You have a quote for a new website on your desk – or several that differ many times over. And even once you've picked one, a question often remains open: what does the website actually cost once it's finished and online?
In this article I explain which costs of a website are one-off, which keep running, and what drives the amount. I only name concrete prices where they are publicly known – because every website is different.
One-off and running costs
The costs of a website fall into two groups:
- One-off costs arise when the site is built: concept, design, development, setting up the content management system (CMS), moving content over, and a training session.
- Running costs arise for as long as the website is online: domain, hosting, possibly licences, maintenance and content care.
Many quotes only list the one-off costs. The running costs are often small on their own, but they add up over the years. That's why it pays to know both sides from the start.
What drives the one-off costs
Whether a website costs a small or a large amount depends above all on the effort involved. The most important factors are:
- Scope: A digital business card with a few pages is something different from a club website with events, downloads and news.
- Design: Is a ready-made template adapted, do you supply your own design, or is the design developed individually?
- Features: A contact form, appointment booking, a members' area, multiple languages or a shop increase the effort considerably.
- Content: Are texts and images already finished, or do they first have to be written, transferred or revised?
- Editing it yourself: If you want to edit content yourself later, the CMS has to be set up for that. This takes a little more time during the build, but saves money later.
- Existing website: If an old site has to be taken over, moved or replaced, that effort comes on top.
That's why I deliberately don't name a general price range. It would be so wide that it would hardly help you plan. The biggest factors are the complexity of the design, the CMS or the technology used in general, and any additional features. What your project would cost is best clarified in a short, no-obligation conversation.
What keeps running afterwards
Domain
The domain is the address of your website, for example your-name.de. It is paid yearly. Depending on the provider, a .de domain costs roughly 5 to 18 euros a year (German), and it is often already included in the hosting package. Watch the price from the second year on: some providers lure you in with an almost free first year, after which the regular price applies (German). Other endings such as .com, or more unusual ones, can be considerably more expensive.
Hosting
Hosting is the storage space on a server where your website lives. For most small websites, a simple hosting package is enough. What matters is not only the price, but also whether the provider makes regular backups, whether the servers are in the EU, and whether there is a data processing agreement.
A statically generated website without a database, like this one, gets by with very basic hosting. A CMS with a database needs a package that supports PHP and a database. German providers offer such packages for a single-digit euro amount per month: at all-inkl (German), where this website is hosted, they start at 4.95 euros a month, including several domains.
SSL certificate
The SSL certificate provides the encrypted connection, recognisable by the "https" in the address bar. It used to be a separate cost item. Today a certificate, for example from Let's Encrypt, is included free of charge by most hosting providers. If someone charges you separately for an SSL certificate for a simple website, it's worth asking why.
Licences and plugins
Some CMSs are free, others require a licence. WordPress itself is free, but many extensions, themes or form plugins come in paid versions, often as a yearly subscription. With Statamic, the basic version (Core) is free. The Pro version, which adds things like multiple users and multiple languages, costs 349 US dollars per website as a one-off according to the pricing page, including one year of updates; after that, updates cost 99 US dollars a year. Ask which licences your project needs and whether they are paid once or yearly.
Maintenance and updates
A CMS, its extensions and the server software receive regular updates, often security updates. If they aren't installed, the website becomes outdated and vulnerable. Maintenance means: installing updates, checking that everything still works afterwards, checking backups, and stepping in when there are problems.
You can do this yourself if you feel confident. Otherwise a maintenance contract or billing by effort is common.
I always bill maintenance by actual effort; I'm not a fan of flat monthly fees. If nothing comes up in a month, you don't pay anything. And if extensive maintenance is needed, that work is paid accordingly. If you would still like a maintenance contract with fixed components, you can of course have one: we agree on the tasks together and set a fixed price for them.
Content care
New dates, changed opening hours, a new team photo: if you maintain content yourself, it only costs you time. If you'd rather hand it over, content care adds to the costs. For the website of the Alwin Bielefeldt allotment garden association (German), for example, I take care of both the technical maintenance and the content.
E-mail mailboxes with your own domain are included in many hosting packages. If you need more, such as shared calendars or many mailboxes, you'll often use a separate service, usually billed per person and month. Strictly speaking this isn't part of the website, but it often ends up on the same invoice.
How to recognise a fair quote
A good quote doesn't have to be the cheapest. But it should be easy to follow. Look out for these points:
- Is it clearly described what is included and what isn't?
- Are running costs mentioned, even if they don't come from the same provider?
- Does the domain belong to you, and do you have access to the hosting?
- Is it settled who takes care of updates, and what that costs?
- Can you edit content yourself, and is there training for it?
- What happens if you want to switch providers later?
Very low prices aren't automatically a bad sign. Sometimes, though, they hide website builders with monthly fees, expensive plugin subscriptions, or a website that is hard to take with you later.
Conclusion
You only see what a website really costs when you look at the build and the running costs together. Domain and SSL hardly matter today. Hosting and licences matter more – and above all the question of who will take care of updates and content over the coming years.
If you already have a quote and aren't sure whether it fits, I'm happy to take a look. To keep my assessment independent, I don't take on a project afterwards that I have given a second opinion on. This kind of review is explicitly part of my independent consulting. Just write to me.
Yours, Michael Becker