How Much Does a Website Cost in 2023?

If you've ever thought about building a website for your business, you've probably approached different contractors, freelancers, and agencies and heard different numbers when it came to pricing or costs of making a website. So, how much does a website cost in 2023? Nowadays, the prices are also very different: average cost of website design for small business can be as little as $200 or as much as $7,000. In this article, we will try to calculate the approximate cost of the site in 2023 based on various inputs and determine what affects the final amount.

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How Much Does Building a Website Typically Cost?

Do you know that, on average, people spend more than 6 hours a day online? This time they spend on shopping, entertainment, paying bills, and socializing. These six hours a day are your opportunity as a business to attract clients and make them buy the goods or services they need from you.

People who have learned about your products from friends, interested potential buyers, and partners – all of them will, first of all, look for information about you on the Internet. The website will obviously be the first place they find when looking for information about you. Accordingly, your site should make the best impression. This means that you need a high-quality, stylish, and efficient website that will convince your potential customers and partners of your reliability and professionalism. And it certainly can't be the cheapest website.

Measuring average website cost does not make sense because all sites, terms of reference, and requirements for these sites are different. To create a site, a no-code solution can be used (a website builder, independently or with the services of an agency), a ready-made CMS, or custom development from scratch. How much does it cost to build a website in each case? You should know that these are three fundamentally different approaches that will take different amounts of time and require different resources.

For example, building a website with a website builder can cost as little as $200 per month. But once you want to add some complex elements or integrations and hire a full-time web designer for this, it will cost you at least $5,000 each month. From this point of view, often turning to professional web developers and designers looks like the best idea since you usually pay per project or per service per month, and this amount is much less than the monthly full-time salary for 2-3 specialists. But let's talk about everything in order.

How Much Does a Website Cost Using a Website Builder?

Website builders literally turned the web development industry on its head by offering an accessible, simple, and inexpensive solution for creating websites. No-code website development is primarily suitable for the following:

• Those who do not have technical knowledge but want to create a website on their own;
• Clients who need a colorful and high-converting landing page;
• Those who want to create a personal website or portfolio;
• Clients who need to launch a website in the shortest possible time.

The cost of using a website builder varies depending on the platform and functionality. Some website builders allow you to create a website absolutely free, but this can be considered a demo version, as a free website will have certain limitations, in particular:

• The presence of advertising banners on your site.
• Your site will be hosted on the builder's domain.
• Features will be limited; in particular, you will get little storage space and bandwidth.
• E-commerce functionality on the free site is disabled.

Thus, the free plan is suitable for getting acquainted with the functionality of a website builder and deciding if it is right for you. You can also create free websites to test features or try new ideas.

Often, website builders are thought of as poor platforms where you can make a website for free from 2-3 blocks, but this has not been the case for a long time. If you choose the paid plan, you can enjoy many features, create online stores, and add custom integrations. In this case, a site created on a website builder can be practically in no way inferior to a site on WordPress or on a custom CMS.

So how much does it cost to build a website using a website builder? Prepare to pay between $6 and $50 per month. 

However, it is not enough just to pay for a tariff plan and create a site from blocks – you need to think over the structure and UI/UX and create an attractive design in accordance with current trends. Many who tried to create websites on website builders often complained that it took them too much time and the result was not as beautiful as they wanted. Well, no matter how functional website builders are, without an experienced web designer, you really can't make an amazing website on your own.

Therefore, if you need a beautiful and functional website, you'd better contact an agency. Hallwil creates websites on Webflow, which is a professional website builder for designers that allows you to create beautiful and high-converting websites with the right skills. To know more about landing page design cost, please explore our packages.

How much does a website cost if you hire an agency or freelancer?

Cooperation with a web designer allows you to delegate a significant part of tasks connected with website development. Sure, you will not be able to completely relax; you will certainly take part in the project, but such a decision will allow you to get rid of a lot of difficult work. Cooperation with a web designer is especially relevant in the following cases:

• If you need a complex site.
• You do not have the technical skills to implement projects.
• You need a large, customizable website.

How much to charge for website mockups? The cost of a web designer's services varies greatly, depending on what kind of project you propose, how complex it is, and how experienced the specialist is. You can use the services of an agency or give the project to a freelancer – this will also affect the price. Therefore, the budget spread is very significant – from $5,000 to $30,000.

