A site at €500. Another at €15,000. And Google defends both. The problem is that nobody ever talks about what justifies the gap. It is not a story of margins or of being ripped off. It is a question of what you actually expect from your site.
Why website prices vary so much
A website is several very different building blocks. The domain name and hosting at OVHcloud cost between €5 and €30 a month depending on the options. But behind that there is also design, development, copywriting, search optimisation and tracking tools. Depending on whether you delegate one or all of these, the bill moves from a few hundred to several tens of thousands of euros.
The real question is not: what does it cost. It is: does your site simply need to exist, or does it need to work for you?
What offers under €1,000 conceal
These offers exist and some are honest. But they rest on compromises that suppliers do not always explain clearly.
- A generic template modified in a few hours, with no thought given to your audience or your offer
- No SEO optimisation: your site will be invisible on Google from launch
- Generic copy that does not speak to your real customers
- Zero performance work, which penalises your ranking and the visitor experience
- No support if something breaks or changes after handover
A site at €800 can do its job if you already have a loyal customer base and are only looking for a basic shop window. But if you want to generate calls or quote requests, that budget will not give you the means.
The real price ranges by type of project
The French market falls into four distinct levels. The figures published by WebFX on the cost of a professional site confirm trends close to French practice. And according to Statista on digital transformation among French SMEs, average digital investment remains very low among French small companies, which explains why many underestimate the price of a genuinely effective site.
- Simple brochure site (3 to 5 pages, no real SEO work): €1,500 to €4,000
- Brochure site with a blog and basic SEO: €3,000 to €8,000
- E-commerce site with a product catalogue: €5,000 to €20,000
- Bespoke site with business features and advanced SEO: from €15,000 upwards
What really pushes the bill up
Three items often represent 60 to 70% of the total budget: bespoke design (versus a bought template), copywriting, and SEO work. If you add specific integrations (booking, CRM, online payment), the bill climbs quickly. And if you are starting from a full redesign, the stakes differ again. Our guide to redesigning a small company site explains how to assess whether this is the right moment for you.
According to Semrush, SEO work represents between 20 and 40% of the total budget of a web project done well. It is not an incidental cost. It is the part that decides whether your site will be found by your future customers.
Free tool: before asking for a quote, test your current site's speed on PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev). If your score is below 50, your current site is already costing you customers, and that figure changes your negotiating position with suppliers.
How to measure the return on your site
A website is an investment, not an expense. The right way to assess it is to compare its cost with what the leads obtained through the site generate. Google Search Console shows you how often your site appears in Google and how many people click. That is your starting point for measuring whether the investment pays for itself.
According to HubSpot, the average conversion rate of a B2B site sits around 2 to 5%. If your site receives 300 visitors a month and you convert at 3%, that is 9 prospects a month. Investing €5,000 in a site that generates 2 customers on a €1,500 offer pays for itself in under a month.
How to choose the right supplier for your budget
The headline price is not enough. What matters is the list of what is included: is SEO part of it, or offered as an option? Is the copy written, or do you supply the content yourself? Is there any support after launch? web.dev publishes the technical standards a good professional site should meet in 2026. Ask your supplier whether they know them and how they apply them.
If your site already exists but is not generating what you expected, the problem rarely comes from the design. Find out why your website is not generating customers and how to fix the real causes.