Free: 5
Connect Domain: 7
Combo: 9
Unlimited: 5
VIP: 39
Free: 5
Connect Domain: 3
Combo: 6
Unlimited: 8
VIP: 12
Free: 4
Connect Domain: 7
Combo: 6
Unlimited: 9
VIP: 28.8
Free: 7
Connect Domain: 9
Combo: 6
Unlimited: 5
VIP: 45
Free: 9
Connect Domain: 10
Combo: 8
Unlimited: 10
VIP: 15
Creating a website is connected with using lots of extra services. To launch your site, you will need to buy a domain, hosting, as well as use web builders and third-party plugins. How much does it cost to build a website? Is it possible to calculate the average cost of website design for small businesses? These are the most common questions, asked by thousands of beginners in the world of website development. In this article, we will show you how much money a newbie needs to create a site from scratch.
There is nothing new that nowadays you don’t need to hire a professional developer to create a website. Moreover, most users are no longer ask for help expert coders since their services are incredibly pricey. To set up a website, you will need to begin with several important solutions:
Domain. The domain is also called a name for your website, for example, myfirstsite.com. This is what your visitors will type into the browser to get access to your website. As a rule, you will need to purchase a domain name for one year. After the date expires, you will be asked to prolong your domain ownership. In case you would like to continue using your domain, you will need to renew the subscription. Otherwise, you can leave your domain name to expire. Note: after the domain name expires, it can be purchased by someone else.
Hosting. Hosting is like a home for your website. It is special storage on servers, where all your media files, texts, and other website data is stored. There are various types of hosting available to website owners. These are shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and the others. As a rule, most beginners choose shared hosting since it is one of the cheapest options.
Website builder. The builder is a special program that will help you to create your website. The software is usually completely easy and doesn’t require having any knowledge in coding or web development. The entire process of crafting your site is done with the help of intuitively understandable drag and drop builders. With the help of a web builder, you will be able to create almost any type of modern website for reasonable costs:
Business website
Personal website
E-commerce site
Portfolio
Blog
Other types of websites
Pro-tip for beginners: Don’t hurry up to buy a domain and hosting before choosing the website builder. In most cases, the price for these two options will be included to website development costs of any builder’s plan. This simple trick can save you lots of time and effort.
The cost of your website depends on which type of creating a site you will choose. There are 2 most common methods to craft your web resource. Below we will compare them to learn the pricing for each service.
Creating a website with the help of a pro developer or designer. This way, don't forget to add these expenses to your cost calculator:
Setting up your site - $150
Website design cost - $4,000
Charge to build a website - $2,000
Training how to use it - $500
Maintenance (update and backup services) - $500
So, what will be the total cost for creating a website with professional assistance? To summarize, it is a whopping $7,150!
2. The cost for creating a website with the help of an online builder:
Setting up your site - $0
Website design pricing - $0
Charge to build a website - $0
Training how to use it - $0
Maintenance (update and backup services) - $60
Looking miraculous, isn’t it? However, creating a stunning website for only $60 is absolutely real! Moreover, you can divide the total sum of maintaining your website and pay the cost per month ($5 monthly) In case you have a limited budget or just want to save your money for something more important, consider choosing a website builder for crafting your website.
There is nothing easier than creating a website with the help of the website builder. When choosing the best alternative for web development it is better to pay attention to those aspects:
The number of templates. The template is like a draft to your site. Most builder’s templates are available for free, while some of the themes or templates are available for an extra cost. The higher the number of templates you get, the easier your job is likely to appear. Moreover, if you pick up the template that perfectly suits your needs and expectations, you will be able to finish editing within the shortest terms. It is usually a good idea to pick up the platform that offers a large number of templates in various categories. In this case, you will definitely find some templates that will perfectly suit your taste and needs. If you still can’t pick up a good template, you can purchase any suitable option from the app store of your builder.
Mobile-friendly design. As a rule, this feature is offered by most platforms for free. The template you choose is likely to have a responsive design that will perfectly fit any portable device. Your website should definitely look perfectly on mobile phones and tablets with different screens, so make sure your builder provides you with mobile-friendly templates. Otherwise, it is better to pick up another software.
