Ask three suppliers to quote for “a website for my business” and the figures can be so far apart that it’s hard to believe they’re describing the same job.
Usually, they aren’t. Each supplier has filled the gaps in your request with their own assumptions about how many pages, who writes the words, what the site has to connect to, and what happens after launch. The price follows from those assumptions.
A higher quote isn’t automatically better, and a lower one isn’t automatically a bargain. The useful question is what each quote includes and leaves out. This article shows you how to find that out.
First: is it a website or a web application?
A small informational website explains what you do, builds trust and brings in enquiries. Visitors read, look and get in touch.
A web application lets people sign in and do things: book, pay, upload documents, manage an account. That means user accounts, stored personal data, permissions and a permanent security responsibility.
The two are priced very differently, and a vague brief can be read as either. If one supplier has quoted for a brochure site and another has assumed customer logins, the gap between them has nothing to do with value. We’ve explained how to tell which one you need separately.
What actually drives the price
Pages, and how different they are
Ten pages built from one template is a smaller job than five pages that each need their own layout. A services page, a pricing page with a comparison table and a case study with a photo gallery are three separate design problems.
Count the pages, then count how many of them are genuinely different.
Branding and content
Many quotes assume you’ll supply finished text, a logo and good photographs. Many clients assume the supplier will write the words.
Copywriting, photography and logo design are real work. If one quote includes them and another doesn’t, that alone can explain a large difference. And missing content is one of the most common reasons launches slip, whoever is responsible for it.
Custom design or a template
A template is a ready-made design adapted to your brand: colours, logo, fonts and your content. Done well, it’s quick, reliable and entirely reasonable for many small businesses.
Custom design starts from your audience and content and produces layouts made for them. It takes longer and costs more. It’s worth it when you need to stand apart in a crowded market, or when a template would force your content into a shape that doesn’t suit it.
Neither is the “proper” way. The point is to know which one you’re being quoted for.
Forms and integrations
A basic contact form is small. Every connection to another system adds work: a booking tool, a payment provider, your CRM, an email newsletter service, a map, a live-chat widget.
Each one needs setting up, testing, handling for when it fails, and an account that someone owns and pays for.
Content management
A content management system (CMS) lets your team edit the site without a developer. It’s valuable if you publish regularly, and it’s cost and maintenance for nothing if the site changes twice a year. Some quotes include one by default; others leave it out. Our CMS guide covers when you actually need one.
Accessibility, performance and search foundations
These rarely appear in a mock-up, so they’re easy to leave out of a quote without anyone noticing.
- Accessibility: readable contrast, text that scales, labelled forms and keyboard navigation. Ask which standard the supplier works to. WCAG 2.2 level AA is a common reference point.
- Performance: compressed images, restrained scripts and pages that load quickly on an ordinary phone connection.
- Search foundations: unique page titles and descriptions, a sensible heading structure, readable URLs, a sitemap and Google Search Console set up.
None of this guarantees search rankings, and a supplier who promises rankings is promising something outside their control. What it does is remove the technical obstacles, so your content and reputation have something solid to build on.
Testing and launch
Checking the site across phones, tablets and browsers takes time, and so does sending a real test enquiry through every form. So does launch: pointing the domain, setting up HTTPS, redirecting old pages if you’re replacing a site, and confirming analytics works.
A quote that says “build and launch” and one that lists these steps may cover the same work, or they may not. Ask.
Ownership, hosting and future changes
Who holds the domain, hosting and analytics accounts? Do you receive the source files? What happens if you move to another supplier? These questions affect what you’re really buying, and we’ve covered them in detail in who owns your business website after launch.
Future changes deserve their own line too. Is there a set number of revision rounds? How are changes after launch priced?
One-off costs and ongoing costs
It helps to split every proposal into two columns.
One-off build costs: discovery, design, content, development, integrations, testing and launch. Paid once.
Ongoing costs: domain renewal, hosting, email, CMS or plugin subscriptions, booking or payment tools, and maintenance such as updates, security patches, backups and small fixes. These continue for as long as the site exists, and many of them are charged by third parties rather than your developer.
A low build price with a high monthly fee can cost more over three years than the reverse. So can a low build price that leaves maintenance to you without saying so. Ask every supplier to set out both columns, including which third-party accounts you’ll pay for directly.
An example: two quotes for the same business
This is an invented example for illustration, not a client project.
A small physiotherapy clinic asks two suppliers for a new website. Quote B comes back at roughly three times the price of Quote A. Laid side by side, the reasons are plain.
| Comparison item | Quote A | Quote B |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | 5, from one template | 8, with 3 distinct layouts |
| Design | Template adapted to the clinic’s colours | Custom design, 2 revision rounds |
| Written content | Clinic supplies all text | Copywriting for 5 pages included |
| Photography | Clinic supplies | Stock placeholders; clinic supplies final photos |
| Booking | Link to the clinic’s existing booking page | Existing booking tool embedded and tested |
| CMS | None; changes by email to supplier | Editing for news and opening hours |
| Accessibility | Not mentioned | Checked against WCAG 2.2 AA |
| Search foundations | Not mentioned | Titles, descriptions, sitemap, Search Console |
| Testing | Not mentioned | Listed devices and browsers; test enquiries |
| Hosting and domain | Excluded, not explained | Excluded; accounts set up in the clinic’s name |
| After launch | Not mentioned | 30 days of fixes; changes quoted separately |
Neither quote is wrong. Quote A may suit a clinic that already has strong copy, good photos and a working booking system, and that rarely changes its site. Quote B suits one that needs the words written and wants to update the site itself.
What matters is that the clinic is no longer comparing two numbers. It’s comparing two different projects, and it can now ask Quote A’s supplier to price the missing items, or ask Quote B’s supplier which items could be dropped.
The rows marked “not mentioned” matter most. They may be included and simply unwritten, or they may not be included at all. Either way, you want to know before you sign.
How to compare proposals fairly
Send everyone the same brief. Same pages, same content responsibilities, same integrations. Our website launch checklist lists what to have ready.
Line up deliverables, not totals. Build a table like the one above. Gaps become obvious quickly.
Read the exclusions as carefully as the inclusions. That’s where most price differences hide.
Ask for the missing items to be priced. It’s the quickest way to turn two unlike quotes into two comparable ones.
Look at running costs over several years, not just the first invoice.
Questions to ask every supplier
- Exactly which pages are included, and how many different layouts?
- Is the design custom or a template, and how many revision rounds are included?
- Who writes the text and supplies the photographs?
- Which forms and integrations are included, and who owns each third-party account?
- Is a CMS included, and what will my team be able to edit?
- Which accessibility standard do you work to?
- What performance and search foundations are included?
- What testing is done before launch, and on which devices?
- What does the site cost to run each year, and which of those costs are paid to third parties?
- Whose name are the domain, hosting and analytics accounts in?
- What do I receive at handover, and when?
- How are changes and maintenance handled after launch?
Starting a project with us
We quote each project manually after reviewing your requirements. The written proposal sets out the scope, deliverables, exclusions, timing, ownership and third-party costs alongside the price, so you can compare it with other quotes line by line.
If you’d like one, tell us about your business and what the site needs to do.