What it costs to have a website made
In the market, a compact five-page website is usually priced at €1,500 to €3,000, a more extensive site at €2,500 to €4,500, and a compact webshop at €3,500 to €6,000, excluding VAT. That is a description of what is charged, not a recommendation. With us there is no upfront build fee: a website costs €75 a month and a website with a webshop costs €150 a month, and building, hosting, maintaining and further development are all included in that amount.
The first two years are fixed, after which it is cancellable monthly; all our own rates are on the pricing page. What a site costs in the market depends on six factors: scope, features, type of site, industry, company size and maintenance. This article shows what each factor does to the price, so you do not pay too much or too little.
You cancel by email, and that email counts as the official cancellation. You still pay for the current month, and then it stops. We send you the content of your site, because it is yours. The domain name is already in your name, since you bought it yourself. The site itself does not come with you. Within those first two years you cannot simply stop.
If you do want to leave earlier, you buy out the remainder: you pay the remaining months in one go, and then you receive the content as with a normal cancellation. It works this way because we do not invoice the build upfront while still paying for the site in the meantime; those costs keep running if you leave early.
The short answer
A compact five-page website usually costs between €1,500 and €3,000, including design and basic setup. Move up to ten to fifteen pages with a few extra sections and a blog, and you are more likely to land between €2,500 and €4,500. A compact webshop with up to fifty products often starts around €3,500 to €6,000. Those market prices are excluding VAT.
With us the answer is different, and shorter
A website costs €75 a month. A website with a webshop costs €150 a month. There is no upfront build fee on top, because the build is included in that monthly amount, along with hosting, maintenance and further development. So you do not get an invoice for a few thousand euros before anything is even live.
That comes with a contract term, and we will name it straight away
The first two years are fixed. After that, the agreement continues monthly and you can cancel it every month, in writing, with an email to sales@theseo.nl. Those two years are there for a reason you are entitled to know: the build is not invoiced upfront, so that work earns itself back over that period. Feel free to check the sums. Twelve months times €75 is €900, and over the full two years, €1,800. With a webshop that is €1,800 in the first year and €3,600 over two years.
The question is simple: you want to know what you pay, and why
In the market, the price depends on six factors. Once you understand them, you can decide for yourself what you need, and compare two quotes side by side without comparing apples with pears. Below, you will go through them one by one.
Factor 1: the size of your site
A simple five-page site costs less than an extensive site with twenty pages and several landing pages. Nothing surprising there. Writing pages takes time, designing takes time and building each page takes time. So every page you add counts towards the price.
So do not count the pages you would like to have, but the pages that have their own visitor
That way you decide for yourself where the line falls between what you want and what you actually need.
Factor 2: the features you switch on
A contact form and a blog are the basics. Booking with a calendar link needs more work. Multiple languages mean double the work in content and configuration. And a webshop needs product structure, payments, shipping, VAT and management.
The rule is simple: only ask for what you will actually use this year
Every feature you cross off your list removes a line item from the quote.
Factor 3: website or webshop
A webshop has extra layers that an ordinary site does not. Setting up products. Categories. Filters. Payment methods. Shipping rules. Email flows. Product photos and copy. So expect a webshop to always cost more than a site without a shop. To see what a bespoke webshop looks like in practice, take a look at mosatooth.com in Harmelen.
A small shop often starts around €2,500 plus the options you choose
That kind of compact shop with up to fifty products then usually ends up between €3,500 and €6,000. If you build for scale and want automation or integrations, you go beyond that. With us, this exact difference is the difference between the two amounts: €75 a month for a website and €150 a month as soon as a webshop is involved. If your shop is already live and you are wondering whether it performs well, read how to approach a webshop analysis in 2026.
Factor 4: your industry and its complexity
Not every industry is equally simple. Hospitality needs reservations and menus. Healthcare needs clear information and sometimes extra requirements. Finance needs extra checks on copy and security. E-commerce needs performance and conversion details.
