“How much does a website cost” is like asking how much a vehicle costs. A used hatchback and a delivery fleet are both “vehicles.” What you’re really asking is: what does the job in front of me actually require? Here are the honest bands for 2026, and the four things that move you between them.
The three bands
Template site — roughly $0 to $5,000
A theme on Squarespace, Wix, Shopify or WordPress, configured and filled with your content. Fast to launch, cheap to run, and genuinely fine for a business that needs a credible online presence and not much else. The cost is mostly your time or a freelancer’s: writing the copy, sorting the photos, wiring up a contact form and a booking widget.
Where it stops working: when you need the site to do something specific — an instant quote, a real calculator, a booking flow that matches how you actually schedule, an integration with your CRM. Templates fight you on all of that.
Custom marketing site — roughly $6,000 to $30,000
Designed and built around your business rather than fitted into a theme. This is the band for companies where the website is a real sales channel: service businesses that live or die on lead quality, firms whose buyers compare several vendors before calling, anyone who needs the site to answer questions and book work without a phone call.
What you’re paying for: a structure designed for your customer’s decision, copy that does the persuading, one or two genuinely useful interactive tools, fast performance, and clean analytics so you can see what’s working.
Web application — $30,000 and up
A portal, dashboard, booking system, marketplace, or internal tool. Now you’re paying for software: data models, accounts and permissions, third-party integrations, testing, and ongoing maintenance. The range is wide because scope is wide — a simple client portal and a multi-sided platform are both “web apps.”
The four things that move the number
- How much is bespoke. Every screen designed from scratch costs more than a system of components reused across the site. Good agencies build the second kind and spend the saved time on the pages that matter.
- Interactive tools. A contact form is nearly free. A working affordability calculator, an availability calendar, or a build-your-quote cart is real engineering with real logic to get right.
- Integrations. Connecting to your CRM, booking software, payment processor or accounting system is where “quick” projects slow down. Each integration is its own small project.
- Content. If you have finished copy and photography, the build moves fast. If someone has to write twelve pages and organise a shoot, that’s weeks — priced in or done by you.
A rule of thumb
If the website is a brochure, buy a template. If the website is how you get customers, it’s a business investment and should be scoped like one.
The mistake we see most: a business that clearly needs the middle band tries to force a template to do the job, spends six months fighting it, and rebuilds properly a year later having paid twice. If the site is central to how you win work, start in the right band.
What we do
We work in the custom marketing site and web application bands — the point where the site stops being a brochure and starts being a system. If you’re not sure which band your project is in, that’s a five-minute conversation, and it’s worth having before you spend anything.