In 2026, a simple 5–10 page business website in India typically costs ₹15,000–₹75,000 (about $180–$900), a WordPress site with custom design and a CMS costs ₹40,000–₹2,00,000 ($480–$2,400), an e-commerce store costs ₹60,000–₹5,00,000 ($720–$6,000), and a custom web application usually starts around ₹3,00,000 ($3,600) and can go well past ₹25,00,000. On top of the build, budget roughly ₹5,000–₹30,000 a year for domain, hosting and email, plus maintenance if you want someone looking after it.
Those ranges are wide because "a website" covers everything from a one-page brochure to software that runs your business. This guide breaks the numbers down by site type and by who builds it, lists the costs that appear after launch, and shows you how to write a brief that gets you quotes you can actually compare. All figures are typical market ranges we see in 2026 and will vary with scope, city and the experience of the team.
Website cost by type of site
The biggest driver of price is not the number of pages but how much the site has to do. A brochure site that shows your services and a contact form is mostly design and content work. The moment you add logins, payments, inventory, bookings or integrations with other software, you are paying for engineering, testing and ongoing support, and the price moves into a different bracket.
Use the table below as a starting point. The lower end assumes a template or theme with light customisation and content you supply; the upper end assumes custom design, more pages, copywriting help and a more experienced team.
| Site type | Typical 2026 range (INR) | Approx. USD | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static business / brochure site (5–10 pages) | ₹15,000 – ₹75,000 | $180 – $900 | 1–3 weeks |
| WordPress site with custom design and CMS | ₹40,000 – ₹2,00,000 | $480 – $2,400 | 3–6 weeks |
| E-commerce on Shopify or WooCommerce | ₹60,000 – ₹3,00,000 | $720 – $3,600 | 4–8 weeks |
| Custom e-commerce (own backend, integrations) | ₹3,00,000 – ₹15,00,000+ | $3,600 – $18,000+ | 2–5 months |
| Custom web application / portal / SaaS MVP | ₹3,00,000 – ₹25,00,000+ | $3,600 – $30,000+ | 2–6 months |
What actually pushes the price up or down
Two sites with the same page count can differ in price by five times. When a developer quotes, they are really estimating hours, and hours come from a handful of factors. If you understand them, you can decide where to spend and where to save instead of just asking for a discount.
Content is the one most people underestimate. If you arrive with final text, good photos and a clear sitemap, the build is fast. If the agency has to chase you for content for six weeks, or write it for you, that time shows up in the quote or in delays.
- Design: a purchased theme lightly adapted costs far less than a bespoke design created in Figma and approved screen by screen.
- Functionality: forms, search, filters, multilingual content, member areas, bookings and payments each add real development and testing time.
- Integrations: connecting to a payment gateway, CRM, ERP, accounting software, WhatsApp or courier APIs is often the most unpredictable part.
- Content and SEO setup: copywriting, product uploads, image editing, meta tags, redirects from an old site and schema markup all take hours.
- Performance and accessibility: getting good Core Web Vitals scores and accessible markup requires care that cheap builds skip.
- Revisions and project management: more stakeholders and more review rounds mean more billable time.
Freelancer vs agency vs in-house developer
A good freelancer is often the best value for a brochure site or a straightforward WordPress build. You deal directly with the person doing the work, and rates are lower because there is no overhead. The risk is continuity: if they get busy, fall ill or move on, you may be left with a site nobody else understands. Ask who holds the logins and whether the code is documented.
An agency costs more but brings a designer, developer, tester and project manager, plus some accountability when things go wrong. For e-commerce and anything with integrations, that extra structure usually pays for itself. Hiring in-house only makes sense once you have continuous work, such as a product company or a large store that ships changes every week.
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Best for | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer | ₹300 – ₹1,500 per hour, or fixed price | Brochure and simple WordPress sites | Availability and continuity |
| Small or mid-size agency | ₹800 – ₹2,500 per hour, or fixed price | E-commerce, integrations, custom builds | Higher price; junior staff on your project |
| In-house developer | ₹4 – ₹15 lakh+ per year salary, plus overheads | Ongoing product development | Single point of failure; hiring and management time |
How to get an accurate quote
Vague requests get vague quotes. If you send "need a website for my business, how much?", you will receive prices ranging from ₹8,000 to ₹3 lakh, and none of them will be comparable. Spend an hour writing a one or two page brief and you will get sharper numbers, fewer surprises and a better sense of who actually understood your business.
Once quotes come in, compare them line by line rather than by the final total. A quote that is 40% cheaper often just leaves out content upload, SEO setup or post-launch support. Ask each vendor what is not included, and how they charge for changes after sign-off.
