Journal

How much does a website cost for a Cambridge business?

There is no single price, but the things that make a website more or less expensive are predictable.

30 July 2026 / 6 min read

“How much does a website cost?” is the question every agency gets first, and the honest answer is “it depends”, which is not helpful on its own. So instead of a price list, here is what actually drives cost, so you can budget sensibly and compare quotes properly.

The main cost drivers

Number of distinct page types

Cost is driven less by the number of pages than by the number of different kinds of page. A site with 40 service pages that all share one template can cost less than a site with 10 pages that each need a unique layout. When you are planning, count templates: homepage, service page, case study, team, news article, contact, and so on.

Content

Content is the most underestimated part of any website. If your copy and images are ready, the project moves quickly. If they need writing, editing, photographing or approving through several people, that time has to come from somewhere, either your team or the agency’s. Science and research organisations often need more content time because explanations need several rounds with subject experts.

Functionality

A brochure site with a contact form is simple. Each extra feature adds design, build and testing time: online booking, e-commerce, member areas, search across hundreds of documents, multilingual content, integrations with a CRM or applicant tracking system.

Design depth

A site built on a well-made component system with your existing brand costs less than one that also needs brand development, custom illustration or animation.

Migration

Moving an existing site with years of content takes time: auditing what to keep, restructuring it, moving it and redirecting old addresses. It is worth doing properly, but it should be in the budget.

Rough tiers

Without quoting figures that would not apply to your project, it helps to think in tiers:

Ask any agency you speak to which tier your project falls into and why. A good agency will explain its reasoning.

Running costs

Build cost is only part of the picture. Budget for:

• Domain and hosting: modest for most sites, more for high-traffic or e-commerce sites.
• Maintenance: updates, backups and monitoring, either in-house or through a care plan.
• Software subscriptions: e-commerce platforms, premium plugins, form tools, email marketing.
• Content updates: someone’s time to keep news, team and services current.

Static and lightly built sites usually have the lowest running costs, which is one reason we use them where they suit.

Two worked examples

To make the drivers concrete, here are two hypothetical projects and what pushes each one’s cost.

A physiotherapy practice in a village south of the city

Eight pages: home, four treatment pages sharing one template, about, prices and contact. The practice has an online booking system already and just needs it linked. Copy needs light editing; photography is a half-day at the clinic. This is a compact project. The main cost risks are scope creep (“could we add a blog, a shop for resistance bands, a members area?”) and slow content approval.

A contract research organisation on a science park

Around sixty existing pages to audit, eight templates (services, case studies, team, news, events, careers, resources, contact), an enquiry form that feeds the CRM, a resources library of technical PDFs and a full redirect plan. Content needs several rounds with scientists. This is an extended project, and roughly half the effort goes into planning, content and migration rather than visual design.

The difference is not that one firm is bigger. It is the number of templates, the integration, the migration and the content work.

Comparing quotes

Quotes for “a website” can vary enormously, because they rarely describe the same thing. When comparing, check:

• What is included: discovery, content help, copywriting, photography, SEO set-up, training, post-launch support?
• How many rounds of design changes?
• Who owns the code, design files and domain?
• What platform, and what will it cost to run?
• What happens after launch, and what does support cost?

Ways to keep costs down

• Have your content ready, or at least drafted, before design starts.
• Limit the number of people who sign off each stage.
• Start with fewer page types and add more later.
• Use a proven platform rather than custom-building features that already exist.
• Launch a smaller first version and improve it based on how people use it.

Budgeting for content and photography

Content and photography deserve their own line in the budget. If your team is writing copy, estimate the hours honestly: a service page might take a morning to draft and another hour to approve, and a detailed science or technology page can take several rounds with a subject expert. If you are hiring a copywriter or photographer, get those quotes alongside the website quote rather than after it. Real photographs of your premises, team and work are worth the cost, especially for businesses in Cambridge where so many competitors rely on the same stock images of college spires and glass offices.

It is also worth setting aside a small amount for the first three months after launch. Every new site turns up a few things that only become obvious once real visitors use it: a confusing label, a page people expect but cannot find, a form question that puts them off. Fixing these quickly is one of the cheapest improvements you can make.

A useful rule of thumb when budgeting: if the website is meant to bring in work, compare its total cost over three years with the value of the enquiries it needs to produce. That framing usually makes it clearer whether to spend more on planning and content, or whether a simpler site is enough.

Ways not to

The false economies we see most often are buying a cheap theme that then needs heavy customisation, skipping redirects during a migration, and choosing a platform the team cannot edit. Each tends to cost more within a year or two.

Fixed price or time and materials?

Most website quotes are either a fixed price for a defined scope or an estimate based on time. Fixed prices give certainty but depend on a clear scope; anything outside it becomes a change request. Time-based work is more flexible but needs trust and regular reporting. For small, well-defined sites a fixed price usually suits everyone. For larger projects with open questions, a common approach is a fixed-price discovery phase followed by a fixed price for the build once the scope is clear. Whatever the model, ask how changes are handled and priced before you sign.

It also helps to agree payment stages that match real milestones, such as sign-off of the content plan, the designs and the finished build, rather than dates on a calendar.

Questions to ask yourself before asking for quotes

1. What should the site make people do? Enquire, book, buy, apply, donate?
2. Who will update it, and how often?
3. Which current pages bring in visitors or enquiries? (Your analytics will tell you.)
4. What must it connect to: booking, CRM, payments, recruitment?
5. Is there a fixed date, such as a launch, a rebrand or a funding announcement?
6. Is your content ready, or does it need writing?

Answering these before you speak to agencies makes quotes more comparable and conversations shorter. For more on the options, see our pages on website redesign and website care and hosting.