Customization. The easier customization is, the less time you will need to craft your website. Your time is your money. Therefore, you shouldn’t spend hours learning how to add, update, or delete content on your website - the process of customization should be as easy, as 1-2-3. If you feel you are spending plenty of time with placing new elements on your site, consider moving to another builder. Different pricing plans might offer various levels of customization. The more freedom to edit your site you want to have, the more money you might need to spend.
If you are looking for extra functions or plugins for your site, make sure your builder has a special application store. This way, you will be able to purchase widgets, plugins, and themes for a low cost. In case you choose the builder that has too limited integration with third-party apps, you might need to pay extra money for moving to another pricing plan.
Drag-and-drop builder. The drag-and-drop builder is one of the most powerful utilities that are developed to help beginners create their own sites. This tool is really innovative and easy-to-use. To add new elements to your web page, you will need to take it from a special panel and place directly to your site. The drag-and-drop builder is always available for free in any pricing plan, so you will not need to spend extra money on this tool.
Coding functions. Adding your code to the website you create is one of the tools, highly valued by professional developers. Moreover, if you are planning to hire a programmer for creating a unique plugin or tool for your website, you will surely need this feature. However, most builders are fully hosted services and don’t offer access to the program code of your website. However, there are still some platforms that have some premium plans that allow inserting your HTML or CSS code to the website. In this case, get ready to pay over $30 per month for the feature.
Support. As a rule, most builders offer support via email, chat, or phone for no extra cost. However, you might need to wait for a few business days to get a response. Most support systems are incredibly slow, so get ready to wait. Many website builders benefit from this issue - you can get premium support in case you purchase a more expensive plan. This way, get you will need to pay an extra $5-20 per month.
Storage. As a rule, most builders have limited storage space for the cheapest plans. The basic storage space might vary from 500 MB to 5GB in different builders. In case you are planning to create an online store or a heavy website with a large number of pages, it is better to have unlimited storage. In most cases, this is a paid feature, available for an additional fee. The fee depends on the type of builder you choose but will cost you $10-$200 on average.
Customizable email. If you are looking for a unique email for your company, for example, [email protected], you will need to look for this extra feature in your builder’s plans. Generally, a customizable email will cost you about $10 per month billed annually. You can also purchase this feature from third-party apps and save your money for something more important.
Subscription. Purchasing a monthly subscription is usually more expensive than a yearly subscription for the same plan. The truth is that many platforms offer great discounts for users, who buy long-term subscription plans. With this simple trick, you can easily save over $100 per year for your subscription.
The type of website you are planning to create has the biggest impact on the final cost for your project. There are lots of different websites designed for meeting various goals. These are landing pages, e-commerce sites, portfolios, blogs, etc. Each type requires its own features and widgets, so the cost for each type of website will be significantly different. Below you will find more information about the costs on creating the most common website categories.
As a rule, a business website is designed to provide visitors with information about the company This type of site should increase the clients’ loyalty and attract new customers. In most cases, the business website contains these pages:
About the company
Offered services
Pricing list
Blog
Contact form
Testimonials
You might also require some extra features, such as online chat, SSL certificate, the newsletter, subscription, customized email, woocommerce, etc. All these functions will cost you extra money.
To summarize, the cost of creating a business website will cost you around $9,000 if you choose a professional developer.
For website builders, get ready to pay around $8 - $15 per month for maintaining a similar site. The cost will depend on the chosen builder and the number of features you will need to implement.
Nowadays, online stores are gaining increasing popularity. To go online, you will need to get a handy e-commerce solution that will be able to place the orders, proceed with payments, and offer various delivery methods. Generally, any online store will need:
The main page
Product pages
Shopping cart
Favorites
Check out
Blog
Contact us form
Customers’ rating and feedback
Moreover, any e-commerce website requires implementing a list of extra features:
Creating an account
Integration with different payment systems
Search option
Recently viewed products or services
Admin panel
Analytics
Advanced security features
Creating an e-commerce website requires more time and investments since it is a much more complicated solution than a classical business website. All the site’s aspects, including design, web development, SEO, and marketing need a more professional approach.
Therefore, a standard e-commerce website, crafted by a team of experts, will cost you over $17,000.
Can’t afford to pay such a huge sum of money? Consider the do-it-yourself option, offered by website builders. This way, the cost of your website will cost $15 - $300 per month.
