How much does a website cost in 2026?
Real website pricing by type and scope, what drives the cost up, and the hidden costs nobody quotes for. No sales pitch.
A simple brochure website typically costs BD 300 to BD 1,200. A business site with custom design and content runs BD 1,200 to BD 5,000. E-commerce starts around BD 2,500, and custom platforms begin at BD 8,000. The variables that move the number most are page count, custom design versus template, content production and integrations.
Price by website type
| Type | Typical range | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | BD 150 – BD 500 | 1–2 weeks | One page, one goal, form or checkout |
| Brochure site | BD 300 – BD 1,200 | 2–4 weeks | 5–10 pages, template-based, mobile-ready |
| Business site | BD 1,200 – BD 5,000 | 4–8 weeks | Custom design, CMS, SEO structure, content |
| E-commerce | BD 2,500 – BD 12,000 | 6–12 weeks | Catalogue, checkout, payments, shipping |
| Bilingual site | +30–50% | +2–4 weeks | RTL layout, translation, hreflang |
| Custom platform | BD 8,000+ | 3–9 months | Bespoke application, integrations, roles |
What actually drives the price
Two quotes for ‘a website’ can differ by a factor of ten and both be honest. These are the variables:
- Page count and template reuse. Twenty pages built from four templates costs far less than twenty bespoke layouts.
- Custom design versus theme. Original design work is typically 30–50% of a project.
- Who writes the content. The most underestimated line item by a wide margin.
- Integrations. Payment gateways, CRM, ERP, booking systems, shipping APIs.
- Languages. Arabic is not just translation — it is right-to-left layout, typography and a second content set.
- Migration. Moving existing content and preserving rankings with redirect mapping.
- Compliance. Accessibility conformance and data-protection requirements add scope.
Why the cheapest quote is usually the most expensive
A very low quote is almost always achieved by removing something: strategy, content, testing, accessibility, performance work, or post-launch support. Those things do not disappear — you pay for them later, often twice, because the second team has to undo the first.
The common failure pattern is a site delivered on a template with no content plan and no SEO structure, which then gets rebuilt eighteen months later. The total spend exceeds doing it properly once.
How to legitimately spend less
- Write your own content, or supply a clear brief and existing material.
- Launch with fewer pages and add sections as they earn their place.
- Use a well-built template for phase one and invest in custom design once traffic justifies it.
- Supply your own photography if it is genuinely good.
- Bundle hosting, build and maintenance with one supplier rather than three.
- Be decisive. Revision rounds are the largest source of budget overrun on any project.
Frequently asked questions
Because scope genuinely varies. That said, publishing realistic ranges is possible and refusing to give any indication before a long sales process is a warning sign.
Often yes. A well-implemented template that loads fast and converts is better than a slow bespoke design. The template is not the problem; poor implementation is.
Two to four weeks for a brochure site, four to eight for a business site, six to twelve for e-commerce. Content delays are the most common cause of overrun.
You should own the domain, hosting account, source code and all accounts. Get that in writing before you start.