How much does a website cost? As a rough guide, a simple business brochure site usually costs from approximately €350 to €1,200, a larger company website with a dozen or so pages from approximately €1,200 to €3,500, and custom projects with integrations come in above that. On top of this come ongoing costs: a domain, hosting, an SSL certificate and maintenance. The final price depends on scope, the number of pages, the content, and who prepares the copy and photos.
These are market ranges, not a price list: you’ll find both much cheaper and far more expensive offers. Below we explain what affects the price and what to look at when comparing quotes. Figures are converted from Polish market prices and will vary by country and provider.
What determines the price of a business website?
Number and type of pages
A one-page site with a few sections is a very different scope from a website with an offer split into a dozen services, a blog and location pages. Every page means layout design, content and testing.
Visual design
A site based on a proven template, adapted to your brand, will be cheaper than a design drawn from scratch. A custom design makes sense when visual differentiation is critical for your business. For many local businesses, a well-fitted modern layout is entirely enough.
Content and photos
This is often an underestimated cost. Someone has to write the copy about your company and services, prepare photos and describe the offer. If you supply ready materials, the price drops. If the provider writes the content, runs a photo shoot or sources graphics, it goes up.
Additional features
Every feature that goes beyond presenting content raises the cost:
- forms with custom logic,
- a booking system or appointment calendar,
- multiple language versions,
- an online store or online payments,
- integrations with a CRM, booking system or accounting software,
- a chatbot or other AI features.
SEO and performance
Basic optimization (proper headings, meta descriptions, fast loading, a mobile version) should be standard. An extensive SEO strategy, keyword research or a content plan is usually a separate service.
How the site is edited
Traditional sites have an admin panel (CMS) where you change content yourself. Implementing and configuring a CMS takes extra time. The alternatives are sites edited by the provider or, increasingly, through a chat with an AI assistant that makes changes based on your request.
Approximate price ranges
| Type of site | Approximate one-time cost | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Brochure site / one-pager | usually approx. €350–1,200 | Freelancers, small local businesses |
| Company website (5–15 pages) | usually approx. €1,200–3,500 | Service companies, clinics, offices |
| Larger site with integrations | usually from approx. €3,500 up | Businesses with many services and online processes |
| Online store | highly variable, usually from a few thousand euros | Online sales |
Prices are indicative and differ by region, the provider’s experience and scope. Always compare quotes on what exactly they include.
Website builder, freelancer or agency?
The price also depends heavily on who builds the site and how. Each route has its pros and cons.
Website builder (DIY). You mainly pay a subscription for the tool, but you build the site yourself. It’s a good option if you have the time and enjoy this kind of task. The downsides are the hours spent learning, template limitations, and the fact that the site is often tied to a single vendor.
Freelancer. Usually cheaper than an agency and often very flexible. It’s worth checking, though, who will look after the site when the freelancer is unavailable and whether they’ll hand over full access to the domain, hosting and files.
Agency or studio. Usually a higher price, but also a wider scope: design, content, SEO, post-launch support. For a company that doesn’t want to deal with technology, it’s usually the most convenient option.
Whichever you choose, ask about turnaround time. A traditional process can take several weeks, mostly because of waiting for successive versions and revisions. A shorter process means fewer hours of work, and so usually a lower price.
Ongoing costs: easy to forget
A website isn’t just a one-time expense. Every year you pay for several things without which it won’t run.
Domain
The address of your site, for example yourcompany.com. Registration can be cheap, but renewal in later years is often higher. Look at the renewal price, not just the first-year price. The domain should be registered in your name, not the provider’s.
Hosting
Space on a server where the site runs. For a typical company website this is usually somewhere between about €10 and €100 per year. Modern static sites can be hosted very cheaply, even on the free plans of cloud providers.
SSL certificate
It provides an encrypted connection (the padlock and “https” in the address). Today most hosting providers include a basic certificate at no extra charge. Browsers flag a site without SSL as not secure.
Maintenance and changes
Software updates, backups, security patches and small content changes. Sites built on popular CMSs require regular plugin updates. Many companies choose a standing subscription with the provider or pay for each change separately.
Why does AI shorten the time and lower the cost of a website?
A large part of the work on a company website is repetitive: preparing the structure, first drafts of copy, fitting the layout to the content, optimizing images, the mobile version. AI tools let you complete these steps far faster than doing them by hand.
In practice this means that:
- a first version of the site can be ready within a business day, rather than several weeks,
- fewer hours of work translates into a lower price for the client,
- revisions are faster, because changing a text or a section doesn’t mean waiting in a long task queue,
- editing through a chat with an AI assistant replaces learning a CMS panel.
AI doesn’t replace experience, though. Someone still has to take care of strategy, a clear offer, technical correctness and SEO. What changes is that less time goes into mechanical tasks and more into what actually affects how well the site performs.
You can read more about this approach on the page website in one day.
What to watch out for when comparing quotes
- What’s included? Does the quote cover content, photos, SEO, a mobile version and form setup?
- Who owns the domain and the site? Make sure the domain is in your name and that you can take the site with you when the engagement ends.
- How much do changes cost after launch? A cheap site with expensive revisions quickly stops being cheap.
- What are the yearly costs? Ask for a breakdown of ongoing costs for the first and subsequent years.
- How fast does the site load? A heavy site converts worse and may do worse in search results.
If you already have a website and are wondering whether to rebuild it, read how to do a website redesign that protects your Google rankings.
Find out what your website will cost
At nbits we build websites for businesses with a first version online in 1 business day. You don’t have to learn any admin panel: you make changes by writing in a chat with a virtual AI assistant. See what website creation for businesses looks like and get in touch, and we’ll prepare a quote tailored to your scope.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a simple website for a small business cost?
As a rough guide, a simple brochure or one-page site usually costs approximately €350 to €1,200 as a one-time fee. On top of that come yearly costs for the domain, hosting and any maintenance.
What are the yearly costs of keeping a website running?
Ongoing costs consist of the domain, hosting, an SSL certificate (often included in hosting) and maintenance, meaning updates, backups and content changes. Their level depends on the site’s technology and the scope of support.
Is a website built with the help of AI worse?
No, provided an experienced person oversees the whole thing. AI speeds up repetitive work such as first drafts of copy and layouts, while a person is responsible for strategy, quality, SEO and fit with the business.