Most small business websites in Canada land somewhere between $3,000 and $8,000, with custom studio builds running from $12,000 to $30,000, and e-commerce projects starting around $5,000 and climbing well past $60,000 for complex stores. That’s a wide spread, we know. The good news is that the range narrows quickly once you understand what actually drives the price, and that’s exactly what we’ll walk through here.
What actually affects the cost
A website is priced by the work it takes to build, and a few things move that number more than anything else:
Number of pages and templates. A five-page brochure site takes far less time than a forty-page site with a blog, a team directory, and a resource library. What matters most isn’t the raw page count but how many unique layouts need to be designed.
Custom design vs template. Starting from a pre-made theme saves design time. Starting from a blank canvas, with sitemaps, wireframes, and design mockups before anything is coded, costs more but gets you something built around your business instead of squeezed into someone else’s layout.
Functionality. Online booking, ecommerce, member logins, event calendars, form logic, integrations with your CRM or newsletter tool. Every feature adds hours.
Content. If your text and photos are ready to go, great. If you need copywriting, photography, or someone to wrangle 15 years of scattered Word documents, that’s real work that shows up in the price.
Typical price ranges in Canada (2026)
| Type of build | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Freelancer | $1,500 – $7,000 |
| Template-based agency build | $5,000 – $12,000 |
| Custom studio or agency build | $12,000 – $30,000 |
| Small business site (most common) | $3,000 – $8,000 |
| Ecommerce | $5,000 – $60,000+ |
| Ongoing costs (hosting, maintenance, updates) | $1,500 – $5,000 per year |
None of these tiers is “the right one.” A freelancer can be perfect for a simple site. A custom build makes sense when your website is a core part of how you win business.
Before-launch costs vs after-launch costs
The build is only part of the picture. Before launch, you’re paying for strategy, design, development, content, and testing. After launch, your website keeps costing a little bit every month, and it’s worth budgeting for that from the start:
- Hosting, typically $20 to $60 a month for a managed setup
- Maintenance, which covers software updates, security patches, and backups
- Domain renewal, usually $20 to $50 a year
- Content updates and small changes, either done in-house or billed hourly by your web partner
A site with no maintenance plan tends to get slower, less secure, and more broken over time. It’s cheaper to keep a site healthy than to rescue one.
Why do quotes vary so much?
Because two “five-page websites” can be wildly different projects. One might be a template with your logo dropped in. The other might involve a discovery phase, custom wireframes, original design, hand-built templates, and content migration. When you get three quotes that are thousands of dollars apart, they’re usually describing three different amounts of work. Ask each provider what’s included: strategy? wireframes? revisions? content entry? training? That’s where the difference hides.
An estimate is not a quote
Here’s a distinction that saves a lot of grief. A quote is a fixed price for a fixed scope. An estimate is an educated range based on what the project looks like at the start. Most website projects evolve, so many studios (ours included) work from estimates. The upside of an estimate is that if the work takes less time than expected, you pay less. The trade-off is that scope changes mid-project will move the number, so it pays to be clear about what you want early on.
How to keep your budget in check
- Write down what the site needs to do before asking for prices
- Get your content as ready as you can before the project starts
- Launch with the essentials and phase in nice-to-haves later
- Ask what’s included in any price you’re given
- Budget for ongoing costs, not just the build
- Pick a partner you can actually talk to, because miscommunication is expensive
How we approach this at Eggbeater
We give every project an estimate range up front. Then every site goes through our 4D workflow: Discover, Design, Develop, Deploy, so you see a sitemap and wireframes before we design a single pixel, and design mockups in Figma before we build. We develop custom WordPress sites with Divi (and Shopify for ecommerce), and after launch we offer hosting and baseline maintenance services so your site stays fast and secure without you having to think about it.
Wondering what your project would cost?
Send us a note with a rough idea of what you’re after (or fill out our request form) and we’ll whip up an estimate range – no pressure and no obligation. Sometimes a fifteen-minute chat is all it takes to know what ballpark you’re in.
Still Have Questions?
How much should a small business budget for a website?
A reasonable starting budget for a small business website in Canada is around $3,000 to $8,000. The right budget depends on the number of pages, level of customization, functionality, content requirements, and who is doing the work.
What is included in the cost of a website?
It depends on the provider, but website costs can include strategy, sitemap and wireframes, design, development, content entry, testing, launch, and training. Some providers include these in their project pricing, while others charge separately, so it’s worth checking what’s included before comparing estimates.
How much does it cost to redesign a small business website?
A website redesign can cost roughly the same as building a new site, particularly if the design, structure, content, and underlying technology all need to be updated. A smaller refresh may cost less if the existing site is in good shape and you’re mainly changing the visual design or content.
Can I get a good website for under $3,000?
Yes, particularly if you have a small number of pages, your content is ready, and you’re using a template or a simpler build. The trade-off is usually less customization and less time spent on strategy and design.
…and if you’ve still got questions, let us know!