Hallwil offers to forget painful calculations and unexpected bills and pay for designer services by subscription – we offer several affordable website packages pricing. The minimal package includes 40 hours of our designers' work and costs €1400. Agree, this is much less than the amounts above. At the same time, you will receive a dedicated team of specialists who will be engaged in web design for your project.

What Affects the Cost Of Hiring a Web Designer?

Before hiring a web designer, you need to roughly calculate how much their services will cost. The following factors will affect the final cost of the site:

• The complexity of your site.
• The need to work with hosting, domains, and plugins.
• Web designer services for ongoing site maintenance.
• The presence or absence of a ready-made template or the need to build a site from scratch.
• A set of features for the site (for example, if you want to create an online store, you will need e-commerce features; if you want to launch a blog, the functionality will be way too different).
• The number of pages on your site. It is very important to know the structure of your site in advance in order to calculate the price more accurately.

A good solution will be if you manage the hosting and domain yourself. The domain and hosting will be in your name and will be fully managed by you. This makes working with the website much more convenient and allows you not to depend on one web designer.

How to Reduce the Cost of Hiring a Web Designer?

The cost of hiring a web designer is often the highest when it comes to creating a website, especially if you hire one on staff. Below you will find some tips on how to slightly reduce this column's cost in your budget.

• Choose the right service provider. If you decide to save money right from the start and hire an aspiring designer, it might not end well. The designer may make several critical mistakes, which then have to be redone. This will cost you time and money. In addition, an unskilled designer will perform work more slowly than an experienced one. The right designer will not only complete the work efficiently and on time but also offer options for improvement.
• Do not hire a designer on staff. If you only need a designer to create one website for your company, consider whether you really want to hire one. A much more profitable solution can be cooperation with an agency. By signing an agreement with Hallwil, you will receive a dedicated team of web designers, programmers, and QA experts who will create a website for you in the shortest possible time for a fixed amount per month, without overpayments.
• Use stock images. This can be a great solution for your website in the first stages. In addition, stock websites usually have high-quality images that will help your site get more views. In the case of photographs of your products, of course, stock images will not work – in this case, look for an inexpensive product photographer who will take photos of your products and prepare them for publication.
• Use website templates. As we wrote above, website development is a rather complicated and long process. You don't always have to take the hardest path. In many cases, a template may be enough, which the web designer will help you modify for you.
• Repurpose content from other sources. Perhaps you already have images and photos of your products on your social networks. You can use them on your site. All you have to do is edit the existing content and make it more attractive to post on the site.
• Think about whether the site you have planned is too big. The more website pages you include in the structure, the longer and more expensive it will be to create a website. To keep costs down, try deleting pages you don't need. You can always add pages later as the website develops and expands.

How Much Does It Cost to Create Website Content?

Before evaluating the cost of creating content on a website, you first need to understand what content is all about. Content is everything that is contained on your site. These can be pictures or photographs, videos, text materials, etc. Everything that is contained on the site is content, and it should be interesting for the user. And you also have to pay for the content. The cost differs depending on what exactly you want to receive.

The cost of multimedia materials 

Theoretically, you can save on multimedia materials by generating them yourself. If you have the skills, you can use websites and programs such as Unsplash or Canva to create multimedia content. At the same time, the creation of such content can be entrusted to professionals, or you can buy ready-made photos or videos. To do this, you can use ready-made multimedia content services (such as iStockPhoto). The estimated range of prices in this area will be from $2 to $250 per month.

Website copywriting cost

Creating text content for a website has its own specifics. The main three challenges when writing texts for the site are as follows:

1. Texts should attract customers' attention and stimulate them to perform a targeted action. For example, to purchase a product or create an account.

2. Texts should reflect the nature and characteristics of your brand. Text materials emphasize the uniqueness of your site. If they don't, your site will sink among millions of analogs that also do not stand out in any way.

3. SEO optimization is very important for a website. You should strive for the top of the SERP. Even if your site is on the 2nd page of the search result, the number of clicks drops dramatically. What to say, for example, about page 5 or below?

For these reasons, it is better to entrust the texts to a professional copywriter. Payment for this work is usually piecework and is calculated based on the number of pages for which text is needed and on the number of words or characters. The price of such content will be from $25 to $25,000, depending on the features of your site and your wishes.

