There is no single price, and anyone who quotes one before asking questions is guessing. A business website in Mumbai can cost almost nothing (a do-it-yourself builder and your weekends), a one-off fee from a freelancer, or several lakh from an agency with a full team. The number depends on how many pages you need, whether the design is custom, what the site has to do (bookings, payments, logins) and who writes the content. Below is how to work out which bracket you are in.
Why is there no fixed price for a website?
Because "a website" can mean a one-page card with your phone number, or a store with 400 products, delivery slots and UPI payments. Those are different products that happen to open in the same browser. A fair quote has to start with what the site needs to do for your business, so if someone gives you a price in the first message, they are either selling a template or planning to add extras later.
What a quote should start with is three questions: who will visit the site, what should they do there (call, message, book, buy), and what do you already have (logo, photos, text, a domain name). The answers decide most of the cost.
What are the three ways to get a website, and what does each cost?
- Do it yourself with a website builder. You pay a monthly subscription and give up your evenings. Cheapest in rupees, most expensive in time. Fine if you enjoy it and your needs are simple. The site usually looks like everyone else's, and the monthly fee never stops.
- A freelance web developer. You pay once for the build and talk directly to the person doing the work. No account manager, no office to pay for, so the same site costs less than from an agency. The risk is picking the wrong person, which is why you should check their live work and make sure every account is in your name. I wrote more about this in freelancer vs agency in Mumbai.
- A web design agency. You pay for a team: sales, project management, design, development, sometimes a copywriter. Highest price, and often a monthly retainer afterwards. Worth it when you genuinely need several people working at once, for example a large brand site with ongoing campaigns.
What actually drives the price up?
In rough order of how much they matter:
- Features. A site that only shows information is simple. Add online payments, a booking calendar, customer logins or an admin panel and it stops being a website and becomes an app, with a price to match.
- Number of pages. Five well-made pages cost less than twenty. Most small businesses need five to eight: home, services, about, gallery or work, contact, and maybe one page per main service.
- Custom design vs a template. A design made for you, with your photos and a layout that fits your business, takes real hours. A template is faster and cheaper but you will see it on other sites.
- Content. Writing the text and taking decent photos is often the slowest part of a project. If you supply them, the price drops and the site launches sooner. If the developer has to write and source everything, it goes up.
- Search setup. Proper titles, descriptions, a sitemap, fast loading and local business details should be included, not sold as an add-on. Ask. (How to show up on Google in Mumbai explains what matters.)
- Languages. A site in English and Hindi or Marathi is roughly two sites' worth of content.
What are the ongoing costs after launch?
These are the ones people forget to ask about, so here are the honest ones:
- Domain name: a .com or .in is usually around a thousand rupees a year or less, paid to the registrar, in your name.
- Hosting: for a normal business website this can be free or a few hundred rupees a month on modern hosting. Only sites with heavy traffic or a database need more.
- Business email: a small monthly fee per mailbox if you want name@yourbusiness.com.
- Payment gateway: if you sell online, Razorpay and similar providers take a small percentage of each payment. There is no fixed monthly fee for most small businesses.
- Maintenance: optional. A well-built static site needs almost none. Sites built on plugins need regular updates, which is where monthly "maintenance plans" come from.
If a quote includes a compulsory monthly fee to the developer for "hosting and maintenance", ask what exactly it covers and whether you can leave. You should be able to.
What should a quote include so you are not surprised later?
- The list of pages and what each one contains.
- The features, in plain words: "WhatsApp button", "contact form that emails you", "online payment", "admin login".
- Who supplies the text and photos, and what happens if they are late.
- Domain, hosting, SSL (the padlock) and email: who sets them up and whose name they are in.
- Search basics: titles, descriptions, sitemap, Google Search Console and Google Business Profile connected.
- Number of revision rounds and the timeline.
- What you own at the end. It should be everything.
How do I pay less without getting a worse website?
Fewer pages, done properly, beat many thin ones. Write the first draft of your own text; nobody knows your business better, and a good developer will tidy it. Use your own photos of your shop, team and work rather than stock images. Skip the editing dashboard if you change your site twice a year; asking the developer is cheaper than paying for a system you will not use. And do not pay for "SEO packages" before the site has the basics built in.
How do I get an actual number?
Send me what the site is for, how many pages you think you need and what you already have. I build business websites in Mumbai myself, from design to hosting, and reply within 24 hours with a fixed price and a timeline. The quote is the price; nothing is added later. Use the form below or message me on WhatsApp.
Common questions
Is a cheap website a bad idea?
Not necessarily. A small, fast site that loads on a phone and has a working call button is better than an expensive one nobody can find. What you should avoid is a site with hidden monthly fees, or one built on an account you do not control.
Do I have to pay the full amount up front?
Usually not. A deposit to start and the balance at launch is the normal arrangement, with milestones for larger projects. Be careful with anyone asking for everything before showing any work.
Why is the same website cheaper from a freelancer than an agency?
Because you are not paying for a salesperson, a project manager and an office. The person quoting is the person building. The work itself is the same, or better, because nothing is lost between departments.
Does the price include getting on Google?
The technical setup should be included: fast loading, titles, descriptions, sitemap and local business details. Ranking at the top also takes reviews and content over time, which no honest quote can promise.
Send me what you have in mind. I reply within a day with questions or a fixed quote, and I'll say so if you don't need what you're asking for.
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