Free tool
What should a website cost?
Four questions, an honest range - in euros or pounds. We'll show you what templates, freelancers, studios and agencies actually charge, and why the numbers are so far apart. No sign-up, nothing stored.
Your estimate
Template (DIY)
Squarespace, Wix or a theme - you are the designer and the builder.
Up to €500
+ €15–€45 a month
+ 70–145 hours of your own time
Only cheap if your own time is valued at zero. A first build also runs longer than a professional's, because learning the tool is most of the job.
Freelancer
A solo designer-developer, usually adapting a theme.
€3,000–€6,000
+ €10–€40 a month for hosting
One pair of hands, so the same brief tends to take a few more hours than a studio that builds every week.
Small studio
Custom design and build, project-managed and accountable.
€5,000–€9,500
+ €10–€50 a month for hosting
This is where we sit. Whitespace builds start at €4,800, scoped and fixed before we begin. We contract in euros; if you would rather be quoted in your own currency, ask us when we scope it.
Large agency
The same work with an account team and an office behind it.
€7,500–€15,000
+ €20–€80 a month for hosting
Much of the gap is overheads and account management rather than more design.
Market ranges for the UK and Europe - not a Whitespace quote.
All figures exclude tax. Spanish IVA (VAT) applies in Spain and to private customers elsewhere in the EU; EU businesses with a VAT number account for it themselves under reverse charge. Outside the EU, including the UK, no VAT is added.
The honest bit
Why the range is so wide.
Ask ten people what a website costs and you'll get ten defensive answers. The truth is that "a website" spans everything from a rented template to a bespoke build - and the price tracks who does the work, how many hours it really takes them, and who carries the risk when it breaks.
- Templates are cheap because you're the labour
- Squarespace or Wix at €15 to €45 a month is genuinely good value if your needs fit the template. What the price leaves out is your own time, valued at zero - and those hours run longer than a professional's, not shorter, because learning the tool is most of the job. For plenty of small sites that trade is still fine, and we'll happily say so.
- Freelancers charge for time
- A good freelancer usually adapts a theme or designs something light and custom. The price tracks their hours, and one pair of hands tends to need a few more of them than a studio doing this every week. Scope creep is your risk, and ongoing support depends on one person staying available - and in business.
- Studios charge for the outcome
- Design from scratch, build, testing, project management, and someone accountable when something breaks. That overhead is real, and so is what it buys. It's why custom starts in the thousands rather than the hundreds: you're paying for a result, not a block of hours.
- Agencies charge for the building behind them
- A large agency does much the same work as a small studio, at around half as much again per hour. The difference is mostly what sits behind the work - account managers, offices, new business teams, layers of sign-off. Sometimes that structure is exactly what a big project needs. On a small-business site it is usually just cost.
- The words are the hidden line item
- Professional copy costs a few hundred a page, and almost nobody budgets for it. Most projects that run late are waiting on words, not code. Decide who's writing before you decide who's building.
- The monthly bill nobody prices in
- Platforms charge forever. Custom sites need hosting and someone watching them. The honest comparison is the three-year cost, not the checkout price - a cheap build with an expensive subscription often overtakes a dearer build you own outright.
A word on what this calculator is not. It is not a quote - no honest number exists until someone has understood your business, your content and what the site has to do. It is a map of the market, so that when quotes do arrive, you know which ones are reasonable.
FAQ
Questions about the numbers.
Rather have a number than a range?
Tell us what you're planning and we'll come back with a fixed quote - one number, agreed before we begin, that doesn't move.