The short answer
A simple five-to-eight page business website built from a template costs roughly ₹15,000 to ₹60,000 with a freelancer. A custom-designed marketing site with a content system usually runs ₹1.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh with a small studio. Online stores and booking portals start higher, because they are software as much as websites.
Then there are yearly costs — domain, hosting, email and upkeep — that are small but easy to forget. This guide covers both, and the questions to ask before you pay anyone.
Ballpark costs by type of website
| Type of site | What you get | Freelancer | Small studio | Larger agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template business site | 5–8 pages on a theme, contact form, map | ₹15,000–60,000 | ₹50,000–1.5 lakh | Rarely offered |
| Custom marketing site | Own design, CMS, blog, basic SEO setup | ₹60,000–2 lakh | ₹1.5–5 lakh | ₹5–12 lakh |
| Online store on a hosted platform | Theme setup, catalogue, payments, shipping | ₹50,000–1.5 lakh | ₹1.5–4 lakh | ₹4–10 lakh |
| Custom online store | Own design and checkout, inventory, GST invoices | ₹3–6 lakh | ₹5–20 lakh | ₹20 lakh+ |
| Booking or portal site | Slots, accounts, payments, an admin dashboard | ₹2–5 lakh | ₹5–25 lakh | ₹25 lakh+ |
Ranges vary by city, by how much content you provide, and by how many rounds of changes are included. Use them to sense-check quotes, not as a fixed price list.
What you are actually paying for
Two quotes for “a website” can differ by ten times because they describe different amounts of work. Break any quote into these parts.
- Strategy and structure. Who the site is for, what each page must do, and how people move from landing to enquiry.
- Design. A template theme with your logo, or a design made for your brand. Custom design costs more but makes a small business look established.
- Copy. Words that explain what you do in one line. Many sites fail here, not on code.
- Build. Turning design into fast pages that work on a ₹10,000 Android phone on a 4G connection.
- Content system. So your team can update menus, prices, blog posts and photos without calling a developer.
- SEO and speed setup. Page titles, descriptions, a sitemap, structured data, image compression and Google Business Profile linking.
- Integrations. Payment gateway, WhatsApp chat button, booking calendar, CRM or accounting software.
Our business website page shows how we approach each of these, with examples like the Crumbloom bakery and the Moviva physiotherapy clinic concepts.
Template or custom design?
A template is a sensible start for a new local business with a small budget. It is quick, cheap and good enough to show opening hours, services and a phone number.
Custom design earns its cost when the website has to sell — when customers compare you with three others before they call, when you take orders or bookings online, or when you are raising money and the site is the first thing an investor sees. It also matters when your brand needs to feel premium: jewellery, interiors, clinics, schools and D2C products all fall here.
A middle path is a custom design built on a well-supported platform, so you get a site that looks like yours without paying for a fully bespoke backend.
Online stores: the extra costs
An ecommerce website has costs a brochure site does not.
- Payment gateway fees. Charged per transaction. Card payments commonly cost around 2%; UPI is often cheaper or free depending on your gateway and plan. Check current rates.
- Platform subscription. Hosted store platforms charge monthly, sometimes plus a share of each sale.
- Shipping and COD. Many Indian customers still prefer cash on delivery. Courier integration and COD reconciliation add work.
- GST invoices. Every order needs a correct tax invoice, and B2B buyers will ask for their GSTIN on it.
- Product content. Photos, sizes, variants and descriptions for every item.
Concepts like Brewmont (coffee) and Glowcart (beauty) show the difference a designed checkout and catalogue make compared with a default theme.
Yearly costs after launch
| Item | Typical yearly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain (.in or .com) | ₹700–1,500 | Renew on time; an expired domain can be bought by someone else |
| Hosting | ₹3,000–30,000 | Static and small sites sit at the low end; stores and portals higher |
| SSL certificate | Often free | Most good hosts include it |
| Business email | ₹1,500–3,000 per user | Worth it over a free address for trust |
| Maintenance and updates | 10–20% of build cost | Security patches, plugin updates, small content changes |
Speed matters more than you think
A large share of your visitors will open your site on a mid-range Android phone, often on a mobile network that drops to a weaker signal inside shops, lifts and metro stations. A site that looks beautiful on a designer's laptop can take ten seconds to appear on that phone. Many people leave before then.
Speed is also part of how search engines judge a page. A slow site is harder to rank, whatever its content. When you compare quotes, ask how the team keeps pages fast.
- Images sized and compressed for phones, not uploaded straight from a camera.
- Few heavy scripts. Every chat widget, tracking tag and animation library adds weight.
- Pages built ahead of time where possible, so the server sends ready-made HTML rather than building each page on request.
- Fonts loaded carefully, so text appears immediately instead of after a blank pause.
- Tested on a real phone, not only in a desktop browser's mobile view.
Ask to see a page from the team's past work load on your own phone, on mobile data, before you sign. It tells you more than any portfolio slide.
Red flags in a website quote
- The domain is registered in the developer's name. It should be in yours, from day one.
- No mention of who owns the code and design files. Ask in writing.
- “Guaranteed first page on Google.” No one can promise that. Good structure and content help; rankings are earned over time.
- Unlimited revisions for a very low price. Usually means revisions are slow, or the scope is vague.
- No mobile testing. Most Indian visitors arrive on a phone. Ask to see the site on a mid-range Android before you sign off.
- Hosting locked to the developer. You should be able to move hosts without rebuilding.
How to brief a website so quotes are comparable
Write one page: what your business does, who your customers are, the five or six pages you need, what visitors should do (call, WhatsApp, book, buy), the sites you like and why, and any systems it must connect to. Send the same brief to everyone you ask for a quote.
If you also want to show up for searches in your city, read local SEO for Indian businesses. If you are deciding between a website and an app, read website, app or both?. When you are ready, send us a brief — we reply with a fixed quote within 48 hours.
Questions people ask
How much does a small business website cost in India?
A simple small business website of five to eight pages, built on a template, usually costs ₹15,000 to ₹60,000 with a freelancer and ₹50,000 to ₹1.5 lakh with a small studio. A custom-designed site with a content system and SEO setup typically costs ₹1.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh. Domain, hosting and email are extra each year.
What is the yearly cost of maintaining a website in India?
For a small business site, expect a few thousand rupees a year for the domain and hosting, plus business email per user. If someone updates and patches the site for you, budget roughly 10–20% of the original build cost each year. Online stores pay more because of platform subscriptions and payment gateway fees.
Is it better to use a website builder or hire a developer?
A website builder is fine for a new business that needs a simple online presence quickly and cheaply. Hire a designer or developer when the site has to sell — taking bookings or orders, standing out against competitors, or matching a premium brand — or when it needs to connect with other systems like billing or a CRM.
How long does it take to build a website?
A template business site can be live in one to three weeks once your content is ready. A custom-designed marketing site usually takes four to eight weeks. Online stores and booking portals take longer, often six to twelve weeks, because of payments, product data and testing. Late content is the most common cause of delay.
