How Much Does a Website Cost? The Complete 2026 Pricing Guide

If you’ve asked for two or three quotes for a website, you’ve probably received figures that are miles apart. That’s normal, and you’re not the only one who feels confused. In Italy in 2026, a website costs anywhere from €2,500 for a professional brochure website to €20,000 for a complex e-commerce store. The range is wide because the price depends on a few concrete things: how many features you need, how custom the design is and how much development time it takes.

In this guide we explain, item by item, what you’re really paying for when a quote lands in your inbox. No numbers pulled out of thin air: real ranges, what they include and how to tell an honest quote from an inflated one.

What factors determine the price of a website?

The price of building a business website depends mainly on how many hours of work it takes. An hour of skilled development in Italy costs on average between €50 and €80, and everything else builds on that. The features you need account for a large share of the total: a five-page static brochure website takes 25-35 hours, while an e-commerce store with around a hundred products takes 120-180.

What we often see is clients looking only at the final number without understanding what it’s made of. That’s exactly where surprises come from. A serious quote is broken down by item: design, development, content, SEO, setup. If you’re given a single number with no breakdown, you’re not buying transparency.

Website type and complexity

Websites fall into four categories with fairly distinct price ranges. A brochure website costs €2,500-4,500, a business website with a CMS and blog €4,500-9,000, a custom website with advanced features €9,000-20,000, and an e-commerce store starts at €4,500 and goes up depending on the catalog. Technical complexity directly affects timelines: integrating business management software adds days of work, as do multiple payment systems or private areas.

Custom design or template?

A custom design costs more than a template, but it’s what sets you apart from your competitors. Premium templates sell for a few dozen euros, but they still take hours to adapt and risk making you look like dozens of other websites in your area. A custom design takes more work on graphics and front-end development, and in our experience it’s what pays off most when your website needs to convey authority. If you just want a minimal online presence, a template may be enough. If your website needs to sell, invest in custom.

How much does a brochure website for a small business cost?

A professional brochure website costs between €2,500 and €4,500, with delivery in 4-6 weeks. It includes five to ten pages, a contact form, a map, basic SEO and a responsive design. If someone offers you something for under €1,500, you’re almost always paying for a template set up in two days: it works, but it doesn’t set you apart and it rarely brings in leads.

For a small local business, a well-made brochure website is often the first digital investment that makes sense. If you want a detailed look at local costs and timelines, we cover the topic in our guide to website development in Pistoia.

What a brochure website includes

The typical package includes a home page, an about us page, services, contact and a privacy policy. An SSL certificate is included, along with a mobile-optimized design and content management through WordPress, so you can edit text and images yourself. If you’re looking for a web agency in Pistoia, this is the minimum you should expect. A good agency will also give you a short training session so you can manage the website on your own after delivery.

How much should you invest in a full business website?

A professional business website requires an investment of €4,500-9,000 for more advanced features: a blog for SEO, a private client area, a product catalog, and integrations with the systems you already use. This is the range most established small businesses fall into, and the one where the return on investment shows within 6-12 months through qualified leads and less manual sales work.

Essential features for a business

A client area with login, document downloads, order history and digital invoices are now standard. A company blog with solid SEO, automated newsletters and detailed analytics complete the picture and, over time, grow organic traffic in a tangible way. You don’t need everything right away: start with the essentials and add what you really need.

E-commerce: investment and return

A professional e-commerce store costs from €4,500 for a basic shop up to €20,000 and more for large catalogs with integrations. What makes the difference is the number of products, inventory sync, automated electronic invoicing and payment methods. On top of these costs, you always need a promotion budget: an online store without traffic is a shop window with the lights off.

If you’re seriously considering selling online, take a look at our guide to e-commerce costs, with detailed price ranges and timelines.

Maintenance: the cost almost everyone forgets

A website isn’t a painting you hang on the wall and forget about. WordPress is updated every few months, plugins get security patches, backups need managing and certificates need renewing. Without a maintenance contract, a website deteriorates within 18-24 months: it becomes slow, vulnerable and sometimes unreachable.

With us, hosting and technical maintenance (updates, backups, security and monitoring) start at €300 per year, even for an e-commerce store: the price only goes up for dedicated servers or special projects. Blogging and ongoing SEO are a separate service. It’s a cost to factor in from day one, not one to discover later. Budgeting for maintenance is the difference between a website that brings in customers for years and one that slowly dies.

How to get an accurate quote for your project

An accurate quote requires an honest analysis of your goals, audience and the features you need. The most common mistake we see is underestimating your own needs: you start with a minimal idea and keep adding things along the way, driving up costs. That’s why it pays to define the project clearly up front.

Useful information for your quote

Number of pages, specific features, integrations with existing software and design preferences are the starting point. Budget and timeline help choose the right approach. A few examples of websites you like (competitors’ included) and your business goals also make the quote much more precise. The clearer you are at the start, the fewer surprises on the invoice at the end.

In short

• In 2026, a website costs from €2,500 for a professional brochure website up to €20,000 and more for complex e-commerce stores; the €4,500-9,000 range is the most sustainable for small businesses.
• The price depends mainly on hours of work: €50-80/hour in Italy, multiplied by the features you need.
• Below €1,500 you’ll almost always find ready-made templates with no customization or SEO: you often end up rebuilding the website within 18 months.
• Hosting and maintenance (from €300 per year) should be budgeted from the start, not discovered later: without them, a website deteriorates within 18-24 months.
• An itemized quote and a clear brief drastically reduce cost changes and delays.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to maintain a website per year?

With us, hosting and maintenance start at €300 per year, even for an e-commerce store, and the price only goes up for dedicated servers or special projects; blogging and ongoing SEO are a separate service. It covers security updates, automatic backups, monitoring and minor fixes. It’s an essential expense: a website that’s left untouched loses Google rankings and becomes vulnerable.

Is WordPress or custom development better?

WordPress is the ideal choice for most small businesses: you manage your own content, it’s highly flexible and costs are predictable. Fully custom development makes sense for very complex e-commerce stores or specific integrations that WordPress doesn’t handle well, usually on projects above €9,000-10,000. For most businesses, WordPress done right is more than enough.

How long does it take to build a website?

A brochure website takes 4-6 weeks, a business website with a CMS 8-12 weeks, an e-commerce store 8-16 weeks. Timelines depend heavily on how quickly you provide content, copy and photos: the bottleneck is often not development but preparing the material. Having everything ready in advance shortens the timeline considerably.

Does the website include SEO?

Basic technical SEO is always included in a job done right: speed, mobile-friendly structure, meta tags and a proper content hierarchy. Advanced SEO, with in-depth keyword research, content strategy and link building, is a separate ongoing service starting at a few hundred euros a month. Be wary of anyone who never mentions SEO: it’s a red flag.

Can I edit the website after it’s delivered?

Yes. From the WordPress dashboard you can edit text, images and content yourself, after a short training session that a good agency includes. Major structural or design changes require technical work, usually billed by the hour (€50-80/hour). Make sure the code, domain and hosting are registered in your name, so you’re always free to switch providers.