First, it is necessary to understand that the cost of a website varies according to its complexity and the number of features that are expected. Thus, an online sales site will logically be more expensive than a showcase site consisting of only a few pages. A basic e-commerce site will also be cheaper than a web portal that includes online sales, a customer account and extensive customizations.
What is the price of a showcase site?
The price of a showcase website, that is to say a static website that has not changed much or changed over time, is generally quite low and therefore very affordable.
Indeed, a static site, which is only composed of a few pages, does not have major complexity for creation. Usually, the agency or the person who will create the website will use an easy-to-use CMS such as Wax, Jim do or Weekly. These solutions offer the advantage of being very easy to use and allow you to create a showcase site in just a few clicks.
Likewise, if you have imposed on your agency or your freelancer to create your website through the WordPress CMS, they will just have to buy a premium theme on one of the many existing marketplaces on the internet and the install on your site. Most of the work will be to create and write the texts, if you have given them this mission.
Example: what is the price of a site of a real estate agency?
The easiest way to illustrate my point is to give you an example: the price of a real estate agency site.
If you need a simple showcase site, on which you will present your agency, your team and give some advice to help your Internet users find you or contact you, the price of the site should not exceed 1000 € (between 500 and 1000 €), if you go through a freelance or a small agency.
If you have planned to use your website to post your latest acquisitions and allow Internet users to consult online the various properties that you have available in your agency, the price of the site will be higher, because this will require more developments. Still going through a freelance or a small agency, the price of a website such as the one mentioned will be between 1500 and 5000 €.
What is the price of an e-commerce site?
If you have planned to create an online store, that is to say a website with online payment, the price of your website will depend on the technical solution you have chosen. It all depends on whether you use a SAAS or open-source solution (read the paragraph at the end of the article which explains the difference between the two types of technologies).
Price of a website with online payment in SAAS mode
To put it simply, if you go through a SAAS solution such as Wiz shop, Shopify App, etc., the cost of a website with online payment will depend on the amount of the monthly subscription that you will have to pay to the solution. Generally, you can access such a solution for around 500 € per year, knowing that I still advise you to get a premium theme (one-time purchase), the cost of which varies between the different solutions between 50 and 200 € generally.
Note that most of these solutions also charge a percentage of the turnover that you will achieve with your online store. These fees will be added or deducted from the subscription, depending on the solution chosen. This percentage of commission is variable according to your turnover passing through the store: the more you achieve a significant turnover, the lower the commission will be.
These solutions are therefore very interesting for getting into e-commerce and creating an online store at a lower cost. However, in time, it will be more interesting to go through an open-source solution, once you have generated the sufficient number of orders to finance the creation of a site with an open-source solution.
Likewise, if you have planned to market more than a hundred products and have advanced functionalities, this type of solution will not necessarily be the most suitable. My advice will be to direct you to an open-source solution.
Price of an open-source e-commerce site like Prestashop
The cost of an open-source e-commerce site depends on a lot of different criteria (I list the main ones below, don’t hesitate to take a look).
To put it simply, the price of a Prestashop e-commerce site, realized by a freelance, will start at 1000 €. For this price, know that your freelance will buy a theme on a specialized marketplace and install it by making some small alterations and customizations.
As soon as you look to add features to increase the average basket or to carry out cross-selling, the price of your online store will rise very quickly. By going through a freelance, the price of your store will generally be between 1000 and 20,000 €. If you go through an agency, the price will be a little higher (the level of service also) to be in the range of 3-4,000 € to 50,000 €.
Of course, the more you try to personalize your site, which is the real advantage of open-source solutions (everything is customizable), the more the agency or the freelancer will have to develop specific templates, which will increase the cost of the site.
For example, if you have planned to offer a very developed customer area so that your customers can follow their order, consult their history, contact you … etc. the price of your site will fly quickly and can quickly reach and exceed 100,000 €.
To conclude, I advise you, for a first site creation, to limit yourself to the basic functionalities that an Internet user expects from an online store. Don’t try to personalize your store 100%. It is only when your turnover grows that you can think about developing and optimizing your e-commerce site.
Factors that impact the price of a website
Now that I have given you an estimate of the price of a website according to your needs, it is secondly necessary that I present to you the elements that can have a significant impact (or not) on the cost of a site.
By explaining to you the positions that cost the most on a website, I will help you understand where you can save money and therefore reduce the cost of creating your site.
The technical solution (CMS) and developments
The first element that can have an impact on the price of a website is of course the solution you will use to create your site. Indeed, there are many solutions on the market such as Wax, Jim do, Weekly, Prestashop, Magento or WordPress.
Regarding creation solutions, know that there are currently two main families of CMS (content management system): open-source solutions and SAAS ecommerce solutions.
What is an open-source solution?
Open-source solutions: such as WordPress, Prestashop, Drupal or even Magento.
These CMS are free solutions because they are generally developed by communities of passionate developers.
Advantage of an open-source solution
The advantage of these solutions is that they provide you with all the back-office functionalities necessary for you to be able to manage your website. It is from the back office that you can create content, personalize your site, etc.
As the back-office features are already there, all you have to do is customize the front-office: the design, the appearance of your site in the eyes of Internet users.
To do this, there are many marketplaces where independent developers (or not) offer site themes, with a truly professional appearance, at very advantageous prices. For example, the theme for this blog was purchased on the Theme forest platform, and it cost me only $ 50. Did you feel like my site was only worth $ 50? I hope not, at least I don’t think so.
These solutions also offer paid modules that allow you to add additional functionality to the site.
Disadvantage of an open-source solution
The downside of an open-source solution is that you have to get your hands dirty if you want to do everything yourself. AND when I talk about sludge, I’m talking about HTML code, occasionally CSS… etc. Clearly, to use an open-source solution, it is strongly recommended to have some development knowledge.
In the event that you do not have these notions, you will usually need to call in outside help who will bill you for the time spent on your site. The cost of developments varies depending on the solutions, but be aware that the developments with the most affordable prices will be WordPress (for a showcase site) and Prestashop (for an online store).
