How much does it cost to hire a Website Developer

You’ve probably heard this too many times: “It depends.” While that’s not wrong, it’s not helpful either. After working in this industry for 15+ years, helping clients from different industries and budgets, I’m breaking down what it really costs to hire a web developer—based on real projects, not just generic estimates.

Sure! Here’s a more natural rewrite of the last line without sounding robotic:

This article will help you get a better idea of how much you should expect to invest when building a website that aligns with your business goals.

Three Ways to Hire a Web Developer

If you’re building a website for a personal project or a small to medium-sized business, hiring a web developer for a full project is usually the best route. Hourly or monthly hiring models are more suited for agencies or larger, ongoing projects. For one-off builds, a project-based approach is more efficient and cost-effective.

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Cost of building a website for various business

The cost of building a website can vary significantly depending on the type of business you run, the features you need, and the level of customization you’re looking for. A simple brochure site for a local service business will cost far less than a fully customized e-commerce platform or a SaaS landing page with complex functionality. To give you a clearer idea of what to expect, I’ve broken down typical pricing based on different industries and business types:

1. Ecommerce Store

If you’re thinking about selling products online, you’ll need an ecommerce website. The good news is—you don’t need to build everything from scratch anymore. Platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make it way easier and cheaper to launch an online store.

From my experience, if you’re just starting out, going custom is not the best idea. I’ve seen a lot of people spend thousands building a fancy custom site, only to realize later they could’ve launched quicker—and cheaper—with a simple template. So, my advice? Start small. Pick a clean, lightweight template (skip the flashy sliders and animations—they just slow things down). Templates usually cost between $59 and $100, and if you hire a pro to help you set it up, customize it a bit, and connect everything, expect to spend around $1,000. That’s a solid, no-stress start.

Now, if you already have a running store or your business is growing fast, you might need something more tailored. Maybe you need special features like advanced filters, better search, or custom integrations. At that stage, custom work makes sense. I’ve worked on stores like these, and the costs usually start from $10,000 and go up depending on how complex your needs are.

One thing I always tell clients: ecommerce isn’t a one-and-done job. I’ve seen so many stores built and then just… left alone. Products get outdated, pages break, and no one notices until sales drop. That’s why I always recommend keeping a developer or designer around—someone who can spend a few hours a month updating things, fixing issues, or just making sure everything runs smoothly. Budget about $500 to $800/month for that kind of ongoing support.

Also, a quick reality check: If you’re looking at big-name websites like GAP or Louis Vuitton and thinking, “I want mine to look like that,” just remember—they have full-time teams working on their websites every day. Your website doesn’t need to compete with them on day one. Focus on building something clean, functional, and easy to use. You can always grow from there.

Start smart. Keep it simple. And build as you go.

If you’re planning to sell something online then you can do you need ae-commerce website it can be built using Shopify or woocommerce, Ecommerce has come a long way and building a custom solution is really not needed anymore using software is like Shopify and newcomers will save time cost. Billing a website using Shopify and newcomers will have different prices if you are new I will not recommend going a custom design whether you can start with the template make sure you pick very simple template don’t go with the one with the fancy animations and loss of Sliders because it will just slow down your website go with a very simple one because the priority of a Commerce website is sell product and the whole feature has to focus on products focus rather than fancy animations the temperate would cost you 59 to 100, but it’s always good to hire a professional to do this setup installation and bit of a customizations be prepared to spend at least $1,000 for the templated solution. If you are running a large store you might need customizations in your e-commerce store depending on your business nature and as he Commerce involves lots of payment security aspects it’s very ideal or good idea to hire a professional web designer who can invest few hours a month for you e-commerce is not really a one-time thing I have seen many e-commerce sites were built by developer and hand it over to client later decide is not well managed or the products never get updated so having a web developer or a designer by your side will ensure that you will have your website up and running all the time be prepared to spend hired them for around 8 to 10 hours a month we should cost you $500- $800. If you already have a conversation and looking to upgrade then for sure it is driven by business requirements so go for a custom WordPress woocommerce template or Shopify template at least more than $10,000. In most cases what I’ve seen is people look at Ecommerce website like gap Louis Vuitton and wants to make similar website how are these website are built by a large team in case of these big companies they have in house developers and designers who work full time for them so expecting website like gap and Louis Vuitton at 10 to $20,000 is not a good idea so always remember where your business stands expect the same output as you spend.

