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Prospects often ask us how much will a WordPress website cost? And the truth is, it depends.
9 minute read
There are so many options when it comes to a website that prices vary. To help give you an idea, we’re going to outline the required costs and some benchmark fees to help you choose the best solution for your business.
If you’re a DIY-er looking to put your website together using WordPress, the costs can be relatively low. You’ll need a domain, which can range from as little as £3 but on average costs around £10-15 per year depending on which provider you choose and how sought after the domain is. Hosting prices are also dependent on how much traffic your website receives, and you should also consider speed and security when choosing a hosting partner. We use WP-Engine, but there are also cheaper options such as BlueHost. However, we haven’t personally used this service.
You’ll also need a domain and SSL Certificate. You can purchase these either from your hosting provider (some hosting packages also include domains/SSL certificates) or from a reputable provider such as 123-reg or GoDaddy.
Your domain, hosting, and SSL certificate are your required costs. Everything else depends on the level of customisation and functionality you’re looking for:
We recommend ensuring your themes and plugins are from verified sources, as the vulnerability of your website can become an issue; check out our WordPress security best practice guide for more information.
Alternatively, you could hire a website design and development agency. Website agencies like us allow business owners and marketers to hand over their website briefs and leave all the nitty-gritty details to a team of specialists.
Unsurprisingly, outsourcing your website will come with a cost, and this will vary depending on whether you choose a freelancer or agency.
The following resources can help you make a decision about which partnership is best for your needs:
There are three options you could choose when commissioning your new website.
#1 Manage the website yourself and outsource where necessary. You could design the website yourself or use an off-the-shelf template and then pass the development over to technical agencies. Often this means overseas businesses which can offer competitive development costs. However, often there’s a lack of specific experience and no direct communication, meaning you could spend lots of time going back and forth.
#2 Work with a fully-fledged web agency that will handle the whole project. Naturally, this will be the most expensive option out of the three, but you’ll have the chance to meet the people working on your website, and you’ll get all the benefits of having a team of experts working on your project.
#3 Work with a freelancer. Working on their own, they’ll be more expensive than overseas development houses but cheaper than a full agency. You’ll get a personal service, but you’ll be limited to one person working on your project. It’s unlikely a freelancer will be an expert in both website design and development, which means they’ll be limited to what they can achieve or will have to partner with someone else.
We’ve briefly mentioned how cost can vary based on who you choose to build your website, but another element to consider is how your project is costed. While some agencies and freelancers will pluck costs out of the air, most will base their costs on some tangible offering. We recommend getting 3-5 quotes from different companies, as this will give you a good indication of what you should be paying.
This is the most common type of pricing, where you’re charged for the actual time it takes to create the website. The most significant variant here will be the type of vendor you’re going with. For outsourced overseas projects, you should expect anything from £2-£15 per hour. Freelancers should price themselves at around £20-£50 an hour. Small agencies will be slightly higher at £50-75 per hour, and bigger agencies at £75-£150+.
Very popular in the US, this is where companies price the project based on the perceived value the website will generate. For example, if an agency believes the website they create will increase conversions by X amount, increasing Y revenue, they will price the project based on a percentage of that added value.
Like charging by the hour, this method looks at previous projects to determine how long similar builds have taken. For example, a brochure site that required ten templates, with a clean brand and limited additional functionality, took 100 hours to build. Therefore, this project would be 100 hours multiplied by the company’s hourly rate = £X.
If your website quotes are coming back higher than you expected, this could be due to several factors:
While we can’t speak for other WordPress agencies, we can give you an idea of how much we charge for websites and what this gets you so that you can get a rough idea of what a website could cost. We can disclose that we’re not the cheapest around. Still, we’re not the most expensive either; we sit in a middle ground where we take on fun projects and deliver them to spec, on time and with the attention to detail most businesses are looking for.
If you’re a small business, a start-up looking to get your brand out there, or simply wanting to upgrade your existing site, then our Small Business Package could give you a cheap, accessible and fast way of achieving exactly that. We offer two tiers, Lite and Pro, the only difference being the use of unlimited testimonials, case studies and client logos with the Pro option. All of our websites also include one year of free hosting.
This option is also known as a ‘template’ website, as the site has already been built and fleshed out with placeholder text and images. The only changes we make are to update the site with your brand’s design, images and populate content. Of course, you can opt for more changes or functionality, but these come with their own additional cost. A few of the features of our packages include:
Our package website is perfect if you’re starting out or if your current site isn’t ranking or isn’t responsive. Check out our blog, 6 reasons why you might need a new website, to see if you’re ready to take the plunge.
Our custom websites are precisely that, custom-designed and built. These are better suited to brands that want to beat the competition and really stand out from the crowd. These sites aren’t pre-specified like our packages; instead, we start with a blank canvas, and they’re tailored to your business needs. Our fully custom site puts you in the driver’s seat, and our team acts as an extension of yours, ready to deliver a best-in-class solution. To assess this, we carry out the following process:
Each of these stages can be as limiting or as in-depth as you choose; how much time and money you spend is the variable. User experience is the phase where some businesses invest in the most and for others the least.
We’ve discussed in length our different types of WordPress websites. But if you’re looking for an eCommerce solution, we suggest checking out our blog, the true cost of eCommerce, or if you’re still undecided about WordPress, how about our comparison blogs:
Our friendly team of designers, developers and digital specialists are ready and waiting to help with your website project.
