How much a business website costs

Ask an agency what a website costs and you will usually hear that it depends. That is true, and it is also useless on its own. It depends on a short list of things you can name, count and compare. Here is that list, along with the figures I publish openly, because holding the price back until a sales call wastes everybody's time.

Three things worth remembering

1. 1.Scope drives the price, not hours. Ten pages cost more than one because they are ten times the content, layout and testing.
2. 2.The biggest gap between two quotes is rarely in the code. It is in who writes the copy, sources the photography and plans the structure.
3. 3.The cheapest quote often turns out to be the most expensive one, because you pay again at the first serious change.

What actually moves the price

Scope. A landing page is one screen, one goal and one button. A one page business site sits a step above it: still one page, but complete, with the offer, contact details and a map, for a business that needs to be found rather than to run a campaign. A company website is usually five to fifteen pages, each with its own content and its own behaviour on a phone. A platform or a database driven site is a system where things happen: sign in, search, a dashboard, payments. Three different orders of magnitude, so three different prices.

Custom design or a template. A template is cheaper and faster, and on a tight budget it can be the sensible answer. The cost shows up later: the site looks like hundreds of others, and every non standard section becomes a fight with a layout somebody else designed. A custom build costs more at the start and less at every change after it.

Copy and images. This is where quotes diverge most. One studio prices the build and assumes you supply the words and the photographs. Another includes copywriting, a photo shoot and translation. The same number can cover completely different work.

Features. A contact form is cheap. A shop, a booking system, user accounts, an integration with the software your team already uses, a quote calculator: each one is separate work and separate testing.

Two languages. A bilingual site is not one site with a translation bolted on. It is double the content, double the addresses, separate titles and descriptions for search, and a language switch that has to land on the matching page rather than the home page.

The figures I publish

• •Landing page: from 500 PLN, one screen, one goal, live quickly
• •One page business site: 1,300 PLN, a single page with your offer, contact details and a map, live quickly
• •Company website or platform: from 2,900 PLN, full site, brand identity essentials, two rounds of revisions, launch ready within a week
• •Platform, database site or MVP: from 8,900 PLN, from ten screens, CMS or database, three rounds of revisions, three to four weeks
• •Care after launch: from 500 PLN a month, updates, monthly SEO and security check, small changes

These are starting points, not a ceiling. They rise with the number of pages, the number of languages and the number of features that genuinely do something.

What is often quoted separately

Before you compare two offers, check whether one of them only looks cheaper because something is missing:

• •domain and hosting, usually an annual cost on your side
• •copywriting, if you are not supplying the words
• •photography, either your own or a stock licence
• •a logo and brand basics, if the business does not have them
• •translation into a second language
• •setting up a Google Business Profile and analytics
• •care after launch, meaning updates and backups.

Why the cheapest quote is often the most expensive

A few hundred złoty usually buys a stock template, copy written in a hurry and no thought about what your customers actually type into Google. It works until the first real change. Then you find that adding one section means rebuilding the layout, that the site is slow on a phone, and that nobody is finding it. Fixing a site like that often costs as much as building a new one, and sometimes more, because somebody has to untangle the old one first.

Seven questions to ask before you compare offers

1. 1.How many pages does this price include, and what happens when there are more.
2. 2.Who writes the copy, and where do the images come from.
3. 3.How many rounds of revisions are included, and what does the next one cost.
4. 4.Do I get access to the code and the admin panel, or am I tied to the builder.
5. 5.Will every page have its own title and description for search.
6. 6.What happens after launch, and what does upkeep cost.
7. 7.How long will it take, and what specifically delays it.

A studio that answers those seven clearly is worth more than one that answers more cheaply.

What to prepare before the first call

Write down what the site has to achieve, in numbers, for example ten enquiries a month through the form. Count the pages you genuinely need. Gather what you already have: logo, photographs, copy, access to the domain. Decide who inside the business will answer questions and make decisions. Those four things shorten a project more than any technology does.

If you would rather start by checking what you already have

Before spending anything on a new site, it helps to know the state of the current one. I run a free website and brand audit: SEO, security, speed and your Google Business presence, with written recommendations and no obligation. Sometimes the conclusion is that you do not need a new site at all, only a fix to the one you have. Request a free audit