Do you need help with customization insulation or building a custom website for your photography business. You can contact me as well

Photography Portfolio

For building website for photography website in the case of making website for photography business one of the best way is to go with template solution this is not just for the cost it’s also for time and design factors photography websites are pretty straightforward most of the website of Photography is to showcase the photography so in case you were I’ll get the contact so it is not need loss of customization so going with the princess solution is the best choice you can buy a photography website templates for $59 however installing integrating uploading everything is something you can do it on your own by watching tutorials all the documentation but it’s not as easy as said so it’s better to go with hiring a customization expert so you can predict that it will take you from $400 to $2,000 if you need lots of customization in your website if a fan of animations then consider at least more than $5,000. If you’re also planning to sell photographs by adding e-commerce features and also want to have a features where photographers can create an album for the clients and client will only be able to check the website or their photos after making the payment online so these kind of features can be pretty advanced so prepare to spend at least $5,000 and above but my suggestion would always be to start with small if you already have if you are making the website for the first time then always start with small if you already have a website and you have a good number of customers and a business then you can go with Advanced websites.

Do you need help with customization insulation or building a custom website for your photography business. You can contact me as well

HVAC Services

For building website for hvac services, in the case of hvac services you can definitely go with the free the templates for $59 but customization for these businesses is pretty difficult compared to other businesses so be prepared to spend at least $1,000 to $3,000 for the SV AC business it’s really good to have bases where people can request a quote and multiple pages that displays your services and service areas in the case of SVC business if you are making a website for the first time you can start with the template option as mentioned above by spending less than around $1,000 however if your business is mature and you already have a website and looking to advance or upgrade your website then you can make or prepare for at least more than $5,000 this is for ASPC business however the svsu business is very large business and if you need lots of features in your website then this can go more than $50,000 as well

Do you need help with customization insulation or building a custom website for your photography business. You can contact me as well

Plumbing Service Business

For building website for plumbing services, in the case of hvac services you can definitely go with the free the templates for $59 but customization for these businesses is pretty difficult compared to other businesses so be prepared to spend at least $1,000 to $3,000 for the SV AC business it’s really good to have bases where people can request a quote and multiple pages that displays your services and service areas in the case of SVC business if you are making a website for the first time you can start with the template option as mentioned above by spending less than around $1,000 however if your business is mature and you already have a website and looking to advance or upgrade your website then you can make or prepare for at least more than $5,000 this is for ASPC business however the svsu business is very large business and if you need lots of features in your website then this can go more than $50,000 as well

Do you need help with customization insulation or building a custom website for your photography business. You can contact me as well

Law firm or Lawyers

For law firms are lawyers they’re tons of templates available which you can easily get at 59 and if you have little bit of knowledge you can do the customization and content upload on your own but as a lawyer every hour use shaved will help you spend that in much better work of your own sector so hire a web designer to do the customization which will cost you around 400 to $800. Law Firm is a very competitive sector their websites their companies that spends $100,000 on their website so it all depends on where your business stands and what’s your budget is all is good to start with a small with the temperature solution and go with the custom one once you start getting a good business once you start feeling the need of it and most of the cases the custom solution is preferred when you have large offerings and security SEO content is the major source of your marketing when you reach that face you can spend at least $5,000 to $10,000 for a website. Issue is one of the very important factor in the case of law law firms spends lots of money in social media and search engines ranging from $3,000 to $30,000 per month. So always remember you are in a very competitive market.

