How much a website costs: €3,000+ at an agency, from €349 one-off with me

I'm Marco, a web developer who builds websites for local businesses. I work on my own from Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga), with businesses all over Spain, and the first thing nearly everyone asks me is the price. It depends on who builds it: you, an agency or a freelancer like me. Below are the costs of each option, what you get and who each one suits.

What the website does while you work

When someone needs a dentist, a physio or a rural cottage, they open Google, and if you don't show up there, they call someone else. Your website answers the usual questions while you're busy: what you do, where you are, when you open and how to contact you.

Doing it yourself, an agency or a freelancer

Option 1: build it yourself with Wix, Squarespace or WordPress.com

Rough cost: between €0 and €300 a year, depending on the plan.

These platforms have improved a lot. If you just need a basic online presence, they can work. They have limits that matter when you want customers from Google:

• Performance is often average, and Google takes speed into account.
• SEO control is limited: structured data, URL structure and page titles are harder to get right.
• Many sites end up looking like the template they came from.
• It takes dozens of hours, and they come out of the time you spend on your business.
• The free plan grows quickly: domain, paid plan, plugins, premium theme.

Works for: personal projects, basic portfolios, businesses that don't rely on the internet to get customers.

Option 2: a web agency

Rough cost: €3,000 to €15,000 or more, plus maintenance that can range from €100 to €500 a month.

Agencies have big teams, which helps on large, complex projects. For a local business that needs 5 to 8 pages, you pay for a team you won't use.

• Part of the price pays for their structure: sales, project managers, designers, developers.
• Timelines tend to run from one to several months.
• You usually talk to a salesperson, who passes it to a project manager, who passes it to a designer.
• In a couple of years, monthly maintenance can cost more than the website itself.

Works for: medium and large companies with budget and complex needs.

Option 3: a freelancer who specialises in local businesses

Cost: in my case, a website from €349 as a one-off payment, or from €39/month if you'd rather pay monthly (prices exclude VAT).

This is the option I sell, so read it with that in mind. Here is what I offer and why I think it suits a local business:

• You talk directly to me, with nobody in between.
• Your website is ready in 7 days.
• I build with Next.js and Tailwind CSS, so pages load fast and come ready for Google from day one.
• The design and the text are built around your business and your sector.

Quick price comparison

The DIY and agency figures are rough estimates: they vary a lot depending on the plan, the agency and the project.

If you want sector examples, I have pages for dental clinics, physiotherapists and rural accommodation, each with prices.

What a website with me includes

So you know exactly what you're paying for, the base website includes:

• Design based on your sector and your brand
• Up to 5 sections: home, services, about, contact
• Basic local SEO from day one: Google Business Profile set up, structured data and page titles
• Works on mobile, tablet and desktop
• Contact form, WhatsApp button and map
• Domain, hosting and SSL: with the one-off website, optional maintenance from €15/month or from €150/year; included in the monthly packs
• Ready in 7 days

What the base website does not include: professional copywriting (I help with the text, but high-level copy is a separate job), professional photography, monthly management of your Google Business Profile, online bookings or the WhatsApp assistant. Bookings have their own website (below). The rest are standalone services or come with the higher packs.

My full price list

Packs have a 12 months commitment (without commitment, +€10/month) and, once you complete it, the website and the domain are yours.

Standalone services: Google Business Profile check (free), profile optimisation from €99, monthly profile management without a website from €39/month, WhatsApp assistant from €49/month + €99 setup, and connecting the booking tool you already use to your website and Google profile, from €79.

All prices exclude VAT. You can also see them on the pricing page.

When does it make sense to spend more?

A website from €349, or the Website Pack from €39/month, is enough for most local businesses. These are the cases where it makes sense to go higher:

• Online shop: up to 50 products from €990 one-off. Bigger catalogues or complex shipping get a fixed quote.
• Online bookings or appointments: the website with online bookings or appointments is from €700 one-off, depending on how many services, staff and opening hours it needs. Paying monthly, bookings come with the All-in-one Pack from €99/month (plus €99 setup). If you already use a booking tool, I connect it to your website and Google profile, from €79.
• Portal with user accounts: private area and complex content management. Fixed quote.
• Several languages: quoted on the number of languages and sections.

If none of these apply to you, the simple website is plenty.

Signs you need a new website

• Your site takes more than 3 seconds to load
• You don't show up on Google when you search for your own business by name
• Your website doesn't look right on a phone
• Your website is more than 5 years old
• You depend only on social media to get customers
• There's no quick way to contact you from the site

If two or more of these apply, it's very likely that people who look for you can't find you or can't reach you.

What I would do

For a 5-page website, I wouldn't spend several thousand euros at an agency. I wouldn't settle for a Wix site either if my customers look for me on Google, because that's where its limits on speed and SEO show most.

If you're not sure, start with the Google profile check I mentioned above: it tells me what's wrong and which option works out best for you.