Website costs, explained
How much does a website cost? The straight answer.
Sam and RobDialekt, Leeds
We're Sam and Rob, a small Leeds studio. Our website projects start at £1,500, and we'd rather tell you that up front than make you book a call to find out. Here's what actually decides the price, ours or anyone else's.
The cheap option.
What the offer saysA website for £299.
What it usually meansA template with your logo on it, and you write every word.
What the offer saysJust £30 a month.
What it usually meansEvery month, forever, and the site stays theirs if you leave.
What the offer saysLive in 48 hours.
What it usually meansNobody's asked what you actually sell, or who buys it.
It depends. (But on what?)
"It depends" is the most annoying answer in web design, and it's also true. A five-page site for a local trade and a shop with a thousand products are both "a website", the same way a shed and an extension are both building work.
The price follows the work, not the page count.
So rather than a made-up price list, here's what really moves the number. Once you know which of these apply to you, you'll have a fair idea of where you sit before you speak to anyone, including us.
What moves the price
How much there is
A handful of service pages is a very different job from dozens of pages, a portfolio of projects, or a catalogue of products.
- Pages
- Projects
- Products
Who writes the words
Handing over finished copy keeps the cost down. Having it written for you costs more, and is usually where the biggest difference to enquiries comes from.
- Copywriting
- Positioning
Template or designed around you
A theme with your colours is quicker. A design built around your business takes longer, and looks like the standard of your work rather than everyone else's.
- Design
- Branding
Selling online
Shops need products loaded, payments, delivery rules, and often a link to your stock or accounts software. That's where the price climbs.
- Ecommerce
- Integrations
Moving from an old site
If the current site ranks, keeping that ranking means mapping and redirecting every page. It's careful work and worth paying for.
- Migration
- Redirects
- SEO
Anything custom
Booking systems, client portals, calculators, anything that doesn't exist as a plugin. Custom work is scoped separately, so you know the number before it starts.
- Custom builds
- Web apps
The honest bit.
The cheapest website isn't always the cheapest. A site that doesn't bring in work costs you every month in the jobs that went elsewhere.
Equally, not every business needs a big project. If a simple, well-written site will do the job, that's what we'll suggest. And if you'd rather spread the cost, we offer payment plans over 6, 12 or 18 months.
How we price a project
- 1
Talk
A short call. You tell us what you do and what the website isn't doing. We tell you straight whether we're the right people for it.
- 2
Dig
Paid discovery, where we get properly under the skin of the business, the customers and the competition. The fee comes off the project if you go ahead.
- 3
Map and Build
We plan the pages, write and design them, and build the site. You see it come together and sign off each stage.
- 4
Grow
Launch isn't the finish line. We watch how people actually use the site and keep improving it.
What the money buys
Also worth a look
- WebsitesThe full service, and everything under it.
- Web design in LeedsWebsites for businesses that are better than their website.
- Website migrationLeaving Yell, Wix or a locked contract without losing your rankings.
- Ecommerce websitesShopify and WooCommerce shops built to sell.
- Websites for buildersBetter enquiries from the right clients, in the right areas.
- Website redesignRebuild it or fix it, and keep what Google already likes.
Ask us for a number.
Want a real number?
Tell us what you do and roughly what you need. We'll come back with an honest idea of cost before you commit to anything.
Our projects start at £1,500. Where you land above that depends on the things on this page: how much there is, who writes it, how custom it is, and whether you're selling online.
Because "a website" can mean a template you fill in yourself or a site planned, written and designed around your business. Ask any quote what's actually included, especially the words, the SEO and who owns the site afterwards.
Hosting and a domain, always. Beyond that, optional support, updates and ongoing SEO, which we offer on a rolling monthly basis rather than a long contract.
Yes. We offer payment plans over 6, 12 or 18 months, and the exact schedule comes with your quote.
Yes. Domain, hosting, site and analytics in your name. We don't do the rent-it-back model.
More than a brochure site, because of the products, payments and delivery setup. There's more detail on our ecommerce page, and you'll get a proper quote once we know what you sell.