How much does a website cost in Australia in 2026?

How much does a website cost in Australia?

A small business website built by a web designer in Australia usually costs about $3,000 to $10,000, according to the Australian price guides we checked. If you build it yourself on a website builder, you can start for about $20 a month.

A shop or a site with custom features costs more, roughly $6,000 to $20,000 or more. Big custom builds start above $30,000, and most small businesses never need one.

Those ranges come from price guides published by Australian hosting companies and agencies between 2024 and 2026. Builder prices are what Wix, Squarespace and Shopify list on their Australian pages in October 2026. They’re estimates, not quotes, so check GST and current prices before you buy.

What you get at each level

• Do it yourself, from about $20 a month. Wix and Squarespace list their cheapest paid plans at about $20 a month when you pay yearly. Shopify, which is built for selling online, starts at $42 a month paid yearly or $56 month to month, plus card fees on each sale. You do the layout, the writing and the photos. It suits a side business or a quick start. Our guide to Wix, Squarespace or WordPress covers how they compare.
• A designer builds a small site, roughly $3,000 to $10,000. Typically a home page, a handful of service pages, a contact form and a layout that works on phones. Someone else does the design and set-up, so you’re not learning the software.
• A shop, roughly $6,000 to $20,000 or more. Products, payments, shipping and tax settings, and usually a lot more photos and descriptions to write.
• A large custom build, above $30,000. Bespoke features, member areas or hundreds of pages. Not what a sparky or a landscaper needs.

Most local service businesses sit in the second group. Our page on websites for tradies shows what that looks like.

What pushes the price up or down

Two quotes can look miles apart because they cover different jobs. Say a sparky in Chermside wants a home page, six service pages and a quote form. A landscaper on the Sunshine Coast wants a gallery of 40 jobs, an online booking calendar and a shop for garden products. Both say “website”, but they’re very different jobs.

• Number of pages. More pages mean more design, writing and testing.
• Words and photos. Who writes the copy and takes the photos? Supply them yourself and the price drops. Real photos of your own jobs are worth paying for.
• Selling online. Payments, shipping, stock and tax settings add a lot of set-up.
• What it connects to. Booking calendars, quote forms that feed your job software, a customer login. Each one is extra work.
• Custom design or a template. A template is cheaper and quicker. A fully custom design takes longer.
• An old site to replace. Moving the content and redirecting old pages, so you don’t lose what you’ve already built up in Google, takes care.

What it costs after launch

The build is only part of it. Expect these running costs as well:

• Domain name, once a year. One Australian registrar lists a .com.au at $22.95 a year to renew, with a cheaper first year. Another Australian guide puts domains at $20 to $50 a year. You usually need an ABN or ACN to register a .com.au. Here’s how a domain differs from hosting.
• Hosting, monthly or yearly. This is where your site lives. The same guide lists $6.95 to $29.95 a month for a basic site. Builder plans include hosting.
• Care, monthly. Updates, backups and security checks. That guide also lists maintenance plans from about $90 a month. Without it, a site slowly goes out of date. Our website care service covers this.
• Business email. An address on your own domain looks more trustworthy than a Gmail one, and it’s easy to set up. Here’s how to set up business email, and what Google Workspace costs.
• Changes after launch. The Queensland Government points out that developers often charge for edits after launch. Ask whether small text and photo changes are included.
• SEO. Getting found on Google is a separate, ongoing job. See our guide to SEO pricing in Australia.
• Google Ads, if you want calls sooner. You pay Google for each click. See how much Google Ads cost.

Once-off, monthly or hourly

Providers charge in three main ways. Ask which one you’re being quoted, and get every item labelled once-off or monthly.

• Once-off project. A set price for a defined job, usually with a deposit up front. It’s best when you know what you need. Check how many rounds of changes are included.
• Monthly. Some providers build the site and charge monthly for hosting and care, or bundle everything into one monthly fee. It spreads the cost, but ask what happens to your site and domain if you stop paying.
• Hourly. Designers’ hourly rates are published at about $50 to $250 or more, depending on experience. It suits small jobs and fixes, but it’s hard to budget a whole site. Ask for an estimate and a cap.

We don’t publish prices, because a six-page site for a sparky and an online shop are different jobs. We quote after a chat. We put the main job first, list any extras one by one, say what’s once-off and what’s monthly, and there’s no lock-in contract. You can see what we build on our website design service page.

Red flags, and questions to ask

Most providers are fair. These are the things that go wrong:

• They register your domain in their name. Queensland Government advice is to get your domain through a different party than your website builder or host. If the provider holds it, you can lose your address when you part ways.
• A lock-in contract. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a term in a pre-written contract can be unfair, for example one that lets only one side change the price or decide on renewal. Only a court can decide that, so read the contract before you sign.
• A site you can’t take with you. With some templated builders it can be hard to save or download your content if you switch later. Ask if you get a copy of the site and your photos.
• No list of what’s included. A single price with nothing listed leaves room for a surprise bill.

And these are good questions for any provider:

• What’s included: pages, writing, photos and rounds of changes?
• Who owns the domain, the site and the content, and do I get the logins?
• What will I pay after launch, once-off or monthly, and is GST included?
• Can I update text and photos myself, and is training included?
• Who looks after updates, backups and security?
• What happens if I want to leave?

Questions people ask

Is a website builder like Wix cheaper than hiring a designer?

Up front, yes, because paid plans start at about $20 a month. But you do all the work, and you keep paying for as long as the site runs. It can also be hard to move your content to another provider later.

Why do website quotes vary so much?

Because the jobs differ. Pages, writing, photos, an online shop and extras like booking all change the work involved. Ask each provider to list what’s included so you can compare like with like.

Do I have to pay every month for a website?

You pay for your domain each year and for hosting each month or year. The build itself can be a once-off cost, and care plans are optional but worth having.

Does the price of a website include SEO?

Ask. A good build includes the basics, like clear page titles, fast pages and a layout that works on phones. Ongoing SEO is separate work, and our SEO service covers it.

Not sure what you need? Send us your site for a free website check. We’ll tell you what’s working, what isn’t and what we’d fix first, in plain English.