Ask five developers what a website costs and you’ll get five numbers between ₹5,000 and ₹5,00,000. Confusingly, all five might be honest answers — they’re just pricing different things. This guide breaks down what you’re actually paying for, so you can compare quotes on substance instead of sticker price.
The four things that decide the price
- Design: a ₹500 template reskin vs. a custom design built around your brand and customers
- Engineering: a page-builder with 40 plugins vs. hand-written code that loads in under a second
- Content: “we’ll paste in your text” vs. copy structured to rank and convert
- SEO foundation: proper metadata, schema, sitemaps and speed — or none of it
The cheap quote and the expensive quote usually differ on all four. The question isn’t “why is one more expensive” — it’s “which of these am I getting, and which am I giving up?”
Realistic ranges in India (2026)
- Template/personal site: ₹5,000–₹15,000 — fine for a hobby, risky for a business
- Custom business website: ₹25,000–₹80,000 — the right zone for most SMBs
- E-commerce store: ₹60,000–₹2,50,000 — depends on catalogue size and integrations
- Custom software / web app: ₹1,50,000+ — quoted per scope, always in writing
Red flags in any quote
- No itemisation — one lump number with no breakdown
- The domain and hosting are registered in their name, not yours
- No mention of speed, mobile or SEO fundamentals
- “Unlimited revisions” — usually means unlimited delays
- You pay 100% before seeing anything
The most expensive website isn’t the one that costs ₹80,000. It’s the ₹8,000 one you pay for three times — once to build, once to fix, once to replace.
How to buy safely
Ask every candidate the same questions: What’s included, itemised? Who owns the domain and code? What will the PageSpeed score be? Can I see a demo before I pay? A developer who answers these clearly and in writing is worth more than the cheapest quote — and at Prolight, the demo comes before any payment, precisely so you never have to gamble.
Want this handled for you?
We build fast, search-friendly websites and software for businesses like yours — and the demo is free before you pay anything.