"How much will a website cost?" is the first question every business owner asks when planning a new site. It's also the most frustrating question to answer because, honestly, the range is enormous—anywhere from a few hundred pounds to hundreds of thousands.
But that's not helpful when you're trying to budget, is it?
This guide gives you real, transparent pricing based on actual projects from Bristol and across the UK. No vague "it depends" answers. We'll break down what different types of websites actually cost in 2025, what affects the price, and how to avoid getting ripped off or ending up with something that doesn't deliver.
Why Website Pricing is So Confusing
Before we get into numbers, let's address why pricing is all over the place.
No two websites are truly the same. A five-page brochure site for a local plumber has completely different requirements than a multi-vendor e-commerce platform or a custom web application. Comparing them is like comparing a garden shed to a shopping centre—both are buildings, but that's where the similarity ends.
Skill levels vary dramatically. A junior developer learning WordPress charges differently to a senior full-stack developer with a decade of experience building complex applications. You're not just paying for time—you're paying for expertise, problem-solving ability, and the confidence that comes from having done it hundreds of times before.
Hidden costs catch people out. The quoted website price often doesn't include hosting, domains, SSL certificates, email setup, content creation, photography, or ongoing maintenance. These "extras" can add thousands to the final bill if you're not careful.
The quality spectrum is massive. A £500 website built from a template by someone's nephew is a website. A £50,000 custom-built platform with sophisticated functionality is also a website. Both exist, both serve purposes, but they're not competing in the same league.
Understanding this context helps you make sense of the pricing you'll encounter.
What Actually Affects Website Cost?
Seven main factors determine what you'll pay:
1. Complexity and Functionality
A five-page brochure site (Home, About, Services, Contact) is straightforward. Add e-commerce with 500 products, customer accounts, complex shipping rules, and payment gateway integration? Complexity just increased tenfold.
Common functionality that increases cost:
- E-commerce and payment processing
- User accounts and login systems
- Advanced search and filtering
- Multi-language support
- Third-party integrations (CRM, email marketing, booking systems)
- Custom calculators or interactive tools
- Membership areas or gated content
- Custom dashboards and reporting
2. Design Customization
Using a pre-made theme and tweaking colours? Quick and affordable. Designing every page from scratch in Figma with custom layouts, animations, and brand-specific elements? Significantly more expensive.
Design spectrum:
- Template (£0-500): Off-the-shelf theme with minimal customization
- Template customization (£500-2,000): Modified template matching your brand
- Semi-custom (£2,000-5,000): Original design using platform constraints
- Fully custom (£5,000+): Bespoke design, pixel-perfect implementation
3. Platform Choice
Different platforms suit different needs and come with different price tags.
- WordPress: Flexible, widely supported, good for content-heavy sites
- Webflow: Visual development, designer-friendly, great for marketing sites
- Shopify: E-commerce focused, excellent for online stores
- Next.js/Custom Code: Maximum flexibility, best performance, higher cost
Your platform choice affects both build cost and ongoing maintenance expenses.
4. Content Creation
If you provide all text, images, and videos, great—that's free. If you need a copywriter, photographer, and video producer, that's thousands more.
Content costs:
- Professional copywriting: £500-3,000 depending on page count
- Photography: £300-2,000 for a day's shoot
- Stock images: £0 (free libraries) to £50+ per premium image
- Video content: £1,000-10,000+ depending on complexity
5. SEO Requirements
Basic on-page SEO (proper titles, meta descriptions, alt tags) is usually included. Comprehensive keyword research, technical audits, and ongoing optimization cost significantly more.
6. Ongoing Maintenance
Some quotes include a few months of support. Others are build-only. Factor in £50-500/month for ongoing updates, security, backups, and technical support.
7. Who You Hire
Agencies have higher overheads (offices, account managers, sales teams) built into their rates. Freelancers typically charge 30-50% less for equivalent work because they don't have that overhead.
