Website cost in 2026: how much does it really cost?

How much does a website cost in 2026? The real range spans from a few hundred euros (DIY like Wix) to over €50,000 (complex custom site). This guide provides concrete answers: pricing by site type, pricing by creation approach, hidden costs to anticipate, and when to choose which stack based on your context.

‍

In summary: 2026 price ranges

‍

- Brochure site : €150/year (DIY) to €8,000 (pro agency), median €2,000-4,000

- E-commerce site : €3,000 to €25,000, more for complex catalogs

- SaaS / custom business web app : €15,000 to €80,000 for a production-ready V1

- AI prototype (Lovable, Bolt) : €20 to €200/month, but technical overhaul before production: €5,000 to €40,000

- Recurring costs : €500 to €3,000/year for hosting + minimum maintenance

‍

Each of these ranges covers very different realities. The rest of the article explains what pushes a project from one extreme to the other.

‍

What kind of website are we really talking about?

‍

Before discussing budget, let’s clarify the terminology. The same term can cover realities that may cost 10 times more depending on the case.

Brochure site

A website that showcases a business, a team, or services. Few pages (5 to 20), minimal business logic. The goal: gain visibility and convert visitors into contacts or quotes. This is the most common category for small and medium-sized businesses.

E-commerce site

A website that sells online. Product catalog, payments, cart, shipping, VAT, invoices. Costs increase with the number of references, inventory management, logistics, and accounting integrations.

SaaS / custom business web app

A platform offering interactive features: user account management, client portal, dashboard, automations, API integrations. See our dedicated article on web app costs for details.

Landing page

A single page dedicated to a campaign or offer. Controlled cost, short timeline, often integrated into an existing site rather than hosted standalone.

Portal or intranet

A site reserved for identified users (clients, employees). Requires authentication, role management, often enhanced compliance. Budget approaches that of a custom SaaS.

‍

The 5 approaches to building your website in 2026

‍

A website can be built in five very different ways, each with its own budget, timeline, and associated risks. Here’s what they concretely offer in 2026.

1. DIY (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify Starter)

‍

Budget: €150 to €500/year. Timeline: a few days to 2 weeks.

‍

You build your site yourself using a visual editor. Public platforms have improved significantly; a simple brochure site can genuinely be launched in a weekend, with no technical skills required.

‍

Limitations: you’re constrained by templates and platform options, SEO optimization remains average, and advanced customization quickly hits a wall. As soon as you want a strong identity or specific features, pure DIY reaches its limits.

2. Vibe coding (Lovable, Bolt, v0)

‍

Budget: €20 to €200/month subscription. Timeline: a few hours to a few days.

‍

Since 2024, tools like Lovable, Bolt, or v0 generate a web app (or site) from a natural language prompt. These tools are excellent for validating an idea, showcasing a prototype to investors, or building a rough version in a few days.

‍

The real trap: an AI-generated prototype is not a production-ready application. Security, maintainability, error handling, and GDPR compliance are rarely up to standard. Public incidents in 2025 reminded us that apps generated without technical overhaul can expose sensitive data. Full budget if the project needs to go live: subscription + technical overhaul of €5,000 to €40,000 depending on the prototype’s state.

‍

This is exactly the scenario covered by our Dr Lovable service.

3. Professional no-code (Webflow, Bubble, FlutterFlow)

‍

Budget: €2,000 to €15,000. Timeline: 3 to 8 weeks.

‍

Professional no-code tools allow you to create production-quality, maintainable sites and apps without writing code. Webflow for brochure sites and e-commerce, Bubble for applications, FlutterFlow for native mobile apps. These tools have a real learning curve but deliver results that a team can maintain long-term.

‍

This is the approach we prioritize at Scroll for most projects: fast delivery, high visual quality, and exportable code when relevant.

4. Freelancer

‍

Budget: €1,500 to €10,000. Timeline: 4 to 10 weeks.

‍

A freelancer (developer or designer) takes your project from start to finish. It’s often cheaper than an agency and more flexible, but the main risk is dependency on one person: if the freelancer falls ill, is overloaded, or disappears, you’re stuck. Best for projects with a clear scope and when the relationship is established long-term.

5. Web agency (classic code or hybrid AI)

‍

Budget: €8,000 to €50,000+ for ambitious projects. Timeline: 8 to 16 weeks.

‍

An agency mobilizes multiple profiles (project manager, designer, front/back developers) and delivers a structured project with methodology, documentation, and guarantees. This is the approach to prioritize for high-business-value projects, custom needs, or when you want to fully delegate. Modern agencies now combine AI code (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot) to speed up development without compromising quality.

‍

Price by site type: 2026 ranges

Brochure site

DIY : €150-500/year (Wix, Squarespace subscription).
Freelancer : €800-3,000 for a 5-10 page site.
No-code agency (Webflow) : €2,000-8,000 for a custom pro site with built-in SEO.
Classic code agency : €5,000-15,000, useful when advanced CMS needs or complex third-party integrations are required.

E-commerce site

DIY (Shopify, Wix Commerce) : €30/month subscription + transaction fees + €200 template.
Customized Shopify store by freelancer/agency : €3,000-12,000.
Custom e-commerce (Webflow + Shopify, or custom Next.js) : €10,000-30,000.
Multi-vendor marketplace : €30,000-100,000+ depending on complexity.

