What a Website Actually Costs in Australia
Most small business websites in Australia land between $1,500 and $5,000. Below are my actual prices, what moves them, plus real sites built at each one. No "starting from", no quote form before you get a number.
My prices, in full
The real numbers, not a teaser rate that changes after the call.
| What you need | Price | What that covers |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Website | $1,500 flat | Five pages, custom design, copy written for you, mobile first, search setup, hosting configured, Google Business Profile connected, 30 days of free tweaks. Real draft in 48 hours. |
| Ecommerce or larger build | $3,000–$5,000 | Shopify or WooCommerce, product setup, payments, POS and booking integrations, multi-location, brand identity included. Moves with product count and integrations. |
| Custom app or business system | Quoted | Job management, quoting, bookings, client portals, internal tools. Scoped per project, because a booking form and a full workshop system are not the same build. |
| SEO and advertising | Quoted | Local SEO, Google and Meta Ads, content. Quoted after a free call so the scope is defined before you commit. No lock-in. |
| Changes after launch | $100 /hr | Remote, anywhere in Australia. New pages, new features, fixes. No minimum, no lock-in, no compulsory monthly retainer. |
Ongoing costs you will have with anyone: a domain at roughly $20 to $40 a year, plus hosting. That is it.
Work out your rough cost
Three questions. It returns my real prices, not a lead capture form.
Why two quotes for the same site differ by thousands
Usually it is not the website. It is how many people are being paid to touch it. An agency quote carries account managers, project managers, a designer and a developer, so the same five page site costs more because four salaries are attached to it.
The second driver is whether it is genuinely built for you or a template with your logo dropped in. Both get called custom. Only one of them is.
When you compare quotes, ask what the total is with copywriting, mobile layouts and search setup included. That one question makes most quotes comparable. It is also where the cheap ones stop being cheap.
What genuinely changes the number
- How many pages actually need writing
- How many products you sell online, if any
- Bookings, payments or software that has to connect
- Whether the copy exists or has to be written
- Whether you have real photos or need them sorted
- Whether a brand and logo already exist
- Moving an existing site without losing your rankings
Real sites, not stock mockups
Every one of these is a live Australian business. Have a look at the standard before you judge the price.
TARC-AIR
Mount Barker auto electrical and air con. Full brand plus a custom site with booking software wired in.
See the buildField One Mobile Mechanical
Strathalbyn mobile mechanic with no website at all. Built from scratch, now earning organic visits.
See the buildAdelaide Motor Garage
Windsor Gardens workshop. Six page site plus a custom app that runs the workshop from booking to invoice.
See the buildserved. catering
New Adelaide catering company. Brand identity from nothing, then the website to match.
See the buildQuestions People Ask About Website Costs
How much does a website cost in Australia?
For a small business site, expect somewhere between $1,500 and $5,000 depending on how many pages you need and whether you are selling online. My own pricing is $1,500 flat for a five page site, then $3,000 to $5,000 for ecommerce. Anyone quoting $15,000 for a five page brochure site is charging you for their overheads rather than your website.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Mostly team size. An agency quote carries account managers, project managers, designers and developers, so the same five page site costs more because more people touch it. The other big driver is whether the site is genuinely custom or a template with your logo dropped in.
What should be included in the price?
Design, build, mobile layouts, the copy, basic search setup, hosting configured and your Google Business Profile connected. If a quote leaves out copywriting or charges separately for making it work on phones, treat that as a warning. Ask for the total rather than the starting price.
Are there ongoing costs after the site is built?
Yes. Anyone who says otherwise is hiding something. You need a domain, roughly $20 to $40 a year, plus hosting. Changes after launch are $100 an hour with me, no minimum and no lock-in contract. There is no compulsory monthly fee.
How much does SEO cost?
It is quoted per project because scope varies enormously. Be wary of cheap fixed monthly retainers with no defined deliverables. Ask exactly what gets done each month and how it gets reported, before you sign anything.
Is a cheap website worth it?
A cheap template site is fine if you only need an online business card. It stops being fine when you need it to bring work in, because the parts that generate enquiries are the parts cheap builds skip: proper structure for search, fast loading and copy written for your customers.
How long does a website take to build?
You see a real draft of my Fast Website within 48 hours, because the process is compressed rather than the quality being skipped. It goes live once you are happy with it. Ecommerce and custom builds run one to three weeks. An agency quoting eight to twelve weeks for a small business site is describing their internal queue rather than the work.