How much does a website cost in Australia?

Ask five web studios what a website costs and you’ll get five different answers, from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. That’s not because anyone is hiding anything. “A website” can mean a single page you set up in an afternoon, or a custom build that brings in most of a business’s work. Here’s what actually changes the price, what you’ll typically be quoted in Australia, and how to compare quotes properly.

The three ways to get a website

Do it yourself on a website builder. Wix, Squarespace and similar tools charge a monthly fee, usually tens of dollars a month. It’s the cheapest way to get something online, and a fine choice for a hobby or a test. The cost is your time, a site that looks like a lot of other sites, and a platform you can’t easily leave.

A template set up for you. A freelancer or small studio takes a ready-made theme and puts your words and photos in. Quotes are usually in the low thousands. It’s quicker than custom, but you’re working around someone else’s design, and themes often carry a lot of extra code that slows pages down.

A custom build. Designed from a blank page around how you sell, then built to match. Agency quotes typically start in the low thousands for a small site and run well past $10,000 for larger sites with bookings, integrations or lots of content. It costs more up front, and it’s the option most likely to pay for itself, because every page is built to bring in enquiries.

What actually moves the price

• Number of pages. Each page needs to be planned, designed, written and built. A one-page site and a 30-page site are different jobs.
• Who writes the words. If you supply finished text, it’s cheaper. If the studio writes it for you, and writes it to be found on Google, that’s real work, and worth paying for.
• Features. Booking, quote forms, member logins, payments and connections to other software all add time.
• Design depth. One mock-up or several to choose from, custom illustrations, animation.
• Moving an old site. Carrying your content and Google rankings across with proper redirects takes care. Skipping it is how businesses lose half their traffic on launch day.

The costs people forget

The build is not the only cost. Budget for these too:

• Domain name: usually tens of dollars a year for a .com.au.
• Hosting: from a few dollars to a few hundred a month, depending on how fast and secure it needs to be.
• Care: software updates, backups and security checks. A site nobody updates is a site waiting to be hacked.
• SEO and content: optional, but it’s what keeps you climbing after launch.

Ask every studio what’s included in the first year. A cheap build with expensive hosting and paid-per-hour changes can cost more than a fair fixed price.

What we charge

We publish our prices, because we think you should know before you call:

• The Lookout, $1,000: a single custom-designed page that tells your story and gets you found. About a week.
• The Homestead, $2,500: up to 8 custom-designed pages for a service business, built to bring in enquiries. Two to three weeks.
• Online stores from $5,000, and custom software and apps quoted after a free call.

Every build includes a custom design, a year of hosting in Sydney, SSL and security from day one, and the code is yours to keep. All prices include GST. See them side by side on our pricing page.

How to compare quotes

1. Get a fixed price, not an hourly estimate. You want to know the total before work starts.
2. Ask who owns the site. If you leave, can you take the code and content with you?
3. Ask what happens after launch. Who updates it, who fixes it, and what does that cost?
4. Look at their work on your phone. Most of your customers will.
5. Check the speed. Run a few of their sites through Google’s PageSpeed Insights. Slow sites lose customers and rankings.

If you’d like a fixed quote for your website, tell us what you’re building. We reply within one business day.