By Alpit Patel and the aibrevo team · October 31, 2026 · 5 min read
How Much Does a Website Cost?
Quick answer
A website costs whatever its hours cost. Clutch's web development pricing guide, updated Sep 21, 2026, says most reviewed web development projects cost under $10,000, the average is $66,499 because large builds pull it up, and most agencies charge $25 to $49 an hour, with US, Canadian and Australian firms at $100 to $149. A do-it-yourself builder costs a monthly subscription instead. Below: market numbers, an hours-times-rate table, the monthly running costs, and what two of our own website builds included.
Key takeaways
- Clutch's web development pricing guide (updated Sep 21, 2026, built from verified client reviews) says most reviewed web development projects cost under $10,000, while the average is $66,499 over about 9 months. The gap means a few large builds pull the average up.
- Most agencies on Clutch charge $25 to $49 an hour. By country, the same guide lists the US, Canada and Australia at $100 to $149, Poland at $50 to $99, and India under $25.
- A 200-hour website costs $5,000 to $9,800 at $25 to $49 an hour and $20,000 to $29,800 at $100 to $149 an hour. Pages, custom design, copywriting, integrations and e-commerce set the hours.
- A website also costs money every month or year: domain, hosting or a builder subscription, paid plugins or apps, and maintenance for updates, security and changes.
- Two of our own website builds, Internet Travel Solutions and Jetstarix, went live in 5 weeks each, including content structure and copy (and photography direction for Jetstarix). We quote each site in writing after a free call.
A website costs whatever its hours cost. Clutch’s web development pricing guide, updated September 21, 2026, says most reviewed web development projects cost under $10,000, the average is $66,499 (pulled up by a smaller number of large builds), and most agencies charge $25 to $49 an hour, with US, Canadian and Australian firms at $100 to $149. If you build it yourself on a website builder, you pay a monthly subscription and your own time instead.
Checked October 31, 2026. We read Clutch’s web development pricing guide, the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook for web developers, and the timelines of the website builds in our portfolio.
What does the market data say?
Source: Clutch, web development pricing guide, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026. Clutch compiles it from first-party reviews by verified clients and does not publish the sample size. It also reports an average monthly spend of $7,138.93. The “web development” category includes web applications as well as websites.
The headline average describes almost nobody. When most projects are under $10,000 and the mean is over $66,000, a minority of large builds is doing the pulling. For a typical business website, the useful figure is your own hours times your provider’s rate.
What does a website cost by hours and rate?
| Illustrative scope | Hours | At $25 to $49 / hr | At $50 to $99 / hr | At $100 to $149 / hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small site from a template: 5 to 8 pages, your copy | 80 | $2,000 to $3,920 | $4,000 to $7,920 | $8,000 to $11,920 |
| Custom-designed business site: 10 to 20 pages, forms, CRM connection | 200 | $5,000 to $9,800 | $10,000 to $19,800 | $20,000 to $29,800 |
| Larger site: custom design, copywriting, store or booking, integrations | 500 | $12,500 to $24,500 | $25,000 to $49,500 | $50,000 to $74,500 |
Rate bands from Clutch’s web development pricing guide, updated Sep 21, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026, which lists the US, Canada and Australia at $100 to $149, Poland at $50 to $99, the Philippines, Ukraine, Spain and Mexico at $25 to $49, and India under $25. Hours are illustrative, not our estimate for any site.
What drives the hours?
- Number and type of pages. Ten pages sharing two templates take far less time than ten unique layouts.
- Custom design. A designed brand experience takes more hours than a theme, and usually converts better when the site is a sales channel.
- Content. Writing copy, sourcing or directing photography and structuring content are real work. Many quotes leave them out; ask.
- Forms and integrations. Quote forms, booking, CRM and email platform connections each add build and test time.
- E-commerce. Product catalogues, checkout, taxes and shipping rules add the most.
- Speed and accessibility. Getting a visually heavy site to load fast on a phone, and meeting accessibility standards, takes deliberate work.
- Migration. Moving and redirecting pages from an old site protects search rankings.
What did our own website builds include?
| Build | What it included | Weeks to live | Result stated on the build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internet Travel Solutions | Information architecture by client type, scenario-led service pages, enterprise case study templates, gated technical documentation, routed enquiry flow, content structure and copy | 5 | Qualified enquiries up 3.4 times in the first quarter; mobile bounce rate down 34 points |
| Jetstarix | Art-directed visual treatment, rebuilt quote flow, fleet pages, empty-leg listing staff update themselves, photography direction and copy | 5 | Quote request completion from 22% to 71%; page load under 1.2 seconds on mobile |
Source: features, timeframes and results stated on each build, checked Oct 31, 2026.
Both are examples of the middle and upper rows of the hours table: custom design, written content and a conversion flow, not a template.
What does a website cost every month or year?
The build is a one-time cost; these continue:
- Domain name, renewed yearly.
- Hosting, or a website-builder subscription that includes hosting. Builder and hosting prices are on each vendor’s own pricing page; they vary by plan, by billing period and by the country you view them from.
- Paid plugins, apps, fonts or stock images, often billed yearly.
- Maintenance: software and plugin updates, security monitoring, backups, uptime checks and small content changes. Ask whether this is included, billed hourly or offered as a monthly plan.
Is it cheaper to hire a web developer in-house?
For one website, rarely. The BLS reports a median annual wage of $92,650 for US web developers in May 2025, and $99,520 for the wider web developers and digital designers group, about $47.85 an hour, before benefits and overhead (BLS, last modified Aug 27, 2026, checked Oct 31, 2026). An in-house role makes sense when the site changes every week or is part of a larger product.
Do you need a website or a web app?
If visitors need to learn about you and get in touch, a website is enough. If customers need to sign in, book, pay or manage their own records, you are describing a web app, which costs more; see web app vs website and how much it costs to build a web app.
How do we price a website?
We do not publish prices. We scope each site on a free 30-minute call and send a written quote with the pages, design work, content, integrations, milestones and timeline.
Planning a new website? See website development, send us a message with your current site and goals, or book a free 30-minute call.
Sources
All pages opened on Oct 31, 2026.
- Clutch, Web development pricing guide, updated Sep 21, 2026: typical and average project cost, timeline, monthly spend, hourly rates by country and technology.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Web Developers and Digital Designers, last modified Aug 27, 2026: May 2025 median wages.
- aibrevo, our work: features, timeframes and results stated on each build.