Website Development Cost in India for Small Business (2026)
For a small business in India, a proper website usually costs somewhere between ₹15,000 and ₹1,50,000 to build, depending on how many pages it has, whether it sells online, and who builds it. A basic 5-page site from a freelancer sits at the lower end, a custom-designed site with bookings or an online store from an agency sits at the upper end. On top of that, plan for roughly ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 a year for domain, hosting and small upkeep.
Those are rough ranges, not a rate card. Prices vary a lot by city, by the builder's experience and by how clear your brief is. The rest of this article explains what actually moves the price, so you can read a quote and know if it is fair.
Rough price ranges by type of website
Here is how we would roughly bracket the common types of small business sites. Treat these as honest ballparks for 2026, excluding GST.
| Type of site | What you get | Rough cost (one-time) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter site | 4-6 pages, theme-based, contact form, WhatsApp button, Google Maps | ₹8,000 - ₹25,000 |
| Business site | 8-15 pages, custom look on a good theme, service pages, basic SEO setup, blog | ₹25,000 - ₹70,000 |
| Booking or lead site | Everything above plus appointment booking, forms tied to CRM or sheets, landing pages | ₹50,000 - ₹1,20,000 |
| Online store | Shopify or WooCommerce, product setup, payment gateway, shipping rules | ₹40,000 - ₹2,00,000+ |
| Fully custom build | Custom design and code, dashboards, logins, integrations | ₹1,50,000 and up |
A clinic, a CA firm or a local coaching centre usually needs the second row. A home bakery or a boutique that wants to sell online needs the fourth. Very few small businesses need the last row, even if someone tries to sell it to them.
What actually changes the price
Number and type of pages
A page is not a page. A home page with a hero section, trust signals, service blocks and a contact strip takes far more work than a plain "About us" page. When comparing quotes, ask each vendor to list the pages and what goes on each one.
Design: theme versus custom
Most small business sites in India are built on WordPress themes (Astra, Kadence, GeneratePress and similar) or on Shopify themes. That is not cheating. A well-chosen theme, customised properly, is faster to build and easier to maintain. Fully custom design adds cost because a designer has to make mockups in Figma first and a developer has to build them from scratch.
Content: who writes and shoots it
This is where projects stall. If you give the developer finished text and good photos on day one, the site gets built quickly. If they have to write your service descriptions, source images and chase you for your address and timings, that is extra work and should be priced in. Copywriting for a 10-page site can easily add ₹8,000 to ₹25,000.
Features
Each feature has a real cost in setup and testing:
- Online payments through Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree or similar
- Appointment or table booking
- Multi-language pages (for example English plus Hindi or a regional language)
- Product catalogue with filters
- Integration with a CRM, Google Sheets or WhatsApp Business API
- Member logins or a customer dashboard
If a quote looks cheap, check which of these are missing.
SEO and speed setup
Basic on-page SEO (titles, meta descriptions, headings, image alt text, a sitemap submitted to Search Console) should be part of any decent build. Deeper work like keyword research for each service page or location pages is a separate job.
The yearly costs nobody puts on the first quote
Here is the part that surprises people in year two.
| Item | Rough yearly cost |
|---|---|
| .com or .in domain | ₹600 - ₹1,500 |
| Shared hosting (WordPress) | ₹2,000 - ₹8,000 |
| Better managed or cloud hosting | ₹8,000 - ₹30,000 |
| Premium theme or plugin licences | ₹0 - ₹10,000 |
| Shopify plan (if you sell on Shopify) | roughly ₹18,000 - ₹24,000 on the Basic plan |
| Business email (Google Workspace or Zoho) | varies per user, from free tiers upward |
| Maintenance retainer (updates, backups, small edits) | ₹1,000 - ₹5,000 per month |
Watch the hosting renewal price. Many Indian hosting plans are cheap for the first term and noticeably more expensive on renewal. Also check who owns the domain. It should be registered in your name, with your email, even if the agency manages it for you. We have seen too many owners lose a domain because a former developer controlled the account.
Freelancer, agency or DIY builder
There is no single right answer. It depends on your time, budget and how much the website matters to your sales.
DIY with Wix, Shopify or WordPress.com. Cheapest in cash, most expensive in your time. Fine if you enjoy it and your business is simple. The usual problem is not the tool, it is weak content and a site nobody updates.
