Quick Answer
A small business website built by an agency usually costs $3,000 to $10,000. Simple sites start around $1,500, and online stores run $5,000 to $20,000. Website builders cost less up front but charge every month. Pages, custom design, features, content, and integrations move the price.
Builder plans are the floor: Squarespace’s pricing page lists its Basic plan at $19 a month when billed annually.
A website’s price is set by the job it does, not by how it looks. That decides almost every dollar on the quote.
A site that only needs to look credible costs far less than one that books jobs, takes payments, or feeds your sales team. Price the job first, and the number stops being a mystery.
How much does a website cost at a glance
These are White Peak’s own ranges, by the type of site most businesses need. Every site is custom, so a real quote depends on your needs.
| Type of website | Typical cost | What you usually get |
|---|---|---|
| Simple website you create on a builder | Plan fee per month, plus your time | A template, hosting, and basic tools on one platform |
| Starter site from an agency | From $1,500 | A custom homepage, with other pages added one by one |
| Most small business websites | $3,000 to $10,000 | Custom design, a page for each service, and lead forms |
| Ecommerce website | $5,000 to $20,000 (ours start at $3,000) | Product catalog, checkout, shipping and tax setup, and integrations |
| Large or complex site | Quoted per project | Custom features, many integrations, and heavy content migration |
Most of the websites we build land in the middle row. That’s a site with a page for each service, a design built around the brand, and forms that send leads to the right place.
The low end works when you need a credible online presence and little else. The high end is for stores and sites that do real work, such as taking orders or syncing with other software.
Key Takeaways
Getting a fair price for a website comes down to:
- Scope sets the price: Pages, features, and integrations explain most of the gap between two quotes.
- Ask for a line-item price: A quote that prices each page and feature is one you can compare and trim.
- Own what you pay for: You should hold the domain, the site, and the content, whoever builds it.
- Budget past launch: Hosting, updates, and fixes cost money every year, so plan for them now.
What drives the cost of a website up or down
Two quotes for "a website" can differ by thousands of dollars and both be fair. That’s why an average cost tells you so little. The difference comes down to a handful of factors.
Number of pages and templates
Every unique page layout takes design and build time. A homepage, an About page, and a Contact page share little with a service page or a blog template. More layouts mean more hours.
The number of layouts counts for more than the number of pages. Ten service pages built on one strong template cost far less than ten pages each designed from scratch.
A line-item quote shows the gap. Ask what the first page costs and what each page after it costs, and you’ll see how much of the price is layout work.
Custom design versus a theme
A theme gives you a ready-made look, adjusted to your colors, fonts, and photos. A custom design starts from your brand and your buyers, then builds each layout around what they need to see.
Custom work costs more because every custom layout takes hours. We build every site custom, because a page built around your sales process sells better than someone else’s demo content.
Features and functionality
Forms, galleries, and maps are cheap to add. Booking tools, member logins, quote calculators, customer portals, and product filters are not.
Ask for each feature on its own line. A chat widget and a members-only area are very different jobs, and a single "features" number hides which one you’re paying for.
Ask yourself: which of these features would a customer actually use before they called you? Anything that fails that test can wait for a later phase.
If a feature won’t bring in a call, a booking, or a sale, it can wait.
Content and copywriting
Content is the most underestimated line on a quote. Somebody has to write the words, choose the photos, and decide what goes on each page.
If you write the copy yourself, the price drops, but the launch date often slips. If your agency writes it, expect to pay for interviews, drafts, and revisions.
Check whether copywriting is in the quote or a separate bill later. The words are what sell, so this is a poor place to cut.
Ecommerce and integrations
Online stores cost more because there’s more to set up and test. Products, variants, shipping rules, taxes, and payment options all need care before the first order.
Catalog size is the biggest variable. Ten products load by hand. A few hundred need bulk import and collection mapping, and the quote should say which you’re getting.
Integrations add cost on any site. Connecting your forms to a CRM, your store to an inventory system, or your booking tool to a calendar takes setup and testing. Each one is a place where a lead or an order can leak if it’s done badly.
Platform choice
The platform affects both the build price and the running costs. WordPress itself is free: the WordPress.org project describes it as "free, Open Source web publishing software." You still pay for hosting, premium plugins, and the build.
Hosted builders like Wix and Squarespace, and Shopify for stores, bundle hosting into a monthly fee instead. We build on WordPress and Shopify, plus WooCommerce for stores that need WordPress, and we pick based on what the site has to do.
Search and AI search readiness
A site can launch looking finished and still be invisible. Page titles, headings, internal links, image text, and fast loading all affect whether people find you. That includes AI search, meaning the answers tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews write.
Building that in from the start costs a little more. Fixing it after launch costs more, because pages often need new structure, not just new words.
Revisions and decision time
Every round of changes takes hours, and so does every week a decision waits. Many agencies cap revision rounds and bill for each round past the cap.
