This is usually the first question anyone asks, and it’s also the hardest one to answer honestly with a single number - because “a website” can mean a five-page business site or a full booking platform with a database behind it, and those are genuinely different projects, not different tiers of the same one.
Here’s a realistic breakdown instead of a vague “it depends.”
What Actually Changes the Price
Number and complexity of pages. A simple business site (home, about, services, contact) costs far less than a site with dozens of pages, filterable content, or multiple templates.
Custom design vs. a template. A fully custom design, built from scratch around your brand, takes more design and development time than adapting an existing theme. Both can look professional — the difference is uniqueness and how tightly it fits your specific brand.
Functionality beyond a static site. Booking systems, user accounts, payment processing, and admin dashboards all add real development time, because they involve building and testing actual logic, not just layout.
Content and copywriting. If you need someone to write the site’s content, not just design around content you already have, that’s additional work, whether it’s billed separately or built into the project cost.
Ongoing maintenance. Some agencies price this in from day one (hosting, updates, backups); others hand off the finished site and charge separately if you need help later. Worth asking about upfront either way.
Rough Ranges (India Market)
These are general ranges, not quotes - every project is different, and a proper quote should come after understanding your specific scope:
- Simple business website (5-8 pages, template-based): typically the most affordable option, suited to businesses that mainly need an online presence and basic inquiry form.
- Custom-designed business website: a step up in cost, reflecting original design work matched specifically to your brand rather than an adapted theme.
- Website with booking or e-commerce functionality: meaningfully more, since it involves backend logic, payment integration, and testing beyond front-end design.
- Custom web application (dashboards, portals, internal tools): priced more like software development than website design, since it usually involves ongoing logic, data handling, and user roles.
If a quote you’re given doesn’t clarify which of these categories your project actually falls into, that’s worth asking about directly — it’s the biggest single factor in the final number.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Commit
- Is this a fixed price, or hourly with no cap?
- What exactly is included — design, development, content, hosting setup, and how many rounds of revisions?
- Who owns the final files and code once the project is done?
- What happens if the scope changes partway through?
A vendor who can answer these clearly before you’ve paid anything is usually a good sign. Vague answers to direct questions, less so.
Why “Cheapest” Isn’t the Same as “Best Value”
The lowest quote often comes from cutting one of three things: design originality (a stock template with your logo swapped in), development quality (code that works today but breaks the first time you try to add something new), or actual project ownership (you never really get the files, just access to a system you’re locked into). None of those show up in the initial price — they show up six months later.
Want an actual number instead of a range? Get a free estimate - tell us what you’re building and we’ll give you a fixed price and timeline before any work starts.
