What a website costs: what the effort depends on and how to compare quotes

The question about price usually comes up very early in the initial consultation. That is understandable. Still, we cannot give a serious figure at that point, because “a website” says about as much about the scope as “a house”. A one-pager for a holiday flat in the Ennstal and a platform where members of an association book and pay for seminars have little in common apart from the word. We have built both. Even so, the effort is worlds apart.

Instead of a price list, I describe here what the effort depends on, which running costs you should ask about and how to compare quotes so that the comparison actually tells you something.

What determines the effort

Page types, not page count. What matters is how many different kinds of pages there are: home page, service page, team page, blog post, contact page. Ten service pages following the same pattern are one page type. It is designed, developed and tested on mobile and desktop once. A single page with its own layout, on the other hand, can take more work than twenty similar ones.

Content. Who writes the texts, who takes the photos? In many projects this is the point the schedule depends on. If you supply finished texts, that is a different project from one where we develop content together with you or a copywriter from our network joins in. Moving over old content is work too: reviewing, shortening, reorganising.

Custom design or adapted template. Adapting a template is quicker. But you get a layout that others have too. You also reach its limits sooner. With us, a custom design starts as a clickable prototype that we go through and improve together. If there is no logo and no colour scheme yet, branding comes before the website.

Features and interfaces. A contact form is standard. Appointment booking with integrated payment, as for Sarah Fraberger's kinesiology practice, is a separate building block. Connecting to existing software depends on what the other system offers. We check this in advance so that it does not become a surprise during the project.

Online shop. What counts here is the product range, variants, payment methods, shipping and whether orders should flow into an inventory management system. A shop with a few products on Shopify is ready to launch quickly. A shop connected to stock management needs more planning.

Multiple languages. A second language is more than a translation. Every page exists twice, and navigation and addresses have to fit. Clarify early who will maintain the second language later.

Accessibility. If it is considered from the start, it is part of design and development. Retrofitting it is almost always more work. Since 28 June 2025 the Accessibility Act has applied to many online shops, with micro-enterprises exempt. What this means in practice is explained in our article on the Accessibility Act.

Running costs you should ask about

Many quotes only cover building the site. After that, though, a website needs hosting, a domain, an SSL certificate and usually email mailboxes. Then there are updates: a WordPress site with many plugins needs regular maintenance, otherwise it becomes a security risk.

You should ask these questions before you sign:

• What running costs are there? What is included (backups, updates, changes)?

• Are there licences that must be renewed every year, for example for premium plugins, themes, fonts, images or the shop system?

• Does the payment provider charge fees per transaction?

• In whose name is the domain registered?

• Who has access to hosting, CMS and analytics?

• Who are the photos licensed to? May you keep using them after a switch?

The last three questions sound minor. But they decide whether you can switch freely later. How we handle hosting and support is described on the page Hosting & Support.

Making quotes comparable

Two quotes can only be compared if they describe the same thing. Give all providers the same brief: which page types, which features, who supplies the content, how many languages. Then check what each one includes. Are texts included? Is old content moved over? Are there redirects from the old addresses so that existing Google rankings are not lost? How many rounds of revisions are planned? Will you learn to maintain content yourself?

Pay particular attention to the model behind it. With a website subscription you pay monthly, but the website belongs to the provider. If you cancel, it is gone or has to be replaced. The entry price looks low. Still, do the maths over several years and read carefully what happens on cancellation. With a one-off build you pay for the project once, and hosting and support run separately. This is how we work: once the project is complete, the website belongs to you. Hosting and support are a separate, open-ended contract that you can cancel.

Warning signs

A fixed price without a single question about your plans tells you that someone is selling a ready-made package rather than planning your project. I would also be cautious if the domain is registered to the agency, if you do not get your own access to the system or if content from a website builder cannot be exported. A quote that only states a total without individual items cannot be checked. Anyone who guarantees you “first place on Google” is promising something nobody can guarantee.

How it works with us

It starts with a free initial consultation. We ask what the website should achieve, who you want to reach and what already exists. Then we send a quote with page structure, feature list and schedule, in which all costs are stated openly, including the running ones. So you know before the start what you are committing to.

If you would like to go through your plans, write to us.