Read our detailed comparison: Freelancer vs Agency: Which is Right for Your Web Project?
Real Website Costs in 2025 (UK)
Let's get specific. Here's what different types of websites actually cost based on real UK projects.
Simple Brochure Website (5-10 pages)
A straightforward informational website with pages like Home, About, Services, Contact, and maybe a blog.
Freelancer pricing: £1,500 - £5,000 Agency pricing: £3,000 - £10,000
What's typically included:
- 5-10 custom pages
- Mobile-responsive design
- Contact form
- Basic SEO setup
- CMS for easy updates (WordPress, Webflow, etc.)
- 30 days post-launch support
What's usually extra:
- Content writing
- Professional photography
- Advanced animations
- Custom functionality
- Ongoing maintenance
Best for: Local businesses, consultants, service providers, small agencies, professional practices
Timeline: 3-6 weeks
Custom CMS Website
A more sophisticated site with extensive content management needs, multiple sections, and moderate custom functionality.
Freelancer pricing: £4,000 - £12,000 Agency pricing: £8,000 - £25,000
What's typically included:
- 15-30 pages
- Custom design and branding
- Full CMS implementation
- Blog or news section
- Advanced forms (multi-step, conditional logic)
- SEO optimization
- Performance optimization
- Training on content management
- 3 months support
Platform options:
- WordPress: Most flexible, huge plugin ecosystem
- Webflow: Designer-friendly, excellent for marketing sites
- Craft CMS: Sophisticated content modeling for complex sites
Best for: Content-heavy businesses, businesses with regular updates, companies needing content team access
Timeline: 6-12 weeks
E-commerce Store
Online shop with product listings, checkout, payment processing, and order management.
Freelancer pricing: £5,000 - £20,000 Agency pricing: £12,000 - £50,000
What's typically included:
- Product catalogue (up to 500 products)
- Shopping cart and checkout
- Payment gateway integration (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
- Order management system
- Customer accounts
- Inventory management
- Shipping options and calculations
- Email notifications
- Analytics setup
Platform options:
- Shopify: Best for straightforward online stores (£5k-12k)
- WooCommerce: Flexible WordPress solution (£6k-18k)
- Custom build: Maximum control and customization (£15k-50k)
What affects the price:
- Number of products
- Complexity of variants (sizes, colours, etc.)
- Custom shipping rules
- Multiple currencies or languages
- Subscription or membership features
- Advanced inventory management
Best for: Retailers, product businesses, subscription services, B2C brands
Timeline: 8-16 weeks
Custom Web Application / PWA
Sophisticated platforms with complex functionality, user systems, and custom features. Think job boards, booking systems, SaaS platforms, or custom business tools.
Freelancer pricing: £10,000 - £40,000+ Agency pricing: £25,000 - £100,000+
What's typically included:
- Full custom functionality
- User authentication and accounts
- Admin dashboards
- Database architecture
- API integrations
- Progressive Web App features
- Real-time functionality
- Advanced security
- Scalable infrastructure
- Comprehensive testing
- 6 months support
Technology choices:
- Next.js: Modern React framework, excellent performance
- Ruby on Rails: Mature, stable for complex apps
- Custom Node.js: Maximum flexibility
- Python/Django: Great for data-heavy applications
Best for: SaaS products, marketplaces, booking platforms, custom business tools, innovative startups
Timeline: 12-24+ weeks
Pricing Comparison Table
| Project Type | Freelancer | Agency | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple brochure site (5-10 pages) | £1,500 - £5,000 | £3,000 - £10,000 | 3-6 weeks |
| Custom CMS website | £4,000 - £12,000 | £8,000 - £25,000 | 6-12 weeks |
| E-commerce store | £5,000 - £20,000 | £12,000 - £50,000 | 8-16 weeks |
| Custom web application | £10,000 - £40,000+ | £25,000 - £100,000+ | 12-24+ weeks |
Prices based on UK market rates. Actual costs vary based on complexity, experience, and specific requirements.
