What Does a Website Really Cost? Honest Numbers for 2026

"What does a website cost?" is the most common question and the worst-answered one, because anything between €65 and €15,000 is possible. Here is the honest breakdown so you know what you are paying for.

The fixed costs nobody escapes

Domain: €10-20 per year. Hosting: €50-100 per year for real quality with NVMe storage, SSL, backups and a CDN — our SEO Start plan lands around €50 annually. SSL certificate: free with any serious host; anyone charging extra deserves a second look. Total baseline: roughly €65-120 per year.

Option 1: DIY with WordPress (€65-200 in year one)

WordPress is free, good themes range from free to about €60. Add a weekend of your time and some willingness to learn. The result: a full, extensible website you own outright. For freelancers and small businesses, almost always the best starting point.

Option 2: Website builders (€150-400 per year, forever)

Wix, Squarespace and friends are convenient, but you are renting your website: monthly fees run indefinitely, moving to another provider is practically impossible, and you hit ceilings on SEO and speed quickly. Over five years usually more expensive than WordPress — with less control.

Option 3: Agency or freelancer (€800-15,000 one-off)

A solid freelancer builds a business site from roughly €800-2,500; agencies delivering strategy, copy and design start around €3,000 and go up from there. Worth it when the site must directly generate revenue and your time is scarcer than your money. Watch the follow-on costs: maintenance contracts (€30-150/month) and the question of who owns the hosting and domain — both must be in your name.

The hidden items

• Renewal pricing: a cheap first year that doubles afterwards.
• "Extras" that should be standard: SSL, backups and CDN charged separately.
• Stock photos and premium plugins: €0-200 depending on ambition.

Our verdict

Save on design, never on the foundation: fast hosting and a clean structure decide your Google positions — and positions bring customers. A modest site that goes live today and loads fast beats the perfect project that never ships.