Asking "how much does a website cost?" is like asking how much a vehicle costs. A scooter and a delivery truck are both vehicles. A five-page website for a clinic and an online store with thousands of products are both websites, and their prices differ for good reasons.
The five things that decide the price
- Number of pages. A focused 5-page site costs far less than a 40-page site with separate pages for every service and city.
- Custom design or template. A custom design built around your brand takes more time than adjusting a ready-made theme.
- Features. Online payments, bookings, customer logins, multiple languages and integrations each add development and testing time.
- Content. If you provide text and photos, the cost is lower. Professional copywriting and photography add to it.
- SEO and speed work. A site built properly for Google, with clean structure, fast pages and schema markup, takes more care than one that only looks nice.
What to expect at each level
Starter business website
For most local businesses (clinics, salons, consultants, shops), a well-built site of around 5 pages is enough to look professional and start getting enquiries. At Krib Digital this starts at ₹5,000 + GST and includes mobile-first design, basic on-page SEO, an enquiry form, WhatsApp and call buttons, Google Maps and Search Console setup.
Business website with more pages
Growing companies often need separate service pages, a blog, location pages and a content editor so their team can update the site. These are quoted on the number of pages and features.
E-commerce store
Online stores need product management, payment gateways (UPI, cards, net banking), GST invoices, shipping and more testing. The price depends heavily on product count and custom features.
Custom web application
Portals, booking systems and SaaS products are software projects. They are usually scoped after a requirement study and paid in milestones.
Yearly costs to plan for
A website also has running costs. Budget for these every year:
- Domain name such as yourbusiness.in or .com, renewed every year.
- Hosting to keep the site online, usually billed yearly.
- Business email addresses on your domain, if you need them.
- Maintenance for updates, backups and small changes, especially for WordPress and e-commerce sites.
Red flags in a cheap quote
- The domain is registered in the agency's name instead of yours.
- No mention of mobile testing, SSL or backups.
- "Guaranteed first page on Google" promises.
- No written scope, so extra charges appear later.
Our advice
Start with a site that is fast, clear and built properly for Google, then add features as your business grows. Paying a little more for a site that brings enquiries is cheaper than paying twice for one that doesn't.