Ask three agencies for a quote on the same site and you'll get back eight thousand, sixty thousand, and three hundred thousand pesos. All three can be honest: they're quoting different things under the same name. This article is so you know which one you're being sold.
Why do website prices vary so much?
"Website" describes things that have nothing in common. A one-section landing page with a form and a store with three thousand products, inventory, and invoicing are both "a website." The difference in work between the two is fifty times over.
The four factors that actually move the price:
- How many distinct templates there are. Not how many pages: how many distinct designs. A 40-page site with 4 templates costs less than an 8-page site with 8 unique designs.
- Whether something needs to connect. Payments, inventory, CRM, invoicing. Each integration is a small project inside the project.
- Who writes and who shoots photos. If you provide the content, the cost goes down. If the agency produces it, add it to the bill.
- Whether someone maintains it afterward. A site with no maintenance is a time bomb — especially on WordPress.
How much does each type of website cost?
| Type | Development | Monthly | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page One section, one goal, one form |
$12,000 – $40,000 | $300 – $1,200 | 1–3 weeks |
| Corporate site 5–10 sections, blog, forms |
$30,000 – $95,000 | $600 – $2,500 | 3–6 weeks |
| E-commerce Catalog, cart, payments, shipping |
$60,000 – $250,000 | $1,500 – $8,000 | 6–14 weeks |
| Custom web app Users, permissions, custom logic |
$120,000 – $600,000+ | $3,000 – $20,000 | 3–8 months |
Below the low end, you're almost always buying a template with your logo slapped on it. That's not necessarily bad — sometimes it's exactly what you need — just make sure they tell you that's what it is.
What you're really paying for
What isn’t included in a website quote?
This is where the costs nobody mentioned show up:
- Domain. $200 to $600 a year. Make sure it's registered under your company's name, not the agency's.
- Hosting. Anywhere from free to $2,000 a month. A static site today can cost zero.
- Content. Copy and photography. If it wasn't discussed, assume you're providing it.
- Corporate email. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, per user per month.
- Maintenance. On WordPress it's not optional: without plugin updates, the site gets hacked. Budget $800 to $3,000 a month, or choose a technology that doesn't need it.
- Changes after delivery. Ask how many rounds are included and what the next one costs.
Is a template or a custom site the better choice?
| Template | Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Low | 3 to 10 times more |
| Time | Days | Weeks or months |
| Looks like others | Yes, inevitably | No |
| Speed | Average: carries weight you don't use | As fast as it's designed |
| Growth | As far as the template allows | As far as you want |
The template isn't the cheap option: it's the fast one. It gets expensive when the business grows and everything has to be rebuilt because the template can't keep up.
Five questions before you sign
- Whose name are the domain, hosting, and code under? If the answer isn't "your company's," keep looking.
- What happens if I want to switch providers? A well-built site can move. One locked into the agency's in-house tool can't.
- How much does month thirteen cost? Everything recurring, broken down.
- Who writes the copy? It's the number-one reason a site stalls for months.
- How are we going to measure whether it worked? If nobody defines what success looks like, nobody can claim it wasn't.
When a template is enough
We're telling you this even though we sell custom development. A template is enough if:
- You're validating an idea and don't yet know if the business works.
- You just need to exist online: to be found, show what you do, and how to reach you.
- Your budget is under fifteen thousand pesos. A good template beats a half-finished custom build.
- You need to be online this week.
Custom development is worth the investment when the site needs to do something — quote, book, integrate with your systems — or when you already have traffic and every conversion point translates into money. That's what our Software service handles, and we break down AI project ranges in this other article.
