IN THIS ARTICLE · 6 PARTS
"How much does a website cost?" is one of the first questions every business owner asks, and the honest answer is: it depends. But it depends on a short list of things you can understand and compare. Here is what decides the price in 2026, and how to make sure you are comparing offers fairly.
If you want the short version of where the hidden costs are, start with how much a website really costs a small business.
What decides the price
The number of pages. A one-page site and a site with fifteen service pages, city pages and a blog are very different amounts of work.
Custom features. Online booking, a shop, a calculator, multiple languages or an integration with your existing systems all add work. Most small businesses need fewer of these than they think at the start.
Design. A design made for your brand takes more time than a template with your logo on it, and it is usually worth it, because it is what makes you look different from competitors.
Content. Someone has to write the texts and prepare the photos. If you provide them, the price is lower. If the studio writes them, it takes longer.
What happens after launch. Hosting, the domain, the security certificate, updates, backups, small changes and fixes. This is the part that is most often left out of the quote.
One-off price or monthly plan?
There are two common ways to pay. The monthly model is what economists call a subscription business model [1].
With a one-off build, you pay a larger amount up front. Hosting, updates and changes are then either billed separately or left to you.
With a monthly plan, there is no large upfront payment. Design, build, hosting and care are included in one monthly price, and the site keeps being improved after launch.
Neither is wrong. A one-off build can make sense for a large, unusual project with its own technical team. For most small businesses that want a professional site without the big upfront cost or the "who do I call now?" problem, a monthly plan is simpler.
What we charge
At Studio V1, a website costs about €50 a month. That covers a design for your brand, the build reviewed by a real developer, mobile, domain, hosting and SSL, an SEO-ready setup, maintenance, minor updates and a real person to contact. Your site goes live within 7 business days. The details are on our pricing section.
How to compare offers
Nielsen Norman Group lists upfront disclosure of base costs and fees among the four factors that make a business trustworthy online [2].
Put every offer side by side and ask the same questions:
- What is the total cost over two or three years, not just the first payment?
- Which of these are included: hosting, domain, SSL, updates, backups, small changes?
- How much does a small change cost, like a new price or photo?
- Who do I contact when something breaks, and how fast do they answer?
- Who owns the domain and the content?
The cheapest quote is not the cheapest website. Compare what you will pay, and what you will get, over the next few years.
Watch out for very low prices
Very cheap offers often cut exactly the things you only notice later: speed, security, mobile layout, SEO basics and support. We look at this in detail in cheap vs. professional website: the real difference. And if you are choosing between studios, read how to choose the right web agency. WordPress's own security guide stresses keeping the software, themes and plugins up to date [3].
References
- Wikipedia. "Subscription business model." en.wikipedia.org
- Nielsen Norman Group. "Trustworthiness in Web Design: 4 Credibility Factors." nngroup.com
- WordPress.org. "Hardening WordPress." developer.wordpress.org
