"How much does a website cost?" is like asking how much a house costs: it depends on what you're building. Below are typical website development costs in India in 2026, what pushes a project up or down that range, and the running costs people forget to budget for.
Typical website development cost in India (2026)
| Type of website | Typical cost | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Basic business website (5–8 pages) | ₹10,000 – ₹40,000 | 1–3 weeks |
| Business website with CMS (e.g. WordPress), blog and forms | ₹30,000 – ₹1,50,000 | 3–6 weeks |
| E-commerce website | ₹60,000 – ₹5,00,000+ | 4–12 weeks |
| Custom web application (portal, dashboard, SaaS) | ₹2,00,000 – ₹25,00,000+ | 2–6+ months |
What makes a website cost more (or less)
- Custom design vs a template. A ready-made theme is quicker and cheaper. A fully custom design takes more hours but fits your brand exactly.
- Number of pages and content. More pages means more design, more development and more content to write or load.
- Features. Logins, payments, bookings, search, multi-language support and integrations with CRMs or ERPs all add time.
- E-commerce size. Ten products and a thousand products are very different projects, especially with variants, shipping rules and GST invoices.
- Who writes the content. If you provide text and photos, costs stay lower. Copywriting and photography are extra.
- SEO and speed work. A site built for search (clean structure, fast loading, schema markup) takes a little more effort up front and pays back over time.
Running costs to budget for
Building the site is a one-time cost. Keeping it online is a yearly one:
- Domain name: roughly ₹800 – ₹1,500 per year for a .com or .in.
- Hosting: about ₹3,000 – ₹25,000 per year depending on traffic and whether it's shared, cloud or VPS hosting.
- SSL certificate: often free with good hosting; paid certificates cost more.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, security and small changes. Many businesses budget around 10–20% of the build cost per year.
Freelancer or agency?
A freelancer can be a great fit for a small, clearly defined site. An agency costs more but brings a team: design, development, testing and someone accountable when things go wrong. For e-commerce or custom web applications, where bugs cost you money, a team with a proper process is usually the safer choice.
How to get an accurate quote
Send any developer these five things and you'll get a much tighter estimate:
- What the website must do (the goal: leads, sales, bookings, information).
- A rough list of pages and features.
- Two or three websites you like, and why.
- Who will provide the content and photos.
- Your deadline and budget range.
Our website development team builds business websites, responsive designs and custom web applications, and our e-commerce team handles online stores with payment gateway integration. Share your requirements and we'll send a clear, itemised quote.