How much does a professional website cost in 2026?

As a realistic orientation: focused landing pages start around €690–2,000, complete business websites typically run €2,000–10,000, and online shops or sites with custom functionality range from €5,000 well into five figures. The spread comes from scope: number of pages, custom design vs. template, copywriting, SEO foundations and integrations.

Why are some websites so cheap and others so expensive?

Cheap offers usually deliver a template with your logo: no strategy, no copywriting, no SEO foundation, no conversion thinking. Expensive offers include the work that makes a website earn money — customer research, structure, copy, custom design, speed and measurement. You're not paying for pages; you're paying for the thinking between them.

What should be included in a website offer?

At minimum: page structure based on your customers, copywriting, responsive custom design, technical SEO foundations (speed, structured data, meta tags), a CMS so you can edit content, analytics setup, and a clear statement of who owns what. If an offer lists only 'X pages, Y revisions', the thinking is missing.

Are AI website builders good enough for a business?

For a hobby or a placeholder, yes. For a business that needs inquiries: usually not. AI builders produce generic structure and copy — which is exactly what doesn't convert, and it can't know your customers. AI is excellent as a tool inside a professional process (we use it daily), but the strategy, positioning and conversion thinking still decide whether the website earns money.

How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? An Honest Breakdown

// 01The short answer (price table)

Anyone who gives you one number for "a website" is guessing. What we can give you is honest ranges based on what the project actually contains:

Project type	Realistic range	What you're paying for
Landing page	€690 – €2,000	One page, one goal: strategy, copy, design, tracking for a campaign
Business website	€2,000 – €10,000	Full presence: structure, copywriting, custom design, CMS, SEO foundation
Online shop	€5,000 – €20,000+	Everything above plus products, checkout, payments, drop-off tracking
Custom platform	€10,000+	Website plus software: portals, calculators, member areas, integrations
Ongoing care	from €420/month	Updates, security, speed, backups, continuous conversion optimization

ranges reflect the european agency market in 2026 — freelancers can undercut them, enterprise agencies will exceed them.

// 02The 5 things that actually drive the price

Two offers for "a 6-page website" can differ by a factor of five. The difference is almost always in these five drivers — shown here with their rough share of a typical project's effort:

cost-drivers.chart

STRATEGY & STRUCTURE~20%

COPYWRITING~20%

CUSTOM DESIGN~25%

DEVELOPMENT~25%

SEO & TRACKING~10%

typical effort distribution in a conversion-focused project — cheap offers skip the first two entirely

Notice what's expensive: the thinking. Strategy, structure and copy are nearly half the work — and they're exactly what template-based cheap offers skip. That's how a €800 website and a €6,000 website can both be "6 pages" and have completely different outcomes.

// 03Why the cheap website is the expensive one

The real cost of a website isn't the invoice. It's the inquiries it does or doesn't generate over the years it's live. Run the numbers:

A website that converts one additional customer per month, at a customer value of €500, produces €6,000 a year. Over three years, the "expensive" €6,000 website generated €18,000 the cheap one didn't. The cheap website saved you €5,000 once — and cost you €18,000 quietly.

This is also why "just make it look modern" briefs fail: looking professional is the entry ticket, not the win. The win is a visitor understanding in five seconds what you do, why you're the right choice, and what to do next. That's structure and copy — the invisible part of the price.

// 04Red flags in offers

offer-scanner.log

RED FLAGS

"X pages, Y revisions" — scope by page count, zero strategy
Copy is your homework ("please deliver texts")
No mention of speed, SEO foundations or tracking
Hosting only on their servers, no export possible
One price, no breakdown of what it contains

GREEN FLAGS

Asks about your customers before quoting anything
Copywriting explicitly included in the project
Names performance targets (Core Web Vitals, Lighthouse)
You own domain, code and content — in writing
Costs broken down per module, stop possible anytime

// 05How to compare offers properly

Don't compare the prices — compare what the prices contain. Ask every provider the same five questions and put the answers side by side:

"How do you decide the page structure?" — the answer should involve your customers, not a template
"Who writes the copy?" — "you do" means you're buying a frame, not a website
"What performance do you guarantee at launch?" — expect concrete numbers, not "it'll be fast"
"What exactly do I own afterwards?" — domain, code, content, accounts: all of it, in writing
"How do we know it's working?" — tracking and a measurable goal should be in the offer, not an upsell

QUOTABLE ANSWER

You're not buying pages. You're buying the thinking between them — and the customers that thinking converts.

// 06What we charge, and why

For transparency, since this whole article demands it: our website projects start at €690 (a focused landing page) and ongoing care starts at €420/month. After a free strategy call you get a roadmap with exact costs per module — and you can stop after any module. Copy is always included; so are SEO foundations, speed targets and tracking. Live example of the full package: the Grand Fitness project.

yes, we have skin in this game. that's why the ranges above include offers cheaper than ours — judge every provider, us included, by the five questions.