Almost anyone who wanted to create their site was puzzled over the question: how much money do I need for a website? The answer is not short nor simple. There are many options, features, and nuances for both the client and the programmer.
However, we will tell you the approximate expenses and all the possible options for creating an e-commerce site.
Contents
Essential Tools We Need
Conceptually, a website only needs a few elements.
- Web Hosting
Your website should be available 24/7 and visible by search engines and people worldwide. That means you need to host the application on a web server.
These are the most common types of web hosting services:
- VPS hosting
- Dedicated hosting
- Shared hosting.
- Cloud hosting
Depending on the hosting type, you’ll have to spend anywhere from $2-3 a year to $100-1000 a month.
- Domain Name
It is your address on the Web and your product’s name. We advise having a short and clear domain name with the name of the brand or company – for example, “bestdomain.com”.
Each domain name needs to be registered, and the price depends on the regulator you choose.
The price depends on the domain level and the regulator.
On average, it is between $0.99 and $12 per year for a domain name.
- UI and Design
The software, hosting, and domain name are important, but one of the main factors is design.
It’s the first thing visitors will notice. And if everything is done well, a lovely design will help turn visitors into regular customers.
In general, the cost of design is difficult to calculate. You can buy a ready-made layout for a few dozens or hundreds of dollars, accepting that your site will not be unique, or you can find e-commerce outsourcing services to hire professionals.
Overall, the expenses will range from $20 (template) to $2,000+.
Builder, CMS, Framework
So, let’s move on to the main stage: creating the logic of a website, its core.
- Site Builder
Subscription. It will cost an average of $6 to $50 per month.
Domain name. On average, between $0.99 and $12 a year.
Additional applications. To make your site more elegant, be prepared to pay somewhere between $3 and $60 per month.
So, when calculating your budget, the price will be between $10 and $110 per month, depending on the website builder you choose.
Unfortunately, for large e-commerce projects, an application made with a website builder will not work.
- CMS
There are a huge number of different CMS, let’s see a few of the most popular:
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Joomla
- Magento
- Shopify
- OpenCart
Here’s what you usually need to budget for:
Hosting. Count on paying between $3 and $50 per month.
Domain name. As mentioned, it can cost $0.99-$12 per year.
Premium plugins. Some plugins are free, but they can also get over $100 per month.
- Development from scratch
Unlike the previous options, a self-written website offers endless possibilities.
Hosting. As with WordPress, Magento, and others, hosting costs $3 to $50 per month.
Design and layout. The price of this important work can start at $20 for a template and $1,000 for a custom design.
Website development. Depending on the complexity of the project, the price can be from $500 to tens of thousands. The developer’s services can be expensive. But you can always outsource, greatly reducing the total cost, with no loss in quality, because programmers from Ukraine or India are no worse than those from Canada or the USA, while your expenses will be lower since those are the best countries to outsource development.
So, how much does it cost to create a website?
- An application made with a website builder can cost anywhere from $5 to $200 per month.
- A CMS-based solution can range from $3 to $150 per month.
- Creating a full-fledged e-commerce site can start from $2000.
