Ask five people what a website costs in India and you'll hear five answers, from "₹3,000 on Instagram" to "₹5 lakh from an agency". Both can be true, because "a website" can mean very different things. This guide explains what each budget realistically gets you, what pushes the price up, and the running costs that most quotes quietly leave out.
We publish our own prices, so we'll use them as reference points throughout. Other studios and freelancers price differently. The point isn't that our numbers are the only right ones; it's that you can see what's included at each level and compare like with like.
The short answer
For a small business, a properly built website typically starts somewhere between ₹10,000 and ₹50,000. Online stores and sites with custom features start higher, and web applications are priced by scope. Here are our published starting prices as of October 2026:
| What you need | Starting from | Typically includes |
|---|---|---|
| A single landing page | ₹9,999+ | One focused page for a campaign, launch or event |
| A starter website | ₹14,999+ | Up to 5 pages, a template-based layout customised to your brand, contact form, WhatsApp button, 2 rounds of design revisions |
| A custom business website | ₹34,999+ | 8–10 pages, custom design, a CMS you can edit yourself, Google Business Profile, analytics and contact buttons |
| A website that does real work | ₹59,999+ | Up to 12 pages, custom UI/UX, blog, one integration (bookings, a CRM or an API), event tracking |
| An online store | ₹69,999+ | A Shopify or WooCommerce store with up to 50 products, payments, shipping and GST set up |
| An advanced custom website | ₹1,25,000+ | Complex structure, custom functionality and integrations |
| A web application or platform | Scoped and quoted | Portals, dashboards and products, planned in a consultation first |
Prices in India are usually quoted exclusive of GST, so check whether a quote includes it. Ours don't; GST is added where applicable.
What actually drives the price
Two websites with the same number of pages can differ in price by several times. These are the factors that make the difference.
Template or custom design
A good template, customised with your brand colours, fonts and content, is the fastest and most affordable route, and it's the right choice for many first websites. A custom design is planned around your business: the structure of each page, how visitors move towards an enquiry, and a look that doesn't resemble a thousand other sites. That planning and design work is where much of the extra cost goes.
Who will update it
If you'll change prices, add blog posts or swap photos yourself, the site needs a content management system (CMS) that's set up properly for you, not just installed. If updates are rare, a simpler site that your developer edits can cost less upfront.
What it has to do
Online payments, appointment booking, a member login, a CRM connection, multiple languages or a product catalogue each add design, development and testing time. They're often worth it, because they save you hours every week, but they're the biggest single cause of quotes growing.
Content
Someone has to write the text and supply the photos. If you provide them, the price stays lower. If you need copywriting, photography or illustrations, budget for them separately and ask whether they're included.
Who builds it
A freelancer is often the most affordable and can do excellent work, but you depend on one person's availability. A large agency brings more people and process, with overheads to match. A small studio sits in between. Whichever you choose, the questions in the checklist below matter more than the label.
The running costs most quotes leave out
The build is a one-time cost. A website also has ongoing costs, and it's better to know them before you start than to discover them in month three.
- Domain name. A yearly renewal fee. The price depends on the extension (.com, .in and so on) and the registrar, and first-year offers often renew at a higher rate.
- Hosting. From low-cost shared plans to managed cloud hosting. Cheap hosting is fine for a simple site but can slow down or go offline as traffic grows.
- Maintenance. Security updates, backups, uptime monitoring and small content changes. Our managed hosting and maintenance plans, Caelinex Care, start at ₹2,499+ a month. Whoever you work with, make sure someone is responsible for this.
- Third-party tools. Premium themes, plugins, Shopify apps, booking software or paid APIs often have their own subscriptions.
- Business email. Addresses like you@yourbusiness.com usually come from a separate email provider, priced per user.
- Marketing. A website doesn't bring visitors on its own. Ongoing SEO typically costs a monthly retainer (our local SEO starts at ₹12,000–₹20,000 a month), and advertising budgets are paid to Google or Meta on top of any management fee.
Why the cheapest quote can cost more
Very low-priced offers aren't always bad, but check what's behind them. Common catches include a domain registered in the developer's name instead of yours, hosting you can't move away from, a site you can't edit without paying again, no backups, and pages that load slowly on mobile, which is where most of your visitors will be. Fixing these later usually costs more than doing them right the first time.
A checklist before you hire anyone
- Is there a written scope that lists the pages, features and number of design revisions?
- Will the domain, hosting account and code be in your name, and handed over when you pay?
- Can you review the site on a staging link before it goes live?
- What happens after launch: who fixes bugs, and for how long, at no extra cost?
- What will it cost each year to keep the site running, including domain, hosting and maintenance?
- Is basic SEO, such as titles, descriptions, a sitemap and Google Search Console, included?
- How fast does their previous work load on a phone? Try it yourself.
What we'd recommend at each stage
- Just getting started: a well-made starter site or landing page with a clear way to contact you. Spend the rest of your budget on content and getting found.
- An established local business: a custom business website with a CMS, Google Business Profile and analytics set up, so you can see where enquiries come from.
- Selling online: an e-commerce build on a proven platform, unless your products or checkout genuinely need something custom.
- A product or platform idea: start with a scoping session, not a fixed package. The right first version is usually smaller than the full vision.
If you'd like a number for your own project, send us a few lines about what you need. We'll reply with a written scope and an itemised quote, and you can see all our starting prices on the pricing page.