On this page
How much does it cost to create a website? There are no simple answers. The website development process is complicated and there are tons of factors that influence the final cost. To calculate the price, it is necessary to consider all the requirements.
However, it is possible to estimate a rough website development cost based on common principles and hourly rates. But of course, such an estimation cannot be completely accurate.
Well, it is time to find out how much money you may need to spend on your website development.
» Website Development by Types
There are many types of websites, you probably know it. It can be a simple landing page or a complex eCommerce website with a large number of features. So the more complex a website you need, the more time it takes for developers to build this website. The cost will also depend on a website's complexity level.
Below, we will list a few of the most popular types of websites with rough estimations to show you how the cost may be formed.
› Website for business
This website type usually promotes a specific brand and its goal is to engage more loyal customers. To define the approximate cost of a business website, it is necessary to determine what basic pages it should include. As a rule, a business website has the following pages:
> About the company
> Contacts
> Services
> Blog page
> Reviews/feedbacks
It doesn’t mean that your website cost should have the same pages, but in most cases, customers require these pages to be available since they are the main ones.
But apart from pages, a website should have appropriate features. Most customers want to see the following features on their website:
> Contact form
> Integrated chat
> Search
> Mobile-friendly design
> Admin panel
> SSL certificate
A business website also may be created for a small or mid-sized company, and its cost will be not very high. If you need a website for an enterprise, its cost will be much higher.
As for technologies used, Angular (front-end) and Node.js (back-end) are used rather often since these technologies allow developers to build reliable and high-quality websites.
If we take $50 as an average hourly rate, a business website development may take from 190 hours to 260 hours, which will cost $9,500 - $13,500 roughly.
› eCommerce Website
Online stores are everywhere. Today it is much more convenient to buy something via your smartphone or PC. And many entrepreneurs want to build eCommerce websites even if they already have a physical store. eCommerce website usually has the following pages:
> Main page
> Favorites
> Shopping cart
> Blog
> Product pages
These are features of an eCommerce website:
> Integration with payment systems
> Push notifications
> Viewed products
> Reviews and ratings
> Search
> Admin panel
If you need more features or some of the listed features are not necessary for you, everything will be created specifically according to your personal requirements.
It is worth noting that eCommerce websites are rather expensive since this type has many pages and features. The architecture of an eCommerce website is also complicated since it should load fast and function without lag.
Also, attractive UI/UX design and marketing promotional strategies require serious investments in the development process.
The technology stack will vary depending on the goals and features of an eCommerce website.
Thus, the rough estimation of eCommerce website building will be the following - 350 hours to 1900 hours. That is, it starts at $17,500 to $95,000. As we noted above, hereinafter average $50 hourly rate is used for estimation.
› Landing page
If you don’t know what a landing page is, it is a single-page website that is commonly used for the promotion of specific services.
A landing page has no abundant information, it is minimalistic and content is targeted at calls-to-action. That is, it motivates users to do something. Usually, users need to click a link to follow the main website where full information about a specific product will be indicated, or download a file.
The landing page cost is not high since it is not overloaded with information and features. Bootstrap and HTML are technologies that are frequently used for landing page creation.
Landing page development may take from 50 to 100 hours ($2,500 - $5,000).
» Website Development by Stages
We have analyzed how much money you may need to build a certain type of website. Now let’s check out the cost by stages - how much each development stage takes time and money accordingly.
› UI/UX design
Crowd-pleasing UI/UX design is very important for any website and it has a great impact on website success. Users perceive everything through their eyes, so if they don’t like it - they will quit, regardless of how many cool features and content your website has.
That is why you need to consider those large investments in UI/UX design. Design building includes a few design stages - research, wireframing, and designing of UI and UX.
It helps calculate the cost of UI/UX design roughly. UI/UX design may take from 15 hours to 80 hours, that is from $750 to $4,000.
› Front-end Development
The front end is everything the browser can show and launch, and users interact with the front end by clicking on buttons and images.
