Sections of this topic
Knowing the cost of creating a website in Canada is an important prerequisite to setting up a successful business. However, the wide range of web design prices can be overwhelming. This article will cover the basics of estimating design costs, choosing the right type of site, and actually developing it.
Domain Name and Hosting Plan
While a domain name typically doesn’t cost much, it is charged on a recurring basis, so you don’t want to pay more than $20 per year. A premium domain name will be an unnecessary financial burden.
Choose a Hosting Plan
This is the next step after choosing a domain name for your website. Think about the type of website you want to have and how much traffic you expect. You won’t need a big plan if you have a smaller website. A large eCommerce store will require more substantial hosting. The next section will explore the most common types of websites so you can choose your category.
Exercise caution when choosing a plan because owning a website can be more expensive. The typical monthly cost of reliable web hosting is $10-$40, depending on traffic volume and website size.
Type of Website
The most common types of websites are a small eCommerce store, large stores, large custom stores, and brochure-style sites.
Small Ecommerce Store
These stores sell between ten and 100 products. They also have a blog where clients can get more information about your offerings and follow your business.
The hosting price depends on what features you’d like to have and the number of products you sell. Your site will need a secure payment method for clients to be safe when submitting payment information.
The design cost of a small eCommerce website in Canada can go up to $5,000. The bare minimum to reckon with is $1,000. You’ll add the recurring costs to this amount. These include monthly hosting costs, a domain name, update costs, and plugins to process payments. On average, the annual recurring costs for a small eCommerce platform are about $680.
Brochure Site
This is the most affordable option. It is suitable for professional services, musicians, nonprofit organizations, and businesses that don’t plan to sell online. Visitors to the site will receive basic information about your business and what it has to offer, business hours, and your presence on social networks.
Usually, brochure websites only have around ten pages, and they cost far less to design than any other type of website. They are appealing for startups on shoestring budgets and/or ones that want to keep their web design costs down to a minimum.
In Canada, brochure website design costs $700 on average. It can be as little as $400 or as much as $1,000, depending on the features you need and the number of pages. The domain name and hosting costs will be added to this. You’ll also need to account for annual update costs.
All in all, you can expect to pay from $600 to $1,200 for a brochure website. Hosting fees, domain name renewal, and recurring update costs will incur an additional $200-$250. You can opt to create a website yourself using a website builder. It’s an option worth exploring.
Large eCommerce Store
A large store will make it possible to sell products to a wider audience. This option is suitable for more than 100 products, an active blog, and product tutorial videos. Your costs will include:
- A large hosting plan.
- A domain name.
- Payment and security plugins.
- Recurring fees for updates and maintenance.
The annual recurring costs of a large store amount to approximately $700. Design costs range from $5,500 to $50,000.
Large Custom Website
Finally, some businesses need a website with customized features and functions to accommodate high-volume content. These include gaming businesses or websites with a lot of high-resolution photos. Some features make websites hard to code. The costs increase with complexity, and such websites take longer to build.
These websites need to support many visitors daily and are custom-built for solidness and robustness. You can expect a large custom website to cost you $10,000 to $75,000. Higher update and hosting fees will add to the annual cost.
