How Much Does a Website Cost?

November 28th, 2007

Fees for website design and development can range from a few thousand dollars to half a million dollars. In trying to understand what costs are right for you, it might be useful to think of your website in terms of a car. Everyone knows that cars vary widely in price. A Hyundai is a car and so is a Mercedes Benz. But there is an ocean of difference between these two vehicles. In the same way that things like engineering, features, functions, design, safety, and service factor into the cost (and appeal) of a car so, too, does design and programming for a website.

Even when you select the make and model of a car, the cost of accessories can cause the price to vary drastically. There are choices to be made: 6 Disc CD changer vs. single CD, ipod dock vs. no mp3, dual-sided climate control vs. air condition, 1-touch automatic windows vs. automatic windows, heated leather seats vs. leather seats, and the list goes on and on. Each of these decisions will be reflected in the final price of the car.

A website comes with “accessories” too. We refer to these as “features and options.” Within each feature there can be any number of variables that dictate the simplicity or complexity required to develop a feature. Just like there is an extra fee for a car with a multi-disk CD player vs. one with a single-disk CD player so too is there a premium for a website that has Flash in the header vs. one that uses basic HTML in the header.

In nearly every aspect of website development, there are design features and programming options to take into consideration. To help you better understand the individual costs, below is a list of features and options that one takes into a consideration when developing a website. Typically a web design firm will bundle costs together so treat these are estimates. Cost will vary depending upon complexity of each item.

Website Programming Services

Customization type	Details	EstimatedCost
Contact Form	1 - 10 text fields without any controls such as radio buttons, select fields or checkboxes.	$200

Advanced Contact Form	1 - 15 text fields + controls (radio buttons, select fields or checkboxes)	$450

Sign up for a Newsletter	Script with the admin panel that includes the list of subscribers and the interface for writing emails. Options to choose subscribers and groups from the list of PHP admin panel, subscribe - unsubscribe	$850

News	Script that allows to update the following type of the news content: Text blocks on the existing news page, articles with the full text linking to read more on the main news page blocks	$810

FAQ	Script that allows to update ( delete/edit) questions/answers in the FAQ section, add new questions/answers, supports categories, search on the page	$820

Content Management System	Script that allows editing all the existing blocks on the page: text, images, titles	$1500

Simple Calendar	The calendar is presented like the “windows” calendar on the pages with the recent date showing	$130

Advanced Calendar	The calendar is presented like the “windows” calendar on the pages with the recent date showing. An event can be set for the date ( text format). When clicking on the date the pop-up will come up with the event description	$930

Date and Time	The recent Date and time shows up on the website	$150

Tell a Friend	The script that will send the email from the visitor of your website to his/her friends with comment and link to the website	$250

Google Search	The scripts that allows to use Google search engine without leaving your site and show search results on your website	$480

User Authentication and Management	Script that allows restriction to specific areas of your website, only registered/allowed users can access this section; includes login page, registration, user management, restriction of the pages ( same for all registered users)	$900

Basic Site search	Script that allows web site visitors to search for information on your website; includes search field (one parameter) and search results page	$750

Poll(Voting)	Online poll ( up to 10 questions), with possibility to view voting archives	$910

Image Gallery	Script that allows management ( add, replace, delete) of the gallery/portfolio or any other section of the website containing 5 or more images and the images description (text format)	$1,400

Mp3 player	Adding the mp3 player to your website allowing to play online multiple compositions	$650

FLV player (video)	Adding the FLV player to your website allowing to play video file	$250 per movie
E-Commerce Shopping Cart	Full functionality of standard osCommerce package ( the structure based on the selected features), installation included	$2,000

Blog	Full functionality of the standard Blog package ( wordpress software), installation included	$1,600

Website Design Services

Customization type	Details	EstimatedCost

Image animation	HTML picture in the header or body	$160

HTML header animation	Graphical customization	$450

Header flash loop development (text/images, up to 4 slides)	With customer’s images	$1250

Adding buttons	Flash menu	$210

Adding rollover effect	Flash effect	$280

Creating a drop-down menu	One level	$420
Creating Corporate Identity	Logo – print and web version	$1,500

Design a unique flash template	Homepage design	$1200

Unique banner design	Depends on banner size and details	$300

Unique icon design	Per icon	$450