How much does a website cost? A complete guide.

Studiothink Pricing Series (Updated for 2025)

One of the most common questions we get at Studiothink is: “How much does a website cost?”

And honestly? I wish I had a simple answer. 

The amount of misinformation, false advertising, and lack of transparency in the web industry is staggering. Many businesses don’t know what they’re really paying for, leading to surprise add-ons, hidden costs, shady contractors that disappear, poorly made sites, and, worst of all, a website that fails to generate results.

Yah, it’s scary out there, I know.

That’s why I wanted to write this article. My passion is to help businesses succeed, and that means you deserve to have some reliable, honest information that will actually help make your buying decision easier.

In a nutshell, I’m spilling some deep, dark industry pricing secrets here. And, If you have a short attention span I’ve made it even simpler, if you scroll to the bottom I’ve given you a pricing overview chart.

This guide provides an in-depth breakdown of website pricing in 2025, covering different types of websites, their costs, pros and cons, and which one is the best investment for your business.

1. Landing Page Websites

Best for: Single-purpose marketing campaigns, pre-launch pages, or lead capture forms.

A landing page website is a one-page website designed for a specific goal—such as capturing leads, launching a product, or running a digital ad campaign. They are usually used for short-term marketing rather than long-term business growth.

Pros:

• Low cost and quick to launch – Minimal development required, making them affordable and fast to set up.
• Great for conversions – Designed to focus on a single action like sign-ups, purchases, or bookings.
• Minimal maintenance – No complex backend, making them easy to manage.
• Works well with digital ads – Best when paired with Google Ads or social media campaigns.

Cons:

• Not a full website – Does not offer the credibility, brand storytelling, or long-term value of a real website.
• Zero scalability – If you need to expand your business, you’ll have to start from scratch.
• Poor SEO performance – Single-page sites rarely rank well on Google.
• Limited user experience – One-page designs often lack navigation and depth, making them frustrating for users looking for more info.

The Inside Scoop: 

Landing pages are great for one-time campaigns, but they are not a substitute for a real website. If you need credibility, SEO, and scalability, you need more than one page.

Price Tag: 

$1,000-$2,500

2. ShowIt, Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow Websites

Best for: Small businesses, DIYers, and startups that need a website quickly but don’t require extensive customization or long-term scalability.

DIY website builders like Wix, Squarespace, ShowIt, and Webflow are marketed as quick and easy website solutions. While they offer simplicity, they come with serious limitations when it comes to branding, SEO, and long-term business growth.

Pros:

• Easy to use – No coding knowledge required, making them accessible for non-technical users.
• All-in-one hosting and security – Monthly plans include hosting, SSL, and basic security.
• Quick launch – Pre-designed templates allow for fast setup.
• Decent for very small businesses – Good for freelancers, bloggers, or small service providers who only need a basic online presence.

Cons:

• Limited branding and user experience – Templates restrict you to generic designs that don’t truly reflect your brand or connect with your audience.
• Poor SEO performance – These platforms lack the advanced SEO tools needed to rank on Google, which can make it difficult to generate organic traffic.
• Slow site speed and performance issues – Many DIY builders are bloated with unnecessary code, which can cause slower load times.
• Monthly costs add up – What seems like a budget-friendly option at first becomes expensive over time, especially when adding premium features.
• Locked into the platform – If you ever need to migrate to another platform, you will need to rebuild your website from scratch.

The Inside Scoop: 

These platforms work for personal projects but are NOT a good solution for businesses that want long-term growth. If you need a website that drives revenue and builds your brand, you will outgrow these platforms quickly.

Price Tag: 

$3,000-$8,000

3. Canva Websites

Best for: Personal portfolios, quick event pages, or temporary projects—not real business websites.

Canva’s website builder is an extension of its graphic design tool. While easy to use, it lacks the functionality needed for a serious business website.

Pros:

• Extremely easy to create – No web development knowledge required.
• Free or very low-cost – Canva websites can be created on a free account.
• Good for simple, visual projects – Works well for portfolios, event pages, or personal branding.

Cons:

• Not built for business use – No advanced SEO tools, analytics, or integrations.
• Zero scalability – Once you outgrow Canva, you have to start over.
• Minimal security and performance – Slow load times and limited hosting control hurt credibility.
• Not a real website solution – No ability to create a complex, multi-functional business website.

The Inside Scoop: 

Canva is not a serious website solution. If you want to grow your business, you need something more powerful.

Price Tag: 

$1,500-$4,000

4. GoDaddy, Yellow Pages Websites

Best for: Business owners who don’t realize how ineffective these websites are.

Some domain registrars (GoDaddy, Yellow Pages) offer “website-building” services as an add-on. These are usually low-cost, templated sites that provide little to no value.

Pros:

• Low upfront cost – Often included as a bundle with domain registration or directory listing.
• Basic online presence – If your only goal is to have a website for the sake of having one, this option achieves that.