Agree on who approves what before the work starts. It’s the fastest way to launch, and it matters most when revision rounds are capped.
DIY, freelancer, or agency: what you’re really paying for
The three routes look very different on price. They also put different amounts of risk and work on your plate.
| Route | Up-front cost | Your time | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | Lowest | High | Very small budgets and simple brochure sites |
| Freelancer | Low to middle | Middle | Clear scope and one skill set needed |
| Agency | Middle to high | Lower | Sites that need design, content, SEO, and integrations together |
A website builder is a fair choice when money is tight and you only need a few pages. You trade cash for hours, though, and those hours come from the person who should be running the business.
A good freelancer can be great value. The risk is coverage: one person rarely does design, copy, SEO setup, and integrations equally well. When they get busy or move on, support can disappear with them.
An agency costs more because a team covers each of those skills. You’re paying for planning, quality checks, and someone to call after launch.
What the wider market charges
Our ranges sit toward the low end of what agencies charge. Clutch’s web design pricing guide puts shortlisted U.S. web design companies at $100 to $149 an hour. The same guide lists projects from $2,000 to $100,000, with most under $10,000.
A larger agency with account managers, a strategy team, and a brand process charges for all of those layers, and the quote shows it. The question isn’t whether that price is fair. It’s whether your site needs those layers.
That gap is where we price. Our homepage includes three design concepts, unlimited design revisions, and the copywriting, and every page is built SEO-ready. Many agencies cap revisions, bill copy separately, and quote SEO setup on top. Put those three on the same line of every quote, and the totals start to mean something.
Offshore freelancers: a lower price, with more of the risk on you
Hiring overseas is the cheapest route after doing it yourself. Clutch’s location table shows web design rates under $25 an hour in India and the Philippines, against $100 to $149 in the United States.
Upwork’s web designer cost page puts typical rates at $15 to $30 an hour. Full custom site design runs $45 to $75 and up.
The savings are real, and so is what you give up. Accountability depends on a contract you can enforce and a person you can reach. Across time zones, a question that takes an hour with a local agency can take a day.
A developer who moves on takes the site’s history with them. Copy, SEO setup, and integrations usually sit outside the brief, so the low number rarely covers the whole job.
Offshore can work for a tightly scoped build when you supply the content and hold every login. You also need someone on your side who can check the work. Without those three, you aren’t saving money. You’re deferring the bill.
Whichever route you choose, check two things before you sign. Find out who owns the domain and the finished site, and get every deliverable in writing. If a site was built without access for the owner, moving it later can cost more than the original build.
How to compare website quotes without getting burned
A low quote isn’t a bargain if it leaves out the work you’ll need anyway. A high quote isn’t a rip-off if it covers things the others skipped. Use the same steps on every quote you get.
- List the pages and templates each quote includes, by name.
- Check who writes the content and who supplies the photos.
- Note which features and integrations are in scope, and which are extra.
- Ask how many rounds of revisions are included.
- Confirm who owns the domain, the site files, and the content at the end.
- Find out what support looks like after launch, and what it costs.
Once the quotes line up, the gap in total cost usually shrinks or explains itself. If one quote is far lower, find the missing line before you celebrate.
Watch for the friction points too. A proposal that’s vague about ownership, support, or what happens if you leave is telling you something. Clear answers before you sign are a good signal for how the project will run.
Compare what’s included first. The total only means something after that.
Ongoing website costs to budget for after launch
The build is a one-time cost, but the website keeps costing money. Plan for these lines every year, or the site slowly falls behind.
| Ongoing cost | What it covers | How it’s billed |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your web address | Yearly renewal |
| Hosting | The server that runs your site | Monthly or yearly |
| SSL certificate | The padlock and secure connection | Often included with hosting |
| Platform or plan fees | Builder or Shopify subscription | Monthly or yearly |
| Plugins, apps, and themes | Premium tools and their licenses | Yearly or monthly |
| Maintenance and updates | Updates, backups, security, and small fixes | Monthly plan or hourly |
| Content and improvements | New pages, edits, and testing | Per project or monthly |
Platform fees are easy to compare because they’re published. Shopify’s pricing page lists its Basic plan at $29 a month when paid yearly, before card processing fees. That’s the floor for a store, not the total.
Maintenance is the line people skip, and it’s the one that bites. Plugins go out of date, forms break after an update, and security patches pile up. A website maintenance plan keeps those small problems from turning into an emergency rebuild.
Speed and security also cost a little every year, and both affect results. Google’s page experience guidance asks whether your pages have good Core Web Vitals and are "served in a secure fashion." Good hosting and regular updates answer both questions.
A website that isn’t maintained doesn’t stay the same. It slowly gets worse.
