How Much Does a WordPress Website Actually Cost to Build?

“How much does it cost to develop a WordPress website?” is a frequently requested question. While the core WordPress software is free, the cost of a website is largely dependent on your budget and objectives.

We’ll break it all down in this post to answer the final question: How much does it really cost to design a WordPress website? We’ll also show you how to prevent overspending and cut costs when developing a website.

Because this is a big read, we’ve included a table of contents. This article will go over the following topics:

What are the requirements for creating a WordPress website?

WordPress is available for anyone to download and use for free. You can install it on any type of website because it is open source software.

So, if WordPress is free, where does the money come from?

The price of a WordPress site is divided into the following categories:

• WordPress hosting
• Domain Name
• Design
• Plugins and Extensions (Apps)

You will require web hosting to store your files if you want to construct a self-hosted WordPress site. Hosting is required for every website on the Internet. This is your website’s internet address.

There are various hosting plans available for various types of websites. You must select one that meets your requirements while remaining within your budget.

Then you’ll need a domain name. This is your website’s internet address, and it is what your users will type into their browsers to get to your website (for example, wpbeginner.com or google.com).

There are numerous free website themes available for use with WordPress. If you want something more complicated, you can either buy a premium template or have one developed from scratch, which will cost more.

WordPress has over 59,000 free plugins. These are extensions and apps for your webpages. Consider elements such as a contact form, a gallery, and so on.

So, while you may establish a website for free with just hosting and a domain name, depending on your circumstances, you may end up paying for extra tools and services. That is why it is frequently difficult for people to determine the true cost of a WordPress website.

Allow us to walk you through the true cost of developing a WordPress site.

Calculating the Actual Cost of Creating a WordPress Site

Depending on your requirements, the cost of launching a WordPress website might range from $100 to $500 to $3000, or even more.

It’s critical to understand what kind of website you’re creating and what you’ll need for it, as this will have a direct impact on your costs.

But don’t worry; we’ll show you how to prevent a financial disaster and make the finest selections possible.

Let’s divide websites into budget groups for the sake of this article:

• Building a WordPress website (low budget)
• Building a WordPress website (with more features)
• Building a WordPress website for a small business
• Building a WordPress eCommerce website
• Building a custom WordPress website

Let’s look at how much each of these initiatives costs and how you may avoid paying more than you have to.

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Website (Low Budget)?

You can create a fully functional WordPress website for yourself for less than $100. Here is a cost breakdown for a low-budget WordPress website.

You will first require a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name is typically $14.99 per year, and web hosting is typically $7.99 per month.

The next step is to install WordPress on your hosting account. Complete instructions may be found in our step-by-step tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog.

After installing WordPress, you can use a free template to create a design for your website.

WordPress themes are the design templates that control the appearance of your website.

There are many professionally designed free WordPress themes available for installation. Some examples can be found in our expert pick of 43 gorgeous free WordPress blog themes.

Once you’ve decided on a WordPress theme, follow the directions in our step-by-step guide to installing a WordPress theme.

Following that, you may wish to include features on your website such as a contact form, a photo gallery, a slider, and so on. Don’t panic; there are over 59,000 WordPress plugins available to assist you.

Plugins are extensions or apps for your WordPress site. See our step-by-step instructions for installing a WordPress plugin.

The crucial WordPress plugins that you should install on your website are listed below. They are all free to download.

Features

• WPForms Lite – Add contact forms to your WordPress site.
• Shared Counts is the best WordPress social media plugin that doesn’t slow down your website and is fully GDPR compliant.
• SeedProd Lite: Easily build custom landing pages for your website without any code.

Website Optimization

• All-in-One SEO: Improve your WordPress SEO and get more traffic from Google.
• MonsterInsights (free) helps you track visitor statistics using Google Analytics.
• WP Super Cache improves your website’s speed by adding cache.

Website Security

• UpdraftPlus is a free WordPress backup plugin.
• Sucuri is a free website malware scanner.

There are numerous free WordPress plugins available to enhance and expand your WordPress site. See our category “Best WordPress Plugins,” where we have reviewed hundreds of WordPress plugins.

Total cost of website: $46-$100 per year

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Site (with More Features)?

We always advise our customers to start simple and gradually add additional functionality as their website grows. You won’t be paying for anything you don’t truly need this way.

As you add additional features to your website, the cost will rise.

You can keep using Bluehost for WordPress hosting to keep costs down and to acquire a free domain name.

