Every "how much does a website cost" article online is either an agency selling $50K websites or a freelancer marketplace pushing $200 ones. Both are misleading. Here is what websites actually cost in 2026, with real numbers from a developer who has quoted hundreds of projects.
The five website tiers (with real prices)
Tier 1: Template-based landing page — $300 to $1,500
WordPress with a premium theme, or a Webflow template, or a simple HTML/CSS page. 1–5 pages, contact form, basic SEO. Delivered in 1–2 weeks. Good for: solo professionals, local services, MVP launches.
What you do not get: custom design, complex animations, integrations beyond a contact form, scalable architecture.
Tier 2: Custom designed marketing site — $1,500 to $6,000
Custom Figma design, hand-coded or built in Webflow/Framer, SEO optimized, performance-tuned (Lighthouse 90+), CMS for blog. 5–15 pages. Delivered in 3–6 weeks. Good for: startups, established service businesses, portfolio sites.
Tier 3: E-commerce — $3,000 to $25,000
Shopify with custom theme: $3,000–$8,000. WooCommerce with custom plugins: $5,000–$15,000. Custom Laravel/Node.js e-commerce: $15,000–$50,000+. The variable is product catalog complexity, payment integrations, and inventory logic.
Tier 4: Custom web application / SaaS MVP — $8,000 to $35,000
User authentication, dashboards, multi-tenant data, billing integration (Stripe), API. This is what I do most often. 8–16 weeks to MVP. Good for: SaaS founders, internal tools at scale, marketplaces.
Tier 5: Full SaaS platform — $35,000 to $200,000+
Full product with admin, user roles, billing, integrations, mobile-responsive, observability, CI/CD. 4–9 months to launch. Good for: funded startups, enterprise tools.
What you are actually paying for
- Discovery and design (20%): Figma mockups, user flows, brand guidelines.
- Development (50%): Frontend, backend, database, integrations.
- QA and bug fixing (10%): Cross-browser testing, edge cases, accessibility.
- Deployment and DevOps (10%): Hosting, SSL, CI/CD, monitoring.
- Project management (10%): Communication, milestones, documentation.
Hidden costs nobody tells you about
- Hosting: $5–$200/month depending on traffic.
- Domain: $10–$25/year, or $$$ if it is a premium name.
- Email: Google Workspace at $6/user/month.
- SSL certificate: Free with Let's Encrypt; $50–$300/year for EV.
- Maintenance: Plan for 10–20% of build cost per year. Sites rot when ignored.
- Content: Copywriting, photography, video. Easily $1,000–$10,000.
Why prices vary so wildly
Geography, experience, scope clarity, and timeline. A US agency charges $25,000 for what an Egyptian senior developer charges $6,000. The work is the same; the overhead is different. The risk is the same too — bad agencies and bad freelancers exist in both markets. Vet on portfolio and references, not on price.
How I quote projects
Fixed-price for well-scoped work, hourly for ambiguous work, milestone-based for everything in between. I send a written proposal with deliverables, timeline, and payment schedule before any work starts. No surprises. Get a quote for your project.
About Khaled Ahmed
Senior Full Stack Web Developer based in Egypt with 5+ years of experience and 25+ shipped projects across 7 countries. Founder of Barmagly. Specialized in Laravel, React, Node.js, and modern web technologies.
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