How much does a small-business website cost in Australia?
By Bandicoot Labs · Reviewed
Budget for the work needed to launch and the cost of keeping the site useful. A lower setup fee can become a higher total over time. Compare the same scope over three years before choosing a supplier.
Start with scope, not an Australian average
A website showing your services and taking enquiries is a different project from a shop with hundreds of products or a portal connected to your internal systems. Even two sites with five pages can need very different work.
On our web design service page, we describe an indicative range of a few thousand dollars to low five figures for small-business sites, depending on pages and features. That is Bandicoot Labs’ broad guidance, not a surveyed Australian average or a quote for your project. We provide a fixed quote after discovery.
A useful budget begins with the customer’s task. For a local electrician, that might be checking the service area and requesting a job. For a practice, it might be understanding appointment options and following a booking link. Decide what the first version must do before adding features.
What changes the build price?
- Content: editing your existing text is different from researching and writing every service page. Photography and brand work need their own scope.
- Design: adapting a layout differs from designing several distinct page types. Ask how many unique layouts and revision rounds are included.
- Functionality: linking to a booking system differs from building a synchronised booking workflow. Describe what happens after the customer clicks.
- Migration: a new site needs different work from replacing one with existing URLs, enquiries, analytics and email dependencies.
- Editing and support: a content management system, training and an ongoing editing allowance should be explicit.
Ask the supplier to price a useful first version and separately identify optional work. Cutting a necessary form test to reach a headline price is a poor saving; postponing an unused portal can be a sensible one.
Use a 36-month total-cost worksheet
Record each charge once. A platform subscription may already include hosting, and a care plan may include both hosting and updates. Mark bundled items “included” rather than adding them again. business.gov.au explains the distinction between cloud subscriptions and separately hosted systems.
Swipe across the table to see every column.
| Cost line | What to record | 36-month treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Design and build | Agreed scope and setup fee | One-off total |
| Content and images | Included, client-supplied or extra | One-off plus planned updates |
| Platform / hosting | Normal renewal price, billing cycle and usage limits | Monthly × 36 or annual × 3 |
| Domain and email | Renewals; whether email is separate | Actual renewals due in the period |
| Apps and integrations | Setup, subscription and usage charges | Setup + recurring estimate |
| Care and changes | Included tasks, editing allowance and extra-work rate | Plan fees + separately priced changes |
| Marketing | SEO work, content or ad spend if needed | Separate planned budget |
| Exit or migration | Export, handover and moving costs | Known fee or clearly marked allowance |
Comparison total = setup + recurring charges over 36 months + other planned costs. Use Australian dollars throughout and the same GST treatment for every quote. Ask each supplier whether their figures include GST. Mark unknowns as unknown; a blank cell is not zero. Treat discounts, price rises and usage estimates as separate assumptions.
What should a monthly website fee buy?
Ask for the task list: hosting, backups, restoration, software updates where applicable, monitoring, support and content changes. Find out who notices a problem, who fixes it and what is charged separately. An automated backup and a tested recovery process are different deliverables.
Ask about the minimum term, renewal price, cancellation notice and what happens to the site when a plan ends. A subscription is not inherently bad value. It becomes hard to compare when the scope or exit terms are unclear.
Website launch and ongoing marketing are separate budget decisions. If a quote includes “SEO”, use our quote checklist to identify the actual tasks. Google warns against guaranteed first-place rankings in its guide to hiring an SEO.
Get a quote you can make a decision on
Send the same brief to the suppliers you are considering. Ask them to separate the must-haves, options, recurring costs and client responsibilities. Then compare the work, your own time and the handover alongside the total.
If the total is beyond your budget, ask what a smaller useful first version would look like. You can also test whether DIY is realistic before commissioning a full build.
Sources and further reading
Official documentation supports the platform and search facts in this guide. The worksheets and recommendations are our practical editorial guidance.