“How much does a website cost?” is a question the internet answers in unison: it depends. True — but useless. After well over a decade of scoping projects, we know a more useful answer exists: show what the price is made of, what really drives it up, and the ranges each path realistically falls into.
The short answer: four paths, four price levels
| Path | Realistic starting cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Website builder (Wix, WordPress.com, Squarespace) | from ~0–100 PLN/month | testing an idea, hobby projects |
| Freelancer | ~1,500–6,000 PLN | simple websites on a tight budget |
| Agency — fixed-scope package | from 4,900 PLN net (our Business Card package) | companies that want a predictable scope and ongoing care |
| Custom project | usually from 8,000 PLN net | larger websites, multiple languages, integrations |
The prices in this table are the launch cost — the full picture also includes yearly costs, covered below.
What a website price is made of
Every honest quote is a sum of the same seven components — only their weight differs:
- Scope and structure — what the website should achieve, for whom, which pages and user journeys.
- UX/UI design — from a layout based on an existing design system to a fully custom design. One of the two largest cost components.
- Content — who writes the copy and prepares the photos. Underestimated in 9 out of 10 quotes: “content provided by the client” sounds cheap until the project stalls for 2 months because the content never arrives.
- Development — code, CMS, mobile version, performance. The second largest component.
- Technical SEO and analytics — meta data, structured data, sitemap, properly configured GA4. Cheap at build time, expensive to fix later.
- Infrastructure — hosting, domain, SSL, email. A small line in the quote, but the one that decides whether the website is still fast and secure a year later.
- Post-launch care — updates, backups, monitoring, small changes. The only component that never ends, which is why we covered it separately: how much website maintenance costs.
What drives the price up the most
A simple pattern emerges from our quotes — budgets jump when these come into play:
- Content and languages — every language version is not “a translation” but a second full set of content, structure and SEO.
- Integrations — CRM, ERP, payments, invoicing, warehouse. A single integration can cost more than a simple website.
- Data migration — moving products, customers and orders from a previous e-commerce system is the line item that regularly surprises people: the data has to be mapped and cleaned, not just moved.
- A custom design system — instead of a layout built on a proven base.
- Dynamic features — user accounts, bookings, client panels, a custom CMS.
- Legal requirements — WCAG, industry regulations, non-standard GDPR needs.
Costs you won’t see in the quote
When comparing offers, ask about what often sits outside the price:
- licences — many projects, especially smaller ones, can be built without paid plugins or recurring fees; with unusual features and integrations, a few hundred PLN per year is perfectly normal,
- hosting, domain and email after the first year — our package includes them for 12 months; after that, hosting is 500 PLN net per year and business email is billed separately (150 PLN net per 10 GB mailboxes),
- copyright and access — whether the website, content and accounts belong to you (if not, read what to do when your vendor disappears),
- changes after launch — on what terms and at what cost.
Why the price spread is so wide
Because “a website” describes both a five-page business card and a three-language service with an ERP integration. Two seemingly similar websites differ in content scope, process and what happens after launch. The cheapest offer usually isn’t bad because it’s cheap — it’s risky because the scope is vague and the surprises arrive after go-live.
The other thing quotes rarely mention: the launch cost doesn’t close the topic. A website delivers results when it is developed, measured and maintained after launch — and that belongs in the budget from day one.
How to compare quotes: 6 questions
- What exactly is in scope — how many pages, how many templates, whose content?
- What will the website be built on, and can it be developed without its author?
- What about hosting, domain and email — who owns them, who pays, from when?
- What does the price cover after launch, and what is billed separately?
- What are the timelines — and what usually extends them?
- Who owns the copyright and all the access?
If two quotes differ by a factor of two, they almost always answer these questions differently.
Our one transparent price
At Invisio, the only price we publish upfront is the Business Card package: from 4,900 PLN net — up to 5 pages, design based on our design system, built on WordPress or a lightweight static stack, technical SEO with GA4, plus hosting, SSL and domain included for 12 months. Delivery takes around 3–4 weeks. Details in our pricing.
Larger websites are quoted individually — they usually start from 8,000 PLN net, with delivery between 6 and 12 weeks, though for complex projects there is no real upper limit. Tell us what you’re planning and we’ll come back with specifics. And if you already have a website and would first like to check whether you’re overpaying for its infrastructure, start with a free cost audit.