on. Also depending upon the size and purpose this cost may vary. For example, small business websites may cost around $2000 to $9000, while websites for your eCommerce business may cost $5000 to $55,000.
Both website builder and hiring a web development company has its own set of advantages and based on what you want for your project. So, if you want a very simple design or are in a crunch of time, then going for a website builder is a great option, however, the websites developed using web builder have a lot of limitations like scalability, security, third-party integration, etc.
Reaching out to a web development company on the other hand is a great option to go for if you want a fully customized website with highly intuitive UI/UX designs and graphics. These websites are scalable, robust, and secure and even the web developers are always there to help and support you. Some website development companies also offer post-development support which is an added advantage.
Finding a good website development company for your web development project is a tough task seeing the number of companies available in the market. But to ensure that you choose the right and the best one for your project, you must have a thorough background check and clear all your doubts before hiring them. You must have a look at their portfolio, client reviews, team size, their way of doing the work, etc. to ensure that your project goes into the right hand.
Generally, the time to create a website depends upon the complexity and the number of pages you want. A single-page website will take lesser time as compared to the one with multiple pages. On an average a website development may take approx. 15 to 750 hours or even over if the website is a complex one.
If you want a simple landing page it can be developed within $2000 however, if you are planning to have a highly intuitive, feature-rich, and page with high graphics, it may cost you beyond that and may range from $2,500 to $5,000 and up.
The basic cost of creating a professional website may range from $2,500 and $95,000 but this price entirely depends on you two things: your requirements and the hourly rate of the developers. However, the hourly rate plays a major role and it varies based on the location from where you hire them.
