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How much does website development cost? The short answer: a landing page – €400-1200; a small corporate site – €1500-4000; a mid-sized corporate site – €4000-10,000; a small online store – €3000-7000; a mid-sized online store – €7000-15,000+. The spread within each range comes from scope, quality of execution, ownership of the code, and duration of support.
This article is CreateWeb’s central pricing reference – it explains the actual figures before discussing why such a gap exists between the cheapest and the most expensive offer for a seemingly identical type of site. If you already have specific offers in front of you, see also our guide on what a website development proposal should include, or find out which type of site actually matches your business goals. At CreateWeb we believe transparency about price saves time for both sides – so this article gives numbers directly, not just explanations.
The quick reference: prices by site type
| Site type | Price range | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | €400 – 1,200 | A single campaign, product, or service |
| Small corporate site | €1,500 – 4,000 | A starting business, 5-10 pages |
| Mid-sized corporate site | €4,000 – 10,000 | An established business, complex structure, integrations |
| Small online store | €3,000 – 7,000 | Up to a few hundred products, basic payments |
| Mid-sized online store | €7,000 – 15,000+ | A large catalog, multiple integrations, personalization |
Why the spread within one and the same type is this large
Two “corporate sites” can vary from €1,500 to €10,000, ostensibly for the same thing. The difference comes from five factors that rarely show up in the offer itself, yet ultimately determine the final price.
Scope is the first and most obvious – unique pages, content depth, included revisions in the contract. Second is the level of personalization – a ready-made theme with changes in colors costs dramatically less than choosing custom design built from scratch specifically for your brand.
Integrations already weigh significantly – connecting to a CRM system, a payment processor, courier services, or booking systems requires specific expertise and increases the development time disproportionately to the visual complexity of the project.
What the development price actually covers
Quality UI/UX design requires real time researching user behavior, not just “arranging elements by template” – and this is exactly where much of the gap between a cheap and a quality-built site is hidden.
Specific functionality – calculators, interactive filters, personalized forms – requires custom development, not simply configuring a ready-made plugin. All this functionality adds real hours of work, which should be reflected correctly in the price.
If the project involves a redesign or migration of an existing site, the role of a technical specialist for planning the redirects becomes critical – a poorly executed migration can cost lost SEO rankings that take months to recover. More on the topic is in our guide on site redesign.
Who actually stands behind the price
Behind the final figure in an offer stands a specific team of specialists, each of whom brings a different value to the budget. Web designers create an adaptive, aesthetic interface optimized for different devices. Developers turn the design into an actually functioning site – fast, secure, and stable under load. SEO specialists plan the content structure and technical foundation, necessary for good organic ranking from the very start, instead of being added as a late thought after launch. Marketing experts build a content strategy targeted specifically to your target audience, rather than generic text.
Not every project needs this whole team in full scope – a landing page rarely requires a deep SEO strategy, while a mid-sized online store almost always requires it, in order to justify the investment with real traffic. This is exactly why the scope of specialists involved, not just “hours of work,” is a hidden factor behind the difference in prices between seemingly comparable offers.
Hidden costs beyond the one-time price
The one-time development price is only part of the actual investment. The domain costs between €8 and €25 a year, hosting between €30 and €490 a year depending on type and traffic, and an SSL certificate is free with Let’s Encrypt or between €25-100 a year for extended variants. If you’re not sure which hosting you need, see our guide on how to choose the right hosting.
Support is the most often underestimated cost – between €50 and €200 a month for a professional plan, depending on the complexity of the site and the frequency of updates. The full methodology for calculating three-year total cost of ownership (TCO) is in our guide on website maintenance.
Realistically, the three-year total cost of a website often reaches 200-250% of the initial offer, once all the costs involved are included. This isn’t a “trick” by contractors – it simply rarely gets communicated clearly at the start of the conversation about the project, which creates unpleasant surprises months later.
According to Google’s search guide, technical build quality – speed, mobile compatibility, clean structure – directly affects visibility in search results, which makes investing in quality execution not merely an aesthetic but a business question.
