Having a website built: what does it really cost?
Honest figures instead of “from €49” bait offers. Here you'll see what a professional website costs, what drives the price up or down and which ongoing costs come on top, all transparent and at a fixed price.
“What does a website cost?” is the wrong first question.
The honest answer is: anywhere between roughly €1,500 and well over €10,000, depending on scope. That range doesn't help you much, so on this page we go deeper: we show you the real price tiers on the German market, which factors move your quote and where hidden costs hide.
The better first question is: what should the website do, and what does it return to me? A site that gets found and brings enquiries isn't a cost item, it's an investment with a return. That's exactly what we cost out, with a fixed price you know before the project starts.
What you're actually paying for
A website isn't an off-the-shelf product. The price splits across four disciplines that, in a serious quote, are all included, not as expensive add-ons later.
Strategy & concept
Audience, page structure, conversion paths. This invisible part decides whether the website later brings enquiries, or just exists.
Design & development
Custom design and cleanly coded, fast technology. The biggest item, and the difference between a template and a brand.
Copy & content
Search-optimised text that sells. Supply it yourself and the price drops; if we write the copy, that's reflected in the quote.
SEO & technical setup
Technical SEO, schema markup, tracking, GDPR setup. Built in rather than added later at a premium, that saves the most long term.
Website costs by scope
Guide figures for orientation on the German market, not a flat rate. You get your binding fixed price after the strategy call, matched to your actual scope.
| Package | Best for | Guide price | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-pager / landing page | Freelancers & small businesses with one clear goal on a single page | from approx. €1,500 | 2–3 weeks |
| Business website | Established companies, several services, local SEO (approx. 5–10 pages) | approx. €3,000–6,000 | 4–6 weeks |
| Large website | Growth with a blog, multiple locations or multilingual | from approx. €6,000 | 6–10 weeks |
| Custom features | Online shop, booking system, customer portal or CRM integration | individual | by scope |
All prices are net guide figures for orientation. We set the final fixed price after the strategy call, with no hourly billing and no hidden items.
One-time costs vs. ongoing costs, the honest overview
One-time: the build
Concept, design, development, copy and SEO setup, the fixed price from the table above. Paid once, the website is yours.
Ongoing: hosting
Fast, secure hosting usually runs around €10–30 per month, depending on requirements. With us, optionally bundled with maintenance.
Ongoing: domain
A .de domain costs around €10–20 per year. A modest item that's often already part of the hosting package.
Optional: maintenance
Updates, backups, security and small changes. From around €30–80 per month, transparent, cancellable and never mandatory.
Optional: ongoing SEO
When your site should keep climbing. A monthly package, costed individually by competition and goals.
No hidden licence fees
We build on open technology. No expensive theme or plugin subscriptions you have to pay every year just to keep the site running.
Want to compare the packages directly? Our pricing page shows everything at a glance.
Agency, freelancer or website builder, what costs what?
The cheapest route is rarely the most economical. An honest cost comparison, including the follow-on costs that tend to go unmentioned.
Website builder (from approx. €10–40/month)
Low entry cost, but a permanent subscription fee and your own time. Rarely ranks well, often looks generic. Only adds up when the site doesn't need to bring enquiries.
Freelancer (approx. €1,000–4,000)
Cheaper to buy, often strong in one discipline, rarely in all. Follow-on costs appear when extra providers are needed later for copy, SEO or tech.
Agency / studio (from approx. €1,500)
Higher one-time cost, but everything from one team at a fixed price: strategy, design, tech, copy and SEO. No coordination costs, no quality loss between disciplines.
The true total cost
A cheap builder that brings no customers is more expensive than a well-considered site that delivers enquiries every month. Think in terms of return, not just invoice total.
From guide figure to a binding fixed price
Clarify needs & scope
In the strategy call we clarify how many pages, which features and what depth of SEO you actually need, so you don't pay for anything superfluous.
Transparent fixed-price quote
You get a clear price with a defined scope. No hourly billing, no open invoice, no surprise at the end.
Delivery with a payment plan
For larger projects we spread the cost across milestones: at start, after design approval and at launch. Plannable instead of all at once.
Launch & clear ongoing costs
You know in advance what hosting, domain and optional maintenance cost. No hidden recurring items after go-live.
These five factors move your price
Why there's no flat rate, and which levers you yourself can pull to influence the cost.
Scope & structure
The biggest lever. A focused landing page costs far less than a site with ten service pages, a blog and a careers section. More pages, more work.
Custom design vs. template
A bespoke design takes more effort than an adapted template, but it's unique. Save on design and you often save on recognition too.
Copy & content
The most direct saving: supply finished copy and images and the price drops. If we handle copywriting and SEO text in full, that's reflected in the quote.
Depth of SEO
A technically clean foundation is always included. Extensive local optimisation, multiple locations or ongoing SEO are quoted on top.
Special features
Shop, booking system, multilingual setup, member area or CRM integration are the biggest price drivers, always itemised transparently, never hidden.
Find out exactly what your website will cost.
Tell us briefly about your project. You'll get an honest cost estimate and a transparent fixed-price quote, with no obligation and no hidden items.
Website cost – frequently asked questions
On the German market, serious prices by scope look roughly like this: a focused one-pager from approx. €1,500, a multi-page business website with SEO around €3,000–6,000, large websites from approx. €6,000. Custom features like a shop or booking system are quoted separately. You always get a fixed price you know before the project starts, with no hourly billing.
With a builder you pay a cheap subscription but invest your own time and usually get a generic site that rarely ranks well. With an agency you pay for strategy, custom design, fast tech, copy that sells and built-in SEO, a site that actively brings enquiries. The higher price repays itself through customers won; the builder usually doesn't.
Only two are genuinely mandatory: hosting (approx. €10–30 per month) and a domain (approx. €10–20 per year). Optionally, maintenance (from approx. €30–80 per month) and ongoing SEO come on top, both transparent, cancellable and never required. There are no hidden licence or plugin fees with us.
Watch for three classics: first, hourly billing instead of a fixed price, where the invoice often explodes at the end. Second, expensive theme or plugin subscriptions billed yearly. Third, SEO, copy or mobile optimisation charged as “extra” when it should be standard. With us, all of that is in the fixed price and clearly defined up front.
Yes. For larger projects we work with staged payments along the milestones, for example at project start, after design approval and at launch. That spreads the cost predictably instead of it all falling due at once. We fix the exact payment schedule in the quote before anything begins.
The biggest lever is scope and content. Focus on the pages that genuinely bring enquiries rather than an inflated page tree. Supply your own copy, logo and images, which saves noticeably. Special features can often be added later, once the need is genuinely there.
The table shows net guide figures for orientation. We set your binding fixed price after the strategy call, once scope and features are clear. From then on the price holds, with no top-ups and no hourly trap.
If the website only needs to serve as a digital business card, something cheaper often does. If it should get found and bring enquiries, a professionally built, search-optimised site is the more profitable choice: it ranks better, loads faster and converts more visitors into customers. Just a few extra jobs repay the investment.