Ask five people what a website costs in India and you'll get five answers: ₹5,000, ₹25,000, ₹80,000, ₹3 lakh, and "it depends."
The annoying part is that all five can be honest. They're just quoting for completely different things. A ₹5,000 website and a ₹3 lakh website are about as similar as a scooter and a delivery truck. Both have wheels, but they do different jobs.
This guide breaks down what you're actually paying for, the typical price ranges for each type of website, the yearly costs nobody mentions upfront, and how to compare quotes so you don't overpay or end up with something you'll have to rebuild in a year.
The Short Answer: Typical Website Cost Ranges in India
These are realistic market ranges in 2026 for work done by a professional team (not a template reseller), with prices varying by city, team experience, and scope:
- Basic template site (3-5 pages): ₹8,000 - ₹30,000, ready in 1-2 weeks
- Custom business website (5-15 pages): ₹40,000 - ₹1,50,000, ready in 3-6 weeks
- Shopify or WooCommerce store: ₹50,000 - ₹3,00,000, ready in 2-6 weeks
- Headless / custom eCommerce: ₹3,00,000 - ₹12,00,000+, ready in 8-14 weeks
- Custom web app or SaaS MVP: ₹3,00,000 - ₹15,00,000, ready in 6-10 weeks
- Full SaaS platform: ₹10,00,000 - ₹25,00,000+, ready in 3-6 months
If a quote falls far below these ranges, something is being left out. If it falls far above, ask what you're getting for the difference. Sometimes there's a good reason; sometimes there isn't.
What Actually Drives the Price
Two websites can look similar on the homepage and still differ in price by 10x. Here's where the money goes.
1. Template vs custom design
A template means someone else designed the layout and your content gets dropped into it. Custom design means your site is designed around your brand, your customers, and what you want them to do. Templates are cheaper upfront. Custom design usually converts better because it's built for your buyers, not for everyone.
2. Number of pages and page types
Ten service pages built from the same layout don't cost ten times more than one. Ten different page types (home, services, case studies, pricing, blog, careers, contact) each need their own design and build work.
3. Functionality
This is the biggest swing factor. A brochure site that shows information is simple. Add any of these and the cost climbs:
- Online payments and checkout
- User accounts and logins
- Booking or appointment systems
- Integrations with your CRM, ERP, inventory, or WhatsApp
- Multi-language support
- Custom dashboards or admin panels
4. Performance and SEO engineering
A site that loads in under two seconds, passes Core Web Vitals, and is structured for Google (and for AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity) takes deliberate engineering. Many cheap sites skip this entirely, which is why they look fine and never rank. We explain why this matters in Why SEO-Friendly Websites Are a Must for Business Success.
5. Content
Is the copy written for you, or are you supplying it? Professional copywriting, product photography, and product data entry for 300 SKUs are real work, and they're often missing from cheap quotes.
6. Who's building it
A solo freelancer, a small local shop, and a full development company with designers, developers, and SEO specialists will price differently, and deliver differently. We compared all three in detail in AI Website Builder vs Freelancer vs Traditional Website Development.
The Yearly Costs Nobody Mentions Upfront
The build price is a one-time cost. A website also has running costs every year. Budget for these before you sign anything:
- Domain name: around ₹800 - ₹1,500 per year for a .com or .in
- Hosting: ₹3,000 - ₹20,000+ per year depending on traffic and setup. Cheap shared hosting is one of the most common reasons business sites are slow.
- Platform subscriptions: Shopify charges a monthly plan fee plus app subscriptions. A store running eight paid apps can easily spend more on apps than on the plan itself.
- Plugins and licences: premium WordPress plugins and themes usually renew yearly.
- Business email: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, charged per user per month.
- Maintenance: security updates, backups, bug fixes, and small content changes. This is either a monthly retainer or charged as needed.
- SEO and content: if you want the site to bring in leads, someone has to keep publishing and improving it.
A useful rule of thumb: plan for yearly running costs of roughly 15-25% of the build cost, more if you're running ongoing SEO or paid apps.
Why ₹5,000 Websites Exist (and What You Give Up)
Very cheap websites aren't a scam. They're usually a template, a quick content swap, and shared hosting. For a business that just needs a basic online card with a phone number, that can be enough.
The trade-offs show up later:
- Slow loading, especially on mobile data, which is how most Indian customers browse
- No real SEO, so the site exists but nobody finds it
- You may not own it. Some providers keep the domain, the hosting login, or the code. Leaving means starting over.
- No support after launch, or support that disappears after a few months
- A rebuild in 12-18 months once the business outgrows it, which means paying twice
Cheap is fine when it's a conscious choice. It's expensive when it's an accident.
How to Compare Website Quotes Properly
When you have two or three quotes in hand, don't compare the totals first. Compare what's inside them. Ask every provider:
- Is the design custom or template-based?
- What exactly is included? Number of pages, features, revisions, and content.
- Who owns the domain, hosting account, and code after the project ends?
- What happens to speed and SEO? Ask for their typical PageSpeed scores on live sites.
- What's not included? Copywriting, photography, product uploads, third-party subscriptions.
- What does support look like after launch? For how long, and at what cost?
- Can you see live sites they've built? Not screenshots. Real URLs you can open on your phone.
A quote that answers all seven clearly is worth more than a cheaper quote that answers three. For a deeper hiring checklist, see How to Choose the Right Software Company in Prayagraj (Allahabad). The advice applies to any city.
So How Much Should You Spend?
Work backwards from what the website needs to do:
- Just need to exist online with your details, services, and contact info? A well-built basic site is enough.
- Need leads from Google in your city or industry? Budget for a custom business website with proper SEO built in, plus ongoing local SEO. Our Local SEO guide covers what that involves.
- Selling products online? Start with a well-built Shopify store unless you have specific reasons to go custom. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Headless comparison helps you decide.
- Building a product, not a brochure? That's a web app, and it should be scoped and priced like one. See MVP Development for Startups.
The right budget is the one where the website pays for itself through leads or sales, not the one with the lowest number on the quote.
How Levaras Prices Websites
We don't charge by the hour and we don't start work on vague briefs. Every project begins with a scoping conversation, and you receive a fixed-price proposal with clear deliverables and a timeline before any work begins. You own your domain, hosting, and code from day one.
Every site we build is custom-designed, engineered for speed, and set up for SEO from launch, because a website nobody finds isn't really an investment.
Explore our services: Web App Development · eCommerce Store Development · SEO & Organic Marketing · Plans
FAQs
How much does a basic website cost in India?
A basic template-based website with 3-5 pages typically costs ₹8,000 to ₹30,000. A custom-designed business website usually ranges from ₹40,000 to ₹1,50,000 depending on pages, features, and SEO work.
How much does an eCommerce website cost in India?
A professionally built Shopify or WooCommerce store usually costs ₹50,000 to ₹3,00,000. Custom or headless eCommerce builds start around ₹3,00,000 and go higher with complex catalogs and integrations. Monthly platform and app fees are extra.
What are the yearly costs of running a website?
Expect to pay for your domain, hosting, platform subscriptions, plugins or apps, business email, and maintenance. Together these typically add up to 15-25% of the original build cost per year.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Because providers are often quoting for different things: template vs custom design, different numbers of pages, different features, and whether SEO, content, and post-launch support are included. Compare what's inside each quote, not just the total.
Is a cheap website worth it?
It can be if you only need a simple online presence. But cheap sites are often slow, poorly optimized for Google, and sometimes not fully owned by you, which can lead to paying for a rebuild within a year or two.
✨ Want a clear, fixed price for your website? Tell us what you need.