Those differences translate into complexity, and therefore into price
So mention your field in your first email, and the quote will move with what is actually needed in your industry.
Factor 5: the size of your company
A larger company has more discussion, more stakeholders and more requirements. Understandable in itself, but it does take time. That is why company size counts towards the price.
This is the one dial you cannot turn down yourself
What you can do about it: appoint one decision-maker who cuts through discussions. That saves rounds, and rounds cost hours.
Factor 6: maintenance and growth
A website is not a one-off project. You want someone keeping an eye on it every month: running updates, checking backups, monitoring security and picking up small requests. This is called maintenance. In the market this sits apart from the build, and you pay for it monthly on top of a one-off build fee.
With us, that split does not exist
Building, hosting, maintaining and further development are all combined in one monthly amount: €75 a month for a website and €150 a month for a website with a webshop. That last word deserves some explanation. Further development means your site does not stand still after launch: a page gets added, a form starts working differently, something that turns out not to work gets fixed. That is not an extra job, it is simply what happens for that monthly amount.
The contract term, because that belongs here straight away.
The first two years are fixed. After that, the agreement continues monthly and you can cancel it every month. You cancel in writing, with an email to sales@theseo.nl, and beyond that you can always reach us through the contact page.
Why those two years are there.
Because the build is not invoiced upfront. Work goes into a site before a single euro comes in, and that work earns itself back over that period. That is the whole reason, and it is more honest to write it down than to leave it out. What you get in return is that you do not have to start with a bill for a few thousand euros just to go online.
On top of that, you can choose SEO and Ads
If you also need to be found after launch, take a look at how we help you improve your SEO. That is a separate decision and a separate amount. Ask every provider, us included, what is included in the monthly amount and what sits separately alongside it. Then you know exactly what your first month costs and what you pay every month after that.
How to put together your own specification
Work through the six dials above in this order, and you have a clear specification in six steps:
- Determine your company size. That is fixed, so start there.
- Choose site or shop.
- Count the pages that have their own visitor.
- Note down the features you need.
- Choose your industry.
- Add maintenance or marketing if you want to.
Send those six lines along with your request
With an agency that charges per project, you get back a quote with the one-off amount and the monthly amount listed separately. With us you get back something different, namely what we are going to build for €75 a month, or for €150 a month if a webshop is involved, with the two-year term included straight away. If you would rather talk it through first, that is fine too.
The costs that often fall outside the quote
The six factors above determine the amount at the bottom of the quote. On top of that, there is a list of costs that comes up in practice and that is not always written down. Not because anyone is trying to sell you something, but because it comes from a different provider. Ask about them, and ask before you sign.
Your domain name
A small yearly amount, but it is your property. Make sure the registration is in your name and not the builder's. This is the most important point in this whole chapter.Hosting
Where the site runs. Sometimes that sits inside a maintenance package, sometimes you arrange it yourself. Ask which of the two applies, and what happens if you cancel.A certificate for https
Included and free with many providers, a separate line item with some. Worth checking.Licences for themes and plugins
This is the item most often forgotten. A booking system, a multilingual plugin or a premium theme costs money every year, and that continues for as long as the site exists. Ask for a list of every paid component and its yearly amount.Imagery
Licensed stock photos, or a photographer for a day. Your own photos almost always work better, and they cost you a day.Business email
A mailbox on your own domain is a subscription per user per month, and sits apart from your website.Copy
If you do not write it, someone else will, and that is hours of work. See the next chapter.Extra rounds
Almost every quote includes a number of revision rounds. What the round after that costs is rarely mentioned. Ask for the hourly rate.With us that hourly rate is €65 for advice and separate work, and all our other rates are on the pricing page. Hosting, maintenance, updates and further development do not need a separate budget line with us, because they are included in the monthly amount of €75, or €150 with a webshop. We go through the items that come from a different provider, such as your domain name, paid licences and business email, with you before the start, so you know what sits alongside that monthly amount.
