“What does a website cost?” is the question we get asked most, and online you will find answers ranging from free to tens of thousands of euros. That makes choosing difficult. In this article we put the four ways of getting a website side by side, show which costs appear in almost no quote, and simply state our own prices.
Four ways to get a website, and what they cost
The price depends mainly on who builds the site. These are typical amounts in the Netherlands in 2026, excluding VAT:
| One-off | Per month | Good for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself (website builder or AI tool) | €0 | €10 to €50, plus your own time | A first online business card or a hobby project |
| Freelancer | €750 to €2,000 for a simple site | Hosting and maintenance often arranged separately | A small site with a known, regular builder |
| Web agency, custom | €2,500 to €10,000 or more; hourly rates of €75 to €125 | Maintenance usually €50 to €150 | Larger sites with many features and integrations |
| EM Hosting & Design | Website from €1,950, online shop from €3,500 | Maintenance including hosting from €29 | Business owners who want a site that brings in clients and keeps working |
The amounts for DIY, freelancers and agencies are indications; they vary widely from one provider to the next. So always look at exactly what is included in the price, not just the figure at the bottom.
What the price depends on
- Custom design or a standard theme. Your own design fits your brand and your customers; a theme is quicker, but you look like thousands of other sites.
- Features. An online booking system, online shop, multiple languages or a link with your accounting software take extra build time.
- Texts and photos. Do you supply them yourself, or do they need to be written and made? This is often the biggest cause of delay in a project.
- Findability. A technically sound basis for Google and AI assistants (speed, structure, metadata) should be included, but it is far from always there.
- Moving from an old site. Transferring existing pages, redirects and email without losing your positions in Google.
The costs that almost never appear in a quote
The build price is only part of the story. After launch, other costs come along that you should account for in advance:
- Hosting and domain name, every year again.
- Maintenance and updates. WordPress, theme and plugins receive updates all the time. Skip them and your site becomes slow and vulnerable; do them wrong and it is suddenly offline.
- Changes afterwards. New opening hours, an extra service, a price change: with many providers the hourly meter starts running for every small change.
- Licences for premium plugins or themes, which have to be renewed every year.
- Measuring. Statistics and a cookie banner that complies with the rules. Without measuring, you don’t know whether your site delivers anything.
Tip: don’t compare the build price, compare the total cost over three years. Only then do you see what a website really costs.
Worked example: three years of a website
An example with average amounts, excluding VAT:
| Build | 3 years of hosting and maintenance | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency, custom | €5,000 | €15 hosting + €75 maintenance per month = €3,240 | €8,240 |
| EM, website + Carefree package | €1,950 | €59 per month, including hosting and 1 hour of changes = €2,124 | €4,074 |
| Build it yourself | €0 | €30 per month = €1,080, plus 2 to 4 hours of your own time per month | €1,080 + your time |
Building it yourself looks cheapest, but count your own hours. And the most important question is not in the table yet: what does the site deliver?
Cheap or expensive? Look at what it delivers
A website is not a cost item but a salesperson who works day and night. Work out for your own business what one new customer is worth. If your site brings in one or two extra every month, the difference between the cheapest and a good website is quickly earned back. Conversely: a site that isn’t found, or where visitors click away immediately, is always too expensive, whatever it cost.
That is why we tell clients: measuring is knowing. We set up every site so you can see how many visitors come, where they come from and how many enquiries it generates. That way you know what works, and what can be better.
What is included in our price
- A free introduction call, in which we get to know your business, your customers and your goals.
- A custom design and the build in WordPress, working just as well on mobile as on desktop.
- A technically strong basis for being found in Google and in AI assistants.
- One round of changes after the first design, and thinking along about texts, photos and video. Writing the texts and photography itself are charged separately, so you only pay for what you need.
- Statistics that show you what your site delivers.
- One fixed point of contact, before and after launch.
After launch you choose a maintenance package from €29 a month, hosting included. We test every update first with Verploy, our own platform, on a copy of your site; if something goes wrong, the previous version is restored automatically. That keeps your site safe and online, without surprises on the invoice. All prices and packages are on the Websites & online shops page.
Five questions for every quote
- What exactly is included in the price, and what is explicitly not (texts, photos, findability, measuring)?
- Do I own my website, my domain name and my content?
- What does a small change cost after delivery?
- Who does the updates and maintenance, and what does that cost per year?
- How can I see whether my website brings in enquiries or sales?
If you don’t get a clear answer to one of these questions, you know enough.
Curious what your website would cost?
Tell us briefly what you are looking for. You will get a clear, tailored price, with no small print. Still not sure whether you need a new site? Then we will first take a free look at your current website.
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Prefer to call? +31 (0)166 700204, Mon–Fri 9:00–17:30 (CET).
