"How much does a website cost?" is a question with too many honest answers and just as many dishonest ones. Ask five studios and you'll get five numbers that don't seem to describe the same thing — because they usually aren't. A €400 website and an €8,000 website can both technically be "a website", the same way a bicycle and a delivery van are both "a vehicle". This article breaks down what actually moves the price, so you can tell a fair quote from a guess.
What actually drives the price
Six things decide most of the number on the invoice. Everything else is detail on top.
- Number of pages and their complexity. A one-page site with a contact form is a few hours of work. A ten-page site with a booking calendar, a blog and a product catalogue is a different project entirely — and should be priced as one.
- Custom design vs template. A theme that gets customised is faster and cheaper to build than a layout designed from scratch around your brand. Neither is wrong. They should simply not cost the same, and a quote should tell you which one you're getting.
- Copywriting. Someone has to write the words. If you supply finished text, that's less billable time for the studio. If they need to interview you, research your market and write persuasive copy from nothing, that's real work — budget for it as its own line.
- Photography. Stock photos are free or a few euros each. A half-day shoot of your premises, your team and your product is a separate cost — and usually the single biggest visible difference between a cheap site and a genuinely good one.
- Integrations. A booking system, online payments, a second language, a CRM connection or a newsletter signup each add real build time, not just a tick in a box.
- Ongoing hosting and maintenance. The build is one payment. Keeping the site online, secure and updated is a separate, recurring cost — whether you pay it to your studio, a hosting company, or in your own time.
Fixed price vs hourly billing
Two studios can quote wildly different numbers for the same brief simply because they bill differently, not because one is ripping you off.
A fixed price means you agree on a defined scope — this many pages, these features, this many rounds of revisions — for one number, decided before work starts. You know exactly what you'll pay. The risk sits with the studio: if the job runs longer than planned, that's their problem, not yours. The trade-off is that anything outside the agreed scope becomes a paid extra.
Hourly billing means you pay for time actually spent, against an estimate rather than a promise. It suits open-ended or evolving projects well, but it shifts the risk onto you — if the project runs long, so does the bill. If a studio only offers hourly billing, always ask for a not-to-exceed cap in writing.
Neither model is inherently better. What matters is that you know, before you sign, which one you're agreeing to.
What a fair quote must itemise
A trustworthy quote reads like a shopping list, not one mysterious total. At minimum, it should separately state:
- The number of pages or templates included, named individually
- Whether the design is custom or template-based, and how many revision rounds are included
- Whether copywriting and photography are included, partly included, or entirely your responsibility
- Every integration by name — booking system, payment provider, newsletter tool, live chat
- Domain registration — whether it's included, and who legally owns it afterwards
- Hosting cost, monthly or yearly, and exactly what it covers
- What happens after launch — is there a maintenance contract, and what's inside it
- A real delivery date, not "a few weeks"
If a quote can't answer these without a follow-up email, that's already useful information about how the project will go.
Hidden costs that don't show up in the headline price
Beyond the six big drivers above, a handful of smaller costs tend to surprise first-time buyers because they're easy to leave out of a first conversation.
- Extra revision rounds. Most fixed-price quotes include a set number of design revisions — commonly two or three. Every round past that is usually billed separately, and it's worth asking the rate before you're mid-project.
- Stock photo and font licensing. A "free" stock image today can turn into a licensing fee if the site's traffic or use case changes later. Ask whether the images and fonts used are properly licensed for commercial use, not just downloaded and dropped in.
- Third-party app subscriptions. A booking system, live chat tool or advanced form builder often runs on its own separate monthly fee, on top of your hosting — this is easy to miss when comparing two quotes that structure the same feature differently.
- Content migration. If you're replacing an existing site, moving your old blog posts, product listings or client testimonials across isn't automatic. Ask whether migration is included or charged as extra.
- Translation. If you need a second language, translating and adapting the copy is a distinct job from building the page — it needs its own line in the quote, not an assumption that it's "included".
What websites actually cost in Western Europe
Prices vary a lot by country, by the size of the studio, and by what's actually included — so treat the following as orientation, not a price list. In the UK, published small-business pricing guides put a professionally built site from a freelancer at roughly £1,000–£3,000, and from a small agency at roughly £2,000–£10,000, with larger agencies starting well above that for complex projects. In Germany, guides for a small-business site — design, mobile layout, basic SEO, clean technical build — typically land between €1,500 and €7,500, depending on scope. On top of either range, budget separately for hosting and maintenance: commonly a few hundred euros a year.
The honest takeaway: if a quote sits far below these ranges, ask what's missing. If it sits far above, ask what specifically justifies the gap. For reference, Betterwebsite builds fixed-price sites from €380, with a first complete version ready in 14 days — one example of a transparent model, not the only correct number, and not right for every project.
Questions to ask any studio before you sign
Bring this list to any sales call. A studio that answers all of it clearly, in writing, without getting defensive, is one worth trusting.
- Is this a fixed price or hourly? If hourly, is there a cap?
- Exactly which pages and features are included — can I see it written down as a list?
- Who writes the copy, and how many rounds of edits do I get?
- Are photos included, or do I need to supply my own?
- Who owns the domain and the underlying code once it's built?
- If I leave this studio later, can I actually take the site with me?
- What's the real, dated deadline — and what happens if it slips?
- What does it cost per year after launch, and what exactly does that cover?
The bottom line
The number on a website quote means very little on its own. What matters is what's inside it. Ask for the itemised list above, compare it line by line against any other quote you get, and you'll spot the difference between a studio being straight with you and one hoping you won't ask.