What does a website cost in the Netherlands in 2026?

A focused custom website for a small business or service provider starts at €500 excl. VAT with us, and most of those projects stay under €1,000. Search the same question and you will find numbers from a few hundred euros to well over €25,000. Both are true, because “a website” is not a fixed product. The price follows from five things: how much you build, who makes the content, which features it needs, who does the work and what keeps running after launch.

This article explains where your money goes, which costs come back every year and how to put two quotes side by side fairly. We name our own prices so you have a concrete reference point instead of another range.

Why website prices vary so much

A one-page site for a freelancer and a multilingual site with a client portal are both called “a website”. They are completely different projects. The ranges you find online lump them together, and sometimes count only the build, sometimes hosting and maintenance too, and sometimes an entire subscription.

Providers also charge in different ways. One works with fixed packages, another with an hourly rate, a third with a monthly fee that hides the build inside it. A low starting price can be honest, or it can be a hook with the real costs added later. The number alone says little. The question is what is in it.

The five things you actually pay for

Scope: count page types, not pages

The number of pages is a rough measure. What matters more is how many different kinds of pages need to be designed and built. Five service pages with the same structure are less work than a homepage, a pricing page and a portfolio that each need their own layout.

Before you request quotes, write a simple list: which page types you need and how many of each. That stops one provider reading “10 pages” as ten unique designs and another as one template with ten texts.

Content: the cost most often forgotten

Copy and images decide much of how well a website performs. They are also the most underestimated cost. If your copy is ready, the project moves faster and stays cheaper. If someone still has to work out exactly what you offer, write the copy, take photos or translate everything, that is real work, even when the quote leaves it out.

Always ask who supplies the content and whether editing, copywriting or translation is included. A common reason web projects run late is not the technology but content that keeps being postponed.

Features: where the price really moves

A contact form, basic SEO and analytics belong on almost every business website. The price only shifts meaningfully with features that need logic, data or management:

• a CMS so you can manage pages and posts yourself;
• multiple languages, especially when each needs its own URLs and SEO;
• a webshop with payments, stock and shipping rules;
• booking or quote flows with calculation logic;
• integrations with your CRM, accounting or scheduling software;
• customer accounts or a private portal.

Each of those needs to be designed, built, tested and maintained. Ask yourself which you need at launch and which can wait until the site has proven it works.

Design: custom does not have to mean bigger

A unique design sounds expensive, but that depends on how it is made. A process with separate moodboards, three concept directions and a design system before a single line of code exists takes many hours. Designing during the build, with the brand as the starting point, can deliver an equally distinctive result with fewer handovers.

We cover the difference between a template, a page builder and custom work in our article on that choice. The short version: custom does not automatically mean a bigger budget.

Who does the work

A freelancer, a small studio and a full-service agency can all deliver a good site. They just charge for different things. With an agency you also pay for project management, strategy and capacity. With a freelancer you mostly pay for one person and their availability. Which model fits your project is covered in studio, agency or freelancer.

What keeps running after launch

The build is a one-off invoice. A website still has costs afterwards, and quotes often put them in small print or leave them out:

• Domain name. A yearly fee at a registrar. Have it registered in your own name.
• Hosting. The server your site runs on, including the security certificate and backups.
• Maintenance. Software and security updates, and checks that everything keeps working.
• Subscriptions and licences. Premium plugins, themes, form tools or a page builder.
• Changes. New copy, an extra page, an updated price.

With a page builder much of this sits in one subscription. That is tidy, but it keeps running as long as the site exists. Squarespace and Wix charge tens of dollars a month for business plans, and features such as webshops often sit in the more expensive tiers. For a simple site that can be fine. Just count it.

Calculate over three years, not the first invoice

A fair comparison looks at the period in which you will actually use the site. Three years is a realistic minimum for a business website.

An example with our own prices, for a focused site without a CMS or webshop:

Your domain registration comes on top. New pages or features later are separate work. This is an example, not a quote: your scope sets the price.

Run the same sum for every provider you consider. A €400 quote with €60 a month in hosting, maintenance and plugins costs more over three years than a €1,000 quote with €30 a month. A cheap build can turn out expensive when every change is billed by the hour.

What we charge, and why we can

We are open about our prices because a reference point helps more than “contact us for a quote”.

• From €500 excl. VAT for a focused custom website of up to 15 pages. Most of these projects stay under €1,000.
• More than that for a CMS (we use Strapi), a webshop, integrations or a larger content scope. We price those from the brief.
• €30 per month for hosting and care: managed hosting, technical go-live, a post-launch check and up to one hour of small edits to existing content per month, with a six-month minimum.
• €100 per hour excl. VAT for extra work outside the agreement, unless we agree a fixed price per feature.

We can do this because design happens during the build, not in a separate phase before it. You talk directly to the people designing and building your site, with no account manager in between. And we only build what the site needs, without platform subscriptions or stacks of plugins that come back every year.

A low price only makes sense when the scope is right. That is why we agree the pages, content, features and final price before we start.

Red flags in a website quote

A quote is more than a number. Watch for these signals:

1. No page list or scope. “Complete website” without detail means arguments later about what is included.
2. Copyright stays with the builder. According to the KVK, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, copyright automatically belongs to whoever makes the site. Agree that it transfers to you, or you cannot freely change or move the site later.
3. Domain or hosting in the builder’s name. You want to own your domain name and have access to your accounts.
4. Running costs are missing. Hosting, maintenance and licences belong visibly in the quote, with term and notice period.
5. Unclear whether prices include VAT. A 21 percent difference is not a detail.
6. “Unlimited revisions.” Sounds generous, but often means nobody guards the scope. A clear number of feedback rounds works better for both sides.
7. The legal basics are missing. A Dutch business website must show your KVK number and a privacy statement, among other things, according to Ondernemersplein. Ask whether those pages are included.

How to compare quotes fairly

Put quotes side by side with the same questions, not just the total:

Depreciate or deduct at once?

For the Dutch tax authority, a website is usually a business asset. If a business asset costs less than €450, you may deduct the amount as a cost in one go. From €450 you depreciate it over the years you use it, at most 20 percent of the purchase cost per year. That is set out by the Belastingdienst and on Ondernemersplein. Monthly hosting and care fees are usually booked directly as costs.

When cheaper is the better choice

Spending more is not always smarter. A simple solution is often enough when:

• you are still discovering exactly what you sell;
• your offer changes every month;
• a credible one-page site is enough to build trust;
• your budget is better spent testing demand.

Start small, keep your domain and content under your own control and invest more once you know what visitors need. A website does not have to be finished in one go.

The answer in one sentence

A website costs what its scope, content, features and upkeep cost together, so compare providers over three years and with the same questions, not on the starting price.

Want to know what your site would cost? Get a website from €500 or see how we build custom websites.