The Hidden Costs Nobody Tells You About
The quoted website price often doesn't include everything you need. Here are the extras that catch people out:
Domain name and SSL certificate
- Domain registration: £10-30/year
- Premium domains: £100-10,000+ (one-time)
- SSL certificate: Usually free (Let's Encrypt) or £50-200/year
Hosting
- Shared hosting: £50-150/year (suitable for small sites)
- VPS/Cloud hosting: £150-600/year (for growing sites)
- Managed hosting: £200-1,000+/year (includes support and optimization)
- Enterprise hosting: £1,000-10,000+/year (high-traffic sites)
Email hosting
- Basic email: £30-60/year (5-10 accounts)
- Professional email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365): £100-300+/year
- Email marketing platform: £0-500+/month depending on list size
Content creation
- Professional copywriting: £500-3,000
- Photography: £300-2,000 per shoot
- Stock images: £0-1,000 (free vs. premium)
- Video production: £1,000-10,000+
Ongoing costs
- Website maintenance: £50-500/month
- SEO services: £300-2,000/month
- Hosting and domain renewals: £100-600/year
- Plugin/theme licenses: £50-500/year
- Security monitoring: £50-200/month
Training and handover
- Content management training: Often included, otherwise £200-500
- Documentation: Should be included
- Ongoing support: £50-200/hour or monthly retainer
Budget an extra 20-30% beyond the quoted website price to cover these additional costs in year one.
Day Rates vs. Project Rates: What's the Difference?
Freelancers and developers price work in two main ways:
Day Rates
This is how much a developer charges per day of work.
UK freelancer day rates (2025):
- Junior (1-3 years experience): £150-250/day
- Mid-level (3-5 years): £250-400/day
- Senior (5-10 years): £400-600/day
- Specialist/Expert (10+ years): £600-800+/day
When day rates work well:
- Ongoing maintenance and support
- Scope is unclear or evolving
- Small updates and additions
- Exploratory work or consulting
Project Rates
A fixed price for the entire project, regardless of time taken.
Why clients prefer project rates:
- Predictable budget, no surprises
- You know the total cost upfront
- Risk is on the developer to deliver efficiently
- Easier to get approval internally
Why developers prefer project rates:
- Rewards efficiency and experience
- No tracking hours
- Better for clients (removes uncertainty)
- Easier to sell and close projects
Estimating project cost from day rates:
If a developer quotes 15 days at £400/day, the project cost would be £6,000. Most good developers can estimate project duration accurately based on experience.
Our recommendation: For anything larger than small updates, get a fixed project quote. It's clearer for both parties.
How to Get Accurate Quotes
Vague briefs get vague quotes. "I need a website" could mean anything from £500 to £50,000.
Information developers need to quote accurately:
- What type of site? (brochure, e-commerce, web app, etc.)
- How many pages? (approximate is fine)
- What functionality? (forms, booking, user accounts, etc.)
- Who provides content? (you write it or need help?)
- Design expectations? (template, custom, examples you like)
- Your timeline (any hard deadlines?)
- Your budget range (helps them recommend appropriate approach)
Read our detailed guide: How to Write a Web Design Brief That Gets Results
Red flags in quotes:
- Suspiciously cheap (£300 for a "professional custom website")
- Vague scope ("a nice modern website with all the features")
- Unrealistic timelines ("fully custom e-commerce site in 2 weeks")
- No mention of revisions (how many rounds included?)
- Unclear payment terms (100% upfront is risky)
- "I'll need to see how long it takes" (avoid open-ended hourly with no cap)
Questions to ask before accepting a quote:
- What exactly is included in this price?
- How many rounds of revisions do I get?
- What happens if scope changes?
- What's your payment schedule?
- What's included in post-launch support?
- Who owns the code/design after completion?
- What's not included that I might need?
- Can I speak to past clients?
Is Cheaper Always Worse?
