Why can a website cost €1,500 with a freelancer, €6,000 with an agency, or €25,000 for a corporate project?
In 2026, the price of a website comes down to ten factors. Knowing them helps you:
- judge whether a quote holds together,
- avoid the usual traps,
- set a realistic budget,
- choose between WordPress, Webflow, Astro or custom development with your eyes open.
1. Number of pages
The more pages a site contains, the longer it takes to design, integrate and optimize.
Examples:
- 5 pages → €1,500 to €3,000
- 15 pages → €3,500 to €7,000
- 30 pages → €8,000 to €15,000
Each extra page adds €100 to €500, depending on how much work it needs: a detailed service page, an optimized landing page, a local SEO page.
2. Design level (template vs. custom)
Of the ten factors, this is the one that moves the price most.
Template
- quick to put in place,
- affordable,
- limited in what it lets you do, which suits a small budget.
Custom design
- an interface that belongs to you alone,
- a journey built around the action you expect,
- a close fit with your branding, at a noticeably higher price, since it includes research, mock-ups and review rounds.
On a professional site, design usually takes up a large part of the budget.
3. Functional complexity
The more advanced features a site offers, the higher the bill.
Features that add cost:
- booking system → €1,000 to €3,000
- customer space / B2B portal → +€2,000 to +€8,000
- advanced forms → +€300 to +€1,200
- product configurator → +€2,000 to +€10,000
- automations (emails, workflows) → +€500 to +€4,000
- AI chatbot → +€1,000 + monthly subscription
At that point you are closer to a small software application than to a website.
4. Integrated SEO (from basic to advanced)
Basic SEO (included in most projects)
- a sound page structure,
- title tags,
- acceptable loading times,
Advanced SEO
- keyword research,
- a logical architecture,
- copy written for search,
- thematic clustering,
- Core Web Vitals work.
Extra cost: +€1,000 to +€6,000.
A site built to rank costs more at the start and brings in more afterwards.
5. Multilingualism
Adding a language does not double the price, but it does add 20 to 40%.
The extra work comes from:
- more pages,
- duplication,
- separate URLs,
- multilingual SEO,
- design consistency,
- structural work.
Example:
- French-only site: €4,000
- FR + EN + NL site: €6,000 to €11,000
6. External integrations (CRM, ERP, accounting)
Each technical connection costs between €1,000 and €4,000, depending on:
- the quality of the API,
- how well it is documented,
- the kind of synchronisation you need,
- the number of calls (stock, customers, orders).
Common examples:
- CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive)
- ERP (Odoo, SAP)
- accounting (Exact, WinBooks)
- e-mailing (Brevo, Klaviyo)
7. Performance (Core Web Vitals)
In 2026, performance is not optional: it feeds your SEO, your conversion rate and the impression the site leaves.
But getting a site above 90 on Lighthouse takes:
- asset optimization,
- clean architecture,
- less JavaScript,
- optimized images,
- fast hosting.
That is one of the reasons I build with Astro, which produces very fast sites.
Performance is then built in from the start, rather than patched afterwards with plugins.
8. The choice of technology
| Technology | Benefits | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | economical, flexible | € |
| Webflow | premium design, low maintenance | €€ |
| Shopify | suited to e-commerce | €€ |
| Astro | very fast, strong for SEO, secure | €€€ |
| Custom headless | scalable, no functional limits | €€€€ |
The more modern and efficient the technology, the better the result and the higher the initial cost. Over the years the cost falls again: less maintenance, fewer bugs, better performance.
9. Type of service provider (freelance, agency, expert studio)
Freelance
- affordable,
- a narrower range of skills,
- availability that varies.
Typical price: €1,000 to €4,000
Generalist agency
- solid organisation,
- several services under one roof,
- sometimes slow,
- not always a technical expert.
Typical price: €3,000 to €12,000
Technical specialist
- performance,
- a modern stack (Astro, AI),
- work steered by return on investment,
- careful build quality.
Typical price: €4,000 to €20,000
10. Maintenance, support and evolution
A website is not a one-off cost. What it takes to run also shapes the starting price.
Maintenance in 2026:
- WordPress: €100 to €500 a month
- Webflow: €20 to €80 a month
- Astro: €0 to €150 a month, since a static site has no plugins or application server to maintain
- Upgrades: €500 to €5,000 a year, depending on how far you want to go
For more detail, see what website maintenance costs in Belgium.
Examples of budgets by type of company in Belgium
Sole trader
€1,500 to €3,000: a simple site with basic SEO
SMEs (10 to 50 employees)
€3,000 to €8,000: a professional site, SEO and a custom design
Established SME / B2B
€8,000 to €20,000: advanced SEO, performance work and integrations
Large companies
€20,000 to €50,000 and up: complex architecture, multilingual, fully custom
Mistakes to avoid
- choosing on price alone,
- underestimating SEO,
- forgetting what later changes will cost,
- neglecting performance,
- picking WordPress out of habit rather than for a reason.
Working with Numinam: what does it change?
I build websites that are:
- fast (Astro),
- built for SEO from the design stage,
- designed to convert,
- secure by design, with no application server exposed,
- scalable,
- fitted with AI when it brings value.
My prices are published: I charge €595 per working day, and each service takes a number of days known in advance. The details are on the pricing page.
To scope your own project, the free 25-minute audit lets us define together the scope and budget that fit your situation.
