Website Development Cost in 2026: What a Website Costs

What is a realistic website development cost in 2026? Ask a freelancer and a studio to quote the same site and one number can easily be five or ten times the other. Neither has to be wrong: they are almost never pricing the same work. At Nubi, a software studio based in Valencia, Spain, we do custom web design and development, and this is the question many of our first conversations start with. Here is what the market looks like, how we put a quote together, and what any good quote should include so you can compare it.

The short answer: how much does a website cost?

There is no single price, but there are clear bands. Clutch’s web design pricing guide, built from verified client reviews, reports that most web design projects on its platform cost under $10,000.

In Spain, where we are based, published prices for 2026 put a single landing page at roughly €300 to €1,500, a business website of 5 to 10 pages at €700 to €8,000 depending on who builds it, and a store on a platform at about €850 to €8,000. A custom website with integrations usually starts around €5,000, and a custom online store can go past €15,000. On top of the build, budget every year for domain, hosting and maintenance.

What we see in the market

We reviewed the price guides that Spanish studios, agencies and freelancers published in 2026. Each one sells the service it describes, so the numbers also reflect its own rates and clients. Put together, they look like this:

Type of site	Typical published range (before VAT)
Landing page (single page)	€300 to €1,500
Business website (5 to 10 pages)	€700 to €8,000
Custom business website	from €2,500; with integrations, from about €5,000
Online store on Shopify or WooCommerce	€850 to €8,000
Custom online store	from €15,000
Custom portal or platform	from €8,000, often over €20,000

The business website range is so wide because it mixes very different providers. A freelancer starting out publishes €400 to €1,200, an experienced freelancer €1,500 to €3,000, a small studio €2,500 to €6,000 and a mid sized or large agency from €8,000.

One detail most guides leave out: the providers who publish prices on their site tend to be small ones with fixed packages, while most established studios publish nothing. So the numbers you find first on Google are entry prices, not the market average. We do not publish a rate either. We quote every project on its scope, with a fixed quote.

How we put a website quote together at Nubi

We don’t start with the technology. We start by understanding what your business needs, because that is what drives most of the website cost. Our process looks like this:

A 30 minute call. No slides. We talk about what the site has to do and who it speaks to: showcase, convert, attract talent or sell.
A written plan within the week. A tailored plan with clear deliverables.
A fixed quote. Per project, not per hour. After launch there is a monthly maintenance fee, fixed per project.

Once we go ahead, we design before we code: visual direction, structure and a prototype. If you already have a brand identity, we start from there. Then we build by hand, you review the site on a staging URL, we adjust, and it goes live. A custom site usually takes us 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the number of pages, the level of animation and whether the copy and content are ready.

What drives website development cost

These are the factors that move any quote the most, ours included:

Original design or a template. Adapting a template is fast. Designing every page from scratch, with a consistent visual system, takes far more hours, and it shows.
Distinct page layouts. Ten pages that share a structure cost less than five pages that are all different.
Features. Bookings, a client area, search, a configurator, several languages. Each one is a small build with its own testing.
Integrations. Connecting the site to your CRM, ERP or inventory is the line item buyers underestimate most, because someone has to handle what happens when the other system fails.
Ecommerce. Catalogue, variants, payments, shipping, taxes and transactional emails. That is why ecommerce website cost is higher than a business site of the same size.
Content. Copy, photos and product descriptions. Whether they are ready changes both the timeline and the price.
Animation and interaction. Used well, it makes a brand memorable. In our projects every animation has to serve a purpose, as on the Hey Archie landing page, polished pixel by pixel and full of animation; our criteria are in web animation and UX.
Performance and technical SEO. Many quotes list it as an extra. In ours it is part of the deliverable: structure, metadata, structured data, speed and passing Core Web Vitals from launch. Here is why it matters: Core Web Vitals for business.

Costs that are not in the first quote

Building the site is a payment. Running it is an ongoing cost:

Tax. Quotes in Spain almost always exclude VAT: a €1,500 quote becomes €1,815 with 21% VAT. Make sure two quotes treat tax the same way before you compare them.
Domain and hosting. Around €100 to €200 a year for a business website is common in the Spanish market.
Maintenance. Updates, backups, security and support. Published plans run from about €40 to €250 a month depending on what they cover.
Licences. Paid themes, plugins, fonts and stock images, some renewed yearly.
Platform fees for a store. Shopify, for example, lists its Basic plan at $29 a month billed yearly, plus fees on every sale.
Scope changes. Anything added mid project.

At Nubi we try to keep surprises out of this list. The monthly fee covers hosting, domain, monitoring, security updates, backups and small content changes. If third party services are needed, we list them in the proposal and bill them at cost. Redesigns and new sections are quoted separately, when you need them.

