How Much Should a Business Website Really Cost?
Page count is not what drives the price. Here is what actually does — and how to compare two very different quotes fairly.
Maktonic
Sep 8, 2026
"How much for a website?" is the first question almost every business asks us, and the honest answer is the one nobody likes: it depends entirely on what the website has to do.
A five-page brochure site and an online store with live inventory are both "a website" in the same way a bicycle and a delivery van are both "a vehicle". So rather than quote a number that would be meaningless, here is what actually drives the cost — and how to tell which tier your business genuinely needs.
TL;DR
- Page count matters far less than most people expect. Functionality is what costs.
- Anything that stores or changes data — orders, admissions, memberships — moves you into a different tier entirely.
- Design is a one-time cost. Hosting, security patching and content updates are not.
- The cheapest quote is usually the one that has excluded the most.
What Actually Drives the Cost
Four things, in roughly this order of impact:
| Factor | Why it moves the number |
|---|---|
| Functionality | A contact form is an afternoon. Online admissions with result publishing is weeks. Every feature that reads or writes data has to be designed, built, tested and secured. |
| Custom design | A tailored design is drawn, reviewed and revised. A template is configured. Both are legitimate choices — they are simply not the same amount of work. |
| Content | Someone has to write the copy, size the photographs and structure the pages. If that someone is not you, it is billable. |
| Integrations | Payment gateways, SMS, accounting software, an existing database — each is a separate system with its own rules and its own failure modes. |
The Three Tiers Most Businesses Fall Into
A presence site
Five to twelve pages, a contact form, mobile-responsive, SEO-ready. The goal is credibility: when someone searches for you, they find something that looks like a real company. Most corporate and professional-services sites live here, and for the majority of businesses it is the right place to start.
A site that does a job
Now the website is working: an online store, an admissions portal, a donation gateway, a booking system. There is a database behind it, a dashboard for your team, and real consequences if it goes down. Expect a discovery phase before anyone writes code.
A connected platform
The website is one surface of a larger system — it talks to your inventory, your accounting, your customer records. At this point cost stops being about the website and starts being about the architecture underneath it.
The Costs Nobody Quotes
The build is a project. The website is an asset, and assets need maintenance.
- Hosting and domain — modest, but annual and non-negotiable.
- Security updates — an unpatched site is a liability, not an asset. Most sites that get defaced were simply left alone too long.
- Backups — cheap to set up, priceless the one day you need them.
- Content updates — either your team is trained to do this, or someone is billing for it.
Ask any prospective partner what happens in month 13. The answer tells you whether you are buying a project or a relationship.
How to Compare Quotes Fairly
Two quotes for "a company website" can differ several times over and both be honest. Before comparing numbers, get every quote to state:
- Exactly which pages and features are included, itemised
- Who writes the content and sources the images
- How many rounds of revision are covered
- What happens after launch — support window, hosting, updates
- Who owns the code and the domain when the engagement ends
That last one catches people out more often than it should. Make sure the answer is you.
Where to Start
Start with the job, not the page count. Write down what the website has to achieve in its first year — leads, orders, admissions, credibility — and let that decide the tier. A well-built presence site you outgrow in two years is a far better outcome than an over-specified platform you never fully use.
See what we build, or tell us what you have in mind and we will give you a straight answer about which tier fits.
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