How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website 2022

If you are planning to create a website, then you probably have a lot of questions, and the main one is how much website development costs.

The price depends on several factors. The first and most important is the kind of website you want to create.

In this article, we will figure out how much it costs to build a website, as well as help you estimate the cost of developing your web resource.

Why Cost To Build A Website Matters

Pretty much everyone who considered developing a website has faced extremely confusing pricing for this service. The same task can be estimated in the range from $1000 to $50000+. 

Only those specialists who are actively engaged in web development and have extensive experience know real prices.

First of all, you need to decide for yourself how much you are willing to pay for the development of a website, what functions it should have, which of them you can potentially sacrifice to make it cheaper, as well as what website features are extremely important and fundamental for you.

It is important to study the market, find different contractors, find out the prices of their services and analyze the information obtained. Note: you shouldn’t dwell only on the information posted on the company’s website or in the developer’s profile. You need to contact the managers and clarify the prices, which sometimes differ from the published ones. In fact, the budget largely depends on the complexity of the project and individual requirements. A specialist will be able to calculate the preliminary cost of creating a website only after discussing its features with the client. As the next step, the final price cost is provided after drafting technical specifications.

Website Cost Calculator

To facilitate the selection process for clients, there is an opportunity to use an online website cost calculator.

Although the result of such an assessment is very approximate, the client can get a general understanding of the budget required to create a product in question.

The development cost is assessed by calculating the total amount of time required to develop or integrate each function, including back-end and front-end development, UI/UX design, quality control, project management and multiplying the number of hours by the cost of an hour of work of the relevant specialists. The results are then summarized and the final cost of creating a turnkey solution is calculated.

Note that the development cost usually includes an adaptive version of the web application.

Find an example of a website development cost calculator below:

Ways To Create A Site

It’s always up to you to decide on the way to build your website. On one hand, if you have a sufficient budget and need professional help, consider hiring a vendor for this purpose. It may be either freelance developers, or a web development company. On the other hand, if you feel like having enough time and desire to put an effort into creating a website yourself, you’re all welcome to give it a try.

Currently there are three main ways to create a website:

using CMS systems;

by writing the source code of the website;

using website builders.

Let’s take a closer look at each of them depending on the type of the executor.

Hire Vendors

Vendors typically provide 2 types of website development services. First of all, let’s talk about CMS-based development

In fact, any CMS, or a Content Management System, is a software platform for creating web projects. These sites are usually narrowly specialized, i.e. suitable for a certain type of web resource. Here are the most popular ones:

• WordPress is great for creating blogs, business card websites, and corporate websites. 
• Joomla is another multifunctional CMS system that allows you to create both a simple business card website or a corporate website, as well as an online store with wide functionality. 
• Drupal is also a popular CMS system that is great for creating corporate websites, business card websites, as well as portfolio websites, social networks and online stores.
• OpenCart is a CMS-system that is intended primarily for creating online stores.
• Magento is a good solution for large projects in e-commerce.

Another way of building a website is by writing source code. This method of creating a website involves writing code “from scratch”, without using ready-made templates and a set of functions.

Such websites can vary largely in complexity: simple websites, without complex scripts, or the ones with flash applications, etc.

They are much better optimized, more convenient in administration due to the possibility of choosing any type of content management.

Other pros of such web resources include convenience for users, uniqueness, and ease of editing.

Websites with a self-written code are easier to promote, since they use the necessary html tags, they can be changed at any moment (create an automatic linking, etc.).

DIY

If you are a beginner in the world of website development and chose to create a web resource on your own, you should go for a website builder.

Website builders are online services that provide users with graphic templates and a user-friendly interface.

Website builders allow any beginner to develop a web resource without studying web programming and design.

Based on the user’s answers to several questions, they will select a ready-made page template. It only takes a fraction of time to create a website using a builder, however, their main con is that they provide quite a limited functionality.

What Website Development Cost Consist Of

Let’s now break down the components the website development cost typically consists of.

Domain and Hosting

Domain is the name of the website that users enter into the browser’s address bar to navigate to the resource. Domain prices depend on the selected domain zone and start at $6 per year. The average cost of a domain name is about $11 per year.

Hosting in its turn ensures the availability of the website on the web and ranges from $15 to $110 per year.

CMS / Builder

Depending on the required functionality, you can choose a paid or free CMS for the website. At the same time, the cost of paid content management systems depends on the price of the license and varies depending on the capabilities of each CMS. For example, expanding the functionality of a site on Magento is usually more expensive than a similar adjustment on OpenCart, and the WordPress CMS is generally a free engine with a huge number of free modules. The price range for management systems is really wide starting from 0 to around $300 for a website builder and to $1000 for the CMS per year.

