How much does a business website cost in Australia?

It's the first question almost everyone asks us, and the honest answer is that two websites that look similar can differ in price by ten times. That isn't anyone being slippery. The price is set by what the site has to do, not by how many pages it has.

So instead of a number that won't fit your business, here's what actually moves the price, the costs that keep going after launch, and how to tell a fair quote from a bad one.

What actually drives the price

• What the site has to do. A site that explains your business and takes enquiries is the simplest kind. Taking bookings, payments, memberships or logins adds real work, because each one has to be secure and has to keep working.
• Whether it connects to your other tools. Sending enquiries into your CRM, syncing stock with your shop, or pulling availability from a booking system is often more work than the pages themselves.
• Template or custom design. A good template gets you live quickly and cheaply. A custom design costs more, but fits your brand and is built around how your customers actually decide.
• Who writes the words and supplies the photos. If the copy and images are ready, the project moves faster. If they need writing or shooting, that's real work and should be in the quote.
• How it's built. A site that loads fast, ranks on Google and is safe to run takes more care up front, and costs less to fix later.

The ongoing costs nobody mentions

The build is a one-off. These aren't, so ask about every one of them before you sign:

• Your domain name, renewed every year or two.
• Hosting, which can be almost free for a simple site or a real monthly cost for a busy one with bookings and payments.
• Paid plugins, themes or apps, many of which are subscriptions that quietly renew.
• Business email, usually charged per person per month.
• Updates and security fixes. Someone has to keep the site patched. If nobody does, it's not a matter of if it breaks, it's when.

A cheap build with expensive running costs often costs more over three years than a sensible build that's cheap to run. Ask for both numbers.

Template, website builder or custom build?

A website builder like Wix, Squarespace or Shopify is a good choice if you want to edit everything yourself and your needs are standard. You pay a monthly fee and you're limited to what the platform allows.

A custom build makes sense when the website is part of how the business runs: bookings, payments, customer accounts, or connections to other systems. You pay more up front, and you get a site that does exactly what you need and that you own outright.

Neither is the right answer for everyone. A good developer will tell you when a builder is enough, even though it means a smaller job for them.

Red flags in a website quote

• No written breakdown of what's included. If it isn't written down, it isn't in the price.
• You don't own the domain, the hosting account or the code. Everything should be in your name, so you can leave if you want to.
• No mention of ongoing costs, updates or who fixes things when they break.
• A fixed price given before anyone has asked what the site needs to do.
• Search ranking guarantees. Nobody controls Google, so nobody can promise a position.

Questions to ask before you pay a deposit

• What exactly is included, and what would cost extra?
• What will this cost me to run every month, and every year?
• Who owns the domain, hosting, design and code when it's done?
• Will I be able to update the content myself?
• Who keeps it updated and secure after launch, and what does that cost?
• When will I see a working version, not just a design?

How we price it

We don't quote before we understand the job. After a thirty-minute call you get a clear written plan within two to three days that lists what's included, what it costs to build and what it costs to run, before any work starts. You see a working preview within seven days, and you own every account and every line of code.