Freelancer. Good value for a clear, simple site. Risk is availability: if they take a full-time job or go quiet, you are stuck. Ask for all logins and a handover note at the end.
Agency or studio. Costs more, but you get design, content, SEO setup and support under one roof. Makes sense when the website is how you get leads, rather than a digital visiting card. If that is you, our website development page shows how we scope these projects.
How to read a website quote
Before you sign anything, check the quote against this list:
- Page list. Every page named, with a line on what is on it.
- Who provides content. Text, photos, logo. If it is them, is it included in the price?
- Revisions. How many rounds of changes are included in design and after launch.
- Platform. WordPress, Shopify, Webflow or custom code, and why.
- Ownership. Domain, hosting and admin logins in your name.
- Mobile and speed. Will they test on real phones and check PageSpeed Insights before launch.
- SEO basics. Titles, meta descriptions, sitemap, Search Console and Google Analytics setup.
- GST. Inclusive or exclusive of 18% GST.
- Timeline and payment split. A common pattern is 40-50% advance, the rest on launch.
- After launch. How many weeks of free fixes, and what a maintenance plan costs after that.
A quote that answers all ten clearly is usually from someone who has done this before. A one-line WhatsApp quote of "₹12,000, full website" tells you very little.
Where small businesses waste money
A few patterns we see again and again:
- Paying for features you will not use. A blog you never write in, a chatbot nobody answers, a multi-language setup with only English content.
- Cheap build, expensive rebuild. A ₹6,000 site built on a pirated theme that breaks after an update, and then a full rebuild a year later.
- No plan for leads. A nice site with a contact form going to an email nobody checks. Add a WhatsApp click-to-chat button and make sure enquiries reach a phone someone actually looks at.
- Ignoring Google Business Profile. For local businesses, the profile often brings more calls than the website. Fill it in completely and keep it updated.
- Slow hosting. Saving ₹2,000 a year on hosting and losing mobile visitors to a slow site is a bad trade. Our website speed checklist covers what to fix.
Custom code or a platform
Some developers push custom-coded sites (React, Next.js, Laravel) for every client. For an app-like product that is right. For a dental clinic or a tuition centre it usually is not. You end up dependent on one developer for every text change, and edits that should take five minutes become a ticket and an invoice.
For most small businesses, WordPress or Shopify is the sensible default: huge talent pool in India, lots of plugins, and you can edit your own content. Custom code earns its cost when you have real custom logic, like a pricing calculator, a portal for your customers or an integration with your own software.
If you are stuck between the two main platforms for selling online, we compared them in Shopify vs WordPress for small business in India.
The short version
Budget roughly ₹15,000 to ₹70,000 for a solid small business site, more if you sell online or need bookings, and set aside a yearly amount for domain, hosting and upkeep. Get a written quote that lists pages, content responsibility, revisions, ownership and GST. Keep the domain in your own name.
Spend on the parts that bring enquiries: clear service pages, fast mobile loading, a working WhatsApp button and a proper Google Business Profile. Skip the extras until the basics are earning. If you want a second opinion on a quote you have received, you can send it to us and we will tell you honestly what looks right and what does not.
Questions people ask
What is the minimum cost of a business website in India?
A simple 4-6 page site on a WordPress theme or a website builder can be done for roughly ₹8,000 to ₹20,000 by a freelancer, plus domain and hosting. Below that you are usually getting a copied template with no care taken over speed, mobile layout or contact forms. It can work for a very small shop, but expect to redo it within a year or two.
Is GST charged on website development in India?
Yes. Website design and development is a taxable service, and GST-registered agencies and freelancers charge 18% on top of their fee. Always ask whether a quote is inclusive or exclusive of GST, because on a ₹60,000 project that difference is over ₹10,000.
Do I have to pay every year for my website?
You pay yearly for the domain name and hosting at the very least, and often for premium plugins, a theme licence or a platform subscription like Shopify. Budget somewhere around ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 a year for a basic site, more if you want someone to maintain it. The design fee itself is usually one-time.
Should I choose a freelancer or an agency?
A good freelancer is fine for a simple brochure site with a clear brief. An agency makes more sense when you need design, copy, SEO setup and ongoing support from one place, or when the site has moving parts like bookings or payments. Either way, judge them on live sites they have built, not on their pitch deck.