What a WordPress website actually costs
Quotes for the same brief can differ tenfold, and the reason is almost never the developer’s hourly rate. Here is what you are paying for, what changes the number, and what the cheap version leaves out.
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Fixed price, written scope The number is agreed before any code, not discovered during the build.
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Hidden costs named Hosting, licences, content and maintenance, stated up front rather than later.
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Ownership included The site, the code, the hosting and every account in your name.
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Describe what you need. A developer replies with scope, timeline and price within 48 hours.
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Why quotes vary so wildly
Usually three different things are being quoted, and only one of them is a website.
What the price actually buys
These are the components. Any quote is really a mix of them.
Design and templates
How many page types need designing, which is a bigger driver than page count.
Custom functionality
Forms, portals, pricing logic, integrations. The most variable part of any quote.
Ecommerce
Products, variations, payment, shipping and supplier data if a catalogue is involved.
Content and migration
Writing, or moving existing content with redirects, which is real work either way.
SEO and speed
Structure, schema, redirects and Core Web Vitals, built in rather than added later.
Launch and handover
Testing, training, documentation, and everything transferred into your name.
Want a number for what you actually need?
Describe the project in plain language. You get a written scope and a fixed price within 48 hours.
How we arrive at a fixed price
Scoped from your requirements, not picked from a package.
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1
Understand
What the site has to do, who uses the admin, and what happens after launch.
Step 1 -
2
Decide custom or not
Which parts genuinely need building, and which an existing plugin handles well.
Step 2 -
3
Write the scope
Page types, functionality, integrations, content and migration, all listed.
Step 3 -
4
Quote it
One fixed number and a timeline, agreed before development starts.
Step 4
What different projects involve
Indicative shapes rather than a price list, because the components decide the number.
Straightforward
- A handful of page types
- Standard forms
- Content migrated or written
- Usually six to eight weeks
More moving parts
- Product and category templates
- Payment and shipping
- Catalogue import
- Longer testing
Custom logic
- Custom plugins
- Integrations
- Admin screens your team lives in
- Phased delivery
Projects we have priced this way
Machinery & Garden Equipment Store
German WooCommerce store plus supplier data tooling
UAE Real Estate Portal
Areas, communities, off plan projects and floor plansWho writes your quote
Anees Akram
Anees scopes and prices every build, and the team that delivers it is the team that quoted it. That arrangement keeps estimates honest, because an optimistic quote becomes someone’s unpaid weekend rather than a change request.
The cheapest build is rarely the cheapest site
Most of the cost of a bad build arrives after launch.
How we quote differently
What moves the number
Four things, in roughly this order of impact.
What you can count on
Fixed scope and fixed price in writing before development starts. If an existing plugin will do the job, we will say so and the quote goes down rather than up.
Want a fixed price for your project?
Written scope and quote within 48 hours. No call required.
Why the same brief gets three very different quotes
Because three different things are being quoted. One is a theme installed and populated with your content. One is a page builder assembly with plugins bolted on for anything unusual. One is a build where the templates and the functionality are made for your requirements. All three are called a WordPress website, and they cost what they cost for good reasons.
The costs that arrive after launch
- Hosting, which varies enormously with the type of site
- Plugin licences, often annual, sometimes several
- Page builder subscriptions, if the build depends on one
- Maintenance and updates, whether you buy it or do it yourself
- Changes, which are cheap on a clean build and expensive on a stack of workarounds
A quote that mentions none of these is not cheaper. It is less complete.
Page count is the wrong unit
Twenty pages using four templates costs less than eight pages that each need their own design. What drives the price is how many distinct page types have to be designed and built, plus whatever custom functionality sits behind them. When a quote is priced per page, that usually means templates are being reused, which may be perfectly fine, and is worth knowing.
Where custom development changes the maths
If your process needs software, a plugin stack will cost more over two years than building it once, in licence fees and in the staff time spent filling gaps by hand. That comparison is worth running properly before deciding: see custom plugin development.
Because that quote is almost certainly a theme install with your content pasted in. That is a legitimate product and sometimes the right one. It is not a custom build, and the difference shows in speed, structure and what happens when you need a change.
Hosting, a domain, and possibly a few plugin licences. Maintenance is optional. We list all of it in the proposal so nothing appears later.
Fixed against a written scope for builds. Hourly only for open ended support work where a scope would be guesswork.
We quote the change before doing it. Scope changes are normal; discovering them on the invoice is not.
Yes. The site, the code, the hosting account, the domain and any custom plugin, all in your name. Nothing stops working if you stop working with us.
Often the best approach. We scope a first phase that stands on its own, then add once it is earning. See <a href="/wordpress-development/">WordPress development</a>.
Get a fixed price before you commit
Describe what you need in plain language. A developer replies with a written scope, timeline and fixed price within 48 hours.
- A written scope, so nothing is assumed
- One fixed price, with ongoing costs listed separately
- An honest note if a simpler option would serve you better
What happens next
- 1You send the form. Plain language is fine.
- 2A developer reviews it and asks anything unclear.
- 3Your scope and fixed price arrives by email.
Get your fixed quote
Scoped by a developer, within 48 hours.
Request received!
Thanks! We have your request. Check your inbox within 48 hours for your written proposal. Nothing else needed from you.
