Resources
WEBSITE DESIGN
COST GUIDE
Before calling any agency, most business owners ask the same question: how much does a website cost? There is no honest single answer. A five-page site for a local trades business and a 40-page corporate migration to Next.js are both websites, but they are entirely different projects. This guide explains what actually moves the price, so you know what to have ready before you speak to anyone.
Jump to project types ↓WEBSITE COST
BY PROJECT TYPE
These are the main project types we build, what each one covers and what pushes its cost up or down. Every build is in Next.js, with schema, an SEO-ready URL structure and a mobile-first layout. Ongoing SEO, content writing and hosting are scoped separately.
| Project type | Scope | What moves the cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic brochure site | 3–5 pages, template-based layout, no CMS integration | Whether your copy and photos are ready and how far the layout moves from the template | 2–3 weeks |
| Small business site (5–10 pages) | Service pages, mobile-first design, SEO-ready structure, basic schema | How many service and location pages you need and who writes the copy | 3–5 weeks |
| Full service + SEO build | 10–20 pages, keyword strategy, full schema, on-page SEO, Core Web Vitals optimised | How many page templates the site needs, the depth of keyword research and a content brief for each page | 6–10 weeks |
| Website redesign | Existing site rebuilt in Next.js: URL structure preserved, content migrated | Whether content is moved across or rewritten, page count and how many old URLs need redirects | 4–8 weeks |
| Next.js migration | Legacy CMS (WordPress/Umbraco) to Next.js App Router, full technical SEO from day one | Number of content types, custom features to rebuild and connections to CRMs or booking systems | 6–12 weeks |
WHAT MOVES
THE PRICE
Tech stack
A WordPress or Squarespace build usually costs less upfront and more to keep running. You pay for the theme, the plugins, the hosting and the developer each time a plugin update breaks something. A Next.js build takes more work at the start, then runs on Vercel with no plugins, no theme conflicts and no monthly subscriptions for features that should have been built into the site. Over a few years, plugin licences, theme updates, security patches and performance fixes tend to close the gap and often reverse it.
Pages and templates
Every page needs design, copy, on-page SEO and technical checks, so page count is the biggest single lever. The number of distinct templates matters more than the raw count. Twenty location pages that share one layout take far less work than twenty pages that each need their own. A healthcare group with practitioner pages, a page for each specialty and a resource section is a much bigger build than a trades site with six service pages. The pages that push a project up are rarely the homepage. They are the supporting pages added during scoping.
Design depth
A templated layout with your logo and brand colours takes less work than a design system built from scratch. The real question is whether the site needs to look like your business or like any other site in your industry. Custom illustration, animated components and interactions built for your site each add to the design scope. A clean template does the job for plenty of businesses.
Content
Someone has to write every page. If you supply finished copy and photos, the build is mostly design and development. If we research the searches behind each page, write the copy and brief the photography, the project grows. That writing is usually what decides how well the site ranks.
Integrations
Booking systems, CRMs, payment gateways, stock feeds and custom forms all have to be connected, tested and kept working. A contact form that emails you is simple. A quote calculator that writes to your CRM is development work in its own right. So is a booking flow tied to staff calendars.
SEO groundwork
A website with no SEO built in looks finished but cannot be found. Keyword research, URL architecture, schema markup, meta tags, internal linking and a content brief for each page all add to the build. The amount grows with the page count. If you want organic search traffic, this work belongs in the build itself. Whether SEO was in the spec from the start is usually what separates a site that ranks from one that needs a remediation project six months after launch.
THE REAL COST OF
GOING CHEAP
A website's cost does not end at launch. It continues with every plugin licence renewed, every performance fix and every developer call when something breaks six months later.
A WordPress site from a budget agency looks cheap on the quote. Then the running costs arrive: hosting, a premium theme licence, a page builder plugin, a security plugin and a developer called in when an update breaks the layout. Most of those renew every year, on a site that loads in four to five seconds on most connections, fails Core Web Vitals and attracts no organic traffic.
A Next.js build takes more work upfront. After launch, the main running cost is hosting on Vercel. There are no plugin licences, no theme subscriptions and no remediation projects when something breaks. Core Web Vitals pass from day one. Any developer can read and extend the codebase without learning a particular theme's customisation system.
Add up three years of each and the cheaper build often costs more in total. The gap widens as the page count grows.
None of this means every business needs a big, elaborate website. A local trades business with six service pages and a contact form needs a clean, fast site that ranks in its market. What it does not need is a cheap site that turns into an expensive problem three years later.
COMMON
QUESTIONS
- How much does it cost to design a website?
- It depends on scope. Any figure given before the scope is known is a guess. The things that move the price are the number of pages and distinct page templates, how custom the design is, who writes the content, what the site has to connect to (booking systems, CRMs, payments) and how much SEO groundwork goes into the build. Hosting, content updates and ongoing monitoring are scoped separately. We work through all of that with you on a discovery call, then give you a fixed price for the build before any work starts.
- What is the average cost of website design?
- Published averages are not much use, because they lump together freelancers building a few pages on a template and agencies running large custom projects. Compare like for like instead: page count, design depth, content, integrations and SEO work. If one quote comes in far below the others for the same scope, ask what has been left out. The shortfall usually shows up in the timeline, the quality or the ongoing support.
- Is it worth paying someone to build a website?
- For most businesses, yes. The case for doing it yourself is strong only when the site is genuinely simple, you have the time and search visibility is not a priority. For a business that wants to rank on Google, generate enquiries and not spend every few months troubleshooting broken plugins, a professionally built site pays back the upfront cost. The agency you choose matters as much as the decision to hire one.
- How much does website maintenance cost per month?
- Mostly it comes down to the platform. A WordPress site carries hosting, plugin and theme licences and security monitoring, plus development work whenever an update breaks something. A Next.js site on Vercel has hosting and very little else, because there are no plugins to license or patch. Content updates, new pages and performance checks are a separate question. Some businesses want them every month, others a few times a year. We scope that support around what you need and quote it before it starts.
- How much does a website redesign cost?
- A redesign is priced on the same things as a new build, plus a few of its own: whether existing content is moved across or rewritten, how many pages are involved, how many old URLs need redirects so you keep your rankings and whether you are changing platform. Redesigning a WordPress site in WordPress takes less work than migrating it to Next.js, but the migration gives you a faster site that needs less maintenance. We scope it with you and give you a fixed price before we start.
GET A PRICE
FOR YOUR BUILD
Tell us what you are building, how many pages you need and what you want the site to do for your business. We scope the project with you on a call, then come back with a fixed price that reflects the actual work, not the lowest number that wins the conversation.
GET A QUOTE →