What goes into the price of a website (and how to compare quotes)

Ask five developers to quote for "a website for my business" and you will get five very different numbers. That is confusing, but it is not always because someone is overcharging. Usually they are quoting for different things.

Here is what actually goes into the price, so you can compare like with like.

The main things that drive cost

1. The number and kind of pages. A five-page site with a home, services, about, gallery and contact page is a very different job from a forty-page site with a page per service, per location and per product.

2. Design: template or custom. A ready-made theme with your logo and colours is quick. A design made for your brand, tested on phone and desktop, takes longer and usually looks and works better.

3. Who writes the words and supplies the photos. If you hand over finished text and good photos, the job is simpler. If the developer has to write copy, edit photos or arrange a shoot, that is real work and should be priced.

4. Features. Forms, bookings, payments, multiple languages, search, a blog, a customer login. Each one adds design, building and testing time. Some can be added with an existing tool; others need custom work.

5. Connections to other systems. Sending enquiries into a CRM, syncing stock, connecting to a payment gateway or an accounting tool. Integrations often take longer than they look.

6. Quality you cannot see at first. Speed, accessibility, security, search-engine basics, testing on real devices, backups. A cheap site often skips these, and you discover it later.

7. What happens after launch. Hosting, the domain, security updates, fixes, small content changes. Some quotes include a period of support; others end the day the site goes live. (more on life after launch)

Questions that make quotes comparable

When you collect quotes, ask each developer the same questions:

• Exactly which pages and features are included? Is there a written scope?
• Is the design custom or based on a template?
• Who writes the content and provides the photos?
• How many rounds of changes are included?
• Is the price fixed, or is it an estimate billed by the hour? (fixed vs hourly)
• What is the timeline, and what do you need from me to keep it?
• Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code at the end? (why ownership matters)
• What happens if something breaks a month after launch?
• What are the running costs every year?

If a quote cannot answer these clearly, the low price may hide costs that arrive later.

Cheap, expensive and fair

A very low price usually means one or more of these: a template with minimal changes, no testing, no support after launch, or a site built on someone else's account so you cannot easily leave.

A very high price can be justified by custom design, complex features, a large amount of content, or a big team with a lot of overhead. But you should be able to see what you are paying for.

A fair quote is one where you can see the scope, the deliverables and the timeline, and you know what you will own at the end.

How we quote

We send a written proposal with a fixed price for a defined scope, what is and is not included, how many rounds of changes you get, and the dates. You see a working version at every stage, and you own the code and accounts when the project is paid for. If something is outside the scope, we tell you before doing it, never on the final invoice.

The best way to get an accurate quote is to give a clear brief. Our checklist for briefing a developer helps.