What a Website Actually Costs (And What You're Paying For)

The honest answer

"How much does a website cost?" is the question I get most often. And the honest answer is: it depends. But that's not helpful, so let me break down what actually affects the price.

The spectrum

For context, here's roughly what different types of projects cost at NMO Digital:

Single-page sites (£350-450): Landing pages, coming soon pages, simple portfolios. One page, clean design, mobile-responsive, contact form. You get a professional presence without the complexity.

Multi-page websites (£695-1,200): Most business websites fall here. Multiple pages, proper navigation, content sections, maybe a blog. What most founders actually need.

Platforms with CMS (£1,500-3,000+): When you need to manage content yourself. Admin dashboards, database-driven content, user accounts. Athletic AbhyAn fell into this category - website plus full CMS plus onboarding system plus brand redesign.

What drives the price up

Content management: A static site is cheaper than one where you need to edit content. Building a CMS takes time, but it pays off if you're updating regularly.

Integrations: Email marketing, payment processing, booking systems, third-party APIs. Each connection adds complexity and testing time.

Custom functionality: Multi-step forms, calculators, interactive elements, user accounts. Anything beyond "display content" requires more work.

Design complexity: Custom illustrations, animations, unique layouts. There's a difference between "professional and clean" and "wow, how did they do that."

What doesn't cost what you think

Pages: Going from 3 pages to 5 pages isn't a big price jump if the structure is similar. The hard work is in the design system and components.

Basic SEO: Proper meta tags, fast loading, mobile-friendly - this should be standard, not an upsell.

Responsive design: Websites should work on phones. That's not a feature, it's a baseline expectation.

The hidden costs people forget

Your website isn't a one-time purchase. Budget for:

Domain: £10-50/year depending on the TLD.

Hosting: £0-50/month. Vercel's free tier handles most small business sites. You only pay when traffic gets serious.

Email: If you want hello@yourdomain.com, that's usually £5-15/month through Google Workspace or similar.

Maintenance: Websites aren't "set and forget." Content updates, security patches, occasional fixes. Some developers offer retainers; others charge hourly.

What you're actually paying for

When I build a website, you're not just paying for code. You're paying for:

Understanding your business. I spend time figuring out what you actually need, not just what you asked for. Sometimes those are different.

Making decisions. Hundreds of small choices about structure, design, copy, and functionality. Good decisions come from experience.

Quality code. Maintainable, performant, accessible. The kind of code that doesn't fall apart when you want to make changes later.

Reliability. I answer questions. I fix issues. I don't disappear after launch.

The bottom line

You can get a website for £200 on Fiverr. You can also spend £20,000 with an agency. Neither is automatically wrong - it depends on what you need.

For most founders and small businesses, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle: professional work from someone who understands both the technical and business side, at a price that makes sense for your stage.

That's what I try to offer. If you're curious about your specific project, reach out and let's talk numbers.