Web design
How much does a website cost? Real prices and every cost factor
What a website costs depends less on the design than on three questions: How many different pages do you need, who writes the copy and what should the website be able to do? Here you will find our real prices, not estimated market values, and an explanation of what you are actually paying for with a website.
What a website costs with us
A simple website costs from €2,500 with us. All prices in the table are starting prices. Exactly what is included is set out in your quote after the intro call.
| What you need | What it includes | Our price |
|---|---|---|
| Simple website | Company website with a few subpages and a contact form | from €2,500 |
| Website relaunch | New website with a redirect plan so that rankings are kept | from €2,500 |
| Website with a funnel | Enquiry flow, calculator or online sign-up with its own backend | from €4,500 |
| Website with custom software | Customer area, portal, integrations or web app | from €5,000 |
| Maintenance and hosting | Updates, backups, monitoring, hosting | from €129 per month |
| Ongoing SEO support (optional) | Technology, content, link building, reporting | from €1,500 per month |
If it needs to happen fast, there are two formats with a fixed timeframe: Website in a Day with up to 5 pages from €2,500 and Website in a Week with up to 10 pages from €4,500. They are a good fit when the concept is in place and the site has to be online by a specific date.
What the price of a website depends on
The price of a website depends mainly on the number of page types, the copywriting effort and the features. Design plays a smaller role than many people think.
Page types, not page count
What matters is not how many pages your website has, but how many different templates it needs. Ten service pages with the same structure are less work than five pages that all look different. A home page, a service page, a case study page and a contact page are four templates. Every additional template needs its own design and its own development.
Copy
Copy is the most frequently underestimated item. If you supply finished copy, the effort goes down. If we write the copy, a short conversation per topic is usually enough: you provide the expertise, we write it so that customers understand it and Google finds it. Copy that is meant to rank needs keyword research first. Without it, you write past the searches your customers actually make.
Features
A contact form is part of every website. It gets more expensive when the website does more than inform:
- Online appointment booking, as at Neo Das Küchenstudio in Frankfurt.
- Calculators and configurators, such as the cost check and the POS system configurator at Future Payments.
- Customer areas with login, portals and payment functions.
- Integrations with your CRM, email tool or inventory management, so that enquiries do not have to be typed in by hand.
We build features like these as a funnel from €4,500 or as custom software from €5,000.
Design and images
A custom design takes more coordination than an adapted template, but in return it looks unmistakable. With images, your own photos of you, your business and your projects build more trust than stock photos. A photo shoot is usually a separate item.
Multiple languages
Every additional language means translation, separate addresses for every page and clean labelling for Google. A second language doubles the copywriting effort, not necessarily the total price.
Relaunch instead of a new build
If an existing website is being replaced, migration comes on top. Every old address that Google finds needs a redirect to the matching new page. Otherwise you lose rankings that have grown over years. For our own move from WordPress to Astro, we checked all 102 old addresses from the sitemap and assigned each one a new page or a redirect. More on this on the website relaunch page.
Which running costs come on top
A website still costs money after launch, just much less than building it. You should plan for these items:
- Domain: A .de domain (the German country domain) usually costs only a few euros a year.
- Hosting: The server your website runs on. With us, together with maintenance, from €129 per month.
- Maintenance: Updates, backups and security monitoring. This is especially important with WordPress, because plugins need regular updates. The guide to WordPress security explains why.
- Licences: Premium plugins, themes, fonts or image rights can come with annual fees. Ask beforehand which licences are in your quote and who pays for them.
- Content and SEO: A website that should be found on Google needs new content and upkeep. This is optional, but it is the biggest lever for new enquiries.
We usually build new projects with Astro or Next.js instead of WordPress. These websites load faster, are harder to attack and need less upkeep, because there are no plugins that constantly have to be updated.
Website builder, freelancer or agency?
Which solution fits depends on what the website should achieve and how much time you want to invest yourself.
| Website builder | Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | low | medium | higher |
| Your time investment | high, you build it yourself | medium | low |
| Copy and concept | you do it yourself | depends on the person | included |
| Features | what the provider offers | depends on the person | custom software too |
| SEO | basic functions | depends on the person | part of the concept |
A website builder is enough if you mainly need a digital business card and have time to build it yourself. As soon as the website should bring enquiries, be found on Google or have features such as calculators, booking or a customer area, professional support pays off. The guide Website or funnel helps with the difference between a classic website and a targeted enquiry flow.
How to recognise a good quote
A good quote tells you exactly what you get, not just what it costs. Check these points before you sign:
- Scope: Are pages, templates and features listed individually?
- Content: Who supplies copy and images, and is that included in the price?
- Ownership: Do the domain, logins and content belong to you, even if you change agency?
- Running costs: Are hosting, maintenance and licences shown separately?
- Google: Are loading speed, mobile optimisation, page titles and descriptions part of the service?
- Relaunch: Is there a redirect plan for the old addresses?
A quote that only gives a flat price without a scope often becomes more expensive later, because every change has to be renegotiated.
Is a more expensive website worth it?
A website is worth it if it brings in more jobs than it costs. A worked example: suppose one job brings you €2,000 after deducting your costs. Then a website for €4,000 has paid for itself after two additional jobs. Everything after that is profit.
Kai Petry, Head of Sales at Accron, describes what this looks like in practice: “Since going live, we have generated over 100 leads, and probably a few more to come in the future.” You can find more projects and testimonials under Case studies.
How to get a clear quote
A reliable quote comes together in three steps:
- Intro call: 20 minutes by phone or video about goals, starting point and budget.
- Define the scope: Which pages, content and features does the website really need?
- Quote: You get a fixed price with a clear scope and timeframe.
Bring what you already have to the intro call: a list of your services, existing copy and images, two or three websites you like, and your budget range. Then the quote will be accurate on the first attempt. Book your intro call here.