How Much Does a Small Business Website Really Cost and What Changes the Price?

These public prices were checked again on October 12, 2026. Here’s what they cover, according to the providers’ pages.

The pages consulted don’t clearly explain how taxes are handled: the total payable still needs to be confirmed. [1][2]

These are not a market average, Maison OF KIND’s rates or a ranking of quality. Above all, they show why you need to open the quote to understand the number. Even a single page can mean very different work, depending on what needs to be created around it.

Two proposals. Apparently, the same website.

Imagine a small renovation business in Gatineau. Its team also works in Ottawa and wants to replace an ageing website with five pages in French and English. It needs to present its services, show completed projects and receive more specific enquiries.

It approaches two providers. Proposal A costs less than proposal B. Both promise a professional, mobile-friendly website with a contact form.

The owner looks at the two totals. Why pay more for five pages?

Reading the documents, she notices a difference: with A, copy and photos must arrive ready to use. With B, the provider includes conversations to clarify the offer, write the content, arrange a photo shoot and prepare both language versions.

From here on, we’ll use two fictional proposals, A and B. They don’t represent the providers cited above: they simply help explain what can sit behind two different prices.

The page count is identical. The division of work isn’t. To choose, our owner needs to look at what she already has, what she can supply and what she wants to delegate.

Before the pages, there’s what goes on them

She opens the folder that’s supposed to contain the copy. There’s an old brochure, a few paragraphs copied from the website and a services list that’s no longer quite accurate.

That’s useful information. It isn’t five pages ready to publish.

Someone will need to decide what to keep, ask the missing questions, organize the ideas and write. If A assigns those tasks to the client, its price doesn’t make them disappear: they become time the business needs to set aside, or a service it needs to buy elsewhere.

This is often where a conveniently broad word appears in a quote: “strategy”.

But what does it actually mean?

For this business, it might mean deciding which jobs it wants more of, what prospective clients need to feel confident, and what a quote request should help the team understand from the outset.

If the quote simply says “strategy”, ask what that stage will actually produce: a website structure, priority messages, a contact journey, something else?

Those decisions may even change the five pages originally requested. Is one page covering all services enough? Should residential and commercial renovations be explained separately? The page count should follow what the visitor needs to understand.

Then comes the photo folder. The business has plenty of images, but some show unfinished job sites or projects it no longer wants to feature.

A shoot isn’t automatically necessary. A good selection of existing images may be enough. If new photos are planned, the quote should specify which ones, the preparation, the shoot and retouching. Art direction here means deciding what to show and how, so the images support the copy and the business’s identity.

Finally, “bilingual” needs a few clarifications too. Who prepares the English? Who approves it? Who enters and checks both versions, right down to buttons and form messages? And does five bilingual pages really mean five pages available in each language?

The design can be shared between versions, but the content still needs work. No automatic percentage replaces a description of that work.

Our owner can now ask a much more useful question: what do I need to give you, in what condition, and by when?

What needs designing, building and bringing across

Proposal A uses an existing template adapted to the business. B includes custom layouts. That explains part of the difference, but doesn’t settle the decision.

If the template presents the offer clearly, fits the identity and supports the necessary uses, it may be suitable. A more tailored design becomes interesting when the structure or project requirements don’t fit it well. “Custom” deserves a question of its own: what will be designed specifically for us?

Design organizes appearance and reading. Development makes the website work and, depending on the solution, lets the team edit it. For our small business, being able to add a project without calling a provider every time may matter more than a spectacular animation.

The form reveals another difference. In A, it sends a name, email address and message. B also asks for the type of work, location and photos.

Is that extra functionality useful? Perhaps, if it avoids repetitive exchanges. But the team needs to check what it will do with the information. Adding fields without a reason can make an enquiry harder. Booking, payments or a connection to another system should address a need specific enough to justify the cost.

And because a website already exists, someone needs to deal with what it leaves behind: content to bring across, documents to keep and page addresses that may change.

For a migration involving URL changes, Google recommends planning the mapping between old and new addresses, then redirects and monitoring. That’s work separate from creating the new pages; it doesn’t guarantee that search results won’t fluctuate. [3]

If one proposal mentions this work and the other says nothing, ask for clarification. A missing line doesn’t prove the work has been forgotten, but you shouldn’t have to guess.

Can the price keep changing after you agree?

Our owner can already imagine a few adjustments along the way. Her business partner will want to review the copy. Perhaps they’ll add another service after all.

Now is the time to look at revisions: how many rounds, at which stages and on which deliverables? Correcting a sentence and adding a new page aren’t the same request. The quote should explain how additions are priced and approved.

Within the business, appointing one person to gather feedback can also prevent the provider from receiving three conflicting instructions.

After delivery, other responsibilities begin. The domain needs renewing. Hosting keeps the website available online. Depending on the tools, there may be subscriptions, backups and technical updates.

Maintenance may cover some of these tasks. It doesn’t necessarily include changing your copy, adding pages or an immediate response if something goes wrong.

Ask for the creation total, then the expected recurring fees and what they cover. Check which access credentials you’ll receive, what you’ll be able to change and the terms for leaving. A small monthly payment deserves to be understood as carefully as a larger upfront sum.

When the less expensive option is enough

Back to our two proposals. Suppose the business already has a consistent identity, suitable photos and finished copy in both languages. Its needs are simple, the standard form works and someone can manage routine updates.

In that situation, A may be a very reasonable choice. B’s extra support may not address any current gap.

Conversely, if content needs building, the offer is difficult to explain and nobody is available to coordinate it all, B may cover necessary work. That work still needs to be described, and the business needs to understand what it will receive.

A higher price isn’t proof of quality. A lower price doesn’t automatically mean sacrificing the essentials. Look at relevant work, ask how the project will run and check whether it fits your needs.

You can also reduce the scope. Online booking can wait if appointments still need a phone conversation. A full project library can follow a smaller, well-presented selection. Just ask what those later additions would cost and what needs planning now.

The budget becomes a matter of priorities, rather than an attempt to guess which number looks most credible.

A simple way to compare quotes

For each item, use four labels: included and described, supplied by the client, priced option, needs clarification. If something is explicitly excluded and you don’t need it, note that separately: there’s no reason to buy it on principle.

Here’s what our fictional comparison might look like after reading the proposals:

This table doesn’t name a winner. It makes responsibilities, options and remaining questions visible. In a real comparison, break items down further wherever their conditions differ.

You can then decide that A is enough, that B justifies the difference, that some options can wait — or that both proposals still need explaining.

Before requesting a quote, gather a few things:

• The website’s purpose: what visitors need to understand and be able to do.
• Available content: copy, photos, identity and language versions already prepared.
• Essential functions: their practical purpose, followed by wishes that can wait.
• Existing assets to bring across: website, domain, documents and connected tools.
• Your constraints: budget, real deadline, person responsible for approvals and internal availability.

You don’t need to design the website before discussing it. You need to make visible the decisions already made and those you need help with.

If you’d like to understand how Maison OF KIND approaches these different elements, our Expertise page introduces our web and creative work. Whoever your provider is, you should be able to explain what you’re buying — and what will remain in your hands.