How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? Prices, Models & Tips
One of the most common questions we get as a digital agency: How much does a professional website cost? The answer depends on many factors — but we make it transparent. In this comprehensive guide, we compare all common pricing models, uncover hidden costs and show you how to make the best use of your budget.
The website market in 2026 in figures
Before we talk about prices, it is worth taking a look at the current market. According to Statista, there are more than 1.9 billion websites worldwide, of which only around 400 million are actively maintained (Source: Statista, 2025). In Germany, according to a 2024 Bitkom study, around 70% of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have their own website. But that also means: almost a third of German SMEs still have no online presence — an enormous potential.
At the same time, the demands placed on websites keep rising. Since 2021, Google has used the Core Web Vitals to assess user experience as a ranking factor. According to a Google study, 53% of mobile users leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load (Source: Google/SOASTA Research, 2017 — still cited in current Google guidelines). A slow or poorly designed website therefore costs you hard cash.
The most important pricing models at a glance
1. Website builders (Wix, Jimdo, Squarespace)
Cost: €10–50/month
Website builders are the easiest way into the world of websites. Using drag-and-drop, you create your site without any programming knowledge. Providers such as Wix, Jimdo or Squarespace offer various plans, ranging from free (with ads and a subdomain) to business packages at around €40–50/month.
Who it suits: Sole traders who need a digital business card. Clubs and associations, hobby projects or freelancers with a very limited budget.
Limitations:
- Limited SEO options — according to a study by Ahrefs (2023), websites built with site builders rank significantly worse on average than custom-developed sites
- Design restrictions due to ready-made templates
- No full control over the code
- Vendor lock-in: switching to another system is often difficult or even impossible
- Performance losses due to generic code and unnecessary features
2. WordPress with a theme
Cost: €50–150/month (hosting + plugins) or €2,000–8,000 one-off for agency development
According to W3Techs, WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world — around 43% of all websites are based on it (Source: W3Techs, 2025). The open-source system offers more than 60,000 plugins and thousands of themes. The barrier to entry is low, but the running costs are often underestimated.
Typical cost breakdown for WordPress:
- Hosting: €5–30/month (shared hosting) or €30–100/month (managed WordPress hosting)
- Premium theme: €50–200 one-off
- Premium plugins (e.g. Elementor Pro, Yoast Premium, WooCommerce extensions): €100–500/year
- SSL certificate: now free with many hosts (Let's Encrypt), €50–150/year extra with some
- Regular updates and maintenance: €50–200/month with an agency
Who it suits: Blogs, content-heavy sites, small online shops (WooCommerce). Businesses that prefer a wide choice of ready-made solutions.
3. Freelancer development
Cost: €1,500–10,000 one-off, depending on scope
An experienced freelancer can develop a custom website at lower hourly rates than an agency. According to the 2024 Freelancer-Kompass by freelancermap, hourly rates for web developers in Germany range between €75 and €120/hour.
Advantages: A personal point of contact, often cheaper than agencies, flexible collaboration.
Disadvantages: Dependence on a single person (holidays, illness, workload), no cover, often no ongoing support.
4. Agency development (traditional)
Cost: €5,000–50,000 one-off, plus €100–500/month for maintenance
Traditional agencies offer a full service — from concept, design and development through to launch. According to the BVDW agency remuneration study, hourly rates range between €100 and €180/hour. A medium-sized project with 10 subpages, a custom design and CMS integration can easily take 80–200 agency hours.
Who it suits: Businesses with a large budget, complex requirements and a desire for an established structure with project management.
5. Custom development on a subscription model (e.g. Adlegio)
Cost: From €69/month plus a one-off €99 setup fee (Adlegio prices, as of 2026)
A newer approach: tailor-made websites are offered as a service — at a fixed monthly price, including hosting, maintenance, SSL and support. Instead of a large one-off investment, you pay a predictable monthly amount.
Advantages: Predictable costs, professional technology (at Adlegio: Django instead of WordPress), no hidden costs, ongoing updates and support included.
Hidden costs: what many people forget
When planning a website budget, numerous cost items are regularly overlooked. Here are the most common hidden costs:
Domain costs
A .de domain costs around €5–15/year, a .com domain €10–20/year. More specialised endings such as .shop or .io can cost €30–80/year. Some providers lure you in with a free domain for the first year — after which regular prices apply.
Email hosting
Professional email addresses (info@yourcompany.de) cost €1–5 per mailbox/month. With 5 employees, that is €60–300/year — an item many people do not factor in.
SSL certificate
Since Google started treating HTTPS as a ranking factor, an SSL certificate has been a must. With reputable providers (and at Adlegio) it is included. However, some hosts charge €50–150/year extra, especially for extended validation certificates (EV SSL).
Content creation
Texts, photos and videos have to be created or purchased. Professional stock photos cost €5–50 per image, and a copywriter charges €80–150 per page of text. A photo shoot for authentic images costs €500–2,000.
Ongoing maintenance and updates
A major cost factor, especially with WordPress: plugin updates, security patches, PHP updates, backup management. According to a survey by Jeebly (2023), SMEs spend an average of €300–500/year on WordPress maintenance — often considerably more with an agency.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
A website without SEO is like a shop without a sign. Professional SEO costs €300–2,000/month, depending on the competition in your industry. However, basic SEO optimisation should already be taken into account when the website is built.