Not necessarily—but usually, yes.
When budget options make sense:
- You're testing a business idea and need something quickly
- You have extremely limited budget and DIY isn't an option
- You just need basic online presence with no conversions expected
- You plan to rebuild properly later once you prove the concept
The real cost of going too cheap:
I've seen countless businesses pay £500 for a website, then spend £5,000 six months later fixing it or starting from scratch. That's £5,500 total when they could have paid £3,000 for it done properly the first time.
What cheap usually means:
- Template with minimal customization
- Little to no SEO optimization
- Poor mobile experience
- Slow loading speeds
- Amateur code that's hard to update
- No ongoing support
- You get what you're given, minimal revisions
DIY platforms (Wix, Squarespace, etc.)
Honest assessment: These are excellent for hobbyists, side projects, and testing ideas. They're not ideal for serious businesses that need to compete online.
Pros:
- Very cheap (£10-30/month)
- No developer needed
- Templates look decent
- Quick to set up
Cons:
- Limited customization
- SEO limitations
- Locked into platform (hard to migrate)
- All sites look similar
- Limited scalability
- Less professional perception
If your business depends on your website performing well, invest in something custom.
The mid-range sweet spot
For most small to medium businesses, £3,000-8,000 is the sweet spot. This gets you:
- Custom design that matches your brand
- Properly coded, fast, mobile-responsive site
- Good SEO foundation
- CMS for managing content
- Post-launch support
- A developer you can work with long-term
When premium pricing is justified:
Above £10,000, you're getting:
- Sophisticated functionality
- Strategic input, not just execution
- Proven expertise with complex projects
- Better problem-solving and fewer issues
- Future-proofed architecture
- Comprehensive documentation and training
If your website generates significant revenue or is critical to your business, premium pricing often delivers better ROI than saving money upfront.
Budget Allocation: Getting the Most Value
Smart businesses don't just think about the build cost—they think about the complete investment.
The 70/20/10 rule:
- 70% on the build itself (design, development, platform)
- 20% on content and SEO (copywriting, photography, optimization)
- 10% contingency (unexpected needs, changes, extras)
So for a £10,000 project budget:
- £7,000 on design and development
- £2,000 on content and SEO
- £1,000 buffer for changes
Don't skimp on:
SEO and technical optimization A beautiful website that nobody finds is worthless. Budget for proper keyword research, on-page optimization, and technical SEO from day one. This typically adds £1,000-2,000 to project cost but delivers 10x+ ROI.
Mobile responsiveness Over 60% of web traffic is mobile. Cutting corners on mobile experience is business suicide.
Quality hosting £50/year hosting will make your £5,000 website feel like a £500 website. Invest £200-400/year in good hosting with proper support.
Security and backups Recovering from a hacked site or data loss costs far more than proper security and backups. Don't save £100/year only to pay £2,000 later.
Where you can save:
Template customization instead of fully custom design A well-chosen template customized to your brand can look excellent and save £2,000-5,000 compared to fully custom design.
DIY content creation If you can write reasonably well, write your own content and have a copywriter polish it. This can save £1,000-2,000.
Phased feature rollout Launch with core features first, add nice-to-haves later as budget allows. This spreads cost and lets you validate what users actually want.
Stock photography Free stock photo sites (Unsplash, Pexels) offer excellent images. Save custom photography for hero images and key brand moments.
Real Project Examples from Bristol
Let's look at what different budgets delivered in real projects:
Growth HQ - WordPress Migration (£8,000-10,000 range)
A complete redesign and migration from Webflow to WordPress with custom block-based architecture. This mid-range investment included:
- Complete UX audit and redesign
- SEO audit and keyword research
- 25+ custom content blocks
- Performance optimization (sub-2 second loads)
- 3 months post-launch support
- Training on content management
Result: Dramatically improved UX, better SEO performance, and full control over content updates.