A useful exercise with any provider: add up what the site will cost in year two, with no build fee.

We don’t use templates or WordPress. We design and code every site from scratch, with modern technology such as React or Next.js chosen for each project. That doesn’t mean it is always what you need, and if your case is better solved with an existing platform, we’ll tell you.

A template or a no code tool fits when you need to be online soon, with few pages, no integrations and no need for the brand to stand out through the experience. It is also a sensible way to validate something quickly and move to custom once the site needs to do more than the template allows.

So how much does a custom website cost, and when is it worth it? It costs more because every page is designed and built for you, and it pays off when the site is central to how you sell, has to connect to other systems, depends on performance and SEO, or needs its own identity. That was the case with the Decentraland event websites: four React sites on a shared base, with smooth scroll, animations choreographed to each event and a focus on performance for a global audience. We compare both paths in custom website vs WordPress. If you need a dashboard or client portal, see product frontend vs landing page; if it is really an app, see how much does an app cost.

If you are rebuilding a site you already have, we take care of URLs, redirects and metadata so the redesign doesn’t cost you rankings; more in website redesign without losing SEO.

What about a custom WordPress website?

Between a template and a site coded from scratch there is a middle option many people ask for: a custom WordPress website. WordPress stays as the content management system, but with a theme designed for your brand instead of a bought one, plus custom blocks or plugins for whatever a standard one doesn’t cover.

It makes sense when your team already works in WordPress, when the site is mostly about publishing content and when you want an original design without switching platforms. It falls short when the site has to do much more than publish: complex integrations, business logic or demanding performance end up relying on third party plugins and their updates.

Custom WordPress development cost is driven by the same factors as any site: original design, features, integrations and, above all, maintenance. On WordPress, maintenance means updating the core, the theme and every plugin, checking they still work together and renewing paid licences.

If you get a quote for a custom WordPress site, ask whether the theme is designed from scratch or adapted from an existing one, which paid plugins it uses and who updates them, and what maintenance covers exactly. As we said above, we don’t work with WordPress; if it is still the best fit for your case, we’ll tell you.

What a good website quote should include

This is what we suggest asking any provider for, us included:

Written scope. Pages, features, languages, integrations, and who provides copy and photos. If it is not written down, it is not included.
Phases. Design, development, testing and launch, so you can see where the money goes.
Tax. Stated clearly, so you do not compare a figure with VAT against one without it.
What maintenance covers. Hosting, domain, security, backups and changes, with the monthly or yearly price.
Third party costs. Platform, licences or outside services, listed separately.
Technical SEO and performance. Whether they are included or extra.
How you will edit it. On our sites your team changes copy, images and pages in a CMS, usually Sanity, without touching code.
Ownership. The domain, design and code should be in your name.

To get a useful number back, be clear about what the site has to achieve, which pages and features are essential for the first version, and which tools it connects to. You can launch with the essential pages and add sections later on the same foundation.

FAQ

How much does a small business website cost?

In Spain, published prices put a simple business website of 5 to 8 pages at roughly €700 to €1,800 with a freelancer and €2,500 to €6,000 with a small studio, before VAT. Add domain, hosting and maintenance every year.

How much does website maintenance cost?

Published plans in Spain run from about €40 to €250 a month, plus around €100 to €200 a year for domain and hosting if they are not included. At Nubi it is a fixed monthly fee per project covering hosting, domain, monitoring, security, backups and small changes.

Why is website design cost so different between providers?

Mostly hourly rates and scope. Two quotes for “a website” often include very different amounts of design, content, testing and support after launch.

Is it cheaper to build a website with Wix or WordPress?

At first, yes. In exchange you give up original design, integrations and someone looking after performance and technical SEO. It can be enough to validate an idea; when the site has to sell or set you apart, it usually falls short.

When is a custom WordPress website worth it?

When your team already uses WordPress, the site is mostly content and you want an original design without changing platforms. If it needs complex integrations or business logic, a fully custom site usually pays off more.

How long does a custom website take?

At Nubi, 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the number of pages, the level of animation and whether the content is ready. Projects with 3D scenes or complex interaction take longer.

How much does an ecommerce website cost?

In Spain, a store on Shopify or WooCommerce is published at about €850 to €8,000, plus platform and payment fees. A custom store with inventory or ERP integrations can go past €15,000.

Next step

At Nubi we do custom website design and development: custom sites, redesigns, interactive experiences and product frontends, with performance and technical SEO built in. You can see what we have built in our work. If you are planning a new site, tell us what it needs to do and we’ll tell you how we’d approach it and where to start.