- List the pages or sections you need and who will provide text and images.
- Share two or three websites you like, and say specifically what you like about them.
- Describe every feature in plain words: "customers can book a slot and pay online" is better than "booking system".
- Name the tools it must connect to: payment gateway, CRM, accounting, WhatsApp, courier.
- State your budget range and launch date. It helps vendors propose the right approach instead of guessing.
- Ask for a milestone-based payment schedule, a timeline and the number of revision rounds included.
Red flags in cheap website quotes
There is nothing wrong with a low price if the scope genuinely matches. The trouble is that some very cheap offers make their margin elsewhere: by locking you into their hosting at inflated renewal rates, by using nulled (pirated) themes that carry malware, or by charging heavily for every change after launch. The warning signs are usually visible before you pay.
Ownership is the one to watch most closely. Your domain should be registered in your name or your company's name, with you holding the registrar login. If a vendor registers it in their own account and the relationship sours, getting it back can be slow and painful.
- The domain or hosting will be registered in the vendor's name, not yours.
- No written scope, only a total price and a WhatsApp message.
- "Unlimited pages and unlimited revisions" for a very low fixed fee.
- Premium themes or plugins offered free, which often means pirated copies.
- No mention of backups, security updates or who fixes bugs after launch.
- Full payment demanded upfront, or no staging site to review before going live.
- A portfolio of screenshots with no live links you can check.
Where to spend and where to save
If money is tight, save on things you can upgrade later and spend on things that are expensive to fix. A template-based design with good photography and clear copy will outperform a fancy custom design with weak content. You can always redesign in two years; you cannot easily undo a poorly structured site that search engines have already indexed.
Spend on a solid technical foundation: fast hosting, clean URLs, mobile performance, proper redirects if you are replacing an old site, and analytics set up correctly from day one. For e-commerce, spend on checkout, payment reliability and inventory accuracy, because those directly affect revenue. Save on animations, extra pages nobody visits and features you think you might need someday.
A phased approach works well for most small businesses: launch a lean version in a few weeks, watch what visitors actually do, then add features based on real data rather than guesses.
How RED SAG approaches website projects
At RED SAG, a small software team based in Tiruppur, we quote websites and web apps from a written scope with milestone payments, and we register domains and hosting in the client's own name. If you already have a brief, or want help turning an idea into one, we are happy to review it and tell you honestly whether you need a custom build or whether a well-configured template will do the job.
Our starter business website (up to 5 pages, mobile-friendly, enquiry form, WhatsApp button and basic SEO) costs ₹15,000–₹25,000. Extra pages, e-commerce and custom features are quoted on top, and you can get an instant range from our cost estimator.
Whoever you hire, the checklist in this guide applies: get the scope in writing, own your accounts, understand the recurring costs and plan for maintenance from the start.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small business website cost in India?
A small business website with 5–10 pages, a contact form and basic SEO setup typically costs ₹15,000–₹75,000 in 2026. Freelancers using a template sit at the lower end; agencies doing custom design, copywriting and performance work sit at the higher end. Add around ₹3,000–₹10,000 a year for domain and hosting.
What is the cost of an e-commerce website in India?
A Shopify or WooCommerce store typically costs ₹60,000–₹3,00,000 to set up, depending on design, number of products to upload and integrations such as courier or accounting. A fully custom store with its own backend usually starts around ₹3 lakh. Also factor in platform subscriptions, app or plugin fees and payment gateway charges.
Is WordPress cheaper than a custom-coded website?
Usually yes, for content-driven sites. WordPress gives you a ready-made CMS, so developers spend time on design and content rather than building admin features. For complex workflows, heavy custom logic or high traffic, a custom build can be cheaper to maintain in the long run because you are not fighting plugins that were not designed for your use case.
What are typical website maintenance charges in India?
Maintenance plans typically range from ₹2,000 to ₹20,000 per month in 2026. Basic plans cover backups, security and plugin updates, uptime monitoring and a small number of content changes. Higher plans include performance tuning, feature changes and priority support. For a simple static site, paying per change may be cheaper than a monthly plan.
How long does it take to build a website?
A brochure site usually takes one to three weeks, a WordPress site with custom design three to six weeks, and an e-commerce store four to eight weeks. Custom web applications typically take two to six months. The most common cause of delay is not development but waiting for content, approvals and feedback from the client side.
Should I pay the full amount upfront?
No. A fair arrangement is milestone-based: for example, an advance to start, a payment after design approval and the balance after launch on a site you have reviewed on a staging link. Vendors asking for 100% upfront, especially without a written scope, are taking on no risk while you take on all of it.