What you do yourself, and what that saves
The biggest dial on your invoice that nobody points out to you is yourself. A project where the client delivers on time runs shorter, and shorter is cheaper. A project that stalls three times because the copy still has not arrived fills up with waiting time and renegotiation.
Supplying your own copy saves the most.
If you supply a few paragraphs per page in plain language, even if they are rough, nobody needs to work out your field from scratch. Rough and true is more useful than polished and vague. If you would still rather have it written for you, ask for a separate line with a number of hours, so you can choose.
Imagery on time.
Before the start, gather your logo in a usable file, photos of your work and, if you have them, your brand colours. A project waiting for a logo that only still exists as a picture in an old brochure is a project standing still.
One decision-maker.
Mentioned under factor five, and it is the cheapest measure there is. Someone who makes the final call and represents the others. Four opinions trickling in by email are four rounds.
Gather your corrections.
Look everything over properly once and send it all in one message, with the page noted next to each point. Seven separate messages over a week cost more time than one list with seventeen points.
And be clear upfront about what will be added later.
If you want a webshop in six months, say so now. That changes how it is built. Bolting on a shop afterwards almost always costs more than planning for it from the start.
Comparing two quotes fairly
You have two quotes, and one is a thousand euros cheaper. That says nothing on its own, because you do not yet know whether they cover the same thing. This is the list we would work through ourselves. Every question has an answer that can simply be given; anyone who talks their way around it is thereby also giving you an answer.
- What platform do you build on? And can I move to a different provider with it later, or am I locked into a system that only you can work with?
- Whose name will the domain be registered under? Mine, you hope.
- Who holds the admin rights? Do I get my own admin account, or am I dependent on you for every text change?
- How many revision rounds are included, and what does the next one cost?
- What does an extra page cost a year from now? That amount says more about the working relationship than the build price does.
- Are hosting, maintenance and updates included, and if so, for how long? A year of free maintenance is a price difference that only becomes visible in year two.
- What happens if we part ways? Do I get a copy of the site and the database, and on what terms?
- Who is responsible if the site goes down? And within how much time will someone look into it?
Put the answers in a simple two-column table
In nine cases out of ten, the price difference disappears once you fill in the columns, or turns out to sit somewhere other than you thought. Ask us those questions too. On the sixth, our answer is that hosting, maintenance and updates are included in the monthly amount and that the first two years are fixed.
What to watch for in a proposal
There is nothing wrong with a low price. There is something wrong with a low price that only explains what it is not after you have signed. Four things worth pausing on.
A fixed amount with no specification.
An all-in price sounds reassuring, but if it does not state how many pages, which features and how many rounds are included, there is no agreement, only a number. Ask for line items.
A monthly amount with no end date for the build.
Some providers spread the build cost over a three-year subscription. That can work out fine, but do the sums on what you pay in total and what you are left with if you want to stop after a year. This point applies to us too, so let us deal with it here straight away. With us the term is fixed at two years, after which it is cancellable monthly, and €75 a month works out at €1,800 over those two years. With a webshop that is €150 a month, so €3,600. Put that next to a proposal with a build fee in it, and you can see at a glance which way it works out for you.
A site that can only run with that one provider.
That does not have to be a problem, as long as you choose it consciously and know the price of stepping out of it. Just ask.
Paying everything upfront.
A deposit is normal. The full amount upfront, with no delivery milestone to show for it, is less so.
And the same holds in reverse: a high price is not automatically better
What you are buying is not the number of hours but whether the site ends up doing what you need it to, namely bringing in customers. So always ask for work similar to yours, and call up one of those references. That costs you ten minutes and it tells you more than any quote.
Work out your first year, not your first invoice
The question at the top of this article is about what building costs, but the question you actually want answered is what your site costs you in the first year. That is a different number, and it is the number you can plan with. Put these six lines underneath each other and fill them in with the amounts from your own quote.
