"How much does a website cost?" is the question I get most often, and it's a bit like asking how much a house costs: it depends on size, materials, location and who builds it. But "it depends" isn't a useful answer, so in this article I'll try to give concrete figures and the criteria to interpret them.
The figures below are indicative and refer to the Italian and European market, for work done by an experienced freelancer or a small agency. A large agency costs more, a DIY platform costs less: we'll also see why.
Indicative price ranges
| Project type | Example | Indicative range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brochure site with a customised theme | Restaurant, professional practice | €1,000–3,000 | 2–4 weeks |
| Custom brochure site | Unique design, multilingual, technical SEO | €3,000–8,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| E-commerce | Shop with 50–500 products | €4,000–15,000 | 6–12 weeks |
| Custom web app | Bookings, internal management tool, customer area | €10,000–40,000 | 2–5 months |
| Complex platform or SaaS | Marketplace, multiple integrations, subscriptions | from €40,000 | 6+ months |
The gap between the minimum and maximum of each range isn't random: it depends on the factors below.
What drives the price
1. Features, not pages
The number of pages matters little: what they do matters. A "simple login" actually means registration, email verification, password recovery, roles and permissions, privacy consent management. One line in the brief can be worth a week of work.
2. Design: theme or custom
An adapted theme is cheap and fast; a design built from scratch, with prototypes and user testing, costs more but sets the brand apart and fits the content exactly.
3. Integrations
Payments, management software, e-invoicing, CRM, third-party APIs: every integration adds development, testing and a point where something can break when the external service changes.
4. Content and languages
Copy, photos and translations are often the real bottleneck. If they arrive ready, the project is faster; if they have to be written or translated, it's a cost to include in the quote, not a surprise at the end.
5. The quality you don't see
Performance, security, technical SEO and accessibility don't show up in screenshots, but they decide whether the site really works. Accessibility in particular has been mandatory since June 2025 for many digital services, e-commerce included, under the European Accessibility Act.
6. Who builds it
A no-code platform costs a few dozen euros a month but ties you to that tool; a freelancer offers a direct relationship and contained costs; an agency offers a larger team at a higher price. There's no universally right choice: there's the one that fits the project.
Practical example: a quote broken down
Take a typical request: a booking web app for a physiotherapy clinic, with a patient area, a staff panel, automatic reminders and an online deposit payment. Here's how it breaks down, with an example day rate of €350:
| Item | Days |
|---|---|
| Analysis and requirements | 3 |
| Interface design | 4 |
| Calendar and availability management | 6 |
| Patient area: sign-up, login, history | 5 |
| Staff panel | 5 |
| Email and SMS reminders | 2 |
| Online deposit payment | 2 |
| Testing, accessibility and go-live | 3 |
| Total | 30 days · €10,500 |
Breaking the quote down like this helps both sides: if the budget is lower, it's immediately clear what to cut or postpone. Without online payments and SMS, for example, you save four days without touching the core of the product.
The recurring costs nobody talks about
The build price is only the beginning. Every year you need to budget for:
- Domain: €10–30 a year.
- Hosting: €5–50 a month for a website, from €20 to over €200 a month for a web app with a database and traffic.
- Maintenance: security and library updates, small changes. It's often estimated at 10% to 20% of the initial cost per year.
- External services: transactional email, SMS, maps, payment fees, AI APIs.
A site that isn't updated doesn't stand still: it ages. Libraries with known vulnerabilities and outdated CMSs are among the most common causes of compromised sites.
Has AI lowered prices?
Partly. AI speeds up repetitive code and first drafts, which reduces some line items. But analysis, decisions, design, testing and responsibility take the same time as before, and they're exactly the items that make the difference between a project that works and one that has to be redone. Be wary of anyone promising "a complete web app in three days thanks to AI": I discuss this more broadly in this article on everyday use of artificial intelligence.
How to spot an unclear quote
- A price without analysis: if nobody asked you questions, the figure is made up.
- "All-inclusive" with no list: without a feature list, every future request becomes an extra.
- Nothing about code and domain: the domain, access credentials and source code must be yours.
- Undefined maintenance: what happens after go-live, and at what price?
- No staging environment: you must be able to see and test the work before it goes live.
How to save without ruining the project
- Start with an essential first version (MVP) and add features when data tells you they're needed.
- Prepare content in advance: ready copy and photos shorten timelines more than any discount.
- Choose standard solutions where they don't set you apart: login, payments and newsletters don't need reinventing.
- Don't cut corners on security and backups: it's the saving that costs the most.
In short
A brochure site can cost a few thousand euros, a custom web app a few tens of thousands: the difference comes from features, integrations, design, content and invisible quality. The best quote isn't the lowest but the clearest, broken down into understandable items and with recurring costs stated up front. If you have a project in mind and want a concrete estimate, get in touch: we'll start from the requirements, not the price.