There are two main factors that have a direct impact on front-end development - responsiveness/adaptiveness of the website and animations complexity level.
On average, front-end development takes from 20 hours to 250 hours - $1,000 to $12,5000 accordingly.
› Back-end Development
The back end is the server side or the engine of your website. The back end is invisible to users’ eyes but makes it possible for a website to function properly and efficiently. When users click a button (front-end), it links with a back-end to implement a set task. In fact, the back-end is a million lines of code which is written using special languages and platforms like Node.js.
If you need a complex eCommerce website with many pages and features, amazing animations, and so on - back-end software development cost will be high. Such factors like third-party services integration, non-standard data processing tasks, complex queries, and so on.
The back-end development process may take from 20 hours to 250 hours, which is $1,000 to $12,500.
› Content Management System
Content management system or CMS is an admin panel that makes it possible for website owners to edit and manage everything on a website. It is a very handy system since you don’t need to ask developers and waste your time.
To build CMS, some developers often use special CMS engines like WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, and many others. However, ready-made CMS is not always a good choice since they are limited and may not have all the necessary features. That is why a custom content management system may be a better option.
The development of a custom CMS may take from 60 hours to 180 hours ($3,000 - $9,000).
» Additional Costs You May Bear
However, in addition to the main website costs, you will face some additional expenses that will also be important for a full-fledged website launch.
› Domain name
A domain name is a unique address like “resellerclub.com” which all users see in the address bar. A domain may include .net, .io, .info, etc., you just need to make sure that the domain name you want is free. You buy a domain name and register it using specialized services. The cost of a domain name may vary from $5 to $15 annually.
Such services like GoDaddy, Bluehost, and others will help you choose and buy your domain name.
Recommended: Top 10 Domain Name Providers
› Hosting
Reliable hosting is very important. Hosting allows your website to function around the clock without failures. So you need to spend time and choose a good hosting that will provide you with high-quality servers. The price for hosting may vary from $75 to $200 per year. Hostgator, GoDaddy, and Inmotion are some of the services to choose a stable hosting.
› Maintenance
To make sure that everything works properly without lags and failures, it is necessary to maintain a website and update it when necessary. So you need to hire specialists that will do it. Maintenance costs may start at $500 and reach up to $12,000 per year.
› Website Promotion: Cost to Consider
No matter how amazing and a great website you have created, it makes no sense if nobody knows about it. You should promote it and think through marketing strategies. And it also requires you to spend a penny and make some investments.
› PPC advertising (Pay-Per-Click)
This way of promotion can be considered one of the most effective. You post your clickable advertising on various websites and pay for each click when visitors follow your website through this click.
But you need to know that this type of advertising is expensive, and some large companies spend thousands of dollars to achieve high results. For example, one-click may cost about $40-$50.
› Search engine optimization (SEO)
Your website should include specific keywords that make it possible to find your company faster in search engines like Google. The better your website is optimized, the higher your position in Google is. On average, SEO may cost about $300 - $1,500 per month.
› Copywriting
Copywriters are specialists who use keywords properly and input them into the content of your website, so SEO and copywriting are tightly connected. Through-out content helps you generate more leads and more traffic. On average, one article may cost from $50 to $500.
› Social media marketing (SMM)
Use social networks to talk about your company and your website. Brand promotion in social media is a rather good way to cover a larger audience and find new customers. SMM may cost from $400 to $20,000, depending on how strong an SMM strategy you need and whom you hire to implement it.
» Conclusion
As you can see, website development may cost you $2,500, if you need a maximum simple website, or about $95,000, if you want to build a complex eCommerce website with all that stuff. Everything depends on your requirements and budget. Just be clever, and you will succeed!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
› World’s Top 20+ Web Design & Development Companies
› World’s Top 20 Digital Marketing Agencies
› World’s Top 20+ Custom Software Development Companies
› Top 10 Marketing Automation Software
› List of Top 10 Content Marketing Software & Tool