Technical Specification

Technical specification is a detailed document that describes what types of work will be performed and by whom. Technical specification is necessary so that the project idea of a client is fully aligned with that of an executor. That is why the specification should be as detailed, unambiguous and objective as possible.

The price of drafting a technical specification for website development depends on several factors:

– Completeness of initial information about the project.

– The number of client requirements for the project.

Usually the price for making up a technical specification goes up to $40.

Design

The more pages of different structure you need to create, the higher the cost of website design will be. The cost can be calculated in several ways:

• Based on the cost per page.
• Based on the number of hours spent on work.

In the first case (which is quite rare), usually each menu item equals 1 page. If you are going to order a multi-page website, the price for the design will be calculated based not on the total number of pages, but on the number of different types of them. The basic cost of a multi-page website starts at $400.

The pages to be rendered include the home page, internal pages, and pages that are opened by clicking on the link buttons (for example, “Q&A”, etc.).

As a result, for a regular website it’s necessary to create an original design of at least 7 pages of different types.

Also, the price of website design is influenced by the necessity to adapt it to different types of devices. The cost of the adaptability is calculated separately for each page with a certain structure. Adaptability and web page design are pretty much equal in cost. In addition, adding an additional language version to the website will increase the cost of the project by 20 – 50%.

Layout

The next step is the design layout. It’s one of the most important stages in website development. Layout refers to the creation of the code for each web page in HTML and CSS, so that all browsers recognize and render the site properly.

As a rule, the cost of the website layout isn’t fixed. The development company takes into account the complexity of the project design, the amount of work, personal requirements of the customer, etc. The range of prices for website layout range from $40 to $100 per one layout/page.

Programming

Sometimes you may need additional functionality that is not provided by the CMS. Therefore, in some cases, a website consisting of only 5 pages may cost more than a multi-page website consisting of hundreds of pages. The price will be formed taking into account all the modifications attributed to the project.

The cost of 1 hour of a programmer’s work depends on his skill level and experience. Usually, it starts at $25/hour.

Marketing

The price for website promotion depends on the scale of the project and its goals, channels and promotion tools used in the chosen marketing strategy, the number of specialists involved, etc.

Complex website promotion (SEM) includes a full list of options for online advertising and the most effective sources for attracting customers. It includes content marketing, SEO, SMM, video marketing, email marketing, contextual advertising, banner advertising, advertising with Youtube bloggers, etc. You can activate all of those channels, or a couple of them. Again, it all depends on your specific project and its goals. 

Here is a table of possible marketing costs:

What Affects The Web Development Price

Type Of Vendor

Of course, the cheapest option is to choose DIY. However, this comes at the expense of your time, and you can instead hire a professional to do it for you. The price will depend on the type of vendor.

Here are the average prices for different vendor types:

If you have a small project that one person can handle, you might consider hiring a freelance software developer.

Freelancers can be specialists who are starting their professional path and are willing to take jobs at low rates. However, they may not have sufficient experience.

As another option, you can find experienced freelancers who can charge anywhere from $100 to $300 per hour. Hiring professionals is definitely a better option, although sometimes it can be risky and you still can consider choosing an offshore development company.

You can as well choose the popular path and contact a web development agency. However, website development fees can be quite high. In case you are looking to get your website developed with a lower budget, you might want to consider offshoring and nearshoring instead, where you can cut nearly a quarter of the cost.

Offshore development costs range from $25 to $50 per hour, while nearshore development is usually a bit more expensive.

Rate And Geography Of Vendors

Since web development is a labor-intensive endeavor, the cost of a project depends a lot on the geographic location of your developers. In developed countries, such as the USA, Canada, UK, etc. the labor cost is somewhat too high. Although, there is a solution which we already mentioned in this article, which is to outsource your project to software companies based in Eastern European countries such as Ukraine or Belarus, or to South Asian countries such as India, where seasoned professionals request much lower rates for their work. This step will significantly reduce development costs.

On the diagram you can see the average hourly payment of developers depending on the country:

Complexity

Of course, the more complex a website you want, the higher the cost for its development will be. When we say “complexity”, we mean:

• Complexity of the design – the number of individually drawn pages and logical blocks, the number of collages and the creation of graphics from scratch;
• Necessity of additional modules (discussion page, news feed, language panel, blog, etc.);
• Complexity of functionality (integration of payment systems, interactions between users, personal accounts, etc.).

Platforms (Web / Mobile)

As more and more users use the web from mobile devices, it’s important to adapt the website to smaller screens. When the website can be used from a smartphone, then visitors spend more time on it and perform more actions, for example, make purchases.

Search engines also take into account the availability of adaptive layout. If the website is recognized as mobile, i.e. adapted for viewing on smartphones, then its position can be higher, so it will receive more visits from search engines. This has a positive effect on SEO promotion.

