How much does a business website cost for a tradesperson in 2026? A real breakdown.

Search for website prices and you'll find answers ranging from "free with a template" to "€10,000 with an agency." Both are technically true. Neither helps you decide anything.

What follows is a breakdown of real price ranges by solution type, what actually drives costs up, and the questions worth asking before you sign. No sales pitch, just honest numbers.

The four main categories of solutions

1. Ready-made templates (€0 to €200/year)

Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com offer ready-to-use templates. You pay a monthly subscription (between €10 and €40/month), customise with a visual editor, and you're live.

Real advantages:

• No technical skills needed
• Quick to set up for very simple projects
• Low entry cost

Real limitations:

• The design stays within a predefined mould, so standing out is hard
• Performance is often poor (load times, Lighthouse scores)
• Stop the subscription and the site disappears
• Technical SEO is limited
• Over 10 years, you'll have paid more than a custom build would have cost

Who it suits: A photographer's personal portfolio or a side-activity site with minimal commercial stakes.

2. Advanced no-code solutions (€500 to €3,000 + subscription)

Tools like Webflow let you build far more sophisticated sites without writing code. A designer or no-code developer can produce something polished and tailored.

Real advantages:

• Much more design flexibility than templates
• Good performance when properly configured
• Built-in content editor if you want to make changes yourself

Real limitations:

• Webflow subscription required (€14 to €36/month for business sites)
• You're tied to the platform — if Webflow changes its pricing, you're affected
• The generated code is less clean than a manual build
• Complex integrations can get difficult fast

Price range for a tradesperson: €800 to €2,500 in development + €180 to €430/year in subscription.

3. WordPress with custom development (€1,500 to €6,000)

WordPress powers roughly 4 in 10 websites worldwide (W3Techs, 2025). It's a mature platform with a large ecosystem, but that popularity has a downside: WordPress sites are the most targeted by attacks, and maintenance can get heavy.

A WordPress site built properly — with a child theme or a custom-built theme, not something off Themeforest — can be performant and long-lasting.

Real advantages:

• Very high flexibility
• Many available developers
• Familiar content editor (Gutenberg or Elementor)
• Can grow into e-commerce via WooCommerce

Real limitations:

• Regular updates required (theme, plugins, WordPress core)
• Plugin accumulation makes maintenance heavier over time
• Performance varies a lot depending on configuration
• Security risks if the site goes unmaintained

Realistic price range: €1,500 to €4,500 for a bakery or tradesperson with a 5 to 8 page site, properly built.

4. Modern custom development (€1,200 to €8,000)

Frameworks like Next.js (React), Astro, or Nuxt (Vue) produce fast, clean sites with maintainable code. This is how our team builds at Webvori.

Real advantages:

• High performance (Lighthouse 90–95 realistic on a proper build)
• No dependency on any third-party platform
• The code is entirely the client's property
• Much better security posture than WordPress
• Clean technical SEO (tags, speed, sitemap all handled)

Real limitations:

• Higher upfront cost than a template
• Structural changes need a developer
• No native visual editor unless one is added separately

Realistic price range: For a tradesperson with 5 pages and standard requirements, €490 to €1,500. For an SMB with 10+ pages, advanced features, and multilingual content, €2,000 to €6,000.

What drives the price within a category

The solution type only explains part of the number on a quote. Here are the factors that move it.

The number of pages

Each additional page means more work: structure, design, content, SEO. A "Legal notices" page takes 20 minutes. A "Services" page with 4 detailed offerings takes 4 hours.

Budget roughly €80 to €200 per additional page, depending on complexity.

Content writing

This is probably the most underestimated line item. A professional web copywriter charges between €60 and €120 for 500 SEO-optimised words. A well-written homepage takes time, whoever produces it.

If you supply the content yourself, you cut that cost — but make sure it's genuinely ready before the project starts.

Going bilingual

Adding a second language (fr/en) typically adds 30 to 50% to the initial cost. The design has to work in both languages, texts need proper translation (not raw machine output), and the technical setup needs to handle internationalisation.

Specific features

A simple contact form: usually included. A quote form with automatic calculation, email dispatch, and CRM storage: that's a full development project on its own.

Same goes for online appointment booking, a client portal, or a blog with comment moderation.

Animations and interactions

Well-made animations — transitions, scroll effects, hover states — take real effort. Some clients value them, others find them distracting. Either way, they have a cost.

Content SEO vs technical SEO

Technical SEO (tag structure, speed, sitemap, structured data) is generally included in a solid build. Content SEO (editorial strategy, article writing, link building) is a separate service, often monthly, running between €300 and €1,500/month depending on the agency.

Don't conflate the two when comparing quotes.

Honest comparison

Solution	Initial cost	Annual cost	Performance	Editorial control	Lifespan
Wix/Squarespace template	€0	€120–480	Low	High	Unlimited (subscription)
No-code (Webflow)	€800–2,500	€180–430	Good	Medium	Tied to subscription
Custom WordPress	€1,500–4,500	€100–300 (maintenance)	Variable	Low	3–5 years before heavy maintenance
Next.js custom build	€490–6,000	€50–150 (hosting)	Excellent	Low (technical)	5–8 years

Questions to ask before signing

Whatever the provider, these questions are worth asking:

1. Who owns the code at handover? If the answer isn't "you, entirely," be cautious.

2. What's included in the price? Is content provided by you or written by the agency? Is hosting included? For how long?

3. What happens if I want to switch providers? Can you get the code and move it elsewhere?

4. How are changes handled after delivery? Is there a maintenance package? At what rate?

5. What exactly does the mentioned SEO cover? Technical SEO or content SEO? The two are very different things.

6. What's a realistic timeline? Promises of "48 hours" with no stated conditions are sales arguments, not commitments.

Conclusion

For a tradesperson with standard requirements — 5 pages, contact form, responsive design, clean technical SEO — €490 to €1,500 is a realistic budget for a serious build. Below that, you're looking at a template or basic no-code. Above that, you're paying for additional features or for an agency's overhead.

The thing to focus on is quote transparency: what it covers, what it doesn't. A vague quote signals a vague project.