The most common answer to "how much does a startup website cost?" is "it depends." That's true and useless. Here's a better answer: it depends on four things, and once you know them, the range narrows dramatically.
1. Who builds it. Freelancer, boutique studio, mid-size agency, or enterprise agency. These are not interchangeable quality tiers — they're different product categories with different risk profiles.
2. Template vs. custom. A template-based site (Webflow template, ThemeForest, Framer) costs 5–10x less than a custom-designed and custom-built site. The question is whether the difference shows and whether it matters for your business.
3. Scope. A five-page brochure site is not the same project as a marketing site with a blog, i18n in three languages, a pricing calculator, and analytics dashboards. Both are "websites."
4. Content. Who writes the copy? Who provides the photography? Content is routinely excluded from web quotes and accounts for 30–60% of the total timeline when it's done properly.
This is the entry tier. You get:
What you don't get: custom design, custom code, CMS beyond what the template includes, multi-language support, or anything that requires engineering judgment.
This tier is appropriate for: pre-revenue startups that need something online before fundraising, solo founders who need a professional web presence quickly, and companies with an internal designer who needs someone to implement their designs cheaply.
Our €800 showcase offer sits here. It's not a stripped product — it's a deliberately scoped one. Five pages, one language, no CMS, custom design within a constrained system. Done in two weeks.
This is the most common tier for seed-stage startups. You get:
What you don't get: multiple language builds (add €500–€1,500 per language), advanced animations (add €500–€2,000), custom illustration or photography (separate budget entirely), A/B testing infrastructure.
This tier is appropriate for: post-revenue startups raising a seed round, B2B SaaS companies with a defined go-to-market strategy, and founders who need a site that can grow with the product.
This is where the brief expands beyond "website" into web platform. You get:
What you don't get at this price: a backend (auth, databases, custom API). You're still buying frontend.
This tier is appropriate for: Series A companies launching a rebrand, SaaS products building marketing + product in parallel, and companies with compliance requirements (GDPR, accessibility, data residency).
This is a different conversation. You're not buying a website — you're buying a web product with an engineering engagement. Typically includes discovery, architecture decisions, backend integration, and ongoing support SLA.
Copywriting. A professional copywriter for a 10-page site costs €2,000–€6,000. Most web quotes assume you provide copy. If you're providing it yourself, budget 3–6 weeks of founder time.
Photography and illustration. Stock photos are free to cheap but often immediately visible as generic. Custom photography for a B2B site runs €1,500–€5,000. Custom illustration is €3,000–€10,000+.
CMS licences. Contentful (beyond free tier): €300+/month. Sanity: €99+/month. Prismic: €100+/month. Webflow CMS: €23–€74/month. These are ongoing and should appear in your operating costs, not just the build quote.
Hosting. Vercel Pro: €20/month. AWS/GCP: variable (budget €50–€200/month for moderate traffic). Webflow hosting: €23–€39/month.
Domain. €10–€20/year for a standard .com. Premium or short domains: wildly variable.
Translation. Professional human translation costs €80–€150 per 1,000 words per language. A 10-page site has approximately 5,000–8,000 words of copy. Three languages: €3,000–€12,000. Machine translation with human review: €1,500–€5,000.
Maintenance. Dependencies need updating. The CMS needs occasional attention. Security patches happen. Budget €200–€500/month for light maintenance, or €800–€2,000/month for active development support.
The case for templates is real. A well-chosen Webflow or Framer template, customised with your brand, can look indistinguishable from a custom build to most visitors. It launches in days, not weeks. It costs a fraction of the price.
The case for custom is also real. Templates have design decisions baked in that you can't override without significant work. They're built for the average use case. As your brand becomes more specific — specific animation style, specific information hierarchy, specific interaction patterns — the template becomes a constraint rather than a foundation.
The question is: does the template constraint matter for your business?
For pre-revenue startups: usually no. Get something online. Prove the product. Rebuild when there's something to differentiate.
For companies with a genuine brand differentiation or a product-led growth motion: yes. The site is part of the product experience.
We won't quote a project we don't understand. Discovery comes before pricing — always. A detailed scope is the contract, and the fixed price follows from that scope.
Our price range: €800 for a scoped showcase to €15,000+ for a full marketing platform. The number depends on the scope document, not on what we think the client can afford.
The one thing we tell every founder: buy for where you'll be in 18 months. A €1,000 template site that you rebuild at €8,000 in year two costs €9,000 total. A €5,000 custom build that scales with you for two years costs €5,000. The "cheap" choice is often the expensive one.
Need a real quote for your project? Start a conversation — we'll scope it and give you a number before any work begins.
We take on a small number of projects each quarter. Tell us what you're building.
Most agencies sound identical in the pitch. These seven questions surface the real differences — who builds, how they scope, what happens when things go wrong.
Large agencies have the portfolio and the pitch deck. Boutique studios have the accountability, the stack ownership, and the direct line to the people actually building your product.