Top Grass - Next.js PWA (£12,000-15,000 range)
A cutting-edge Progressive Web App built with Next.js and Payload CMS for a landscaping company. Higher investment justified by:
- Custom PWA with offline functionality
- Headless CMS for complete flexibility
- Perfect Lighthouse score (100/100)
- Comprehensive SEO implementation
- Dynamic portfolio system
Result: Lightning-fast performance, first-page rankings for target keywords, professional platform that stands out from competitors.
Flexys - Webflow Site (£4,000-6,000 range)
A professional Webflow website for a finance company. Lower cost but still delivering quality through:
- Clean, trust-building design
- Conversion-optimized landing pages
- CMS for easy updates
- Local SEO for Bristol market
- Compliance elements
Result: Professional presence that builds credibility, improved conversion rates, and easy self-management.
Jobs Club - Custom Job Board PWA (£20,000-25,000 range)
A sophisticated job listing platform with complex functionality:
- Custom PWA with instant search
- Real-time notifications via WebSocket
- Offline job browsing
- Advanced filtering and matching
- Admin panel for employers
Result: Unique platform that differentiates from generic job boards, reduced job search anxiety, 50% increase in application rates.
The lesson? You get what you pay for, but the right investment depends on your specific needs and business goals.
How bristol.dev Approaches Pricing
We believe in transparent, fair pricing that reflects the value delivered.
Our philosophy:
- Project-based pricing - You know the total cost upfront, no hourly surprises
- Free consultations - We scope your project properly before quoting
- Transparent quotes - Clear breakdown of what's included and what's extra
- No hidden fees - If it's needed, it's in the quote
- Flexible payment terms - Deposits and milestones, not 100% upfront
- Ongoing relationships - We're here after launch, not disappearing once we're paid
Why working with Bristol freelancers saves money:
Freelancers typically charge 30-50% less than agencies for equivalent work because:
- No office overheads
- No account managers or sales teams
- Direct communication with the person doing the work
- More efficient processes without corporate bureaucracy
You're paying for the work itself, not a fancy office in the city centre.
When projects need multiple specialists, we collaborate with trusted Bristol freelancers we've worked with for years. You get team capability without agency markup.
Read more: Freelancer vs Agency: Which is Right for Your Web Project?
Final Advice: Making Your Decision
Budget appropriately. A website is an investment in your business, not an expense to minimize. The cheapest option is rarely the best value.
Don't make price your only factor. Look at portfolios, talk to past clients, ensure communication styles match. A slightly more expensive developer who you work well with delivers better results than a cheap developer who frustrates you.
Look at value, not just cost. A £5,000 website that generates £50,000 in business is a far better investment than a £500 website that generates nothing.
Warning signs to avoid:
- Developers who won't show previous work
- No clear contract or scope of work
- Payment demanded 100% upfront
- Unrealistic timelines or promises
- Poor communication during the quote process
- Generic proposals copied and pasted
Getting what you pay for is real. In 15 years of building websites, I've never seen someone regret investing appropriately in quality work. I've seen countless businesses regret trying to save money with bargain-basement options.
Ready to Get an Accurate Quote?
Now you know what websites actually cost in 2025 and what affects pricing. Armed with this information, you can budget appropriately and ask the right questions.
If you're planning a website project:
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Get a free consultation - We'll scope your project properly and give you an accurate quote with no obligation. Contact us to discuss your needs.
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Write a proper brief - Our guide walks you through exactly what information to provide: How to Write a Web Design Brief That Gets Results
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Browse our Bristol freelancers - See portfolios, skills, and rates from vetted professionals: Find a Bristol freelancer
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Use our matchmaker service - Tell us about your project and we'll recommend the right freelancer for your needs and budget: Get matched with a freelancer
Good websites aren't cheap, and cheap websites aren't good. But with the right partner and realistic expectations, your investment will pay for itself many times over.
Still have questions about website pricing? Get in touch and we'll give you honest advice - even if that means recommending a different approach than working with us.