If you've asked a few developers for a quote and gotten wildly different numbers, you're not imagining it. "Build me a website" can mean a five-page brochure site or a full e-commerce platform with inventory management — and the price gap between those two is enormous. Here's a more useful way to think about it than a single number.
The three things that actually drive price
Almost every quote comes down to three variables: how many unique page templates you need (not pages — a blog with 50 posts using one template costs the same to build as one with 5), how much custom functionality is involved (a contact form is trivial; a booking system with payment is not), and whether the design is templated or custom.
Rough starting points
These are starting figures for straightforward projects with a working developer — treat them as a floor, not a ceiling, since scope always moves the number:
- A brochure/informational site (5–10 pages, no custom functionality): the cheapest tier, mainly paying for design and content structure.
- A business site with a CMS (so you can edit content yourself) and a few custom features like forms or galleries: noticeably more than a static brochure site, because someone has to build and test the admin panel.
- An e-commerce store: the biggest jump, since payment integration, inventory, and order management all need to work correctly and securely — this isn't a place to cut corners on testing.
- A custom web application (a tool specific to your business, not a template): priced project-by-project, since the scope is unique every time.
Where costs quietly creep up
The gap between an initial quote and a final invoice almost always comes from scope changes made mid-project — adding a feature after design is signed off, or deciding you want a mobile app version halfway through the web build. None of that is wrong to want, but it's worth deciding upfront rather than discovering it costs extra later. A developer who gives you a fixed-scope quote with milestones (rather than an open-ended hourly estimate) makes this much easier to control.
What to ask before you sign anything
- Is this quote fixed-scope, or hourly/open-ended?
- What's included in "post-launch support," and for how long?
- Who owns the code and hosting once the project is delivered?
- What happens if you want a change after the design is approved?
A developer who answers these clearly upfront is usually a better sign than the lowest number on the table.