“What does it cost to have a website made?” — with this question most businesses are either quoted a number that is far too low, or none at all. Neither helps. Here is what you should realistically budget for in 2026, which three routes exist, and where the cost actually comes from.
The price range for a business website runs from effectively zero to well into five figures. That sounds arbitrary, but it isn't: the price depends less on how the site looks on launch day than on who builds, maintains and keeps it current afterwards. And that part rarely appears in the quote.
Having a website made: the three cost routes in 2026
Roughly, there are three models. They differ less in the starting price than in what they cost you over the years — in money, and above all in time.
- Website builder (Wix, Jimdo, Squarespace): €0–30 / month. Cheap to start, but you build and maintain it yourself. The price on paper is low — you pay in evenings at the editor when you are not running your business.
- Classic agency: €4,000–12,000 one-off. Bespoke and tailored to you, but slow to build and expensive for every later change. Every new opening hour, every staff change becomes a ticket — and a line on the next invoice.
- Productized website (studio): fixed package price. Pre-built for your industry, usually live in 7 days, maintenance included. The middle path between agency quality and builder speed — without you turning into a web designer.
Which route fits depends less on budget than on your time. If you have free evenings and enjoy tinkering, a builder serves you well. If you need a very bespoke, complex application, an agency is right. For the broad middle — trades, practices, law firms, studios, hospitality — the fixed package price is usually the most honest calculation.
What really drives the price
When two quotes are €3,000 apart, it is almost never about the design. It comes down to these factors:
- Scope. A site with five sub-pages costs a fraction of a portal with login, booking and customer accounts.
- Text and images. If you supply the content, you save. If you expect someone to write the copy and prepare the photos, you pay for it — rightly, because that is real work.
- Technical foundation. Hand-built loads faster and ranks better than an overloaded builder theme, but takes more effort to construct.
- Who maintains it afterwards? The biggest hidden cost driver. A site nobody keeps current is dated within twelve months and costs you enquiries, not invoices.
That last point is decisive and almost always underestimated. A website is not a piece of furniture you buy once, but more like a company car: the purchase price is only the beginning, running it is what makes the difference.
Hidden costs that rarely appear in the quote
- Hosting, an SSL certificate and a GDPR-compliant contact form
- Google Business profile and local visibility ("industry + town")
- Mobile load time — most prospects now search on a phone
- Accessibility, relevant since 2025 for many B2C offerings
- Changes after launch (often the most expensive item with agencies)
Add these up and the picture shifts: the seemingly cheap builder becomes expensive the moment your time has a value, and the agency becomes expensive the moment you want to change something a second time. That is why it pays to compare not the starting price, but the cost over three years.
What is a fair expectation in 2026?
An honest website for a small to mid-sized business is not a luxury project and doesn't need to be. Fair is a price where you know exactly what is included — maintenance and all — and that doesn't reset with every change. That is why we work with a fixed package price per industry instead of hourly rates, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. No quote ping-pong, no surprise on the final invoice.
Behind the offer stands The CodeCave — a studio in Frechen near Cologne that has run its own apps for over 210,000 users since 2018. We build websites with the same technology we run our products on, not with a website-builder click.
How the package model works in detail, which industries we have pre-built and why it stays cheaper than an agency, you can read on the Website Manufaktur overview. Many trades have their own transparently itemized page — for example driving schools, with before/after examples and industry-specific scope.
And if you are still weighing up whether a builder or a built offer pays off for you, the comparison website builder or agency? helps you decide — without sales pressure.
