A professionally built website for an Australian small business costs about $4,000 to $10,000 in 2026. A DIY builder costs a subscription and your evenings, a custom website with strategy and copywriting runs from about $8,000 to $20,000, and an online store starts around $8,000 and climbs with the catalogue. This guide explains what sits behind each range, the ongoing costs that quotes leave out, and the questions that move a price up or down, so you can compare proposals line by line. Figures are in Australian dollars and exclude GST.
What does a website cost in Australia in 2026?
Most small business websites built by an Australian studio land between $4,000 and $10,000. The lower end usually means a template with your colours and your words; the upper end means custom design, copywriting and search set-up. Below $4,000 you are generally buying a DIY builder or an overseas template job, and above $10,000 you are paying for strategy, bespoke design or integrations.
The spread is wide because a website is work, not a product. Two sites with the same page count can differ by $10,000 depending on who writes the words, whether the design is drawn for you or picked from a theme, and what the site has to connect to.
DIY website builders
Wix, Squarespace and the basic Shopify plans charge a monthly fee and give you a template. With good photos, a few free evenings and the patience to write your own copy, you can be online for very little. The trade-offs are a site that looks like thousands of others, limited control over speed and search visibility, and the hours you spend not running your business. For a new sole trader testing an idea, that is often the right call. For a business that lives on enquiries from Google, it rarely stays the right call.
Small business websites: from about $5,000
This is the most common project for a service business: five to ten pages, a design built around your brand, copy that says what you do and where, a contact form that works on a phone, and the search foundations in place. Google's own SEO starter guide describes those foundations as helpful content, clear titles and sensible links, and a good build has them from day one. Our small business website design projects start from $5,000 and typically take four to eight weeks.
Custom websites: $8,000 to $20,000
A custom website adds the thinking: a discovery session on what the site has to do, a content plan, page-by-page design, professional copywriting and often photography. It suits businesses whose website is the main way clients judge them, businesses with several services or locations that each need a page, and anyone whose site must connect to booking, quoting or CRM tools. Custom web design at this level is where measurable results come from, because the structure is planned for search and conversion rather than retrofitted.
Ecommerce websites: $8,000 to $30,000 and up
Online stores cost more because more can go wrong: product data, payment and shipping rules, GST, stock, email flows and product pages that actually sell. A small catalogue on Shopify or WooCommerce with a custom theme sits at the lower end; hundreds of products and warehouse or point-of-sale integrations push it up. An ecommerce web design quote should list platform fees separately, because Shopify and payment gateways charge monthly and per transaction on top of the build.
What are the ongoing costs of a website?
Budget $300 to $3,000 a year on top of the build.
- Domain name. A .com.au costs roughly $20 to $50 a year, and you need an ABN or ACN to hold one under the auDA com.au rules.
- Hosting. From a few dollars a month on shared hosting to $50 or more for fast managed hosting. Speed affects rankings and enquiries, so this is a poor place to save $10.
- Care and updates. Backups, security updates, small changes and a monthly check that forms and tracking still work. A studio web care plan runs $50 to $250 a month; the alternative is your own time.
- Content. A site that is never updated slowly loses ground to competitors that publish. Many businesses pair the site with a marketing retainer; ours start from $750 a month.
What changes the quote?
Page count is the biggest lever: every service and location you want to be found for needs its own page, with design and words. Copywriting is next; writing it yourself saves money and costs weeks. Photography is one of the best-value lines on any quote, because stock photos are free and look it. Integrations such as bookings, calculators, CRMs and payment gateways are custom work. Finally, the platform: Webflow for marketing sites, Shopify or WooCommerce for stores, WordPress where your team already knows it. The platform affects both the build and the running costs.
Is a website tax deductible in Australia?
Generally yes, but how you claim it depends on the cost. The ATO treats the cost of acquiring or developing a website as a capital expense that is depreciated or pooled, while running costs such as hosting and maintenance that preserves the site's character are claimed in the year you pay them. The ATO's page on deductions for digital product expenses sets this out with examples; confirm your position with your accountant.
How to compare website quotes
Ask every studio for the same list in writing: design rounds, copywriting, photography, SEO set-up, training, support after launch, and who owns the site, the domain and the hosting account. Ask to see three sites launched in the past year and open them on your phone. Ask what a change costs six months after launch. The cheapest quote is usually the one that left out copy, search set-up and support.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a basic website cost in Australia?
A basic professionally built website for a small business starts around $4,000 to $5,000 in 2026. That buys five or so pages, a mobile-friendly design, a working contact form and the search foundations. Below that you are usually looking at a DIY builder or a template with your logo on it: fine as a card online, weak for enquiries.
How much does it cost to maintain a website per year?
Plan on $300 to $3,000 a year. Domain and basic hosting alone can be under $300. Managed hosting plus a care plan covering updates, backups and a monthly change sits near the top. Compare the total over three years: a cheap build with expensive support often costs more than a dearer build with support included.
Why is a website cheaper overseas?
Labour costs, mostly. The risks are a site you cannot easily edit, nobody accountable when something breaks, and copy that does not read as Australian. Some businesses do well with an overseas build; most that depend on local enquiries do better with a local studio that answers the phone.
How long does a website take to build?
Four to eight weeks is typical for a small business or custom website once content and feedback flow. Simple template sites can be quicker. Ecommerce builds and sites with integrations often take eight to twelve weeks. The most common delay is content: photos, copy approvals and product data arriving late, so line those up before the design starts.
Getting a fixed price for your project
If you are in Wollongong or the Illawarra, the Wollongong website cost guide has the same ranges with local examples. For an exact figure, Adcraft scopes projects in a short call and sends a fixed quote with timeline and inclusions; get in touch to arrange one.
