What it costs
What actually moves the price of a website.
No price list, and no evasion either. Here is every factor that changes the number, so you can work out roughly where you sit before you speak to anybody.
We do not publish a price list, and it is worth explaining why rather than leaving you to assume the worst. Two projects described in the same sentence routinely differ by a factor of five, and a number on a page would be wrong for almost everyone who read it.
What we can do is tell you exactly what moves the figure. If you know that, you can judge whether we are in your range before either of us spends an hour on a call, and you can compare quotations from anybody on something better than the total at the bottom.
Every estimate we send is itemised by stage, with what is not included stated as plainly as what is. You should never have to guess which side of the line something falls on.
The seven factors
What we are actually pricing.
In rough order of how much each one tends to move the total.
How many page types, not how many pages
Forty pages built from four templates cost far less than eight pages that are all different. When you ask for a quote, describe the kinds of page rather than counting them.
Whether content exists
Text, photographs and product data ready to use is the single biggest cost difference between two otherwise identical projects. Writing it is real work and it takes real time.
Custom logic
A brochure site and a booking system look similar from outside. Calculations, availability, roles and payments are where the hours actually go.
Integrations
Connecting to a documented API is predictable. Connecting to software with no API, or one nobody at the vendor can explain, is not, so we price that as its own stage.
Design depth
Applying a clean system to an existing brand is quicker than creating an identity from nothing. Original illustration adds more again, and it is often what makes a site memorable.
How fast you need it
A normal schedule costs less than a compressed one. Rush work means reordering other commitments, and we would rather charge for that than quietly do it badly.
What happens after launch
A site handed over completely costs less on day one than one we maintain. The second usually costs less over three years, because small problems get caught while they are still small.
Comparing quotations
How to read any quote, including ours.
Six questions. Ask them of every studio you talk to, and the cheapest number stops being the only thing you can compare.
Is the total broken into stages?
A single number with no breakdown means you cannot tell what you are dropping if the budget tightens. Ask for stages you could remove.
Who owns the code and the accounts?
If the answer is not you, ask what happens when you leave. Domains and hosting held in an agency's name are a problem that only appears at the worst moment.
What happens after launch?
Ask what a change costs in month four. A cheap build with expensive changes is not cheap, it is a payment plan.
Is content included?
Writing text and preparing photographs is real work. Quotes that ignore it are usually assuming you will supply everything, which is fine as long as you know.
Is speed part of the work or an extra?
Ask for the Core Web Vitals target in writing. A site that is fixed for speed afterwards costs more than one built for it.
What is explicitly excluded?
The most useful section of any quotation. If there is not one, ask for it before you compare two numbers.
Questions about money
The ones people hesitate to ask.
Why will you not just give me a starting price?
Because the honest range is wide enough to be useless. A four page site for a clinic and a booking system for the same clinic are both described as a website, and one is roughly ten times the other. Tell us what you actually need and you will have a real number within a couple of days.
Do you charge a fixed price or by the hour?
Fixed for defined projects, which is most first engagements, so you know the number before we start. Hourly for retainers and for work whose shape genuinely cannot be known up front, such as taking over somebody else's codebase.
How do payments work?
In stages tied to delivery rather than to dates. Typically a share at the start, a share at design sign off, and the balance at launch. Nothing is held hostage at the end.
Is the cheapest quote ever the right one?
Sometimes, for a genuinely simple site. It stops being true the moment the project has custom logic, because a build priced below what it takes gets built below what it takes, and you pay the difference in month six.
What does hosting cost to run?
For most business sites, somewhere between nothing and a few thousand rupees a year, depending on traffic and whether you need a database. We set it up in your account so you see the real bill rather than our markup on it.
Get a real number.
Describe the project in a few sentences. We will come back with an itemised estimate, or tell you it is not something we should take on.