2024: How Much Does a Website Cost

The pandemic has highlighted the need for all businesses, regardless of size or sector, to move into the digital world. But this is not just about having social media channels. Digitization must be experienced both in the optimization of processes and resources, as well as in the use of technology to market their products, services, and brand. An important part of this is having an active website.

In this article, we will help you answer the question of how much a website will cost in 2024. In addition, we will guide you through the various factors that influence the price, the additional costs that may be incurred, and the new requirements that have emerged.

In this article

How Much Does a Website Cost In 2024?

Today there are many types of websites you can work with. Therefore, we cannot give you a single answer as to how much it will cost to create a website in 2024. The cost depends on whether it is a showcase, a landing page, or an e-commerce site. Or if it is created using a website builder such as WordPress or JavaScript. Each of these factors will affect the price of a website.

A Showcase Website

A showcase website is a website that presents your company’s products and services as a catalog. It does not have the ability to sell or buy products online. They are therefore a way to give your company an active presence in the digital world.

The price of a showcase website varies greatly. Especially depending on the degree of customization you want to have.

Minimalist Website

The peculiarity of this type of website is that it has a rather simple and rudimentary design. To such an extent that they usually have a very small number of pages. Usually, they are limited to two or three, in addition to the home page and contact form.

The purpose of this type of site is to publish basic information about a company. It’s also used to invite Internet users to contact you via the registration form. In other words, the showcase site is nothing more or less than a digital business card for your brand.

This type of website is ideal if your company has a limited budget, or wants to save money.

To create a minimalist website, there are very simple solutions, but on average you can estimate that it will cost somewhere between 0 and 3,000 euros. The difference lies mainly in who will be the website designers, the website builders, and how the work will be done.

Atomic4 is a company dedicated to digital marketing and website creation company based in Barcelona, Spain. Among its services, they have custom web development as well as e-commerce website building. The agency consists of 45 employees. Their web development costs start at 2,000 euros per project.

Personalized Showcase Website

You can take the design of your showcase site even further and customize it to reflect your

• The corporate identity of your brand
• The products and services you offer
• The values of your company

Without a doubt, this task is more complex than creating a minimalist website. And why is that? Because your website designer will need to identify the points you want to emphasize and make them reflect your brand identity. For example, you can incorporate your brand colors into the website through various visual elements.

Yield Studio is an agency based in France that offers its services in many areas such as:

• Website creation
• Ergonomics (UX/UI design)
• Mobile applications
• Web applications

And, as you can see in the image below, they can help you build your website for 5,000 euros per project.

Custom “High-End” Website

This type of site uses the same codes as custom sites, but with an even higher level of customization. In this case, the idea is that your website is a vehicle for your brand image.

The “high-end” storefronts also differ in the functionality they can include. For example, they can display content with animations.

Remember that this type of site aims to differentiate itself from competitors’ sites in order to highlight the specifics of the company and the brand.

For example, the “GrowthYouNeed” agency, dedicated to using artificial intelligence to improve the performance of its clients, can help you design and create all types of websites (institutional, branding, events, etc.). Their team will take care of the planning, design, programming, and maintenance of your site for 6,000 euros per project.

Landing Page

A landing page is a page on your website designed to convert visitors into leads. It is any page within your website where a visitor arrives or “lands” after clicking on a call-to-action or button.

This type of page is different from the other pages on your site because it must have

1. A form to capture a visitor’s information in exchange for a desired offer.
2. The goal of converting visitors into leads.

A landing page can be limited to a presentation of your company’s products or services. But it must be used to direct your visitors to a page where they are asked to take a specific action.

So how much does it cost to create a landing page? It is complicated to estimate the price of this type of page, as it is often part of a more global budget. However, a landing page tends to cost more than a single page because it requires a marketing approach.

As a result, a landing page can cost anywhere from 400 to 1,500 euros. The difference in price mainly depends on who is doing the web development and design.

Portal

Web portals are sites whose primary purpose is to provide Internet users with a wide range of resources and services related to a topic, profession, community, geographic area, etc.

Among the elements you can include are:

• Editorial content developed by the portal.
• Links to third-party reference sites
• Discussion forums
• Blogs
• etc.

The term portal is a good metaphor to describe these gateways to a “dedicated universe”. However, be careful not to confuse them with web directories, as the latter only provide links to third-party sites within a category. And, in most cases, they offer a registration system to customize the interface and use the site’s services.

The complexity of portals is similar to that of storefronts, except that the latter must be updated periodically. This means that a large number of pages must be created, updated, and maintained over time. There is also the possibility of creating user profiles, which requires more work on the backend.

If you are thinking of creating such a site, you should estimate a minimum of 4,000 euros.

E-commerce Website

E-commerce is a web platform for online sales. Here you have the opportunity to expose your products to a greater number of people and reach a much more targeted audience than in a real store.

In fact, thanks to search engines, the main traffic generators, millions of people can find the products available on a website. This makes it easier to overcome distance and language barriers.

There are several ways to create an e-commerce site. But success depends on knowing how to choose the one that best suits your needs.

