Knowledge
What does a professional website really cost?
The honest answer: it depends. But there are rough price ranges, typical cost drivers, and a few questions that help you judge a quote — before you even sit down for a call.
In short
Public price guides in Germany give very rough figures of about €800 to €5,000 for freelancers and about €1,500 to €20,000 for agencies, open-ended upwards. What matters is scope, how custom the site is, and how much work happens before design even starts. This is a market guide, not a price guarantee.
Why there's no single right number
A website isn't an off-the-shelf product — it's a combination of concept work, design, technical implementation and, depending on scope, content. Two five-page websites can differ by thousands of euros if one is a standard template and the other a custom concept with its own structure.
That's why "what does a website cost" is the wrong first question — the more useful one is: what does this website actually need to achieve for my business? A site that mainly acts as a digital business card has different requirements than one meant to actively bring in new customers.
Timing matters too: a business going online for the first time usually starts from zero — structure, copy, visual language all need to be built from scratch. A relaunch of an existing site can build on what's already there, which shifts effort elsewhere rather than removing it.
Price ranges as a guide
Publicly available price guides give roughly the following orders of magnitude for Germany (sources at the end of the article). The figures come from providers, differ noticeably from source to source and depend on scope — use them as a first impression, not as a calculation.
Our own packages and starting prices are listed separately on the pricing page. This article is mainly meant to help you place quotes from different providers.
Freelancers
For a simple business website of 5 to 10 pages, Wix (2025 figures) lists €800 to €3,000 for freelancers, and €500 to €1,500 for a one-pager. The portal experte.de gives €1,000 to €5,000 overall for freelancers, open-ended upwards. Both sources put hourly rates at roughly €50 to €100. Freelancers typically carry lower fixed costs than agencies, which is why a comparable result often costs less.
Agencies
For agencies, Wix lists €2,000 to €8,000 for a simple business website and €1,000 to €3,000 for a one-pager. experte.de gives €1,500 to €20,000 overall, open-ended upwards, with hourly rates of €80 to €150. What matters is how many people are involved (concept, design, development, copy, project management) and how thoroughly SEO fundamentals, structural planning and technical implementation are considered. Shops, custom functionality or multilingual sites sit well above that.
What actually drives the price
The single biggest cost driver is rarely the design itself — it's the amount of groundwork. Two projects with a similar page count can differ substantially in effort depending on how much is already prepared and how many decisions still need to be made during the project.
- Number of pages and how custom each one is
- Whether content (copy, images) already exists or needs to be developed
- Custom functionality (e.g. booking, calculators, multilingual structure)
- How much structural and SEO planning happens before design starts
- Number of feedback and revision rounds
What a quote is actually made of
A serious quote is rarely a single flat number without a breakdown. In practice, most projects split roughly into four phases: concept and structure (clarifying audience, layout, content), the actual design and development work, content creation or coordination, and finally launch, testing and handover.
How much weight each phase carries depends heavily on the project. For a compact site with existing content, the concept phase is often a small share of total effort. For a more complex project without any prepared structure, that exact phase can end up being the largest share of both time and cost.
How to compare quotes properly
Two quotes at different price points tell you little if you don't know what's actually included. Ask directly: Is the structure/concept phase included? How many revision rounds are planned? Is a technical SEO foundation part of the quote, or an add-on? Who delivers the copy — you or the agency?
These four questions usually explain most of the price gap between two seemingly comparable quotes. A lower price isn't automatically a red flag — it often just means certain work isn't included, which you'd then handle yourself or source separately.
Common questions
What you'd want to know beforehand
Is a cheaper quote automatically worse?
Not automatically — but check what's missing. A lower price often means less concept work, fewer revision rounds, or that copy and images have to come entirely from you.
Is a pricier solution worth it for a small business?
Depends on the goal. If the website is the first point of contact for new customers, a well-thought-out structure usually pays off. For a pure business-card presence, a simpler solution is often enough.
What about ongoing costs after launch?
Budget for ongoing domain, hosting and possibly maintenance costs. The amount depends heavily on the provider and scope — ask for these items to be listed separately in the quote.
Planning a new website?
Tell us about your project — we'll tell you what actually makes sense for you.