Website Cost in Australia: 2026 Guide Real prices, no sales talk.

Website cost in Australia sits between about $1,750 and $6,000 ex GST for a professionally built small business site. Online stores usually cost $4,500 to $12,000, and custom web apps $12,000 to $50,000 or more. On top of the build, plan for about $10 to $50 a month to keep it online.

Here's what each type of site costs to build. Prices are ex GST and match the fixed prices we quote, so you can use them as a benchmark when other quotes come in.

Most small businesses land on a 5 to 8 page site. Below that you're buying an online business card. Above that you're paying for custom features, a big product range or software.

Six things move the price more than anything else: how many pages you need, who writes the words, the photos, how many products you sell, what the site connects to, and whether an old site needs moving.

• Pages: each service page needs its own writing, layout and SEO setup. A page per service costs more than one long page, but it's what lets Google show the right page for each search.
• Copywriting: writing your own content saves money but often slows the project down. Ask every quote whether copy is included.
• Photos: real photos of your work cost nothing if you take them on the job. Stock photos are cheap but cost you trust. A professional shoot is extra.
• Products: a store with 20 products and a store with 500 are different jobs. Variants, shipping rules and product data all take setup time.
• Integrations: a CRM, booking system, payment gateway, accounting software or a custom quote form each add scope. This is where a $3,000 quote becomes a $6,000 one.
• Migration: replacing an old site means moving content and setting up 301 redirects so you keep your Google rankings. Done badly, a new site can lose the traffic the old one had.

When two web design cost quotes in Australia are thousands of dollars apart, the gap is almost always in this list. Line them up item by item before you decide.

For a standard business site, the ongoing website cost in Australia is about $10 to $50 a month for hosting, plus a domain name. Online stores cost more to run, because the platform plan, apps and card fees all add up.

Platform prices are rounded from Shopify's and Squarespace's Australian pricing as of November 2026, and they change, so check them before you commit.

Ask who owns the domain and hosting account before you sign anything. A cheap build that keeps your domain in someone else's name can get expensive the day you want to leave. If you'd rather not deal with updates and backups yourself, a website care plan covers them.

Yes in cash, often no in time. A DIY Squarespace or Wix site costs only the plan fee, but most owners spend days on it and still end up with a site that doesn't bring in new work.

DIY makes sense if:

• You're just starting out and mainly need somewhere to send people who already know you.
• You enjoy design and have the time to learn the tool.
• Your work comes from referrals, not Google.

Pay a professional if the website has to bring in new customers. The parts that make a site win work are the ones DIY sites usually miss: a page for each service, writing that matches what people search, a clear call to action on every page, structured data, tracking and fast loading on a phone.

A middle path that works well is a professional build on Squarespace, then making your own small changes after launch. You pay for the structure once and avoid a bill every time you want to change a sentence.

Because "a website" covers everything from a template filled in over a weekend to custom software. Quotes range from a few hundred dollars to $50,000 or more, and the cheapest ones usually skip the work that makes a site pay for itself.

When you compare quotes, ask each one the same questions:

1. Is it a fixed price, in writing, before work starts?
2. How many pages, and is there a page for each service?
3. Who writes the content?
4. Is SEO setup included: titles, descriptions, structured data, a sitemap and redirects from the old site?
5. Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the site files?
6. Is there a lock-in contract or a minimum term?
7. Where do enquiries from the form go, and how fast will someone reply?
8. What will it cost each month after launch?

The last two get missed the most. A study by MIT and InsideSales found leads contacted within 5 minutes were 21 times more likely to qualify than leads contacted at 30 minutes. A site that sends enquiries to an inbox nobody checks wastes the money spent building it, however little that was.

It shouldn't cost much more, because it's part of building a site properly. SEO setup and structured data are a few hours of work on a standard build. Ongoing SEO, where you keep publishing and building rankings month after month, is a separate service with its own cost.

Search has changed. More people now ask ChatGPT or Google's AI answers who to call, and those tools quote pages that give clear, specific answers. A site built for that has a page for each service and area, plain answers near the top of each page, FAQs written the way people actually ask, and structured data that tells search engines your services, location and hours.

If a quote doesn't mention any of this, ask. It's much cheaper to build it in from the start than to fix it after launch. Our small business website design builds include it as standard.

Most small business websites take 2 to 4 weeks from the first call to going live. Shopify stores usually take 2 to 3 weeks, and custom web apps 8 to 16 weeks.

The build itself is rarely what slows a project down. Waiting on content is. If your logo, photos of your work and a list of the services you want to sell are ready before you start, you'll often save a week or more.

Two real examples. Mago Rods, a Perth custom fishing rod builder, moved off a generic Wix template to a hand-coded 9 page site in 2.5 weeks, with a 100 Lighthouse performance score. Safari Seekers, a Perth rooftop tent and overland brand, got a custom store with Stripe checkout in 4 weeks.

Our fixed prices start at $1,750 + GST for a single page site and $3,250 + GST for a 5 to 8 page business website. Online stores start at $4,500 + GST. Every quote is in writing before work starts, and there are no lock-in contracts.

We're based in Perth and build for businesses right across Australia, with one point of contact from quote to launch and no outsourcing. If you're in WA, our Perth website cost guide covers local pricing in more detail. For online stores, see our breakdown of Shopify website cost. When you're ready, ask for a fixed quote and I'll usually come back the same day.