How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website in 2019?

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What is the price of building a website in 2019? First of all, the final website pricing can be very different from the initial estimate because it is influenced by factors such as website type, functionality, and design complexity. The development approach plays the main role here; if your website uses some ready-made solutions or is built from scratch.

If you develop a website the first question should be - what is the purpose of your website? Depending on the answer, it is possible to know the cost.

There are the eight main website types.

1. Personal Website & Blog
2. Brochure Website (Landing)
3. Corporate Website
4. E-Commerce
5. Educative Website
6. Catalog Website
7. Web Portal
8. Community Building Website (Social, Forums, Sharing Website)

In conclusion, the website development cost depends on website type and, as a result, the features and technical aspects of the system.

###Website Development Approach & Technology

The price is influenced by the development approach and the chosen tech stack. To find out how much it costs to build a website, taking these factors into account, read on:

####- Drag & drop web builders

It means that DIY (do it yourself) sites which are mostly used for personal web pages or individual blogs. Such tools as Wix and Weebly have web modules which can be used to build a website easily and quickly, and no web building or designing skills are needed.

Unfortunately, the website design and functionality choices are limited to what the tool has to offer.

####- Website building software

This method employs preset features which are given by ready-made solutions. The most popular ones here are Wordpress (used by 25% of all websites), Joomla, Shopify, and Drupal. You will be provided with all the necessary ingredients and you only need to put all the elements in the right order.

It takes time to learn how to build this website type with the features and design you require. You can also find an experienced developer who will assemble everything for you because some minor technical and design layout knowledge is needed.

####- Custom website development

They are developed from scratch and consist of the following parts:

Web frontend includes all the elements the users interact with, and also the UX/UI design. It uses such technologies as:

- Markup languages: HTML5, CSS3
- Programming languages: JavaScript, TypeScript
- JavaScript frameworks: Angular (recommended), React, Vue, etc.

Web backend is the server side that works with information and the place where all of the main website features operate. The following tech stack is used:

- Programming languages: Ruby (recommended), Elixir, Python, PHP, Java, etc.
- Web frameworks: Ruby On Rails (recommended), Phoenix
- Database servers: PostgreSQL (preferred), MySQL
- Web servers: nginx (preferred), Apache
- Cloud server platforms: Amazon Web Services (AWS, EC2, S3, etc.)

API (Application Programming Interface) is a  number of commands which connect the frontend and backend and integrate other necessary third-party services. Some of them are the following:

- Payment gateways: Braintree, Stripe, PayPal etc.
- Social media integrations: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
- Delivery services: EasyPost, FedEx, etc.
- Analytical tools: Flurry or Google Analytics; Firebase or MixPanel, etc.
- Maps & Navigation: Google Maps, etc.
- Email marketing integration: MailChimp, etc.

###Complexity of Website Design

Design is one more important element to consider in determining how much it costs to build a website. The website design pricing depends on:

- Application of pre-made design templates

If your website budget is limited, there are a lot of design themes to apply. Any design customization is impossible, in this case, if you don't know how to change the code. If you have an experienced designer, he can optimize this ready-made design theme offered by Wordpress or another service.

- Development of a custom website design

With the help of this option, you can create a website design from scratch. This process consists of 2 sub-steps, wireframes (UX) and mockups (UI).

- Inclusion of illustrations, animations, and branding

The website design cost can be considerably influenced by dynamic objects and images. Besides, if you need a logo and branding materials, you will spend a bit extra.

It is important to know that as far as design optimization is concerned, a website could be static, fluid, or responsive. Website responsiveness is vital nowadays because it means adaptability to different device sizes thus, it makes for a completely native look on mobile phones and tablets.

###Complexity of Website Functionality

The cost depends greatly on the complexity of a website’s functionality because the number of features and their complexity make up the greatest portion of the website development costs.

In the beginning, let's examine the features of a corporate site because almost everyone has encountered this website type. The majority of these sites include:

- Informative web pages (e.g. About Us, FAQ)
- Contact Us forms
- Blog web pages
- Portfolio or service pages
- Simple admin panel - for content management purposes

A more complex website functionality represents the dynamic and editable content on the website. It means that the bigger web functionality is in variety and complexity, the more complicated and sizable is the admin panel.

That is why the time for a custom site can last from a couple of months to a few years depending on complexity and the number of features included.

It may appear the most complicated and costly option is to find a software development team who specialize in frontend and backend development, design, quality assurance, and project management.

However, custom website development is the best way to create a website because it has many advantages:

- Possibility to scale a website more easily and customize features
- Easier website support & maintenance
- Easier bug fixing
- No need to rely on templates or other services
- No issues with load times. Don't forget that 40% of users leave a site if it does not load within 3 seconds!
- The functionality choice is unlimited since you can create whatever website functionality you need or want
- Ability to cover specific business needs
- Website, code, and design are your property and completely under your control
- Opportunity to be unique and apply interesting interface and design elements
- Optimize website performance
- Possibility to go hand-in-hand with appearing technologies and adapt quickly to digital tendencies (e.g. Chatbot)

More details can be found [here](https://mlsdev.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-website). In this article you will learn about what influences the website cost, compare different website development options, and find out an approximate website development cost range.