Comparison table: website builder vs. WordPress vs. custom (Django)
| Criterion | Website builder | WordPress | Custom (Django/Adlegio) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup costs | €0–200 | €2,000–8,000 | From €99 (one-off) |
| Monthly costs | €10–50 | €50–300 | From €69 |
| Costs over 3 years | €360–1,800 | €3,800–18,800 | €2,583 (€99 + 36 × €69) |
| Design flexibility | Low | Medium | High |
| Performance | Medium | Medium | High |
| Security | Medium | Low–medium | High |
| SEO potential | Low–medium | Medium–high | High |
| Scalability | Low | Medium | High |
| Maintenance included | Yes (limited) | No (extra) | Yes (at Adlegio) |
| Ownership of the code | No | Yes | Yes |
Prices: Adlegio prices, as of 2026. Market prices based on industry averages.
ROI calculation: what does a website deliver?
A website is not a cost factor — it is an investment. Let's work through a concrete example:
Scenario: A local trades business with an average order value of €2,000 invests €69/month in its website (€828/year at Adlegio, plus a one-off €99 setup fee).
- The website generates an average of 3 enquiries per month via the contact form
- 30% of these turn into orders (typical industry conversion rate according to HubSpot, 2024)
- That is approx. 1 additional order per month = €2,000/month in revenue
- ROI: €2,000 revenue for a €69 investment = a return on investment of around 2,800%
Even with a more conservative calculation — just 1 enquiry per month that turns into an order — the ROI is well over 1,000%. According to a study by Clutch (2023), 97% of consumers search online for local businesses. If you are not online, you lose customers to the competition.
Common mistakes in budget planning
Mistake 1: Looking only at the initial price
A website builder for €10/month sounds cheap — but after 3 years you have spent €360 and own nothing. The website belongs to the builder provider. If you switch provider, you start from scratch. Always consider the total cost of ownership (TCO) over at least 3 years.
Mistake 2: Saving on design but spending a lot on advertising
According to a Stanford study, 75% of users judge a company's credibility based on its website design (Source: Stanford Web Credibility Research). If you invest €500/month in Google Ads but your website looks unprofessional, you are wasting your advertising budget.
Mistake 3: Not planning for mobile optimisation
According to StatCounter, more than 65% of web traffic in Germany came from mobile devices in 2024 (Source: StatCounter GlobalStats, 2024). A website that does not work flawlessly on a smartphone loses the majority of its visitors.
Mistake 4: Treating SEO as an afterthought
SEO should be built into the website structure from the very beginning — not only after launch. Optimising for SEO retrospectively is considerably more expensive than a search-engine-friendly architecture from the start.
Mistake 5: Having no maintenance plan
A website without maintenance is like a car without oil changes. Security vulnerabilities, outdated content and technical errors damage your Google ranking and your reputation. According to Sucuri, more than 4.4% of all scanned WordPress sites were identified as compromised in 2023 (Source: Sucuri Website Threat Research Report, 2023).
Adlegio: transparent and fair
At Adlegio, we have deliberately chosen a transparent monthly model. No large upfront investment, no hidden costs, no surprises. Our websites are developed with Django — one of the most secure and high-performance web frameworks in the world.
| Service | Included in the base price (€69/month) |
|---|---|
| Up to 5 content sections | ✓ |
| Responsive design (desktop, tablet, mobile) | ✓ |
| SSL certificate (HTTPS) | ✓ |
| Hosting & maintenance | ✓ |
| Own CMS (content management) | ✓ |
| Basic SEO optimisation | ✓ |
| GDPR (DSGVO)-compliant implementation | ✓ |
| Regular security updates | ✓ |
| Technical support by email | ✓ |
The minimum term is 3 months; after that, the contract can be cancelled monthly. Additional services such as extended SEO packages, multilingual content or e-commerce features can be added flexibly. (Adlegio prices, as of 2026)
What sets Adlegio apart from other providers?
- Technology: We rely on Django instead of WordPress — which means better performance, greater security and no plugin dependencies.
- Transparency: A fair one-off setup fee from €99, then a fixed monthly price — no hidden costs.
- Flexibility: 3-month minimum term, then cancellable monthly. No restrictive contract.
- All-inclusive: Hosting, SSL, maintenance, updates and support — everything is included in the price.
- Custom development: Every website is developed individually, no recycled templates.
Checklist: how to plan your website budget properly
- Define your goals: What should the website achieve? (Customer acquisition, information portal, online shop)
- Set the scope: How many pages? Which features? (Contact form, blog, booking system)
- Calculate the TCO: Consider not just the initial price, but the total cost over 3 years
- Plan for hidden costs: Domain, email, SSL, content creation, maintenance
- Compare providers: Get at least 3 quotes and compare the services carefully
- Define your ROI expectations: How many customers should the website generate per month?
- Take running costs into account: Maintenance, SEO, content updates
- Check scalability: Can the website grow with your business?
Conclusion: what is the right investment?
The right website is an investment in your digital visibility — and therefore in the future of your business. Whether website builder, WordPress or custom development: what matters is not the lowest price, but the best value for money over the entire lifetime.
Our recommendation: pay attention to running costs, maintenance, security and scalability — not just the initial price. A professional website that is maintained regularly will bring in more customers in the long term than any one-off advertising campaign.
With a subscription model like Adlegio's, you get a professional, custom-developed, enterprise-grade website — at a price that works for any budget. From €69/month. One-off setup from €99. No hidden costs. Cancellable monthly after 3 months.
Do you have questions about your website project? Contact us for a free initial consultation.