"How much does a business website cost" is a question no honest specialist will answer with a specific number without "it depends". Depends on scale, industry, expectations, deadline, amount of copy to write, photos to take. But you can show ranges where each option realistically lies today. And that we'll do.
We skip generalities. We give specifics: starting price, year-one maintenance cost, three-year cost, quality, risks. Plus: when each option actually makes sense.
Three elements: one-time project cost (design + launch), fixed costs (hosting, domain, SSL, support, subscription), and change costs (revisions, new pages, integrations). Most offers show only the first.
1. Interactive agency — from $2,000 to $6,000 + retainer
Classic interactive agency in 2026: $2,000–6,000 for a business website (5–10 pages). Larger branding and design agencies (top studios): $8,000–20,000 for a premium project.
What's in the price (typically):
- Brief, creative concept, graphic design (4–6 iterations)
- Development (WordPress or Webflow, rarely Next.js)
- 1–3 consultation sessions
- Deployment and handover
Most commonly missing:
- Hosting and domain — usually "you must have your own". Extra $150–300/year.
- Copy — copywriting usually an extra $50–125 per page.
- Photos — either stock ($500) or own shoot ($1,000–2,000).
- Post-launch support — usually a paid retainer, $75–200/month.
- Every change after launch — hourly, $40–60/h.
Real 3-year cost: $4,000–13,000. Plus stress during collaboration (avg. delivery: 8–14 weeks).
2. Freelancer — from $500 to $1,500, but with a catch
Freelance market 2026: $500–1,500 for a WordPress business site. Premium freelancers with portfolio: $1,500–4,000.
Pros: direct contact, lower starting cost, often flexible payment.
Cons:
- Disappearance risk — freelancer can fall sick, change job, have an incident and vanish. Real problem in 1 of 6 jobs.
- Post-launch support — usually none or very limited. Every change = new job.
- SEO and optimization — often treated as "do it yourself" or "extra".
- Hosting — your problem; freelancer uploads files anywhere.
Real 3-year cost: $750–2,000. But with significant risk that in a year you're stuck with a site nobody wants to touch.
3. Website builder (Wix, Squarespace) — from $0, but...
Builders like Wix, Squarespace, Webflow (self-service) — formally "from $0". In practice the free version has ads, feature limits, and an address like yourbusiness.wix.com.
Business version (own domain, no ads, email): $15–40/month. That's $180–480/year. Plus still:
- Domain: ~$15/year
- Extra plugins, integrations, forms: $5–20/mo each
- Your time (design, write copy, optimize SEO): average 40–80 hours
Real 3-year cost: $600–1,500 + 40–80 hours of your work (at $40/h that's $1,600–3,200 of "hidden" owner-time cost).
4. DEVIQO — $249 once, everything inside
Our proposal was born exactly from the above observation: a small business loses thousands of dollars and weeks on something that should be simple, clear, and cheap. The Start package at $249 includes:
- Custom design (not a template)
- Up to 5 pages, fully responsive
- Hosting forever, on our own servers
- .com domain (year 1)
- Business email (5 mailboxes)
- SSL certificate
- Technical SEO + content + Schema
- 30 days of unlimited revisions
- Delivery: 7 days
Pro package ($349) — larger site, blog, newsletter, additional SEO, 24/7 premium support for a year.
Premium package ($449) — full e-commerce, booking system, multilingual, dedicated project manager.
Real 3-year cost: $249–449 + ~$15/year domain renewal after year 1. Hosting, email, 24/7 support — zero extra fees.
5. Comparison — what comes out after 3 years
| Option | Initial cost | After 3 years | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | $2,000–6,000 | $4,000–13,000 | 8–14 weeks |
| Freelancer | $500–1,500 | $750–2,000 + risk | 4–10 weeks |
| Builder (Wix) | $180–480/year | $600–1,500 + 40–80h work | weeks of own work |
| DEVIQO Start | $249 | ~$280 | 7 days |
6. Where to save vs. not to save
From our 2,100 sites — these decisions cost (or saved) the most:
Where you can save:
- Photo shoot — initially good phone photos in good light suffice.
- Heavily expanded features — contact form is enough at start, booking system later when customer asks.
- Multilingual — add only when you have real overseas customers.
Where NOT to save:
- Technical SEO — a site without Schema, sitemap, and speed optimization is simply a site nobody finds.
- Mobile-first design — 70% of traffic is phones.
- Hosting — cheapest hosting at $5/year hosts hundreds of other sites on the same server. Slow loading costs clients.
- Backup — without a daily backup, one incident can destroy your investment.
If you want a specific quote for your industry and requirements — write to us. Quote in 24 hours, no commitment.
