Every quote you receive will be a different number for what sounds like the same thing, because the scope underneath is different and nobody itemises it. This page publishes the bands, the recurring costs that never appear in a proposal, and — the part that actually decides whether a quote is good — what each tier does not include.
Why quotes differ so wildly
Ask three agencies for a business website and you will get ₹8,000, ₹45,000 and ₹3,00,000. None of them is necessarily wrong. The ₹8,000 quote is usually a bought theme with your text pasted in, no content work, and no ownership of the hosting account. The ₹45,000 quote is a built site with structured content, on-page SEO and analytics. The ₹3,00,000 quote includes strategy, custom design, photography and a maintenance retainer.
What makes comparison impossible is that all three say "website design". The variables that actually move the number are page count, whether copy is written for you or supplied by you, whether the design is bespoke or templated, whether the build is bespoke or a page builder, whether ecommerce or booking logic is involved, and whether anyone is accountable after launch.
So the useful question is not what a website costs. It is what a given quote excludes — and that is the column missing from every pricing page we have read, which is why it is on this one.
The bands
| Website type | Market band | Our price | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-page / brochure One page, who you are, what you do, contact | ₹5,000 – ₹25,000 | ₹9,999 | 7 working days |
| Multi-page business site 4–8 pages, service pages, enquiry forms | ₹20,000 – ₹80,000 | ₹19,999 | 14 working days |
| Ecommerce store Catalogue, payments, COD, GST invoicing | ₹35,000 – ₹2,50,000 | ₹34,999 | 3–6 weeks |
| Large catalogue store 250+ SKUs, filters, logistics integration | ₹75,000 – ₹5,00,000 | ₹59,999 | 5–8 weeks |
| Custom web application Logins, dashboards, workflow, integrations | ₹2,00,000 upward | Quoted | 12 weeks upward |
| Landing page Single-purpose page for an ad campaign | ₹5,000 – ₹30,000 | ₹9,999 | 7 working days |
The missing column
| Tier | Normally included | Normally excluded |
|---|---|---|
| Brochure site | Design, build, mobile layout, contact form, basic on-page SEO, SSL | Copywriting, photography, logo design, ongoing changes, paid stock images |
| Multi-page site | Everything above, plus service pages, structured data, analytics setup | Content strategy, professional photography, ongoing SEO, monthly maintenance |
| Ecommerce | Everything above, plus catalogue setup, payment gateway, COD rules, GST invoicing | Product photography, product descriptions, gateway charges, platform subscription, apps |
| Large catalogue | Everything above, plus filters, logistics integration, performance tuning | Data entry beyond an agreed count, ERP integration, ongoing catalogue management |
| Custom application | Scoping, architecture, build, testing, deployment | Third-party licences, cloud infrastructure, post-launch engineering, SLA support |
The part nobody quotes
| Item | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | ₹800 – ₹1,500 / year | Cheaper for .in than .com. Renewal often costs more than year one |
| Shared hosting | ₹2,500 – ₹8,000 / year | Adequate for a brochure or small business site |
| Managed WordPress hosting | ₹2,000 – ₹8,000 / month | Needed once you run WooCommerce or meaningful traffic |
| SSL certificate | ₹0 | Let's Encrypt is free and standard. Being charged for basic SSL is a warning sign |
| Hosted platform subscription | ₹2,000 – ₹7,500 / month | Shopify and similar. Check current rates for your plan |
| Payment gateway | ~2% per transaction | Deducted at settlement by Razorpay, PayU or similar |
| Business email | ₹1,500 – ₹6,000 / user / year | Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 |
| Maintenance retainer | ₹1,500 – ₹10,000 / month | Optional on static sites, effectively mandatory on WooCommerce |
| Paid apps and plugins | ₹0 – ₹5,000 / month | Ecommerce accumulates these fastest. Audit annually |
The cheap end
The problem with the cheapest tier is rarely the design. It is ownership and accountability. The recurring pattern we see when clients bring us a site to rescue: the domain is registered in the developer's name rather than the business's, hosting sits in an account nobody has the password to, there is no backup, and the person who built it stopped replying eleven months ago.
The second pattern is a page builder loaded with plugins, producing a page weighing several megabytes that takes eight seconds to load on mobile data. It looks acceptable on the developer's laptop and loses a meaningful share of visitors in a tier-2 town before anything renders.
Neither is an argument for spending ₹3,00,000. It is an argument for three specific questions on any quote at any price. In whose name is the domain registered? Who holds the hosting login? And what happens if I want a change in month seven — is that included, chargeable, or are you gone?
Our own answer, stated so you can hold us to it: domain, hosting and SSL are registered in your business name, you receive every credential at handover, and you can move the site to another provider without asking us.
What moves the number
The single biggest swing factor. A build where you supply finished text is materially cheaper and faster than one where the agency researches, interviews and drafts. Most delays we see are content delays, not development delays.
Ten pages using three templates costs far less than ten individually designed pages. Ask how many distinct templates a quote covers, not how many pages — that is where scope quietly expands later.
A catalogue is not the expensive part. Payment gateway setup, COD and pincode rules, GST invoicing, shipping rate logic and returns handling are, and each is genuinely necessary in India.
Connecting to an ERP, a clinic management system, a booking engine or a CRM depends entirely on what that system exposes. A good agency scopes this separately rather than folding it into a headline price.
A quote that includes handover of every account, documented credentials and the ability to leave is worth more than a cheaper one that does not. This costs the agency nothing and is the clearest signal of how they intend to keep you.
Our pricing
Fixed price agreed before work starts. No hourly billing, no scope surprises, and the exclusions in writing.
All prices in INR, exclusive of GST. Recurring costs above are billed to you by those vendors directly and are never marked up by us.
Common questions
For most small businesses, ₹10,000 to ₹20,000 buys a genuinely adequate site — a few pages, mobile-first, an enquiry route and correct technical foundations. Below ₹8,000 you are usually buying a template with no content work and no accountability. Above ₹50,000 you should be receiving copywriting, custom design or ecommerce logic, and the proposal should say which.
Because the scope underneath differs and nobody itemises it. The cheap quote typically excludes copywriting, excludes any content strategy, uses a bought theme, and leaves the domain in the developer's name. The higher quote usually includes written content, structured data, analytics and handover of every account. Compare exclusions, not headline prices.
Domain at ₹800 to ₹1,500 a year and hosting from ₹2,500 a year for a simple site. SSL should be free. If you run ecommerce, add roughly 2% per transaction in gateway charges, a platform subscription if hosted, and any paid apps. Maintenance is optional on a static site and effectively mandatory on WooCommerce.
No. Let's Encrypt provides certificates free and it is the standard across the industry. Being charged a recurring fee for basic SSL is a reliable indicator that other line items on the same invoice deserve scrutiny. Paid certificates exist for specific enterprise cases, but a business website is not one of them.
Seven working days for a single page, around fourteen for a multi-page business site, and three to six weeks for ecommerce. If a quote promises a multi-page site in two days, something is being skipped. If it stretches past two months without ecommerce or custom logic, the delay is usually content — which is your side to unblock.
In cash, yes — a DIY builder runs a few hundred rupees a month. The real cost is your time and the outcome. Most self-built sites we are asked to replace fail on the same things: slow on mobile data, no structured content, no analytics, and no clear enquiry route. If your time is worth more than about ₹15,000 in total, the arithmetic usually favours paying.
Content updates within the agreed scope during the build are included. After handover, you own every account and can make changes yourself, hire anyone, or ask us. We quote small changes at a stated rate rather than requiring a retainer. The important part is that nothing technically prevents you from leaving.
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