It's the first question almost everyone asks us, and fair enough. Ask three web people and you'll get three quotes that look like they came from three different planets. One says $800, one says $8,000, one says "it depends" and never gets back to you. So here's our honest take, after building more than 150 websites for small businesses on Wix, WordPress and Shopify.
Why the quotes are all over the place
A website isn't one thing. It's a bit like asking what a renovation costs. A fresh coat of paint and a new kitchen are both "renovations", and nobody expects them to cost the same.
Some quotes are for a template with your logo dropped in. Some include writing, photos, a booking system and a proper plan for getting found on Google. Some leave out things you'll only discover later, like who owns the site or what the monthly fees will be. Two quotes can look wildly different simply because they're not quoting the same job.
The rough ranges we see in Australia
These are rough market ranges, based on what we see around the traps and what other Australian studios publish. They're not our price list, and your project might land outside them.
- Do it yourself on a template. Roughly $500 to $1,500 a year once you add a paid plan, a premium template and a few add-ons. Plus your own time, which is the cost people forget.
- A small business site built by a freelancer or small studio. Roughly $3,000 to $10,000 for a typical service business with five to ten pages.
- An online shop. Roughly $10,000 and up, because products, payments, shipping and stock all need setting up and testing.
- Something genuinely custom. Booking platforms, client portals and the like often start in the tens of thousands and keep going.
Then there are ongoing costs. A domain name is usually tens of dollars a year. Hosting or a platform plan is typically a monthly fee, from cheap shared hosting through to managed plans. And if someone looks after updates, security and small changes for you, that's another monthly or hourly cost.
What pushes the price up
- Number of pages and how different they are. Ten pages that share one layout cost less than ten pages that each do something unique.
- Writing. If you need the words written for you, that's real work. Good copy is often the difference between a nice-looking site and one that gets the phone ringing.
- Photos and branding. If your logo needs a refresh or you have no decent photos, that needs sorting first.
- Features. Online bookings, quote forms, memberships, product filters, connections to your accounting or customer software. Each one adds setup and testing.
- An online shop. Every product needs entering, pricing, photos and shipping rules.
- Moving an old site. Bringing across years of blog posts or hundreds of products takes time, and so does making sure old links still point somewhere sensible.
What brings it down
- Having your content ready. Words, photos and a clear list of services save hours (and therefore dollars).
- Starting smaller. Launch with the pages that matter, add the nice-to-haves later.
- Choosing the right platform. A hosted platform like Wix or Shopify can mean less custom building and less ongoing maintenance for a lot of small businesses.
- Making decisions quickly. Projects that drag on cost more for everyone.
Cheap versus good value
We're not here to tell you a $1,000 website is always a mistake. For a brand new side hustle, a simple template might be exactly right.
But cheap often gets expensive later. In our experience, the common problems are sites that look fine on a laptop and fall apart on a phone, sites nobody can update without paying the original developer, and sites built on an account that belongs to someone else. That last one stings. Plenty of owners only find out who really controls their website when they try to leave.
Good value looks like this: the site does a job (calls, enquiries, bookings or sales), you can make small changes yourself, and you own it.
Questions to ask before you pay anyone
Print this list out if you like. A good studio will answer every one without squirming.
- Is this a fixed price, or an estimate? And what happens if the job grows?
- What exactly is included? Pages, writing, images, forms, setup on Google, training.
- Who owns the website, the domain and the content? It should be you, in accounts in your name.
- What will it cost every month or year after launch? Platform fees, hosting, plugins, apps, maintenance.
- Can I update it myself? And will you show me how?
- Who will I actually be working with? The person you meet, or someone you'll never speak to?
- What happens after launch? If something breaks in three months, who fixes it and what does it cost?
- Can I see sites you've built for businesses like mine? And can I call one of those owners?
How we price
We keep it simple. We have a quick chat about what your business needs, then we quote one fixed price. No hourly meter running, no surprise invoices halfway through, and you own everything when we're done. If a template and a weekend of your time is the smarter move for where you're at, we'll tell you that too.
- Most small business websites in Australia land roughly between $3,000 and $10,000 when built by a professional, with online shops and custom builds costing more.
- The price is driven by pages, writing, features, products and how much needs moving from an old site.
- Ask about ongoing costs and ownership before you sign anything.
- The cheapest quote is only cheap if the site actually does its job and belongs to you.
If you'd like a straight answer for your business, book a 15-minute call and we'll talk it through.