Essential Website Costs: Breakdown

So, let's look at the most important website development costs that absolutely all website owners face. The costs listed below are mostly one-time costs. However, there may be recurring costs. For example, if you want to rebrand or update the content on the pages. We have made rough estimates of costs; they can vary greatly, and many factors affect the final cost. So, let's look at the average cost of the most important elements of a website, without which it will not be functional.

Website industry analysis cost

If you want to create a website for your product or service, you first need to analyze the industry in which your company operates. This will allow you to develop a strategy that will allow you to succeed in promoting your site. The analysis cost depends on how much time will be spent on it. If you take a base rate of $45 per hour, the costs will range from $45 to $270.

Website design cost

One of the determining factors that inspires confidence in the site is its design. According to the study, 48% of users consider design to be a key factor that inspires their trust. In order not to scare off users, the site must look professional and modern. Average cost for website design or average website redesign cost can range from $200 to $50,000. 

Website hosting cost

Hosting is an integral part of a normally functioning website. Choosing the wrong hosting means getting into trouble: a slow site, small capacity (so you can't upload a lot of content, photos, or videos to the site, for example), etc. So make sure you choose stable hosting so that it won't negatively impact your site speed – 47% of users expect a site to load in no more than 2 seconds. So, what is the cost of hosting a website? It starts from $5 to $200 per month.

Website domain cost

The domain name also plays an important role in the development of a website. People will search for you by typing your domain name. Make sure the domain is chosen wisely to reflect your industry and your brand. The most attractive and easy-to-remember domains usually cost more. Domain prices range from $2 to $20 per year.

Website security cost (SSL certificate)

One of the key success factors for a website is its security. Google has officially added an SSL certificate to its ranging recommendations. This is an important factor in website positioning. If you don't take care of this, users will experience problems accessing your site. Any protection service will warn them that your site is unsafe. The cost of an SSL certificate is generally low. As a rule, the price varies from 4 to 50 dollars per year.

The cost of site functionality and extensions

In order for your site to be interesting to users, it is important to provide wide functionality. For example, the successful operation of an online store cannot be imagined without a photo gallery or a shopping cart. However, this is not necessary for a one-page landing. Therefore, the set of tools varies, depending on your site type. Setting up the site functionality will cost from several tens to several hundred dollars, depending on the platform your site works on and whether it's a custom solution.

Website responsiveness cost

According to a study, 73.1% of web designers name responsiveness and adaptability as the top issues that cause users to leave a site. Therefore, if you intend to create a website, it must be responsive by default. Creating a mobile version of a website usually costs from $100 to $2500.

Additional Costs To Consider

Website development and domain purchase are not all the costs that need to be considered. There are also additional costs that you need to be aware of. In particular, we are talking about analytics and SEO optimization. Let's look at these costs in more detail.

Cost of website analytics tools

Analytics is a mandatory expense item for any website. Tools such as Google Analytics require tampering with the website code to gain access to statistics. This statistic is necessary to control the performance of the business. Based on the data received from Google Analytics, you can find out how interesting your site and your business are to users, what weaknesses you have, etc. In general, Google Analytics is a free tool, but a programmer may charge a fee to set it up.

Website SEO cost

Without SEO optimization, bringing your site to the top of search results is impossible. The lower your site is in search engines for certain queries, the fewer users will know about it. Therefore, it is very important to allocate a budget for SEO. Such services can vary from $50 to $2,000 per month.

How much does it cost to run a website?

The website development costs are not limited to just building a website. It is also very important to allocate a budget for maintenance. Site maintenance includes auditing, backups, updating plugins and extensions, and much more.

Website development can be compared to building a house. At first, you spend a lot of money, and then it becomes much easier for you. You enjoy the results, but you still have to bear certain costs. The maintenance of the site is like utilities in the house. So, how much does it cost to maintain a website? The answer is from $5 to $5,000 per month.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website in USA?

Prices may vary, but on average, website development in the USA will cost from $250 to infinity. The monthly support also needs to be considered - it usually starts at $100.

The price also depends significantly on where the developers are located. It is also possible to order development for US projects abroad and it will be much cheaper for business.