How much does a website cost in 2025? A brutally honest, line-item breakdown

So, how much does a website cost in 2025?

The cost of a website can range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of euros, largely depending on your ambitions and commitment to quality. This article will delve into the precise figures, exploring the factors that influence costs and identifying areas where compromising on quality is ill-advised.

At Studio Ubique, we believe in transparency over vague “it depends” statements. We’ll present the actual line items and critical decisions that can significantly impact your budget. Consider this your definitive guide to budgeting for design, development, e-commerce, or even a bespoke custom platform.

To ensure the most suitable approach, we categorize projects into budget bands (<€15k, €15–€25k, €25–€40k, €40k+). Disclosing your budget band doesn’t alter our pricing; instead, it informs the strategic route we recommend, influencing scope, phasing, and whether to build from scratch or iterate.

What actually drives website cost

The price of a website isn’t pulled from thin air. It’s shaped by a handful of factors that either balloon or slim down your quote:

• Complexity: A simple 5-page marketing site is a different beast than a custom SaaS platform with dashboards, payments, and user roles.
• Integrations: CRM, ERP, or third-party plugins all add hours. Some save time, but too many slow things down.
• Content scale: Ten pages with light copywriting vs a 500-page content hub with translations, you get the idea.
• Tech stack: WordPress with a premium theme, Shopify for eCommerce, or headless with Next.js. Each comes with a different price tag.
• People involved: A project manager, UX designer, UI designer, frontend developer, backend developer, QA tester, DevOps. Skip one, and it shows in the end product.
• Surprise drivers: Multilingual setups, accessibility compliance, custom animations, or security audits.

Bottom line: every “small” feature request is usually hours of work. That’s why your €10k website and someone else’s €50k website might look similar on the surface but live in different leagues under the hood.

Quick Links:

• UX/UI design
• Frontend development
• Backend development

Pricing tiers with inclusions and exclusions

Here’s where we stop talking in riddles. These are the realistic ranges we see every day when quoting projects.

Starter marketing site (€3k–€7k)

• Good for: Small businesses and personal brands.
• What you get: 5–10 pages, responsive design, a CMS like WordPress, basic SEO setup.
• Where it grows: Extra templates, multilingual, custom animations.

Growth B2B site (€5k–€15k)

• Good for: Companies generating leads, using gated content, or needing CRM integration.
• What you get: Content hub, forms, API connections, role-based admin.
• Watch out: Clients often underestimate the time needed for content migration.

Ecommerce site (€6k–€25k+)

• Good for: Shops on WooCommerce or Shopify.
• What you get: Catalog setup, payment gateways, shipping logic, VAT rules.
• Hidden costs: ERP integration, subscription products, multi-currency, hosting.

Headless or enterprise site (€10k–€40k+)

• Good for: Scale-ups and corporations that care about performance and scalability.
• What you get: Headless CMS, React or Vue frontend, design system, CDN.
• Reality check: Fantastic for long-term flexibility, but not for anyone with a tiny budget.

Custom web app or SaaS (€20k–€100k+)

• Good for: Platforms, portals, SaaS products.
• What you get: Authentication, dashboards, payments, role management, real-time features.
• Non-negotiable: A real discovery phase. No app ever works well without it.

Quick Links:

• WordPress
• Shopify and WooCommerce
• Development

Website maintenance cost and recurring expenses

A shiny launch is just the start. You also need to budget for ongoing costs:

• Hosting: Shared or VPS, from €10 to €380 per month depending on traffic and resources.
• Maintenance: Updates, backups, security patches. A solid SLA usually runs €80–€500 per month depending on complexity and amount of hours.
• Licenses: Premium plugins, analytics tools, CDNs.
• Support: Urgent bug fixes or new features, often billed hourly or via monthly retainers.

Skimping here is like buying a car and never changing the oil. You can do it, but you’ll regret it.

Quick Links:

• Managed web hosting and Managed VPS hosting
• Website maintenance and SLA
• Website security and speed optimisation

Builder vs WordPress vs Shopify vs headless vs custom

You’ve got choices. Each one has trade-offs:

• WordPress: Flexible, cost-effective, endless plugins, but you need to manage bloat.
• Shopify: Great for ecommerce, especially if you value speed to market.
• Headless: Powerful for performance and future-proofing, but not cheap.
• Custom apps: Tailored to your business, but only makes sense when off-the-shelf isn’t enough.

Pick based on your real needs, not what’s trendy.

Real project examples

We’ve built sites for clients who wanted lean WordPress builds for €5k, and we’ve shipped platforms north of €80k. One client in Dubai ranked number one on target keywords within five weeks and hit a 100% Ahrefs score — proof that investing in the right build pays off.

We don’t hand out discounts, but we do adjust scope. Sometimes we swap custom dev for carefully chosen plugins if it helps a client get moving within budget. But if someone insists on bargaining endlessly, that’s a red flag. Quality and knowledge cost time.

Quick Links:

• Case study overview
• 3D roulette game
• Clutch reviews

Timelines and risks

• A small site: 4–6 weeks.
  
• A mid-sized B2B or ecommerce site: 8–12 weeks.
  
• Enterprise or custom apps: 3–6+ months.

Where projects slip: content that isn’t ready, requirements that change mid-flight, or integrations that reveal hidden complexity.

Our rule: document everything before kickoff. No assumptions, no “oh, we thought this was included.” It keeps everyone sane.

The ROI side of website cost

Price is one side of the coin. Return is the other. A well-built site pays itself back in:

• Faster load times, which means fewer users bounce.
• Better UX, which means more conversions.
• Cleaner code and SEO foundations, which means higher rankings.
• Stability, which means less downtime and fewer headaches.

Cheap sites don’t generate those returns. They usually end up rebuilt, costing more in the long run.

FAQs

How much does a website cost in 2025?
Most professional websites range from €3,000 for small business sites to €100,000+ for complex SaaS or enterprise builds.

What is included in website development cost?
Design, development, integrations, testing, and project management are core. Extra costs often come from content creation, third-party tools, and ongoing maintenance.

What’s the cost to build an eCommerce website
Shops on Shopify or WooCommerce usually start around €6,000 and can scale above €25,000 with ERP integrations, subscriptions, and multi-currency setups.

What’s a realistic monthly maintenance budget?
Anywhere from €100 to €500 depending on site size and complexity.

What is a realistic monthly website maintenance cost?
Expect €100–€500 per month for updates, backups, hosting, and support, depending on site size and SLA level.