How to compare website quotes, and what drives the cost

Why website quotes for the same site differ

Ask five studios for the cost of a website and you get five very different answers, and the differences are rarely about who is "expensive". They are about what each one assumed you meant. A five-page brochure site, a store with a hundred products and a booking tool are three different jobs even if all three are "a website".

So we do not publish numbers. Every project gets a written quote with the amount in Canadian dollars before applicable tax, agreed before any work starts. What follows are the factors behind that number.

What a website quote should contain

A quote you can compare answers these questions in writing. Put them to every studio you speak with: if two quotes answer them differently, that is why the numbers differ.

• Which pages exactly? A list, not "up to 5 pages" with no names.
• Which platform, and why? The answer should fit your need, not the studio's habit.
• Who supplies the text and the photos? And what happens if they arrive late.
• What is excluded? This is the most useful line in any quote.
• How many revision rounds are included? And what counts as a revision versus a fix.
• What is fixed after launch, and for how long? We cover defects in the delivered work for 30 days.
• What recurring costs are there? Hosting, domain, subscriptions. A monthly plan should be your choice, not a condition.
• Who holds the domain and the logins? They should be in your name, and handed to you.

The red flags are the opposite of these: a single number with no scope behind it, a mandatory monthly fee, a domain registered in the studio's name, "unlimited" anything, and no date. Before you compare numbers, it also helps to know how to choose a web design agency in the first place.

Ten things that drive the cost of a website

• 1. Number and type of pages One page, five pages and a set of service pages are different amounts of design and build. A page that needs its own layout counts for more than one that reuses an existing one.
• 2. The platform Custom code, WordPress (with or without a page builder such as Elementor), Webflow and Shopify are built in different ways and suit different jobs. A store belongs on Shopify; a simple brochure site often does not need a platform at all.
• 3. Who supplies the content Text and photos you provide are one job. Text and visuals we have to create or source are another. Paid stock images and licensed assets are separate costs, disclosed before you agree.
• 4. Features A contact form is light. Online booking, payments, a members area, a catalogue you can edit yourself (a CMS), or a link to your CRM each add work and each need to be scoped.
• 5. Languages A bilingual French and English site reuses one layout, but the translation is its own piece of work. Say who writes each language, and see the Law 25 and Bill 96 website checklist for what Quebec expects of French on a site.
• 6. Design depth Adapting an existing theme to your brand and designing a custom layout are different amounts of work. Scroll animation and custom illustration sit at the far end of that range.
• 7. Speed and checks We agree a mobile speed target in writing, with the test conditions, and check the site on phones and computers before handing it over. Heavy video, many third-party scripts or a large image library make that harder to hit, and that goes in the scope.
• 8. Timeline and what you have ready A date can be fixed in the quote, but it depends on text, images, logins and approvals being ready when they are needed.
• 9. Ownership and handover Who owns what, which licences are third-party, and what access you receive at launch should be written down. It takes a few lines in the quote, and it is much harder to sort out after launch.
• 10. Ongoing costs Hosting, the domain name, subscriptions (a Shopify plan, a premium theme or plugin) and any later maintenance are separate from the build. A good quote lists them up front.

How we quote a website

The factors above come out of a short conversation, and the amount depends on your answers. So we price each project on a 15-minute call with the people who build the site, then confirm the amount and the delivery date in writing before anything starts. Nothing is added to the invoice afterward. If your need does not justify a big project, we tell you on that call.

You can read how a project runs with our web agency in Montréal, see examples of our website design in Montréal, or, if you already have a site, how a website redesign is scoped.