However, since you will be adding more features to your website, it may make sense to get a more powerful hosting configuration like SiteGround’s GoGeek plan. This will cost you a little more, but it comes with premium features like staging and faster performance, and it can handle up to 100,000 visitors per month.

You can also go for a premium WordPress template for your site.

To add extra functionality to your website, you must utilize a combination of free and premium plugin additions. Here are some must-have premium WordPress plugins and extensions for your site as it grows:

Features

• WPForms—To add customer inquiries and feedback forms
• WP Rocket is a premium WordPress caching plugin to speed up your site.
• SeedProd Pro: Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
• WP Mail SMTP: Improves email deliverability and fixes the “WordPress not sending email” issue.
• Uncanny Automator is a WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools and services without any code.
• Soliloquy: Create beautiful product sliders with their WooCommerce addon.

Marketing

• OptinMonster: Convert visitors into customers with this powerful lead generation tool.
• Constant Contact is a powerful email marketing service.
• MonsterInsights: Ecommerce tracking with real-time stats using Google AnalyticsLet’s look at how much each of these initiatives costs and how you may avoid paying more than you have to.
• All-in-One SEO Pro: Improve your WooCommerce SEO ranking
• HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM with live chat, email marketing, and sales tools.

Security

• BackupBuddy: Automatic WordPress backups
• Sucuri is a website firewall and malware scanner.

There are numerous more WordPress plugins and services that you can use. Each paid service or add-on you purchase will raise the price of your WordPress site.

Total cost of the website: Depending on the premium WordPress plugins and services you add, the annual cost can range between $500 and $1000.

What’s the Cost of a Small Business Website with WordPress

“How much does it cost to design a small business website with WordPress?” we are frequently asked. The answer is dependent on your business requirements and the tools you want to use to expand your business online.

Essentially, the pricing will fall between a low-budget WordPress site and a WordPress site with greater functionality.

Remember that you are not adding a full-fledged eCommerce store to your business website. In that case, consult the following section of this page for a more precise estimate.

If you’re just getting started and need a simple website to showcase your products and services, we recommend Bluehost. Their beginner package will drastically cut the cost, leaving you with money to spend on extra premium tools if necessary.

If your budget is more flexible, you can sign up for SiteGround’s GrowBig plan. They are known for providing outstanding support, which is beneficial for a small business owner who lacks technical knowledge.

The next step is to choose a design for your website. You can search for a WordPress theme for business websites or select a responsive WordPress theme that meets your needs.

You have the option of using a free WordPress theme. However, because this is a business website, we recommend that you get a premium theme that includes maintenance and upgrades.

Let’s move on to plugins.

To keep costs down, you’ll need to use a mix of free and paid plugins. The premium plugins listed below are definitely necessary for a small company website.

Features

• WPForms (Pro): The premium version will give you access to all the features you’ll need for lead generation. This includes PayPal and Stripe payments, conversational forms, email marketing integration, and more.
• SeedProd Pro: Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
• WP Mail SMTP: Improves email deliverability and fixes the “WordPress not sending email” issue.
• Uncanny Automator is a WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools and services without any code.

Marketing

• Constant Contact is one of the best email marketing services, especially for small businesses.
• OptinMonster – Helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers. You’ll need it for lead generation and conversion optimization.
• MonsterInsights Pro—the best Google Analytics plugin helps you see where your users are coming from and what they do on your website. This allows you to make data-driven decisions to grow your business.
• All-in-One SEO Pro: Improve your website’s SEO ranking.

Security

• UpdraftPlus (Pro): The premium version of the plugin comes with incremental backups, automatic backups before updates, and several remote storage locations to keep your backups.
• Sucuri Firewall: Website firewall and malware protection.

There are many more plugins and tools that you can utilize now. We recommend that you first test the free version to see if it meets your needs. Many premium tools provide free trials; take advantage of these to see whether you truly require the tool.

You would want to spend money to build your business as a business website. We’re not saying you shouldn’t spend money if it makes sense and you can afford it.

See our step-by-step tutorial on how to create a small company website for more information.

The total cost of the website is: It all relies on the premium tools and plugins you buy. It can range from $300 to $700 per year, but it can reach $1000 per year.

What’s the Cost of a WordPress Ecommerce Website?

WordPress powers millions of eCommerce websites globally.

The cost of developing a WordPress eCommerce website can be much higher, but we will show you how to do so while avoiding potential losses and overspending.