How to compare offers objectively
When you have several offers with different prices in front of you, the most common mistake is comparing only the final number. It’s useful to break down each offer into five components: scope of work, quality of execution, ownership over the code and content, duration and terms of support, and hidden costs that aren’t explicitly stated. A detailed methodology for this is in the article on evaluating a website proposal.
An especially important, yet often underestimated element is the ownership question. Some contractors retain administrative access, domain registration, or even the source code as their own property, even after full completion of the project. This isn’t necessarily unreasonable – for certain business models (for example subscription platforms) it’s standard practice – but it should be explicitly resolved in writing before signing, rather than discovered accidentally months later when you want to switch contractors.
According to Nielsen Norman Group research, users form a first impression of a digital product’s quality within seconds – which means that investing in good design directly reflects on your site’s trust and conversion, and isn’t merely aesthetic luxury.
Common budgeting mistakes
In consultations with clients, we see certain mistakes repeated systematically. The first is choosing only by the final price, without checking what’s actually included in the scope. The second is ignoring long-term support costs when initially budgeting, leading to unpleasant surprises months later. The third is underestimating content costs – texts and professional photos, if not already available in advance. The fourth is choosing a limited, budget scope with no support plan, leading to site degradation after 12-18 months. The fifth is comparing offers for genuinely different types of sites as if they were comparable. The sixth is not accounting for integration costs, which often surface as “additional” only after the contract has been signed. The seventh is choosing solely based on a competitor’s recommendation, with no assessment of whether your own business needs genuinely match.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does development of a simple corporate site cost?
For a small corporate site with 5-10 pages and basic design, the realistic range is between €1,500 and €4,000, depending on the level of personalization and scope of needed integrations.
Why do prices vary this much for seemingly the same type of site?
The difference comes from five key factors – scope of work, level of design personalization, integration complexity, ownership over the code, and post-launch support terms. Two offers for “a corporate site” rarely include the same scope even at a comparable price.
Is support included in the initial price?
Generally not – support is a separate, recurring cost, typically between €50 and €200 a month. It’s important to include it in the budget planning as a real cost, not just the one-time development price.
Is custom development worth it compared to a ready-made theme?
It depends on the business goals – a ready-made theme with adaptations is a reasonable choice for a business starting with a limited budget, while custom development pays off for businesses that need differentiation or complex functionality that ready-made solutions don’t cover well.
What are the hidden costs clients most often overlook?
The most commonly overlooked are domain renewal, hosting costs after the first year (often with a promotional discount only at the start), an SSL certificate for extended variants, and monthly support. The three-year total cost of ownership (TCO) is often 200-250% of the initial offer.
Does an online store always cost more than a corporate site?
Generally yes, because it involves additional complexity – a product catalog, checkout, integration with payment systems, order management. A small online store generally starts from €3,000, while a comparably complex corporate site could be less expensive.
For context on the Bulgarian market for 2027, the typical range for an SMB corporate site is between €2,600 and €6,100, and for an online store – between €4,100 and €12,800, depending on scope and level of personalization. These figures are wider than the base ranges above, since they include more complex, personalized projects outside the standard “small-medium” spread. If your budget is significantly outside these ranges in either direction, it’s worth carefully checking exactly what’s included – a price that’s too low often means a cut scope, and one that’s too high doesn’t automatically guarantee better execution.
How do I know whether a given offer is suspiciously cheap?
Indicators of a problematic offer include vague answers to specific scope questions, no mention of code ownership, a domain registered under the contractor’s name instead of yours, and promises of “full SEO” with no clear monthly plan for what exactly that involves.
Conclusion: the price is only the start of the conversation
The figures in this article give you a realistic starting point, but the right price for your project depends on your specific business goals, not just the type of site. Two owners of a “corporate site” with an identical budget can have entirely different real needs.
If you want a specific offer tailored to your business, rather than a generic price list, our team can offer a free initial consultation and give you a realistic assessment based on your specific scope. Get in touch with us to discuss it.
For related resources, see also: website development proposal · types of websites · how a website is built · how much a WordPress site costs · a free website: hidden costs · website maintenance: complete guide · how to choose hosting · website redesign
CreateWeb services: website development · website maintenance
