What a small business website should cost in Canada

A website quote is hard to judge because the three common options are not the same product. A template builder rents you software. An agency sells you time. A fixed-price build sells you a finished result.

Template builders look cheapest on day one. A $30 a month plan is $1,080 over three years before you add a booking app, a form app, storage and a mailbox — most small businesses land between $1,800 and $3,000, and at the end you still cannot take the site anywhere else.

Hosted store platforms follow the same shape with higher numbers. The base plan is only part of it: paid apps, themes and per-transaction fees typically add another 30% to 60% on top of the subscription.

Agencies quote $8,000 and up because they bill discovery, project management and revision cycles by the hour. That is fair work for a complex project, but for a five to seven page service business site most of it is process rather than product.

A fixed-price build sits in the middle: you know the number before anything starts, the scope is written down, and you own the result. Ask any provider three questions — what is the total, what happens if I want a change, and can I take the site elsewhere.

Two quotes for "a website" can describe completely different amounts of work. Before comparing numbers, get each provider to say in writing what is included, because the gaps are where the second invoice comes from.

• Pages: how many, and who writes the words on them.
• Design: a template applied to your brand, or something drawn for your business.
• Content: photo sourcing, editing and image optimisation.
• Technical setup: domain, hosting, SSL, branded mailboxes and deliverability records.
• Findability: page titles, descriptions, sitemap, Google Business Profile and analytics.
• After launch: who fixes things, how quickly, and at what cost.

A five to seven page service business site, priced the way an owner actually experiences it over three years, usually falls into three bands. A builder subscription with the add-ons you eventually need lands around $1,800 to $3,000 and leaves you with nothing transferable. A fixed-price custom build is typically $2,500 to $6,000 once, plus modest hosting and an optional care plan. An agency retainer starts near $8,000 and climbs with every revision round.

The band that suits you is decided by one question: how central is the website to how you get work? A business that gets most enquiries by word of mouth genuinely does not need the top band. A business whose calendar depends on search cannot afford the bottom one.

Domain renewal, mailbox seats, payment processing fees, stock photography licences, form or booking add-ons, and the hour of someone's time each month to keep the content current. None of them are large. Added together they are usually the difference between the quoted figure and the real one, so put them on the page when you compare options.

What is the total, and what specifically triggers an extra charge? If I want a change six months from now, what does that cost and how long does it take? If I decide to leave, what exactly do I take with me — the domain, the content, the design, the code?

A provider who answers those three plainly is telling you more about the project than any portfolio can. Vagueness at quoting stage almost always turns into vagueness at invoicing stage.

Two businesses in the same trade can get quotes that differ by thousands, and it is almost never the design that explains the gap. Page count is part of it, but the bigger drivers are how much of the content the provider has to create, whether anything needs to talk to another system, and how much of your process the site is expected to carry.

A brochure site that describes five services and collects enquiries is a small, predictable job. The same site with online booking, deposits, automatic reminders and invoices attached is a different product, because each of those pieces has to be configured, tested and supported. Decide which of them you actually need in the first version, and put the rest on a written list for later — that single decision moves the price more than any negotiation.

Fixed-price work is normally split: a deposit to start, a payment at design approval and the balance at launch. That structure protects both sides. You are never far ahead of the work, and the provider is never carrying a project for free. Be cautious of anyone asking for the full amount up front, and equally cautious of anyone who will not take a deposit at all — it usually means your job is filler between larger ones.

The build is the smaller number over a five-year life. Plan for domain renewal, hosting, mailboxes, an annual content refresh and a modest allowance for changes. A useful rule of thumb is to set aside fifteen to twenty per cent of the build cost each year for upkeep and small improvements. Businesses that budget for that never face the "our site is four years old and now needs replacing" conversation, because it never gets that far behind.

The lowest quote wins on the day and loses over three years, because the work it leaves out reappears as your time. Someone still has to write the words, size the photos, set the titles, test the form and keep the software patched. If that someone is you, price your own evenings into the comparison and the ranking usually changes.