If you run a small business and have asked around about a website, you have probably heard four very different numbers. A marketplace freelancer quoted a few hundred dollars. A website builder costs a few dollars a month. A local agency sent a proposal with a comma in it. A studio like HASP Labs sits between the last two.
All four can be right, because they are not selling the same thing. This guide explains what drives the price of a website, what each option usually costs, what tends to be missing from a cheap quote, and how to compare quotes so you are comparing like with like. The figures for the other options are published prices I read in October 2026; HASP Labs' own prices are on the services page.
What drives the price
Four things decide most of the number on any website quote.
- Pages. Each page has to be designed, built, written and reviewed. Most small-business sites need five to eight: home, services, about, contact, and one or two for a specific service or a service area. Below five pages you are paying mostly for setup; above ten, the work of keeping everything consistent starts to show. At HASP Labs the starting price covers five pages and each extra page is $75.
- Content. Someone has to write the words and supply the photos. If you hand over finished text and images, the price stays near the floor. If the provider has to interview you, draft the copy and find images, that is real work and it should be named in the quote. Content is the item most often left out of a cheap quote and the most common reason a project stalls. At HASP Labs the writing is included: I write the pages from your answers to a short questionnaire, and you review them.
- Custom features. A contact form is standard. Online booking, reservations, class sign-ups or a quote calculator is custom work, and so is anything with customer logins or payments. At HASP Labs the first group is the Workflow add-on, from $500, which needs the Growth care plan. Logins and payments mean a custom web app. Either way, the price is set in writing before work starts.
- Hosting and upkeep. A website is not finished at launch. Somebody has to host it, renew the domain and the certificate, keep the software updated, take backups and change the hours when the hours change. That can be a few dollars a month on a builder, a separate retainer at an agency, or nothing at all from a freelancer, which means it falls to you.
Typical ranges for each option
The table shows the published ranges I found for each option, next to HASP Labs' prices.
| Option | Typical price | Time to launch | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace freelancer | $400–3,500, plus a marketplace fee | 1–4 weeks | Not included; you find and pay a host and set it up yourself, or order it as an extra |
| Website builder | $10–50 a month, plus your own time | Minutes to a first draft; weeks of your own time to finish | On the platform, in their account; the site cannot move elsewhere |
| Local agency | $3,000–10,000 | 4–8 weeks | On the agency’s hosting or a reseller plan, often marked up and tied to the retainer |
| HASP Labs | From $1,200, fixed in writing, with the writing done for you; most projects $1,200–2,400 | About a week once your answers and photos are in | Included in every care plan: fast hosting with secure HTTPS, backups and monitoring, in an account set up for your business and handed to you free whenever you ask |
Ranges are typical published prices read in October 2026, not quotes from any one provider.
Marketplace freelancer
Published gig tiers for a three-to-five page site run from a few hundred dollars for a template build to about $3,500 for the premium tier, and the marketplace adds a buyer fee of about five to six percent on top. Delivery is usually one to four weeks. Hosting, the domain and anything after delivery are not in the gig, and revisions stop at the number printed on it. Rights usually transfer when the order closes, and source files are often an extra.
Website builder
The plan itself costs $10 to $50 a month. The real cost is your time: a first draft takes minutes, and a finished site takes weeks of evenings, because you do the writing, the structure and the search setup. Some builders advertise a low introductory price that renews at four to five times that rate after the first term. The site lives in the platform's account and export is limited, so moving it later usually means rebuilding it.
Local agency
Published guides put a brochure site from a small US agency at $3,000 to $10,000, with most reviewed projects under $10,000 and typical rates of $100 to $149 an hour. Expect four to eight weeks, an account manager between you and the designer, and a care retainer of $150 to $1,000 a month after launch. An agency is the right choice when you need a team: a rebrand, photography, a large site or an ongoing campaign.
A studio like HASP Labs
Websites start at $1,200, and most projects land between $1,200–2,400 for five to eight pages and one or two forms. The site launches about a week once your answers and photos are in. A care plan from $29 a month, required for the first 3 months, keeps it hosted and up to date, run by the person who built it. The full breakdown is in the last section of this guide.
What is usually left out of a quote
A low number is often a short list. These are the items that most often go missing, in the order they tend to surprise people.
- Hosting and the domain. A quote for "a website" often ends at the files. Ask where the site will live, who pays the host each month, and whose name is on the domain. Your name belongs on the domain, whoever manages it.
- Content. Writing the words, choosing photos and naming your services. If nobody is assigned to it, it is you, and the schedule is only as fast as you are.
- Search-engine basics. Page titles and descriptions, a sitemap, structured data and Search Console. Cheap quotes skip them, or sell "SEO" as a separate package. Neither is right: the basics belong in every build, and ongoing content and link building are separate services. What HASP Labs includes as standard.
- Accessibility. A check that the site works on a phone, with a keyboard and with a screen reader. It is good for your customers and it reduces legal risk.
- Revisions. How many rounds are included, what counts as a round, and what the next one costs.
- After launch. Is there a warranty on defects, who fixes a problem, how quickly, and at what price?
- The exit. If you move on, do you get the source files and the content, and does it cost anything?
How to compare quotes: a checklist
Ask every provider the same ten questions and write the answers side by side.
- How many pages are included, and what does an extra page cost?
- Who writes the copy and supplies the photos, and is that in the price?
- Which forms and features are included, and what does a custom one cost?
- Where will the site be hosted, what does hosting cost each month, and is the account in my name?
- Who will be the registrant of my domain?
- How many revision rounds are included, and what happens after them?
- Will I see the site before the final payment, and how?
- Is there a warranty after launch, and for how long?
- What does maintenance cost after launch, and what does it include?
- If we part ways, what do I receive, and what does it cost?
A quote with a lower number but blanks in half the rows is not cheaper. It is incomplete, and the missing rows are what you will pay for later.
What HASP Labs charges and why
A website starts at $1,200. That price covers five pages designed for your business and written for you, one form, search-engine basics, analytics, an accessibility check, two revision rounds and 30 days of post-launch fixes. Extra pages are $75 each, and a Workflow add-on for a custom feature starts at $500. Most projects land between $1,200–2,400.
The price is fixed in writing before any payment: 50% to start and 50% at launch approval, before your domain switches over. Within a few days of your deposit you get a private preview link that works on your phone, so you see the site as it takes shape rather than at the end. The code, the content and the domain belong to your business. HASP Labs sets up and runs the hosting account for you, so there is nothing for you to manage, and hands it over free within 5 business days whenever you ask.
Every site launches on a care plan, from $29 a month for hosting only to $149 a month for sites that change often. The minimum is 3 months; after that it is month to month with 30 days' notice. You never have to log in and edit anything: you email what you want changed, and I make the change within your plan's requests. Moving an existing site as-is starts at $150.
Why that number and not a lower one: the items in the checklist above are included rather than sold back to you later. Why not a higher one: one person does the work and answers the email, with no account managers in between, and proven building blocks are reused rather than rebuilt for every client, so your budget goes on your design and your words. The full packages and care plans are on the services page; to get a fixed quote for your own site, start a project.