What does website cost?

What does website cost?A professional website typically costs $2,000–$15,000 CAD for a small business site, $15,000–$50,000 for mid-market custom builds, and $50,000+ for enterprise platforms with advanced features. Costs depend on design complexity, custom functionality, content volume, and whether you're using templates or building from scratch.AnswerWebsite costs break down into three tiers based on scope and customization. A template-based small business site with 5–15 pages, basic contact forms, and mobile responsiveness runs $2,000–$5,000. These use platforms like WordPress with premium themes and minimal custom code. A semi-custom build for growing businesses—unique design, 15–40 pages, custom post types, integrations with CRM or booking systems—lands in the $8,000–$25,000 range. Fully custom enterprise websites with proprietary functionality, membership systems, e-commerce at scale, or multi-language support start around $30,000 and commonly exceed $100,000 depending on complexity.Beyond the upfront build, factor in ongoing costs. Hosting runs $15–$300/month depending on traffic and infrastructure (shared hosting versus managed WordPress or dedicated servers). Maintenance—security patches, plugin updates, backups—costs $100–$500/month if outsourced, or plan 3–8 hours monthly if handled in-house. Domain registration is $15–$50/year, SSL certificates are often free now via Let's Encrypt, and CDN services like Cloudflare start free but scale to $20–$200/month for performance.Hidden costs frequently surprise clients: professional copywriting ($100–$250 per page), stock photography or custom shoots ($500–$5,000), SEO setup and schema markup ($1,500–$5,000 initially), and conversion rate optimization after launch.At Ottawa SEO, our custom AI-engineered builds are $7,999 one-time — or $6,500 if you pay in full upfront, with 2- or 3-year payment plans available — for local service businesses needing 10–25 pages with lead capture optimization and local SEO foundations. That includes strategic planning, wireframes, mobile-first design, on-page SEO, and 30 days post-launch support. We avoid cheap template mills because they create technical debt—poor code structure, bloated plugins, no schema markup—that costs more to fix than building correctly upfront. The right budget depends on your revenue goals: if the site generates $10,000/month in leads, a $15,000 investment pays back in six weeks. If it's informational with no conversion path, spending over $5,000 rarely makes sense.