Do you need help with customization insulation or building a custom website for your photography business. You can contact me as well

Website for Events and Conferences

For events and conferences if I organizing a conference or events then you definitely need a website to display your speakers schedules sponsors and also sell tickets one of the best way to go with is use spine events.com they will give you all the features that you need for conscience website but just wanted in $129. There’s some templates that you can also use for WordPress and webflow and wix however these solutions will cost you $59 but you will need to hire a designer or developer to do all the customization work which cost around $500-$5000 for you as I am someone who has been in this industry for 15 years even I get confused when it comes to updating content for events and conferences because of all the configuration needed for the tickets and schedules so my advice for this would be go with spine events.com because you really don’t need to hire anyone as it’s a base builder of website builder dedicated only for events and you can get everything at just $100 if you’re organizing a large conference for like 50,000 people with lots of things like conference music exhibition everything at once then you will definitely need a custom solution or a mobile app and be prepared to spend at least on $100,000 for that.

Give Spiny Events a try

Non-Profit and Charity Organizations

For not profit and charity I have made more than 30 non-profit and charity websites and what I found is that every non-profit and charity organizations are different from each other there have very unique requirements and going with temperatures solution has always been a problem for me for these cases. You can definitely try a template of $59 and hire someone to do the customization by spending $400 to $800 however this template will barely fulfill your requirements and most of the cases are in almost every kisses it has not helped so for the charity it’s always a good idea to go with the custom solution which will cost you at least $3,000 and above. If you’re just starting out you can definitely try with the template as mentioned above but I am definitely sure that you will have to go with the custom solution because you might want to share reports regularly add a feature of donations and lots of bases related to your projects and the media coverage of your works regular update team members also Ada compliances must when it comes to charity organization websites and temperature solution will not meet these apartments.

Read how I help GCNY build their website.

Need help building your charity organization website?

Business & Marketing

Marketing website for businesses is important and sensitive. it is something i never recommend going up with temperature solution or using a theme you can surely use some existing template for maybe a Blog and new section however for lining piece and the product and services pages it has to be custom built because every services and products are different and Landing fees are the highest converting factors when it comes to marketing solution marketing pieces so compromising on the budget for marketing solar basis is definitely not a good idea so for this the price that I would say is go for more than $ the budget for that would still range 3,000 and raise up to 30,000 orders. Marketing sites are generally contains lots of bases and each Pages need to be crafted move it attention to details and proper call to actions so the template will not be able to give the proper call to action that is required in a marketing website.

See how we build a techkraft websites marketing site

SAAS Landing Page

See how we build a spiny events websites marketing site SAS Landing templates available in the webflow and WordPress Marketplace it’s good to use them if you are just starting out if website is not your primary source of business then product can use template solution however as your product goes grows it’s very much recommended to use custom solutions because each product and Services offices needs to be explained in a proper different way in a very professional way and using a template will not be able to provide that and call to actions are very important factors in the SAS Landing peace and using template will not able to do the justice for the culture actions that is needed for. Compromising on the landing piece if your primary business of your SAS is a website then investing in a custom solution is highly recommended spoend budget of from 5,000 to $30,000 . From the SEO standpoint having multiple pages that explain about your SAS each and every features and product details is recommended and investing in the interviews is very important not just the homepage make sure that you invest in the inside Pages as well and give much details and attention to the inner pieces as you give to the homepage similarly Su is important factor and blogs are very important when it comes to Su so. Give detailed attention to the block bases as wells

See how we build a spiny events websites marketing site

Final Thoughts

Start small. Build what you need now. Then scale.

Just don’t expect a Louis Vuitton website on a DIY budget. Know your business stage and invest accordingly. If you’re confused or overwhelmed, hire someone who can guide you — it saves time and money in the long run.

I tried to give the tentative cost to build a website, nothing is accurate however it should help you plan the budget to build good website/ Don’t get into a trap if somoen promose you to make website in cheap and eventually you get a low quality websiw hcih will affect your business and give negative impression. Make sure you hire right person or a team for your website project. if you need helkp building website you can contact me as well.