How much should a website cost?
I’ve been building websites since 2012, and this is still the question people are most afraid to ask out loud. So they Google it instead. And the answers they find are useless: “it depends,” followed by a form to request a quote.
If you confuse, you lose. That applies to pricing pages too. So let me give you the real answer, with real numbers, including mine.
But first we have to talk about the free option, because it changed everything.
The price of a website just fell to zero
In 2026 you can open an AI tool, type “make me a website,” and have something live before your coffee gets cold. Free, or close to it.
So the old question, “how much does a website cost,” is broken. The pages themselves now cost nothing. Anyone can generate a homepage, an about page, and a contact form in an afternoon.
And here’s the part that surprises people: I think that’s great. I build with AI every single day. It’s the fastest pair of hands I’ve ever worked with.
But go look at what one prompt actually produces. I did. I lined up six real AI-era homepages side by side and you could shuffle the logos around and nobody would notice. Same gradient, same “empower your workflow” headline, same three feature cards.
One prompt doesn’t get you a bad website. It gets you the average website. And the average is invisible.
So what are you actually paying for?
Not pixels. Pixels are free now.
When you pay for a website in 2026, you’re paying for the things AI doesn’t do on its own:
The message. What do you say in the three seconds before a visitor leaves? Whose problem do you name? What do you refuse to say because everyone else says it? That’s thinking, not typing. It has to come from a human who asked you the right questions.
The taste. When I rebuilt my own site with AI, it took 67 rounds of back-and-forth. The AI kept handing me the average, and I kept saying “no, not like that.” The tool was cheap. Knowing what to reject wasn’t.
The standard. On launch day my mobile speed score came back at 64. The AI would have happily left it there. I’m the one who knew 64 means your visitor already left, and pushed until it hit 98. You’re paying for someone who won’t accept a 64 on your behalf.
So the money didn’t disappear. It moved. It used to be spread across weeks of production work. Now it’s concentrated in judgment.
The actual price ladder
Here’s the market as I see it, no quote form required.
Free to a few hundred euros: AI tools and templates. You do the work, you get the average. Real option, more on when it’s the right one below.
A few thousand: a freelancer or small studio. Someone with taste builds it for you. Quality swings wildly here. The good ones are asking about your customers before they ever mention design.
Five figures: an agency. You’re paying for a team, meetings about the meetings, and a project manager to protect you from both. Sometimes worth it. Often just slower.
My prices, since I’d rather show you than make you ask. A focused site starts at €1,500 and a full rebuild runs more. Fixed price, no hourly meter, and you get the exact number after one call. A Sound Check, where I review what your current site sounds like before you spend anything real, is €250.
When free is the right answer
Yes, I see the irony. The website guy telling you when not to pay for a website. Stay with me.
If you’re testing a brand-new idea, don’t pay anyone. Prompt a one-pager, ship it, and see if strangers care. The worst website for a business is an expensive one built before the business knew what it was.
If nobody’s visiting yet, same thing. A €10,000 site with 30 visitors a month is a sports car in a garage.
But the moment real prospects are landing on your site and leaving without a word, the math flips. Say your average client is worth €3,000. If a clearer, more memorable site wins you just one extra client this year, a €1,500 site paid for itself twice. That’s the whole calculation. Not “what does a website cost” but “what does a website that sounds like everyone else cost.”
The short version
Pages are free now. Judgment isn’t.
Pay nothing while you’re still figuring out what your business is. Pay for message, taste, and a standard the moment real customers are judging you by your homepage.
And whoever you hire, me or anyone else, make them show you their prices without a form in the way. If they confuse you at the pricing stage, that’s a preview.
Want the €250 version first? Book a Sound Check and I’ll tell you exactly where your site sounds like everyone else. Ready for the real thing? Here’s how I build websites, back-and-forth included.
Let’s go.