Cons:

• No brand strategy – These sites use cookie-cutter templates that do not differentiate your business.
• Poor SEO – They are not built to rank well in Google searches, limiting your visibility.
• Outdated designs – The templates look generic and unprofessional.
• No scalability – If your business grows, you will need to start over with a real website.

The Inside Scoop: 

These sites may seem like an easy solution, but they make your business look unprofessional and do not generate traffic or leads.

Price Tag: 

Any amount you pay is too much.

5. Shopify Websites

Best for: eCommerce businesses that need a simple, hosted online store solutions.

Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce platform that provides hosting, security, and payment processing. While great for online stores, it has significant limitations in branding, SEO, and content marketing.

Pros:

• eCommerce-focused – Built specifically for selling products online, making inventory and order management easy.
• Secure and hosted – Shopify takes care of hosting, security, and compliance.
• Scales well for online sales – Works for both small and large online stores.

Cons:

• Limited branding control – Shopify templates restrict design and user experience, making it hard to create a unique brand.
• Higher long-term costs – Shopify charges transaction fees and monthly subscription fees, which can add up over time.
• Weak SEO and content marketing tools – Shopify’s blogging and SEO capabilities are limited compared to WordPress.

The Inside Scoop: 

Shopify is a strong choice for e-commerce, but for a fully optimized online presence, businesses should combine it with a custom WordPress website to improve branding, SEO, and lead generation.

Price Tag: 

$8,000-$15,000

6. Templated WordPress Websites

Best for: Small businesses that need a website but don’t require extensive customization.

Many agencies offer WordPress websites, but the truth here is that almost all of them rely on pre-designed templates rather than custom development. These pre-designed themes are slightly modified to fit your brand, but they lack flexibility and performance optimization.

Pros:

• Lower cost than custom WordPress – Uses pre-made themes, reducing development time.
• More control than DIY builders – Offers more flexibility than Wix or Squarespace.
• Decent for small businesses – Provides basic functionality for those who don’t need custom features.

Cons:

• Limited brand experience – You are still working within the constraints of a theme, so it will not be tailored specifically to your audience.
• Performance issues – Many pre-built themes include unnecessary code that slows down site speed.
• Not optimized for lead generation – These sites are often not strategically designed to convert visitors into customers.

The Inside Scoop: 

A templated WordPress site is better than a DIY builder but still lacks the strategic planning, customization, and performance of a fully custom-built site.

Price Tag: 

$12,000-$20,000

7. Custom WordPress Websites

Best for: Businesses that need a website built for performance, branding, and lead generation. The best investment for businesses that want to grow. A custom WordPress website is designed and developed specifically for your business needs, audience, and goals.

Pros:

• 100% unique to your brand – Custom design ensures your site connects with your audience.
• Optimized for SEO and conversions – Built with best practices to rank in search engines and turn visitors into leads.
• Scalable and flexible – Can grow as your business evolves.
• You own it – Unlike DIY platforms, you have full control over your website.
• Custom animation effects and dynamic elements.

Cons:

• Higher upfront investment – Requires expert design and development.
• Requires professional maintenance – Needs ongoing updates and security monitoring.

The Inside Scoop: 

If you want a website that drives revenue and grows with your business, a custom WordPress website is the best long-term investment. If you’re serious about business growth, a custom WordPress website is the best long-term solution.

Price Tag: 

$25,000-$60,000

Pro Insight: Pitfalls that could cost you thousands.

Hiring Offshore Companies

Overseas web companies often promise cheap, fast websites, but these projects often:

• Lack strategy, branding, and performance optimization, leaving you with a generic, ineffective site.
• Have communication barriers and time zone delays, making it difficult to get revisions or support.
• Result in poor quality control, security risks, and low accountability, meaning you may need to rebuild the site entirely.
• Offer zero long-term support, leaving you stranded if anything goes wrong.

Agencies Without Developers

Many branding or marketing agencies sell websites without actually having developers in-house.

• They outsource projects to unreliable freelancers or cheap offshore companies to maximize their profit.
• This results in low-quality, generic sites that don’t perform well and may not function properly.
• If you need updates or fixes later, you’ll be left without support, forcing you to hire another agency or start from scratch.

Low-Cost Website Packages That Sound Too Good to Be True

Some companies offer “affordable website packages” or “all-inclusive websites” that promise a fully built website for an unbelievably low price, but these often come with major hidden costs:

• Limited functionality – You’ll only get a basic template with little room for customization.
• Hidden fees – Essential features like SEO, analytics, security, and custom design may cost extra.
• No long-term ownership – Some budget website providers rent you the website instead of selling it outright, meaning you don’t actually own it.
• Lock-in contracts – Some agencies force you into multi-year contracts that are difficult to escape.

