A professional small-business website in India in 2026 costs roughly ₹15,000–₹60,000 from a freelancer, ₹40,000–₹1,50,000 from a small agency, and ₹2,00,000+ for premium or custom builds. DIY builders look free but bill you monthly forever. The number nobody quotes upfront is maintenance — budget ₹5,000–₹25,000/month for a site that stays alive. Cheapest build ≠ cheapest website over two years.
"How much does a website cost?" is the question we get most, and the honest answer — "it depends" — is useless to a founder trying to plan a budget. So this post replaces "it depends" with actual numbers, the reasons behind the range, and the costs that don't show up in the initial quote.
Everything below reflects the Indian market in 2026: SMBs, service businesses, and B2B firms getting a real, lead-generating website — not a one-page placeholder and not an enterprise portal.
Why the range is so wide
The word "website" covers three completely different products. A template filled in over a weekend, a custom-designed marketing site, and a bespoke web application all get called "a website" and quoted anywhere from ₹5,000 to ₹15,00,000. Before comparing prices, you have to know which one you're actually buying.
Five things move the price, in rough order of impact:
- Who builds it — DIY, freelancer, small agency, or premium agency.
- Custom design vs template — a designed-from-scratch site costs more than a themed one, and looks it.
- Number of pages and features — 5 pages vs 15, plus forms, booking, payments, multi-language.
- SEO and lead setup — whether the site is actually built to be found and to capture enquiries.
- Ongoing support — a one-time handover vs a partner who keeps it running.
The real cost breakdown
Here's what each route typically costs in India in 2026, and what you actually get for the money.
| Route | Typical cost | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com) |
₹0–₹1,500/mo + your time |
Testing an idea; solo founders with time to spare | Subscription forever; templated look; SEO and speed are on you |
| Freelancer | ₹15,000–₹60,000 one-time |
Tight budgets; simple brochure sites | Variable quality; hard to reach after handover; SEO often skipped |
| Small / boutique agency | ₹40,000–₹1,50,000 one-time |
Most SMBs and B2B service firms | Quality varies widely by studio; check real work, not just decks |
| Premium agency | ₹2,00,000–₹10,00,000+ | Funded startups; brands with a design budget | Often overkill for a local service business |
| Custom web app | ₹5,00,000+ | Products, portals, booking platforms | This is software, not a website — scope and budget accordingly |
Most Indian SMBs and B2B firms belong in the freelancer-to-small-agency band: ₹40,000–₹1,50,000 for a build they won't have to redo in a year. If you want a fuller comparison of who to hire, we wrote a companion piece on agency vs freelancer vs AI website builder.
The costs nobody puts in the quote
The build price is the part everyone talks about. The costs below are the ones that surprise people six months in.
Domain and hosting
A .in or .com domain runs ₹800–₹1,500/year. Hosting ranges from ₹0 on modern static-site platforms (Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages) up to ₹8,000–₹15,000/year for managed WordPress. SSL is free almost everywhere now. This is the small, predictable part.
Maintenance — the real one
A website is not a poster you print once. Plugins need updating, backups need running, forms break, content goes stale, and Google keeps moving the goalposts. A neglected site slowly stops ranking and stops converting. Maintenance typically runs ₹5,000–₹25,000/month depending on how active the site is — and it's the line item most freelancers and cheap agencies leave out so their quote looks smaller.
The two-year rule. Compare websites over 24 months, not on build price. A ₹20,000 build with no support that you rebuild after a year can easily cost more than a ₹49,000 build with a year of maintenance included — and the second one actually brings in enquiries the whole time.
Content and images
Copywriting, professional photos, and logo work are separate line items if you don't have them. Budget ₹5,000–₹30,000 depending on how much you need. Good agencies fold basic content help into the build; ask before you assume.
What you should actually budget
For a typical Indian service business or B2B firm that wants a site that looks credible and generates enquiries:
- One-time build: ₹50,000–₹1,00,000 for a well-designed, SEO-ready site of 7–10 pages.
- Ongoing: ₹5,000–₹15,000/month for hosting, maintenance, and small content updates.
- Year one total: roughly ₹1,10,000–₹2,80,000 all-in.
Spend less and you're usually buying a template you'll outgrow. Spend a lot more and you're paying for brand polish a local business rarely needs. The middle is where the value is.
Where GrowthGuys sits
For transparency, here's our own pricing against the framework above. Our Launch plan is ₹49,000 for up to 7 pages, live in five business days, with one month of support included and ₹10,000/month after that. Growth is ₹89,000 with six months of support built in, and Dominate is ₹1,49,000 with a full year of support plus SEO and growth work.
The part that changes the risk maths: we build the first version before you pay. You see your actual site — not a mockup — and only commit if you like it. We've done this for businesses like Unisolar Power and Shara Design Labs, and the speed comes from a specific way of working we break down in how we build a new site in 5 business days.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a business website cost in India in 2026?
Why do website prices in India vary so much?
What are the ongoing costs of a website after it is built?
Is a cheap freelancer website a false economy?
How much does GrowthGuys charge for a website?
Want a real number for your business?
Tell us what you do and how many pages you need. We'll give you a fixed price — and build the first version before you pay a rupee.