The question “how much does a website cost?” has an honest answer: between zero and €20,000, depending on who builds it and what is included. This article sorts out the prices on the Romanian market, so you know what you are comparing when three quotes for “the same” site look nothing alike.
The three pricing models
One-off payment. You pay once, usually €600 to €5,000 for a company website built by a serious agency or freelancer. Check whether domain, hosting and email are included at least for the first year and whether a maintenance plan exists afterwards. At WebStarter, the Start plan starts at €600 and includes the first year of hosting, domain and email, with optional maintenance from 149 lei per month.
Subscription. You pay monthly, and the site, domain, hosting, email and changes are included. Prices start around 150–200 lei per month and go up to 500–800 lei for plans with SEO and monthly content. The advantage is that you pay nothing upfront and someone answers when something breaks. The downside: over three years you usually pay more than with a one-off price, and at some agencies the site is not yours if you cancel.
Do it yourself. Wix, Squarespace or WordPress with a purchased theme: €10–40 per month plus your time. Fine for a start, but generic copy, slow loading and no SEO show after the first months.
What a business website must include
Whatever the model, check whether the quote includes each point below. Price differences usually come from what is missing.
- Custom design, not a theme. A purchased theme looks like 10,000 other sites and carries extra code that slows everything down.
- The copy. Who writes it? If the answer is “you send it to us”, add two weeks of your own time or a copywriter to the price. Copy is the reason a site brings customers or not.
- Domain, hosting, SSL, email. Around €60–120 per year if bought separately. Check whose name the domain is registered in: it must be your company.
- Speed. Ask for a mobile Lighthouse score. Under 70 means phone visitors leave before the page loads.
- Basic SEO. Titles, descriptions, structured data, sitemap, Google Business Profile. Without them, the site exists only for people who already know the address.
- A contact form that goes somewhere. Obvious, but many forms send emails to spam or nowhere.
- Changes after launch. A new service, a photo, a changed price. How much and how long?
- What happens if you leave. Do you get the files? Does the domain stay yours?
Hidden costs to ask about
- Plugins and licences. A “cheap” WordPress can hide €200–500 per year in plugin and theme licences.
- Security updates. Who does them and what do they cost? A WordPress not updated for a year is a security problem.
- Changes. €30–60 per hour for any change, if not included.
- Photos. Stock or a photo shoot? A good shoot costs €150–400 and makes a difference.
How long it takes
A business website with 5–8 pages takes 2–4 weeks from brief to launch, if copy and photos arrive on time. Anyone promising “in 3 days” is using a theme and your copy as it is.
Our recommendation
For most small companies, a one-off price with an optional maintenance plan is the clearest option: you know the cost from the start, the site is yours, and someone answers when something breaks. A subscription makes sense if you want no upfront investment at all. In both cases, ask for the list above in writing, point by point.
To see what this means in practice, the Mediklass website is a business website we built, with online bookings.