The right question
Not “how much does a website cost?” but “how much does a site cost with these pages, in these languages, with texts written by you, with these photos, with these functions, with maintenance for 12 months?”. Whoever asks it this way gets comparable offers. Whoever asks the generic question gets a number that means nothing.
Factor 1: pages
Five pages (home, about, services, gallery, contact) or thirty (one per service, area, room, property)? Every well-written page is work: search research, text, photos, links. A thirty-page site costs more and appears on Google for thirty searches; a five-page one appears for your name.
Factor 2: languages
One language or three? Every added written language (not machine-translated) costs a good part of the base site: it is new text for a new market. For businesses with foreign clients it is the spend with the fastest return; for a local shop it can wait.
Factor 3: texts
Do you write them or the agency? The cheap offer assumes you send them, and the site stays empty for six months. Texts written by the agency after a conversation with you, for real searches, are half the site’s value: Google ranks them and clients read them. Always ask who writes and in which languages.
Factor 4: photos
Yours, stock or a photographer? Stock photos are free and clients recognise them; phone photos depend on light; a photographer for a day costs a few nights or evenings and lasts for years and every channel. For hotels, restaurants and real estate it is not an option: it is the product.
Factor 5: functions
A form and WhatsApp (basic) or a booking engine, property listings with filters, a shop with payments, a reserved area, integrations? Every function adds build and maintenance cost. A site with functions but no list of them in the offer creates arguments in month three.
Factor 6: after launch
Hosting, domain, certificate, updates, backups, security, small changes, monitoring. An offer that stops at launch hides the second year’s cost. Ask: what happens in month thirteen and what does it cost? A site without maintenance gets hacked or loses positions within the year.
Three indicative bands
The small presentation site (five to eight pages, one language, your texts): the lowest investment; it doubles with three written languages. The business site in three languages (15-30 pages, written texts, professional photos, basic SEO, Google profile, training): the most requested band and the one that brings clients from Google. The site with functions (booking, listings, shop): cost by functions and integrations, with higher maintenance. Ask for the offer for your band with a list.
Why “200 euros” costs more than “2,000”
The 200-euro site: the same template for everyone, no texts, one language, stock photos, the agency’s domain, no maintenance. After six months: empty, not on Google, zero clients. After a year: hacked or lost with the agency. Then you pay for the real site. The well-made 2,000-euro site: three written languages, photos, SEO, in your name, with maintenance: it brings clients for five years. The cost per year and per client is far lower.
How to read an offer
Ask for the line-by-line list. Check: number and list of pages, languages and who writes, photos, functions, basic SEO (titles, descriptions, speed, sitemap), Google profile, mobile, hosting and domain in your name, training, maintenance and the cost after year one, timelines with phases, a fixed price with VAT, payment terms. If a line is missing, ask; if the answer is vague, move on.
How to compare two offers
Only with the same list. Ask both agencies to offer the same thing and compare the total. Add what is not in the price: ownership, references with real sites online, reply time before you are a client, the report if there is SEO or advertising. Choose whoever answers all the questions, not whoever has the lowest price.
Warning signs
A price without a list. “Ready in three days”. “First place on Google guaranteed”. Domain or hosting in the agency’s name. No real references. Texts “automatically translated into all languages”. Stock photos as “included”. A multi-year contract with no exit. Full payment before seeing anything.
How we work with prices
A free analysis, then an offer with a line-by-line list and a fixed price with VAT, phases with dates, half at the start and half on delivery, everything in your name, maintenance written with its cost. No “from” price on the phone: the price comes after the analysis, when we know what is needed. It is the only way for the price to be fair for both.
Frequently asked questions
What does a simple site cost?
The lowest band for five to eight pages in one language with your texts; it doubles with three written languages. Ask for an offer with a list.
Why don’t you give me a price on the phone?
Because it depends on pages, languages, texts, photos and functions. The free analysis defines them and the offer comes in two to three days.
Are texts and photos included?
In our offer yes, written in three languages; in cheap offers usually not. Always ask.
What does maintenance cost?
A modest monthly fee, written in the offer. Static sites need less.