How much does a website cost?

For most local businesses in the Okanagan, a professionally built small business website usually costs about $3,000 to $15,000 upfront, plus about $25 to $250 or more per month in ongoing costs. As a rough guide, a local business can plan to spend 1% to 3% of annual revenue on their website and related digital services, with 2% as the norm for many established businesses.

If the business is under about $500,000 CAD in annual revenue, a practical website-and-digital budget is often around $2,500 to $7,500 per year, or roughly 0.5% to 3% of revenue.

If the business is around $500,000 to $1.5 million in annual revenue, a practical website-and-digital budget is often around $7,500 to $25,000 per year, or roughly 0.5% to 5% of revenue depending on growth goals and lead needs.

If the business is above about $1.5 million in annual revenue, a practical website-and-digital budget is often around $20,000 to $50,000 or more per year, depending on competition, complexity, and growth goals.

Quick answer: what a website costs

• DIY website builder: About $20 to $30 per month, with little or no upfront build cost
• Template-based professional website: About $1,500 to $3,000 upfront, plus about $25 to $100 per month
• Custom professional website: About $7,000 to $15,000 upfront, plus about $40 to $250 per month
• Advanced or business-critical website: About $20,000 to $35,000 or more upfront, plus about $120 to $500 per month
• Enterprise or highly custom system: Often $100,000 or more upfront, with ongoing costs that vary widely

Most local business owners are not deciding between a free website and a $100,000 enterprise build. They are usually deciding whether to build something themselves, invest in a modest professional site, build a stronger custom site, or budget for a website plus ongoing support and digital marketing.

Around the Okanagan, many agencies list hourly rates around $100 to $200 CAD per hour, and many agency minimum project sizes start around $10,000 to $25,000 or more. That helps explain why a good professional site often costs real money.

What most local businesses actually spend

The right price depends on how important the website is to the business. A simple brochure site for a smaller business costs much less than a website that needs to generate leads, support sales, handle bookings, or work as part of a larger marketing system.

For many local businesses, the website is not just a one-time design cost. It is part of a broader digital budget that may include hosting, maintenance, content updates, SEO, local SEO, and conversion improvements over time.

That does not mean every business should spend those amounts. It means that for many healthy businesses, website and digital costs are meaningful operating expenses, not side costs.

National benchmark from BDC

BDC reports that Canadian small businesses of all types with less than $2 million in annual sales spent an average of $19,652 on websites and $14,301 on online marketing over a three-year period. That works out to about $6,550 per year on websites and about $4,770 per year on online marketing, for a combined average of about $11,300 per year.

This is useful as a broad national benchmark, not a rule. It includes many kinds of businesses across a wide revenue range. Still, it supports the idea that websites and digital marketing are often real business expenses for small businesses in Canada.

What drives website cost up or down

A website costs more when it needs to do more. A simple informational site is cheaper than a site that needs bookings, ecommerce, logins, custom forms, automation, multiple service lines, or location-specific SEO. Costs also rise when the business needs custom layouts, stronger messaging, a more polished design system, or faster turnaround.

Pricing is also shaped by how organized the project is. If the content is ready, the structure is clear, and the scope is simple, costs stay lower. If the business needs help with copy, content planning, SEO structure, product setup, or strategy, the price usually goes up.

The real question is not just what a website costs. It’s also what the website needs to safely support. The more revenue, trust, and day-to-day business responsibility it carries, the higher the cost tends to be.

DIY vs. hiring a professional

One of the biggest cost decisions is whether to build the website yourself or hire a professional.

DIY website builders like Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy Website Builder make it possible to launch a site with little upfront cost, usually $21 to $30 CAD per month on standard entry plans. These platforms are designed to be user friendly and bundle hosting, security, and updates into a monthly fee. By building the site yourself, you avoid development costs, but you pay with your time. You are responsible for design choices, content structure, SEO setup, and working within the platform’s limits.

A professional build makes more sense when the website is not a side task but a business asset. It is usually the better investment when presentation and credibility matter, when search performance matters, when the site needs stronger structure or custom features, or when poor website performance would have real revenue consequences.

Ongoing costs of a website

Websites do not live on their own. They need hosting, domains, updates, backups, security, and occasional fixes. Even the simplest website has recurring costs if you want it to stay online, secure, and under your control.

DIY platforms bundle many of these costs into a subscription. Professional websites often pay for hosting and maintenance more directly. Either way, there is always an ongoing cost to keep a website online and working well.

For a simple professional website, ongoing costs often land around $25 to $100 per month. For stronger custom sites, managed websites, or higher-risk business sites, ongoing costs often land around $100 to $250 or more per month. If SEO, content updates, or ongoing improvements are included, the monthly budget can rise from there.

What I charge

The market numbers above are averages across many kinds of providers. Here is where my own work sits, so you can compare directly.

My website builds start at $6,500 for a Foundation site (up to 6 pages, custom design on a proven structure, three to four weeks). Most clients choose a Growth build, from $12,000 (up to 15 pages, custom design, copywriting for core pages, local SEO setup, six to eight weeks). Larger firms with directories, stores, or many locations are Flagship builds, from $25,000.

Every build includes the first three months of Care, my hosting and maintenance plan. After that, Care is $199 per month, or $449 for Care+ with monthly improvement hours included. Local SEO setup is $2,500 as a one-time project, and ongoing SEO retainers are $1,500 per month.

Every build also has a rush option: half the standard timeline for 50% over the build price. A Foundation site can be live in two weeks.

Every project starts with a 20 minute call and a fixed written quote. The pricing page has the full breakdown of what each tier includes.

Costs not included in standard website pricing

Not all website-related work fits neatly into a fixed project price. Some services are usually quoted separately because they involve ongoing effort, specialized expertise, or costs controlled by third parties.

Full copywriting for a large site is often separate because it involves research, writing, editing, and approvals rather than simply formatting existing content. Ecommerce product management is often separate because it includes product setup, variations, pricing, inventory rules, and ongoing updates. Ongoing marketing campaigns are also separate because they involve continuous strategy, execution, testing, and reporting beyond the website build itself. Third-party software licenses are usually billed separately because pricing and renewal terms are controlled by outside providers.

Quoting these items separately keeps website pricing clearer and prevents variable long-term costs from being hidden inside a one-time build fee.