When a cheaper website ends up costing more
A cheap site makes sense when the budget is truly fixed and the site’s job is small. It gets expensive when the business outgrows it a year later.
The pattern is familiar. The site launches fast, but it can’t be edited without the original builder. Pages load slowly on phones. Forms send leads to an old inbox. Then the owner pays a second time to rebuild what should have been planned once.
Platform lock-in adds to the bill. Some builders keep your design on their servers, so leaving means starting over rather than moving files. Before you choose a platform, ask what you could take with you if you left.
None of this means you need the most expensive option. It means the quote should match the job the site has to do for the next few years, not just launch day.
A useful test is to picture the site 18 months from now. Will you need new service pages, a blog, online booking, or a store? If the answer is yes, pay for a structure that can grow, even if you build only part of it now.
White Peak website pricing
Our website prices start at $1,500, and most of the websites we build cost $3,000 to $10,000. Online stores start at $3,000 and typically run $5,000 to $20,000, depending on requirements and features.
Every site is custom, so we price it page by page and feature by feature. A line-item quote works like a contractor’s bid: you see what each room costs and decide what to build now. This is the price list we quote from.
| What you need | Website | Online store |
|---|---|---|
| Store base setup (domain, global settings, tax and shipping zones, and checkout styling) | Not needed | $1,500 |
| Custom homepage (three design concepts, unlimited design revisions, and copywriting) | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| About Us page | $450 | $350 |
| Dedicated Contact Us page | $250 | $250 |
| Each service, location, industry, or landing page | $350 | $350 |
| Blog, with free migration of existing WordPress posts | $375 | $375 |
| Products | Not needed | Up to 10 included; 11 to 100 add $500 to $1,000; more than 100 add $1,500 to $3,000 |
| Moving customers and order history | Not needed | $800 to $1,500 |
| Moving existing redirects, page titles, and descriptions | Redirects included on a redesign | $500 |
| Add-ons, such as live chat, booking, reviews, or email marketing | $250 to $1,100 each | $250 to $1,500 each |
A new website with About and Contact pages, 6 to 10 service pages, a blog, and an email marketing connection comes to $4,975 to $6,375. That sits in the middle row of the table at the top of this post.
Take a Shopify store with 11 to 100 products, About and Contact pages, and 1 to 5 landing pages. With product reviews, email and SMS marketing, and the SEO data move added, it comes to $5,650 to $7,550.
Product and collection pages are built from templates, so they don’t count as pages on a store. Add-on prices cover standard installation, basic setup, and styling that matches your theme. Custom development and complex integrations are quoted separately, and third-party app fees are extra.
Free and instant
Get your free website price estimate
Use the calculator below to run this same math on your own answers. It shows your price range when you finish and emails you a copy. It’s an estimate, not a proposal, and your final price depends on the details we confirm together.
Most sites launch in 2 to 6 weeks, and larger sites and online stores may take longer. A website development timeline moves from planning to design, build, and launch, and the decisions you make in each phase set the pace.
Website projects are usually billed 50% to start and 50% at completion. A site can also start with a 33% deposit and 12 equal monthly payments. That option requires our Optimize Maintenance Plan.
You own the website, the domain, and the content. That’s true on every project, and it should be true with any web designer you hire.
How much does a website cost FAQs
How much does a small business website cost?
Most small business websites cost $3,000 to $10,000 when an agency builds them. Ours start at $1,500 for a custom homepage, with each added page priced on its own. The final number depends on your pages, custom design, features, and who writes the content.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Quotes vary because each one assumes a different scope. One may include custom design, copywriting, and SEO setup, while another covers only a theme and your own text. Line up quotes by what’s included, page by page and feature by feature, before you compare the totals.
How much does an ecommerce website cost?
An ecommerce website typically costs $5,000 to $20,000, and ours start at $3,000. Products, variants, shipping, taxes, payments, and integrations all need setup and testing. You’ll also pay a monthly platform fee and card processing fees, which sit outside the build price.
What are the yearly costs of running a website?
Yearly costs include the domain renewal, hosting, any platform or plugin fees, and maintenance. Most businesses also budget for content updates and small improvements. These costs are smaller than the build, but skipping them leads to slow pages, broken forms, and security problems.
Is it cheaper to build a website yourself?
Building it yourself is cheaper in cash and more expensive in time. Builder plans charge a monthly fee, and you supply the design, copy, and setup. It works for simple sites. Once the site needs to rank, convert, and connect to other tools, professional help usually pays for itself.
Getting help in Reno
If you take one thing from this, price the website by the work it has to do, not by the page count.
White Peak is a web design and digital marketing agency in downtown Reno. We build WordPress and Shopify websites for businesses in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Truckee, and nationwide.
If you’re comparing quotes for web design in Reno, run your answers through the price calculator above first. Then book a free consultation, and we’ll turn the estimate into a line-item price, including what can wait for a later phase.