SaaS / custom business web app

No-code MVP (Bubble, Webflow + backend) : €15,000-30,000.
Custom SaaS V1 : €40,000-80,000.
Complex multi-role SaaS : €80,000+.

‍

Details in our article on web app costs.

AI project taken over or stabilized

Scroll’s specific angle: taking over a Lovable, Bolt, or v0 prototype to transition it into a production-ready solution.

‍

Technical audit only : €1,500-3,000.
Simple prototype stabilization : €5,000-15,000.
Full overhaul + production deployment : €15,000-40,000.
Migration to a target stack (Next.js + Supabase) : €20,000-60,000 depending on ambition.

‍

The real factors that drive price variations

‍

Two brochure sites can cost €2,000 or €20,000 for one simple reason: the factors below change everything.

Number of pages and architecture

5 pages vs. 50 pages isn’t just a ratio. Beyond 20-30 pages, you need to consider SEO architecture, navigation, breadcrumbs, sitemaps—everything that keeps a site readable as it grows.

Design: template vs. custom

A €79 Webflow template customized by a designer costs €1,000-3,000. A fully custom design from scratch, with a reworked visual identity: €3,000-15,000 for design alone, before development.

Features

Each added feature represents a cost: authentication, payments, booking, multilingual support, client portal, advanced CMS, CRM integration. Full authentication with role management can cost €1,500-5,000 on its own. Properly managed multilingual support can cost just as much.

SEO built in from the start

Integrating SEO from the design phase (URL structure, tags, schema, performance, internal linking) costs an extra €1,500-5,000 but avoids a costly retrofit later. Redoing SEO for a poorly designed site systematically costs 2 to 3 times more than building it in from the start.

Digital accessibility (RGAA)

French digital accessibility regulations apply to public actors and large companies, and are becoming a quality signal for all. An RGAA audit and compliance implementation costs €1,000-5,000 depending on the site’s size.

Technical quality and maintainability

This factor is the most underestimated and what distinguishes a €3,000 project from a €10,000 one for the same visible functionality. A well-built site costs more upfront but far less to evolve. Conversely, a technically rushed site relies on unchecked AI code, duplicated components, outdated dependencies—and the bill arrives with the first change.

Security

Encryption, robust authentication, access management, GDPR compliance. For sites handling personal or payment data, security is non-negotiable.

‍

Recurring costs: what your quote doesn’t mention

‍

A website generates recurring costs. Anticipating them avoids unpleasant surprises.

‍

- Domain name : €10 to €50/year.

- Hosting : €50 to €500/year depending on the stack (included in the subscription for Webflow, Shopify, Bubble).

- No-code platform subscription : €15 to €50/month for a Webflow site, €30 to €200/month for a Bubble app depending on usage.

- SSL certificate : often included, otherwise €50 to €150/year.

- Technical maintenance : €50 to €500/month depending on update frequency.

- Ongoing SEO : €500 to €2,000/month if you want active SEO support (content, backlinks, monitoring).

- AI platform credits : if your project relies on a tool like Lovable or Bolt, credits can add up quickly. Budget €50 to €200/month for regular professional use.

- Product evolutions : each new feature after delivery has a cost (€500 to €10,000+ depending on scope).

‍

How to budget intelligently

‍

Three simple rules to avoid over- or under-investing.

Work in phases (MVP → V1 → V2)

Listing everything you want from the start inflates the initial bill and delays launch. Identifying the 5 to 10 essential features for V1 often cuts the initial budget in half. V2 is decided based on user feedback, not a plan written six months earlier.

Choose a stack that matches your real needs

You don’t need a €60,000 custom SaaS to validate a concept. A €25/month Lovable prototype or a €15,000 Bubble app often do the job perfectly for V1. Custom development is justified when the product is validated and scalability becomes a real issue.

Know how to read a quote

A complete proposal should include:

• A scoping or discovery phase (5-15% of the budget)
• Concrete deliverables (not just "development")
• A timeline with milestones
• A testing and QA budget
• An SLA or post-delivery guarantee clause (what happens if a bug appears after delivery)
• A breakdown of recurring costs you’ll be responsible for

‍

Red flags: a price far below market rates, no scoping phase, no SLA, or a provider who doesn’t ask any questions about your business.

‍

Is your project stuck or does your AI prototype need to go live?

‍

Scroll offers a dedicated service for taking over and securing AI-generated projects (Lovable, Bolt, v0) or stalled no-code projects: Dr Lovable. Technical audit, stabilization, transition to a maintainable production stack.

‍

Three main scenarios covered:

‍

- Audit only : we assess the project’s state and tell you concretely what needs to be done, with a budget range.

- Partial stabilization : we address critical points (security, performance, blocking bugs) without rebuilding everything.

- Full overhaul : migration to a target stack (Next.js + Supabase, or pro no-code depending on context).

‍

Develop your site with Scroll agency

‍

At Scroll, we’re a specialized agency in website and app creation using no-code and AI code. Brochure sites, e-commerce, SaaS, business back-offices: we deliver in weeks rather than months, with a stack chosen to fit your context—not the other way around.

‍

Need a price range for your specific project? Contact us and a project manager will get back to you with an initial estimate and a concrete phasing plan.

‍