Websites Built Without Strategy or User Experience in Mind

A website isn’t just about looking nice—it’s about converting visitors into customers. Many low-cost agencies fail to build websites that are actually effective for business growth.

• No lead generation strategy – A beautiful site is worthless if it doesn’t convert visitors into leads.
• Poor user experience (UX) – If navigation is confusing or slow, potential customers will leave and go to your competitor.
• Slow site speeds – Sites that are not optimized for speed will hurt SEO rankings and frustrate users.
• Unclear calls to action (CTAs) – Without strategic messaging, users won’t know what to do next.

Websites That Aren’t Built for SEO

Many web design companies ignore SEO completely, meaning your site may never show up on Google.

• No proper keyword strategy – Your competitors will outrank you if your site isn’t optimized for search.
• Slow load times – Google penalizes slow websites, affecting your ability to attract organic traffic.
• No ongoing SEO support – A website isn’t just set-and-forget—it needs continuous optimization to stay competitive.

Template-Based Sites That Limit Growth

Many agencies sell WordPress sites using pre-built templates but don’t tell you the limitations.

• You get a cookie-cutter design – Your site will look just like thousands of others using the same template.
• Difficult to scale – If you need custom functionality in the future, you may have to rebuild your site entirely.
• Performance issues – Many pre-built themes are bloated with unnecessary code, slowing down your website.

Web Hosting & Maintenance Nightmares

A great website needs reliable hosting and ongoing maintenance.

• Cheap hosting slows down your site – Many agencies host websites on low-quality shared servers that make them sluggish.
• No security or updates – If your site isn’t maintained, it’s vulnerable to hacks, downtime, and data loss.
• Lack of backups and support – If something breaks, you could lose your entire website.

Final Verdict: My honest advice as the best choice for your business.

Your website is more than just a digital brochure—it’s the foundation of your brand, your first impression, and your most powerful business tool. It should be driving revenue, generating leads, and positioning you as the leader in your industry. If it’s not doing that, then it’s holding you back and wasting your budget.

I would recommend that if you are a small or startup business, or if you have a very simple eCommerce offering, you would benefit from hiring a freelancer or small agency to build you a ShowIt, Wix, Squarespace or WebFlow site. 

These are all cost effective options that will cost you around $3,000-$8,000 and are perfect for a startup company. With the right designer, they can be a beautiful, on-brand option.

However, if you are a larger company (think $1 million + in revenue), then I have found that many businesses fall into the trap of choosing cheap, templated, or rushed websites, thinking they are saving money. Budget shopping at this stage of your company growth is not a good business decision.

The reality is, budget sites cost you more in the long run—in lost opportunities, frustrated visitors, poor search rankings, poor functionality, and a brand presence that fails to stand out or attract customers.

A mid-size to large business needs to invest in a custom WordPress website, and this will cost you around $25,000-$60,000 on average. This will give you a website built with strategy, branding, SEO, and user experience in mind, and it will allow you the flexibility to grow the site and add on advanced features as needed. If it can’t do that, it’s failing your business. 

If you’ve ever struggled with:

• A website that looks like everyone else’s, failing to differentiate your brand
• Slow load times, technical issues, or security risks that drive customers away
• A lack of real leads and conversions, despite having traffic
• Being stuck with a website you can’t edit, expand, or scale as your business grows
• Wasting money on fixes, patches, or complete rebuilds after hiring the wrong agency

Then it’s time to stop settling for mediocrity and invest in a website that works for you, not against you. If your goal is to grow, then your business deserves a better website.

In case you’re wondering, Studiothink specializes in custom WordPress websites that are strategized, designed, written and developed by our in-house team of experts. So if that’s the option that’s right for your company, click here for a free consultation and custom proposal.

Sherry Jacobi

Website Pricing Overview (2025)

Website Type	Best For	Price Range	Pros	Cons
Landing Page Websites	Single-purpose marketing campaigns, lead capture pages, pre-launch events	$1,000 – $2,500	Fast setup, great for ads	Poor SEO, no scalability
DIY Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, ShowIt)	Small businesses, freelancers, startups	$3,000 – $8,000	Easy to use, low upfront cost	Limited branding, poor SEO, slow performance
Canva Websites	Personal projects, event pages, portfolios	$1,500 – $4,000	Free or low-cost, simple setup	No SEO, security risks, not scalable
GoDaddy / Yellow Pages Websites	Businesses unaware of their limitations	sometimes free	Low cost or bundled pricing	Outdated design, poor SEO, no business value
Shopify Websites	E-commerce businesses	$8,000 – $15,000	Secure, built for online sales	Limited customization, high transaction fees
Templated WordPress Websites	Small businesses, basic sites	$12,000 – $20,000	More control than DIY builders	Limited flexibility, performance issues
Custom WordPress Websites	Established businesses, brands that want growth	$25,000 – $60,000	100% unique, SEO-optimized, scalable	Higher upfront investment