Corporate website cost in 2026: budget lines and realistic ranges
Why can a corporate website land anywhere between €220 and €6,700? The variables that drive price, how the budget breaks down, the hidden lines, and how to compare quotes.
The honest answer to "what does a website cost?" is "it depends on what you need" — which helps nobody. This article approaches it from the other side: we break down the variables that set the price, give realistic bands for four typical scenarios, and show how the budget is distributed internally.
Summary
- Price is driven by the number of features that need custom development, not by page count.
- Typically less than half the budget goes into writing code; the rest is discovery, design, content and testing.
- Year-one total cost adds 15-25% on top of the build.
- The most expensive line item is scope that changes mid-project — discovery prevents it.
- Compare quotes by scope list, not by price.
Why there is no single price list
A website is not a unit-priced product like print work. Two sites can have the same number of pages while one is a theme filled with content and the other is a multilingual system with map integration that generates offers automatically. Ten pages in both cases; a tenfold difference in cost.
So price has to be reasoned about in terms of features.
Six variables that set the cost
| Variable | Low end | High end | Budget impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design source | Ready-made theme | Original design from scratch | 2-4× |
| Number of languages | Single | 3+ with hreflang and translation management | +25-40% |
| Content management | Static content | Panel with roles and permissions | +30-60% |
| Integrations | None | Payment, CRM, ERP, maps, email | Significant per item |
| Performance and SEO | Defaults | Budgeted optimisation, schema, GEO | +10-20% |
| Content production | Client provides | Agency writes copy, produces imagery | +15-35% |
The line most often overlooked is the last one. We have seen many projects where design and code were ready but launch slipped by weeks because the content never arrived; who produces it must be explicit in the contract.
Four typical scenarios and their bands
Template brochure site — €220-670
A ready-made theme adapted to the brand, 5-10 pages, one language, a contact form. A fast and sensible start for a new business. The limit: themes slow down as they grow, and once customisation requests pile up they become more expensive than writing from scratch.
Custom corporate site — €780-2,700
Original design, multilingual structure, service and reference pages, a blog, technical SEO and GEO setup, a performance budget. The type that gives a brand identity its digital counterpart and grows with content over time. Most of our work sits in this band; examples are on the projects page.
E-commerce — €900-4,400
Product and variant management, payment integration, shipping, stock, order flow, returns. The width of the band comes from integration count, not product count: a store wired into accounting and ERP costs twice one that is not. On Ambalaj Cini we ran the e-commerce build and ad management together.
Custom web application — €3,300 and up
Systems built around business processes, with user roles and a designed data model. Nexos Investment is one example: listing management, maps, multiple languages and automatic offer generation from listing data in a single platform. In this band the price driver is no longer design but the complexity of the business logic — see our web application service.
How the budget breaks down internally
What surprises clients most is that less than half of what they pay goes into writing code.
That 10% spent on discovery is the highest-return line in the project. When a project built on the wrong assumption changes direction mid-development, the time lost far exceeds it. We walk through how we structure the process in how a corporate web project actually runs.
Hidden costs: year one and beyond
The build fee is one-off; the site is a living system.
| Item | Indicative annual cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | €12-35 | Varies by extension |
| Hosting / cloud | €0-130 | Free tiers are often enough for static sites |
| Business email | €25-110 | Per user |
| SSL certificate | €0 | Included on modern platforms |
| Backup and monitoring | €0-65 | On a static site the git repository is the backup |
| Security updates | €0-200 | High on WordPress, near zero on static |
| Content and maintenance | €110-400 | Depends on publishing cadence |
The biggest divergence in that table comes from technology choice. On a plugin-ecosystem setup, security updates are a permanent cost line; on a statically generated site the attack surface is almost nil because there is no running server side.
The gap after three years can exceed the initial price difference. That is why quotes should be compared on a three-year total, not on the first invoice.
Fixed price or time and materials
| Criterion | Fixed price | Time and materials |
|---|---|---|
| Scope clarity | Must be high | Handles uncertainty |
| Budget predictability | Complete | Estimated range |
| Flexibility for change | Low — every change is a new quote | High |
| Who carries the risk | The agency (priced in) | The client |
| Best suited to | Brochure sites, redesigns | Product development, staged growth |
In practice the healthiest model is a hybrid: a fixed-price discovery phase, then fixed-price development once scope is settled. Fixed-price quotes that skip discovery either load the risk into the number or turn into a change order halfway through.
Right and wrong ways to cut the budget
Right
- Split scope into phases. Launch with the pages you genuinely need; blog, extra languages and an admin panel can come in phase two.
- Supply the content yourself. If you can produce copy and imagery, you recover roughly 15% of the budget directly.
- Accept component systems. Not every button needs bespoke design; the places that must be distinctive are identifiable.
- Nominate one decision maker. The number of approval rounds is a direct cost line.
Wrong
- Cutting the testing phase. A bug found after launch costs a multiple of one found before.
- Deferring SEO and performance. Technical SEO retrofitted later costs twice what it costs up front.
- Picking the cheapest quote without reading the scope. The price difference is almost always a scope difference.
- Skipping accessibility. It creates both legal exposure and real lost users.
Eight questions to ask when collecting quotes
- Is the design original or an adapted theme?
- How many languages are included, and who translates?
- Who writes the copy and produces the imagery?
- Which integrations are in scope, and is each a separate line?
- Is there a performance target, and how is it measured?
- Are technical SEO and structured data included?
- How many months of post-launch support, and at what rate afterwards?
- Who owns the source code and all the accounts?
The eighth is rarely asked and is the one that costs most later. Owning the domain, hosting and code repository is the only guarantee of your freedom to change agencies.
Conclusion
A website budget becomes predictable in direct proportion to how clearly you define what you are buying. Every quote taken before scope is settled is a guess; quotes taken afterwards are comparable.
If you want to talk through which band your project falls into, reach us via the contact page — scoping conversations are free. To see how we work, have a look at about us.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a corporate website cost on average?
- A single average is misleading. A template-based corporate brochure site typically sits in the €220-670 band; a custom-designed, multilingual site with content management runs €780-2,700; e-commerce €900-4,400; a custom business application starts at €3,300. The driver is not page count but the number of features that require custom development.
- Why do agencies quote three times apart for the same brief?
- Usually it is a difference in scope, not in price. The cheap quote often covers installing a ready-made theme; the expensive one covers original design, multilingual infrastructure, a performance budget, SEO setup and a testing process. Put both scope lists side by side before comparing numbers.
- How much does the first year add on top of the build cost?
- Domain, hosting or cloud, email, SSL, backups, updates and content maintenance typically add 15-25% of the build cost in year one. On statically generated, managed infrastructure that share drops noticeably.
- Fixed price or time and materials?
- If scope is clear and will not move, fixed price is safer for the buyer. If scope will take shape during discovery, or the product will grow in stages, time and materials usually costs less overall — a fixed price simply buries the risk in the number.
- How do I measure the return on a website?
- Record three numbers before launch: qualified enquiries per month, quote-to-sale conversion rate, and average order value. The investment is measured by the change in those three — not by visitor count.