What does a website cost?

Websites run from a one-pager to a multilingual site with booking and a shop, so there's no list price — but there is an honest range and a clear set of cost drivers.

“What does a website cost” has no single answer, because the number comes from your choices, not the tool. Here's what actually drives it, your options at each budget, and where I fit.

What drives the cost

• Pages and templates — five pages or fifty.
• Languages — each one roughly multiplies the content and the proofreading.
• Custom design vs. a template — bespoke is slower and dearer; a good template is neither.
• Integrations — booking, payments, CRM, a shop. Each adds build and testing.
• SEO depth — the technical setup is quick; content and ongoing work are not.
• Maintenance — the quiet, recurring cost most quotes leave out.

Your options, roughly by budget

Two worlds. Hosted builders bundle hosting, editor and support into a monthly fee and let you ship without code — you trade flexibility and portability for convenience. Developer frameworks give you a fast, fully-owned site, but need someone who can build it.

Builders — no code, monthly fee

• Squarespace — Polished templates for portfolios, brochure sites and small shops; no code. Subscription from ~€16/mo.
• Wix — The widest template and app library, with an AI site generator; aimed at non-developers. Freemium, subscription from ~€17/mo.
• Webflow — Visual design with real CSS control and a built-in CMS — designer-grade, steeper to learn. Site plans from ~€15/mo.
• Framer — A Figma-like canvas that publishes fast, animated marketing sites. Free tier; paid from ~€10/mo.
• WordPress.com — Managed, hosted WordPress with hosting and updates bundled in. Freemium; paid from ~€4/mo.
• Shopify — Purpose-built for online stores: catalogue, checkout, payments and shipping in one. From ~€39/mo plus card fees.
• Ghost — Clean publishing and paid newsletters; self-host free (MIT) or managed from ~€15/mo. (GitHub)

Frameworks — built once, hosted cheaply

• Astro — A content-first framework that ships almost no JavaScript — very fast sites. Open source (MIT), you pay only for hosting. (GitHub)
• Next.js — The dominant React framework for sites and full apps. Open source (MIT); pairs natively with Vercel. (GitHub)
• Eleventy — A simple static-site generator that turns templates into plain, fast HTML. Open source (MIT). (GitHub)
• WordPress.org — The self-hosted open-source CMS (GPL) — hugely flexible via themes and plugins, but the plugins are where cost and upkeep hide. (GitHub)

Hosting

• Vercel — Front-end cloud with git-push deploys and preview URLs; the default home for Next.js. Free hobby tier, Pro from ~€20/mo.
• Netlify — Git-based hosting for static sites and serverless functions, with forms and previews. Free tier, Pro from ~€20/mo.
• Cloudflare Pages — Static hosting on Cloudflare's global edge with unlimited bandwidth even on the free tier.
• AWS Amplify — Amazon's managed hosting for static and server-rendered sites, with build pipelines and a global CDN, billed by usage. What this site runs on.

Builder or custom — how to choose

If you'll edit the site weekly yourself and you're happy with the look, a builder like Squarespace or Framer is honestly fine — don't let anyone shame you out of it. If speed, a distinct design, multilingual SEO, or not paying monthly plugin rent matter, a custom, statically-delivered site wins: fast, owned outright, cheap to keep online. This site is built exactly that way — hosted on AWS.

Running costs

A static site is cheap to host — often a few euros a month, sometimes nothing. The one cost that never goes away is your domain, about €10–20 a year. There are no mandatory plugin subscriptions just to stay online, and maintenance is only what you choose to do.

Where I fit. I build custom, multilingual, statically-delivered sites — turnkey from €2,000 for a clean one-pager, more by scope. That base covers design, build, hosting setup on AWS, and handover in one language; extra languages, copywriting and photography are scoped on top. If a builder genuinely fits you better, I'll say so on the call rather than sell you something heavier than you need.

Websites that sell

Common questions.

What does a website cost?

Turnkey from €2,000 for a clean one-pager; multilingual sites, booking or a shop sit above that, by scope. You get a fixed quote after a short call.

Isn't a builder like Wix cheaper?

Cheaper upfront, yes — €15–40 a month and you build it yourself. Over years the subscriptions add up, and you're held back by the template and slower SEO. For some that's the right trade; for others a one-time custom build is.

Can you build on WordPress or Webflow if I want it?

Yes, when that's genuinely the best fit for you. I default to custom static because it's faster and cheaper to run, but I'll work with whatever suits your case.

What are the running costs?

Low — a static site is often a few euros a month to host. No subscription is required just to stay online, and maintenance is optional rather than mandatory.