There are many proprietary Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that allow you to create a website, whether you are a professional or not. These solutions include platforms such as Shopify, WebFlow, WooCommerce, Prestashop, Wix, and others.

These software packages are designed to help you create an e-commerce website quickly and easily. However, at Sortlist, we always recommend that you contact an agency that specializes in web design to create an online store that meets your needs, design, and functionality requirements.

Let’s take the example of Bluecell Comunicación. This is an agency based in Madrid that offers to create your e-commerce website for 5,000 euros using CMS (Content Management Systems) such as Shopify and Shopify Plus.

WordPress Website

Aside from the type of website you want to create, you should also investigate how you want to create it. There are many options, from WordPress and JavaScript to creating the complete code for your site. Each has its advantages, time commitment, and associated costs.

WordPress is a free, user-friendly, and very popular content management system (CMS). It is estimated that WordPress hosts about 30% of the world’s websites. In addition, the platform has a very active community of developers, agencies, and freelancers.

In general, you can get a wide range of prices on this platform. The prices range from €200 for freelance web designers to more than €1,000 for structured web agencies or experienced web developers.

Custom WordPress Showcases

As we saw earlier in this guide, the basic showcase site is very suitable for small organizations. Estimates for this type of site range from $3,000 to $6,000, depending on how many pages and features you need. The minimum price for a website is 1,000 euros.

Just take a look at some of the agencies we have in our WordPress development directory. For example, Glasmeyer Branding GmbH, located in Germany, has a team of 20 people and can build a WordPress website for as little as 3,000 euros.

High-end Custom WordPress Websites

This category of websites typically includes a custom site built for your business and a large number of pages (typically between 10 and 50). This type of website is suitable for mid-sized businesses that have a lot of content to share or a large product offering.

Working with the WordPress CMS simplifies the process of publishing and updating your own website. At Sortlist, we recommend this type of site for mid-sized companies or those with a larger budget, as the initial investment is more significant than for the “simpler” custom sites.

The cost of creating a WordPress site in this case varies greatly from project to project. But on average, you will need a budget of at least 5,000 euros.

With JavaScript

JavaScript is present in almost all functional websites, allowing them to be dynamic and interactive.

It is a language used by web developers to create websites that respond to user commands and movements. Javascript has the “power” to modify the HTML and CSS code of a web page so that it obeys the user’s commands.

This programming language is mainly used to:

• Play an animation when the user scrolls down;
• Make a menu, or a navigation bar, appear when the user presses a key on the keyboard;
• Create a carousel (mobile photo gallery) so that the user can move from one slide to another.

JavaScript is often combined with other programming languages, such as HTML for markup and CSS for styling.

In most cases, when developing a site in JavaScript, either code is added through a CMS (such as WordPress, thus modifying the theme), or the site is created by coding. In the latter case, we will look at agency pricing.

For example, the agency Ttandem Digital Studio, based in Pamplona offers its services starting at 5,000 euros per project. For its part, the Barcelona agency Ideafoster offers to create your website for €1,000.

Agency: Atomic4

Atomic4 is a Spanish agency that specializes in digital strategy and growth hacking. The agency was founded more than 15 years ago and has done more than 100 projects with Sortlist.

Among its many areas of expertise (advertising, online advertising, digital strategy, SEO, branding, positioning …), we find e-commerce and web development.

Atomic4 has an average rating of 4.99/5 on Sortlist.com and their team of web designers can help you with your website project starting at 2,000 euros.

How Much Does a Website Cost? Additional Expenses

Creating a website goes far beyond the cost of your web designer and web developer. There are a number of additional costs you need to consider. However, keep in mind that these costs will vary depending on the type of site you are creating and the system you are using.

Let’s take a look at the most common ones.

Plugins: Between 0 and 100 Euros Per Month

Each site-building system (WordPress, Shopify…) gives you access to a catalog of applications and plugins that can help you improve the management or the quality of your site.

The cost depends on the plugins you decide to subscribe to. However, it is important to note that you can create a website without paying for plugins. Of course, this means that you will have to make some sacrifices in terms of performance or design.

This cost item can grow or shrink as much as you want. Ultimately, it’s up to you to define what you need and pay the price if necessary.

Premium Customer Support (optional): More Than 10€ / Month

Some website builders offer you the option to subscribe to premium customer support to improve the speed and quality of their customer service.

While this service costs a few dollars per month, it adds to the final cost of building your own website.

However, if you work with an agency that specializes in website development, it is possible that you will return to the same agency for updates. Therefore, you will not need the support option.

Cost of Technical Elements

In addition, there are a number of technical elements that you should always consider. They are responsible not only for making the site work properly but also for making it accessible to users.

Keep in mind that these are all recurring costs and your site won’t work properly without them.

Domain Name: Between 0€ and 40€ / Year

This cost varies depending on the domain name you have. In fact, some domain extensions are more expensive than others. It can vary between €8 and €40 per year (although the average is around €15 per year).

There are several ways to buy your domain name:

1. Buy from a registry
2. Buy from a web hosting provider: Although hosting and domain names are different things, hosting providers usually offer the option to buy domain names. Therefore, buying your domain name and web hosting from the same place makes it much easier to manage the services. And most of them will give you your SSL certificate for free.