Your eCommerce site will also require an SSL certificate, which costs roughly $69.99 per year in addition to hosting and a name. SSL is essential for the safe transmission of customer data such as payment card information, usernames, passwords, and so on.

Bluehost is our top recommendation. It includes a free name and SSL certificate, as well as a hosting discount.

Following that, you must choose a WordPress eCommerce plugin.

There are various WordPress eCommerce plugins, but none compare to WooCommerce. It is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin for creating robust online businesses where you can sell your products and services.

Following that, you must install WordPress and WooCommerce on your website. We have a step-by-step tutorial for starting an online store.

While WooCommerce is free, more functionality requires the use of premium extensions. The cost of your website will increase based on how many add-ons you require.

Once your site is up and running, you must select a WooCommerce WordPress theme for it. There are various paid and free WordPress layouts that fully support WooCommerce. When you select a premium or paid template, you gain access to support and other features.

We have compiled a list of the top free WooCommerce addons; however, depending on your requirements, you may also need to utilize some expensive extensions.

Here are some more paid services that you will require for your eCommerce website.

Features

• WPForms—To add customer inquiries and feedback forms
• SeedProd Pro: Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
• WP Mail SMTP: Improves email deliverability and fixes the “WordPress not sending email” issue.
• Uncanny Automator is a WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools and services without any code.
• Soliloquy: Create beautiful product sliders with their WooCommerce addon.

Marketing

• OptinMonster: Convert visitors into customers with this powerful lead generation tool.
• Constant Contact is a powerful email marketing service.
• MonsterInsights: Ecommerce tracking with real-time stats using Google AnalyticsLet’s look at how much each of these initiatives costs and how you may avoid paying more than you have to.
• All-in-One SEO Pro: Improve your WooCommerce SEO ranking
• HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM with live chat, email marketing, and sales tools.

Security

• BackupBuddy: Automatic WordPress backups
• Sucuri is a website firewall and malware scanner.

Remember that starting small and adding expansions and services as your business grows is the best way to keep your prices low.

The total cost of developing a WordPress eCommerce website is between $1,000 and $3,000. It may cost more depending on how many paid add-ons and services you provide on your website.

What’s the Cost of a Custom WordPress Site?

When you engage a WordPress developer to create a unique look and specialized functionality for your WordPress site, you are creating a “bespoke” WordPress site.

This path is typically taken by well-established, large to medium-sized organizations.

You may also choose to use a managed WordPress hosting service to support a bespoke WordPress site. This is a WordPress-focused hosting environment that includes managed updates, premium support, stringent security, and developer-friendly tools.

You will have to pay the web developer who is developing your website in addition to your hosting and domain name. Depending on your requirements, you may wish to obtain quotations from a number of theme developers, web designers, and agencies.

The price of a bespoke website is determined by your needs, your budget, and the rates of the developer or agency you select.

A typical, custom WordPress theme can cost up to $5,000 on its own. More powerful WordPress sites with unique features can cost up to $15,000 or more.

Update: After multiple requests for more information on this part, we have prepared a complete article on how much a custom WordPress theme costs, as well as money-saving ideas.

Aside from that, we’ve put together a beginners’ guide to how much it costs to launch a membership site in WordPress.

Regardless of the type of custom website you want to build, employing the SeedProd plugin is an excellent approach to cutting custom WordPress site costs. SeedProd is a website builder that lets you design custom themes and page layouts without touching any code.

SeedProd can help you save up to 90% on the cost of your custom WordPress site.

See our tutorial on how to simply design a custom WordPress theme using SeedProd for more information.

How to Avoid Overpaying and Cut Down Spending

We always advise our users to start small and then scale up as their WordPress site grows. In many circumstances, you may not require all of the premium features found on many well-known websites for your business.

Remember that those websites got a head start, and it’s probable that it took them some time to figure out how to control costs and expand their business.

You can begin with a low-cost website by utilizing free plugins and templates. When you begin to receive visitors, you might consider adding premium features such as a premium template, email marketing, a paid backup plugin, a website firewall, business email addresses, business phone services, live chat, and so on.

The same is true for your eCommerce site. Begin with the simplest necessities, and as you begin selling, you will discover which tools will benefit both you and your consumers.

Look for the finest WordPress offers and coupons to receive extra savings whenever possible.

Even for complex WordPress projects, hiring a developer isn’t always necessary. We have step-by-step instructions for creating several types of WordPress websites, such as:

We hope this post has answered your questions about how much it costs to develop a website.