What drives the cost of a website

The only honest answer to "what does a website cost?" is "it depends on what you need" — which helps nobody. So here is where the difference actually comes from, line by line.

Page count isn't what drives the price

The common assumption is that cost scales with the number of pages. In practice a 40-page brochure site can come in cheaper than a 6-page site with a calculator in it.

Three things drive cost: how many distinct page types there are, how much custom development is needed, and who produces the content.

What you're actually paying for

Structure and content architecture. Which pages exist and in what order a visitor meets them. Skipping this is the most expensive shortcut available, because a wrong structure gets paid for twice — once in design, once in development.

Design. Recolouring a template and building a design system for your brand are different jobs. A design system costs more up front and pays for itself on every new page.

Copywriting. The most commonly forgotten line. Having someone who understands your business write the text is separate work with a separate budget.

Development. A static brochure site and an application people log into differ by orders of magnitude. Settling where "site" ends and "application" begins is the single biggest determinant of price.

Admin area. Clients ask for one so they can make updates, then never use it. Think about which sections will genuinely change; making everything editable increases cost significantly.

Multiple languages. A second language isn't just translation: it means URL structure, hreflang tags, a language switcher and separate metadata for every page.

Technical SEO. Heading structure, structured data, sitemap, performance work. It can be added later, but doing it from the start is both cheaper and more effective.

Integrations. CRM, accounting, email marketing, payments. Each is a separate line and each takes longer than expected.

Costs that appear later

Typical items that aren't in the quote but end up on an invoice:

• Content delays. The site is ready, the copy isn't. The project sits for months and the team spends time getting back into it.
• Scope creep. "Let's just add this" accumulates into a second project.
• Image licensing. Stock photo licences usually aren't included.
• Hosting and domain. Small annual costs, but ongoing.
• Maintenance. Security updates and small fixes.

Where saving makes sense, and where it doesn't

Reasonable savings: fewer pages, no blog in version one, dropping animation, using your own photographs instead of stock.

Not worth saving on: speed, mobile experience, redirecting old URLs, and accessibility. Every one of these costs more to fix later than to do properly at the start.

If you want a number

Quoting before scope is settled costs both sides. Our approach: where scope is clear we quote a fixed price; where it will only become clear during discovery, we price the discovery stage alone and set the rest against what it turns up.

Tell us what you're trying to do and we can work out which line items you actually need on the first call.