The Cost of Graphic Elements

It is important to have a good budget for graphic design. It is this element that will characterize your brand. Let’s assume that a graphic charter alone costs at least 500 euros.

Then there is the price of the logo, which for a small business is usually around 750 euros. A complete graphic identity will therefore require a budget of between 600 and 10,000 euros (or even more). This, of course, depends on your expectations and the size of your organization.

Often, the budget for a graphic identity varies according to two criteria:

1. The size of your company
2. The documents you order from the communications agency.

Here are the different levels depending on the size of the company:

• Small business: 1,000-3,000 euros
• SME: 2,000-4,000 euros
• Large company: 4,000-10,000 euros

Budget for additional services (approximate):

• Business card: 250 euros
• Brochures, A3 PDF format: 150-400 euros
• Brochures, A4 PDF format: 200-500 euros
• Posters: 250-750 euros

Therefore, depending on the type of website you have, you can expect the following budgets:

• Showcase: about 1,500 euros
• E-shop and blog: about 2,500 euros
• Responsive website, and e-commerce: about 3,000 euros.

For example, Digital Masters GmbH, an agency based in Hamburg, Germany, can create your brand image and your graphic charter for a minimum of 3,000 euros per project.

Cost of Marketing Elements

In digital marketing, there are a number of minimum costs that you should include in your website listing. Each of them allows you to position your website in search engines. They are also the right way to bring your brand closer to your target audience and increase your monthly website traffic.

Establish an SEO Optimization

SEO is an important and almost systematic effort if you want to increase traffic to your website. In this sense, at Sortlist we always recommend hiring a professional to optimize your site both technically and in terms of content. But how much does it cost?

Website optimization is expensive because it needs to be done on a regular basis. A full year of support for a small business e-commerce site can cost between 700 and 2,500 euros per month. And that number will increase depending on how complex your site is.

Madrid-based agency WSI, for example, offers its SEO services for as little as 1,000 euros.

Setting Up Paid Search Campaigns

Setting up a paid search campaign is complex in many ways. In fact, advertisers choose the keywords they want to include in their ads. The constraint for them is that they have to rely on the queries that Internet users use when searching for the products or services they are targeting.

The company behind the ad, therefore, determines the “bids” for these keywords.

When the user searches for a keyword on Google, the company’s ad appears, and the consumer clicks on it, and the company is charged. This is called cost-per-click (or CPC) billing. The cost of the paid search depends on four factors:

1. The maximum cost-per-click bids set by the advertiser for each keyword;
2. The cost per click for a keyword at any given time;
3. The number of clicks per month;
4. The maximum daily budget set by the advertiser.

The cost per click at any given time depends on the competition from other advertisers in terms of bids. In fact, if a competitor has placed a higher bid than yours, it will appear first on the search engine page.

Although the CPC on Google Ads is estimated to be between 1 and 2 euros, it can sometimes be much higher depending on the industry you are in.

But the good thing is that you can limit the budget you invest in Google Ads campaigns. In fact, the number of clicks per month is limited by the maximum budget set by the advertiser. This budget is calculated by multiplying the average daily budget by 30.4. This is the average number of days in a month.

Therefore, if your company has a budget of 750 euros per month or 24.67 euros per day, your monthly bill will never exceed this amount, even if your daily expenses may vary.

At Sortlist, we recommend that you always rely on a specialized agency to help you choose the right keywords. And to help you set up the keyword system in your Google Console.

Isaura Media, an agency based in Madrid, specializes in digital marketing and offers its online advertising services starting at 1,000 euros per project. While Momento Agency carries out this type of campaign starting at 3,000 euros.

Advertising on Social Networks

Advertising campaigns on social networks have different advertising methods.

Prices vary according to the amounts automatically set in the auction. It is up to you to decide how much money you are willing to invest. However, as with Google Ads campaigns, we recommend that you work with an agency specialized in this field.

Comunicare Marketing can take care of this, starting from 1,000 euros per project:

• Website
• Digital strategy
• SEO
• Advertising
• Brand image

The advertising agency Millenials Consulting in Madrid specializes in Facebook Ads and can help you increase your sales through this social network, for no less than 1,000 euros.

To Summarize

There are many types of websites that exist today. There are the simplest, such as showcase sites, or the more complex, such as e-commerce sites. But to determine the price of a website, it is necessary to know more than the type of site you want to build. It is necessary to know how web development will be done. It can be through a CMS, such as WordPress, or by coding the entire site.

Each of these decisions has a direct impact on the answer to the question of how much it will cost to build a website. In addition, factors such as the size of your company, the service provider, the size of the site, and how it will be used, as well as additional but necessary features (SSL certificate, domain, hosting, etc.) influence the final cost.

On average, you can estimate that hiring a professional web designer to create your (simple) website will cost more than 2,000 euros. Now, if you are thinking about an e-commerce site, the budget will certainly be higher.

Here you can consult a list of the best web design agencies, some of them will be able to help you in other areas such as branding and digital marketing of your business. We recommend that you check out their full portfolios and discuss the scope of the project you have in mind.