The landing page is a one-page website that represents a certain product or service. The main goal of any landing page is to stimulate the user to do any certain action (for example, purchase the product or download a file)
Although the landing page is usually long, its costs for development are usually lower than for business websites. Your landing page is likely to contain a number of elements:
Bulleted lists
Contact form
Call to action button
Counter
Other additional widgets
In most cases, a simple landing page will cost you about $2,000 when hiring a web developer. A similar solution, created with the help of online builders (Wordpress, Wix, Ukit, Weebly, etc.) is available for only $5-$15 per month.
Overpaying is a common mistake for most beginners when creating a website. Is it possible to avoid overpaying? With these pro tips, you will be able to save your money with almost no efforts:
Choose an all-in-one solution. When it comes to picking up the right builder for your website, it might be a good idea to purchase a plan along with the domain and hosting. First, it is much more convenient. Second, some builders offer free domain and hosting for one year in case you purchase their plans for a long-time period (a year or two)
Trial period. Most builders offer a free trial period for 7-15 days. During this time, you have a unique opportunity to try using a chosen platform for no extra cost. Feel free to play with different functions and options, as well as make a decision whether the builder suits your needs. In case you don’t like the platform, you can easily move to other software. If ut suits all your needs, you can purchase a certain plan and start creating a pro website.
Compare the price lists of various builders. Different web creators can offer similar functionality for different prices. The cost can significantly vary, so it is better to analyze the number of features and their price available at several builders. This way, you can save lots of money and start using convenient software for reasonable money.
Premium features. When purchasing a plan, don’t hurry up to buy the most expensive plan. As a rule, premium plans contain advanced functions that you might not use. Consider reviewing all the functions in a plan not to overpay for the functionality you really don’t need.
Paid themes and templates. The same rule works for paid services. When choosing a draft for your website, start with free themes and templates. In most cases, you will find something special that will perfectly fit your requirements.
Marketing is one of the most underestimated expenses when creating a website. Don’t forget to add marketing cost to your budget when creating a business plan for launching your website. Your marketing expenses are likely to include:
Content marketing. In case you are not good at writing or blogging, you will need to hire a professional writer. If you have a large website or an online shop with hundreds of goods or services, you might need a couple of writers. The average price for a post or an article that contains $1000 words varies from $100-$300. The product descriptions are available for $3-5 dollars each. You can either add the products or services to the site by yourself or hire a content manager. Therefore, consider adding these costs yo your marketing plan.
SEO. Promoting the website is one of the vital steps for the success of your business. Some builders offer this function for an extra cost that might bring you $10-$20 of extra fees per month. Moreover, you can also hire a SEO expert for promoting your site on a regular basis.
Promotion in social media. Social media is currently an amazing source of organic traffic to your website. However, adding posts, communicating with potential customers, as well as placing ads in social media will require lots of additional costs.
What else should you know to have a website? What extra expenses can appear when creating your web resource? The answers below:
Media. Your website will definitely contain lots of images. Sometimes you will also need to place some videos to your site. However, most images and photos available on the Internet are the subject of copyright or sold out for extra fees. Therefore, if you require some unique or rare photos, you might need to pay extra money for various media files. Free stocks are all available but if you are looking for an outstanding picture, get ready to pay $1-$90 per image.
HTTPS/SSL. Website security is one of the most important features of any website. To get a safety certificate, you will need to purchase it. Paid certificates usually start at $15 yearly. This option is surely a must-have function for most websites, especially for e-commerce solutions.
Premium updates.You can be engaged in the web development process,when suddenly find out that you desperately need a more expensive plan. This way, uupgrading your planto more feature-rich solutions will require extra costs.
Transaction fees. Most builders require paying a 3% transaction fee for any payment made with the help of their platform (for online stores, the sum of transaction fee might appear to be too high) TTherefore in case you are planning to launch an e-commerce solution, make sure to add this kind of expenses to your budget. By the way, some builders offer to remove a 3% fee for more expensive premium plans. Therefore, in case you expect to have a large number of deals, it is better to purchase a plan with no transaction fee.
All in all, creating a website requires some time to learn the basics of site development, analyzing different builders, as well as choosing the best pricing and features that will suit your personal needs. Avoid making decisions too fast, consider making a detailed comparison of different types of software, choose the best type of website for your project, and have good luck!
