Nerd Stack

2026 Pricing Guide

How much does a website cost?
Actual numbers.

A professional business website costs $3,000 to $30,000+ in 2026. Landing pages run $1,500–$3,000, brochure sites $3,000–$6,000, standard custom business sites $6,000–$15,000, e-commerce $10,000–$30,000, and custom web applications start around $30,000. The range is wide for real reasons, and this guide breaks down every one of them — including the ongoing costs most quotes never mention.

By Project Type

What each kind of project actually costs.

Cost tracks how much of your business the site has to carry. A page that explains what you do is cheap. Software that runs part of your operation is not.

Landing page or one-pager

$1,500 – $3,000

A single focused page for one campaign, product, or event.

Custom designCopy supportForm + analyticsMobile-first build

Brochure site

$3,000 – $6,000

5–8 pages that establish credibility. No complex functionality.

Custom designCMS for editsTechnical SEO foundationContact forms

Standard custom business site

$6,000 – $15,000

The most common project. Built to generate leads, not just exist.

Full custom designConversion-focused layoutsCMS + trainingSEO + schemaPerformance work

E-commerce store

$10,000 – $30,000

Selling online. Cost scales with catalogue size and integrations.

Shopify or customProduct + payment setupInventory integrationsCheckout optimization

Custom web application

$30,000 – $100,000+

Software, not a website. Portals, dashboards, internal tooling.

Custom architectureRole-based accessBespoke admin toolingThird-party integrations

Based in Colorado? See what the Denver market charges — local rates differ from national averages.

Platform Choice

Builder, WordPress, or custom?

This decision moves the price more than anything except scope. We build on all three and the honest answer is that the cheapest option is sometimes correct.

DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace)

$200 – $600 / year

Cheapest possible start
No developer needed
Fine for a basic presence
Template look competitors share
Performance ceiling you cannot raise
Limited SEO control
You are renting, not owning

WordPress with a custom theme

$5,000 – $15,000 build

Your team can run it
Huge plugin ecosystem
Familiar to most marketers
Plugins accumulate and slow it down
Needs real maintenance and updates
Security is your responsibility

Next.js (our default)

$6,000 – $15,000 build

Fastest option — speed is a ranking and conversion factor
Near-zero attack surface
Scales without rebuilding
Needs a developer for structural change
Overkill for a true five-page brochure site

The Part Quotes Skip

What it costs to keep, not just to build.

Build price is the number everyone compares. Running cost is the number that decides whether the site is still working for you in year three. Ours are deliberately boring: hosting $0–$20/month for most business sites, domain registration ~$12/year, and an optional maintenance plan from $99/month. No licence fees, no per-edit charges, no surprises.

Three-year total on a $10,000 site

Roughly $14,000 — the build, plus about $3,500 of maintenance and a few hundred in hosting and domain. Model that before you compare quotes, because a cheaper build on a platform with licence fees and paid plugins often costs more across the same three years. And you own everything we build: code, design files, domain, content, with no dependency on us to keep it running.

Common Questions

Website cost FAQ

How much does a website cost in 2026?

A professional business website typically costs $3,000 to $30,000+. Landing pages run $1,500–$3,000; brochure sites $3,000–$6,000; standard custom business sites $6,000–$15,000; e-commerce stores $10,000–$30,000; and custom web applications start around $30,000. The wide range is real — it reflects how much of your business the site has to do, not arbitrary agency markup.

Why does one agency quote $500 and another $15,000?

They are selling different things. A $500 website is usually a template with your logo dropped in — no custom design, minimal SEO, often slow shared hosting. A $10,000+ build involves a designer, a developer, SEO strategy, performance work, and layouts engineered to convert. The useful question is not what a website costs, but what a website that does not generate leads is costing you every month.

What ongoing costs come after launch?

They are modest and you should know them upfront. Hosting is $0–$20/month for most business sites. Domain registration is about $12/year. A maintenance plan is optional and starts at $99/month. Over three years, a $10,000 site with hosting and maintenance totals roughly $14,000 — worth modelling before you compare quotes on build price alone.

Is a cheap website ever the right call?

Yes. If you need a basic online presence and your customers come from referrals or foot traffic, a Squarespace template with good photography and honest copy is a sensible $500/year decision, and we will tell you so. Custom becomes worth it when the website is a channel that has to produce leads — at that point the build pays for itself or it does not, and that is a measurable question rather than a matter of taste.

How can I reduce the cost without getting burned?

Cut scope, not quality. Fewer pages at launch, phase the nice-to-haves, write your own copy, and supply your own photography — those genuinely lower the number. What does not work: cutting technical SEO, skipping performance work, or choosing the cheapest host. Those are the things you cannot retrofit cheaply, and they are exactly where a low quote usually saved its money.

How long does a website take to build?

Most custom sites take 6–10 weeks from discovery to launch. Landing pages can ship in 2–3 weeks. Custom web applications take longer and are built in phases. Content is almost always the bottleneck rather than design or development, so the fastest way to shorten a project is to have your copy and images ready.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes — 0% financing on every project with no down payment required, so the upfront cost does not decide whether you get a site that works. Book a call and we will walk through how the schedule is structured.

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Want a real number for your project?

Book a free 20-minute call. We’ll scope what you actually need, give you an honest estimate, and tell you if a cheaper option would serve you better.

0% financing · No down payment · You own everything

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