Thinking about creating your own website, you probably wondered about its cost. There are many factors you should consider to calculate the exact price. In this article, we’ll look at the main components of the website cost and the additional costs that may arise during its launch. 

Average Website Development Cost

Different components could affect the price, for example:  

  • Development time 
  • Specialists involved
  • Developers’ qualification 
  • Required features
  • Hourly rate
  • Website type, etc.

The time it takes to create a site entirely will depend on the length and complexity of critical processes, such as:

UI/UX Design

Creating a UI/UX design is one of the most critical processes that require special attention. After all, if the site looks good, it will attract users from the first visit. To create a design that stands out, specialists go through several stages: 

  • Conduct market research
  • Сreate a set of critical elements, which determine the location of the main elements
  • Prepare several prototypes of the design
  • Coordinate all the details and create the future website page by page

Depending on the number of elements, the complexity of the animation, etc., the cost of creating a design can range from $750 to $4000.

Frontend Development

Frontend developers create the client side of the website. The frontend development phase creates all visual elements, such as fonts, buttons, animations, etc. The selected type of adaptation for mobile versions is also considered: responsive or adaptive design. Consequently, their complexity also affects the time spent writing code and the price. On average, frontend development costs from $1,000 to $12,500+.

Backend development

The backend is the server part of the website, its engine. The process of backend development is considered the most labor-intensive and time-consuming. The price depends on the number of features, third-party integrations, types of data processing, etc. On average, this stage can cost you between $4,000 and $12,500.

Admin Panel

The admin panel (or CMS) is also an integral part of any website. It allows you to edit information and fully manage all processes. Although there are many services with ready-made CMS, the development of custom solutions provides much more functionality. The cost of the admin part can vary from $3,000 to $9,000.

Total Cost

Based on these factors, the total cost of web development services may vary from $7,000 to $ 40,000 +. This corresponds to 175-760 hours of development. 

Remember that the calculations above are based on a $50 hourly rate, typical for one of the top outsourcing regions – Eastern Europe. Therefore, knowing how to outsource web development is extremely important to get the maximum benefit at the minimum cost. To make the best choice, start by studying the hourly rates in different regions.

However, the cost depends on more than just the components described above. Let’s consider some elements in more detail.

How Website’s Type Can Impact Development Costs

Calculating the cost of developing a website is worth considering its type because it dramatically influences the final price. There are three main ones: 

  1. Business websites. Their primary purpose is to promote your company. They must contain pages with information about you, contacts, blogs, and reviews. On average, their development cost can start from $9,500 and reach $13,000 or more.
  2. E-commerce sites. It’s challenging to estimate their prices exactly since the number of pages can reach thousands. At the very least, an e-commerce site contains the main page, category and product pages, favorites, the cart, contacts, and support pages. E-commerce sites are pretty expensive – an average development cost varies from $17,500 to $37,500.
  3. Landing pages. They are simple and relatively expensive sites, which usually promote one service or product. Their cost is at most $1,000-$2,500.

Knowing the type of site and the desired set of features, you can define an average web development cost.

Additional Expenses That Can Influence Website’s Cost

There are some additional expenses you should consider when planning your budget. They are:

  • A domain name. Every site needs its unique address on the world web, which may cost $5-$15 per year;
  • Hosting. Your site requires a remote server where your site is stored, and it costs about $75-$200 per year;
  • Maintenance. It includes constant monitoring, improvement, and bug fixing. It can cost you $500-$12,000 per year.

These costs must be included in the budget, as they are essential.

Marketing Costs

Even a technically impeccable website is useless if nobody knows about it. So to make your site work, you’ll have to invest in e-marketing. Let’s explore some basic tools you may use.

  • PPC advertising with Google Ads. The total cost is hard to determine, as it entirely depends on the product’s specifics. 
  • SEO. Specialists will optimize the content on your site to make it rank higher in search engine systems. The average price is $300-$1,500 per month.
  • Copywriting. It includes creating unique and optimized texts for your website. On average, you’ll have to pay $50-$500 for one.
  • SMM or Social Media Marketing. It promotes the website on popular social media networks, such as Facebook. It will cost you from $400 to $20,000, depending on the volume of work.

The Final Price

Website creation costs can vary from $2,500 to $38,500. To get a more precise estimate, you need to know what type of site you need, what features it must have, and how many pages it will contain. Also, remember to include marketing costs and extra expenses in your budget.