There are two main ways of adapting a website:

• A separate mobile version of a website. The server redirects those users who use smartphones to it. It’s usually placed under a separate URL: for example, m.website.com or mobile.website.com.
• Adaptive layout. This is where you need to make changes to your CSS and HTML. The website url doesn’t change, nor does the content.

Typically, developing a mobile version of a website is more expensive than creating an adaptive design.

Project Type

There are about a dozen criteria by which web projects can be classified. Let’s consider the most fundamental ones: the purpose and content of a website. Referring to such a logic there are online stores, landing pages, business card sites, information portals, blogs, corporate sites, catalogs, forums, social networks, online services, etc.

The simplest and easiest type of a website is considered to be a business card site or a one-page site. It is created with the purpose of briefly delivering general information about a company or a public person to attract the attention of visitors. Most business card sites consist of 1-3 pages and cost around $500. The most complex type of a website is an online service or web portal, which is a website for providing users with interactive services that operate within a single resource. This can be search, forum, email, voting and other services. The minimum cost of developing such web resources is $15000.

SEO optimization

Starting from the design stage, the website must take into account the current requirements of search engines in terms of SEO. A large amount of work is carried out both before and after launch. And the more complex the project is, the more time will be required for settling everything, and the higher the cost of the services will be. Although, it’s still much better to do everything well at the very beginning than to correct mistakes later.

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website For A Small Business

The cost of a website for a small business initially depends, as mentioned above, on the type and complexity of the project. The easiest business site you can get is an offline business, portfolio, or service promo website. Whatever idea you have, you still need to approach it individually, based on your preferences, project criteria and the result you want to get in the long term.

Let’s consider a basic website with minimal setup requirements. Usually it has less than 20 pages, with a couple of stock photos and no unique functionality. Average rates for such a website are around $2000 – 6000.

How Much Does It Cost To Create An Advanced Website

Advanced websites are a strong business tool. Only professional development agencies are capable of handling the creation of complex websites. Usually, before the actual development, the marketing team carries out substantial preparation:

Studies the business model, target audience, search demand and competitors.

Designs the customer journey.

Creates SEO-structure of the website.

Conducts an audit of the current website and marketing (if exist).

Develops a digital marketing strategy.

Then a website prototype is created and presented to a client. Only when the prototype is approved the technical implementation begins. At each stage, the work of UI/UX designers, layout designers and programmers is supervised by a marketer. A marketer’s role is to ensure that the idea is being implemented exactly as agreed.

Typically, such projects last at least 6-8 months. The work results in the website integrated with other marketing activities and a calculated payback point.

The website of a large B2B company intending to conquer the Internet market will cost around $40000 – 60000. Such a project will include marketing research and traditional development stages (design, programming, layout, etc.). The marketer will lead the process from start to finish.

Tips On Budget Optimization

There are two ways to optimize the cost of web development, specifically, to smartly reduce the budget and lower the risk of extra fees. Let’s have a closer look at them:

1. Develop a technical specification. An ambiguous technical specification can lead to additional costs for revisions. It’s always better to make the requirements as clear as possible.

Leave only the key functionality. Sometimes even a simple functionality can be expensive to implement. It is necessary to highlight the key functions at first, and assess the cost and importance of the secondary ones afterward.

You can start with implementing an MVP, namely, a minimum viable product that will have a set of only the most necessary functions. In such away, you can understand whether it is worth developing the project further at a much lower price.

2. Choose popular tools and technologies. If you choose less common technologies, you may face challenges with finding complimentary contractors and further support and maintenance of your resource.

It’s easier to find developers who work with JavaScript, Python or PHP, than those who work with Ruby.

In terms of backend development, a lot of specialists work with ASP.Net, Django and Node.js. What concerns frontend, Vue, React, Angular are the leaders here.

3. Choose the optimal work model. In practice, the following models can be distinguished:

• One-time Fixed-Price, when the cost of the entire project is fixed before the start of work;
• Phased Fixed-Price, which implies that development is divided into sprints, each of which results in a finished and working functionality. The cost of web development is fixed only for the subsequent sprint. This model is appropriate when it’s impossible to evaluate the entire project in advance;
• Time & Material, when the cost of the work is calculated post its completion. Relevant if you need to start work immediately or the requirements are not formalized.

Conclusion

All in all, the website development cost depends on what your website should be like, namely, on the required functionality, design, platform, etc. We highly recommend having a clear vision of what you expect to get before contacting the developers.

Additionally, try to learn as much as possible about websites and web development, to become a qualified customer. This knowledge will help you speak the same language with your vendor and have a fruitful cooperation. Also, even minimal knowledge of web development will protect you from not very decent executors.

JoinSoft is a trusted web developer with a substantial record of successful cases. Learn more about our web development services and welcome on board!