The build
With a quote that has a one-off amount, that is the figure at the bottom, excluding VAT. With us this line stays blank, because the build is included in the monthly amount.Domain and hosting, twelve months
Two small yearly items that you either pay yourself or that are included in a package.Licences, twelve months
All paid plugins and the theme added together. Ask for the list, because this is the item that catches people out.Maintenance, twelve months
Updates, backups and security. A monthly amount times twelve. With us that is €75 times twelve, so €900, and with a webshop €150 times twelve, so €1,800. The build and the hosting are already included in that.Content, one-off or ongoing
Copy, photos and the hours you spend yourself. Count your own hours too, even if you do not invoice yourself for them.Changes after launch
There is always a round. Add the hourly rate and a number of hours you think is reasonable.If you also want to be found after launch, a seventh line gets added. With us that is SEO maintenance for €250 a month, and ad management has its own start-up cost; all amounts are on the pricing page. Do not count these into your build budget, because they are two separate decisions that you make at two separate moments.
The reason to do this is not that it turns out more expensive than you thought
The reason is that you then know what you need to pay in month eight, and that is exactly the moment when a site that was budgeted too tightly grinds to a halt.
Frequently asked questions about website costs
How quickly can my site go live?
A compact site can often go live within two to four weeks. A webshop takes longer because of the setup, testing and integrations. The timeline always depends on when content is delivered and when approvals happen.
Can you also take care of copy and photos?
Yes. Include copywriting hours in your request, and they will appear as a separate line in the quote. For photo and video we are happy to put together a tailored proposal.
Why does the number of products only matter for a webshop?
Products are only relevant for a shop. Nobody asks about them for a website. For a webshop, it makes a difference whether you have ten or five hundred, because every product has to be set up, photographed and given copy.
What is the difference between one-off and monthly?
In the market, the one-off part is the design, the build and the setup, and the monthly part is the hosting, the maintenance, the security and any marketing. Ask for those to be listed separately in a quote, plus what the first month costs in total. With us the one-off side no longer exists. Building, hosting, maintaining and further development are all combined in €75 a month, or €150 a month with a webshop, with the first two years fixed and cancellable monthly after that.
Can I switch to a different provider later?
That depends on what it was built on and what your agreement says. So ask two things before you start: whose name the domain will be registered under, and whether you get a copy of the site and the database if you stop. On a common platform with your own admin account, switching is a matter of moving house. On a system that only runs with that one provider, it means starting again. With us the first two years are fixed, and after that it continues monthly, cancellable by email.
What does a cheaper site cost me later?
That cannot be captured in a figure upfront, and we will not invent one here. What is clear is where it usually ends up: adding a page that costs more than expected, licences that keep running, and copy that still has to be written after all. So ask in every quote what an extra page costs a year from now. That one amount tells you more about the years after than the build price itself.
Further reading
Want to learn more about websites, findability and online marketing? In our knowledge base you will find more articles like this one. Curious how AI is changing your findability? Then also read what is changing in ChatGPT and what to watch for. If you know what it can cost but not yet who to give the job to, the guide hiring a WordPress specialist helps you put quotes and candidates side by side.
Six lines, and you have a quote that adds up
What it costs to have a website made depends in the market on six dials, not on a price list. There, €1,500 to €3,000 is charged for a compact site, €2,500 to €4,500 for a more extensive one and €3,500 to €6,000 for a compact webshop, all excluding VAT.
With us the amount is fixed: €75 a month for a website and €150 a month for a website with a webshop, with no upfront build fee, with the first two years fixed and cancellable monthly after that. What is not fixed is what you need, and that is only on paper once you have written down your company size, site or shop, number of pages, features, industry and maintenance. That is six lines of text, and it saves you from a project that turns out to be about something else entirely.
Do you have those six lines? Send them over, and we will get back to you with what we are going to build for that monthly amount, with the term included and with the items from chapter nine explicitly included or explicitly excluded. If you do not know them yet, a half-hour call is exactly the right moment: we work through the six dials together, and you do not have to commit to anything afterwards. If you would rather email first, that is fine too, to sales@theseo.nl or through the contact page.