Website cost in 2026: typical US ranges

The template or DIY band runs from $0 to $3,000 for a project. Public discussions in that band describe a theme, a hosted website builder, or a freelancer assembling pages from a kit. The business brings its own words and photos. A domain, a paid app inside the builder, and a theme license may continue after the site is up, so the project number is not always the last bill. This band fits a simple page you can send in an email or put on a card. It gets tight when each service needs its own explanation, or when a form has to create a record in software the office already uses.

A small custom marketing site is often discussed from $3,000 to $15,000. Writeups in that band usually include design, a set of core pages, basic SEO setup, and contact forms. Basic SEO setup, in this context, means titles, a sensible structure, a sitemap, and a way to see visits. It does not mean a year of articles or a promise about where the site will rank. Core pages for a local company are often home, services, about, contact, and a privacy page, with room for a few service pages when the offers are actually different.

A larger custom site or an ecommerce build is often discussed from $15,000 to $60,000. That band shows up when the scope adds a product catalog, customer accounts, or custom workflows such as quotes, bookings, a dealer portal, or a logged in order history. Projects go higher. A large catalog, several tax or shipping rules, subscriptions, or a move off an old store adds testing, and public discussions place some of that work above $60,000. The risk in that work is a wrong order or a broken login, which is a different kind of project from a typo on an about page.

Care is often discussed from $30 to $300 a month. That conversation is hosting and small edits: a changed phone number, a new staff photo, a certificate, a plugin update. A growth retainer for new pages, SEO, ads, or a stream of content is a different conversation, and it should be priced on its own so you can see what the monthly money buys.

Page count is a weak signal on its own. Ten thin pages can cost less than four pages that required interviews and original photos. Public pricing discussions keep returning to a shorter list of movers: pages, content writing, integrations, ecommerce, accessibility, and migrations. Design taste moves the number less than owners expect. A readable phone number on a phone screen, distinct service pages, and a form someone will answer do more for a local company than a custom animation.

• Pages. A shared layout across a home page, a few services, about, and contact is the core of the middle band. A unique layout for every campaign, location, and landing page is more design and build time.
• Content writing. Pasting copy the owner already approved stays closer to a design and build price. Interviewing the team and writing the pages is a separate job, and many proposals list it that way. Thin copy makes the next SEO month harder, so leaving writing "for later" is a scope choice, not a free saving.
• Integrations. A form that emails one inbox is small. A form that opens a job, a contact, or an invoice in another product needs field mapping, test records, and a person who can log into that product. Each additional system adds a test pass.
• Ecommerce. Products, variants, tax, shipping, discounts, and the screen a person uses to fix an order are store work. That is why ecommerce sits in the higher band, and why some stores leave the band when the rules get specific.
• Accessibility. Headings, labels, contrast, focus states, and a path that works without a mouse belong in a professional build. A formal audit against a named standard, a long remediation list, and a legal review are additional scope. A badge with no testing described is not that work.
• Migrations. An old blog, old landing pages, and URLs that already receive visits need an inventory. Keeping them, or redirecting them, is part of the project. Dropping them is also a decision, and it belongs in writing before launch so search traffic is not a surprise.

The project bands and the care band answer different questions. Care, from $30 to $300 a month in public discussion, is the small monthly bill for hosting and minor edits. It is a poor label for a content team, a redesign, or a marketing plan. If a proposal uses one monthly number for all of those, ask for the split.

Items that sit outside a typical marketing site build, unless the proposal names them, include the domain and business email, ongoing builder or plugin fees after a template launch, and payment processing fees on a store. Those processing fees go to the payment company. Copywriting, photography, and illustration are outside the build when the business wants them produced rather than supplied. A blog program, a set of city pages, and advertising are outside it too. Media spend is paid to the ad platform. A second language, a member directory, or a logged in portal needs its own line if it was not in the original page list.

A low number can be an honest template project. The $0 to $3,000 band exists because some owners build on a free or cheap kit and bring their own content. The warning signs are missing scope, missing ownership, and claims a website cannot keep.

Ask for a page list. A package name and a single price, with no pages named, cannot be compared with the next proposal. Ask whose accounts hold the domain, the hosting, the analytics, and the form tool. A site the business cannot export or log into becomes a later bill. Treat "SEO included" as a question: basic setup is titles, structure, and measurement. A promise of a specific ranking is not a website feature anyone can sell honestly.

Watch for ecommerce priced as a five page brochure, for an accessibility badge with no test described, and for a migration that says the content will move and never mentions the old URLs. A smaller quote that lists pages, forms, ownership, and care can be a clearer buy than a larger quote that hides those lines.

CodeHunterz writes a fixed price after a short call. We do not publish a rate card, and the bands on this page are not that quote. On the call we look at the current site, the page list, who writes the words, which forms and tools must connect, whether accessibility testing beyond ordinary build quality is required, and whether old URLs need to stay. Ecommerce scope is quoted as ecommerce, with catalog rules named, rather than folded into a brochure price.

The written quote separates design and build, content if we are writing it, integrations, redirects, and launch checks. It also says what is monthly after launch. Hosting and small edits are care. A growth retainer, if you want one, is quoted as its own scope. CodeHunterz prices are confirmed in a written quote. This guide does not treat them as researched market data or as our fees.

The related service pages cover website development, website redesign, and ecommerce development. A longer buying walkthrough lives in the 2026 article on small business website cost. If the product is a phone app with accounts and stores, use the mobile app cost guide. That budget is a different shape.