Website development cost in India (2026): real prices, from free to ₹2 lakh
By Hykvra · Updated 12 October 2026 · 9 min read
The quick answer
In 2026, a small business website in India usually costs ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 from a freelancer and ₹20,000 to ₹75,000 from an agency. An online store costs ₹40,000 to ₹2,00,000 or more. On top of that, plan for ₹2,500 to ₹10,000 a year for the domain, hosting and small updates.
Those ranges are wide because “a website” can mean a single page with your phone number or a full shop with payments and delivery tracking. The rest of this guide breaks the price down so you can tell whether a quote is fair, and where you can save.
Cost by who builds it
Who builds your site matters more to the price than anything else.
| Who builds it | One-time cost | Time | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| You, with a website builder (Wix, Squarespace) | ₹0 upfront, then a monthly plan | A few days of your time | Very small budgets, if you enjoy doing it yourself |
| You, with a free template | ₹0 (domain and hosting only) | 1 to 3 days | Anyone comfortable editing text and uploading files |
| Template set up for you | ₹4,000 to ₹20,000 | About a week | Owners who want a professional site without a custom design |
| Freelancer | ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 | 1 to 3 weeks | Simple sites; quality varies a lot |
| Small agency | ₹20,000 to ₹75,000 | 2 to 6 weeks | Custom design, content writing, a proper handover |
| Large agency, fully custom | ₹1,00,000 and up | 1 to 3 months | Brands with special features or many pages |
A freelancer and an agency can produce similar-looking sites. The difference you pay for is usually content writing, project management, testing on different phones, and someone to call when something breaks.
Cost by type of website
| Type of website | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One-page site | ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 | Your services, photos, map, phone and WhatsApp button on a single page |
| Business website (5 to 10 pages) | ₹10,000 to ₹40,000 | Home, about, services, gallery, contact and FAQ pages |
| Booking website | ₹20,000 to ₹60,000 | Appointment or table booking for salons, clinics, gyms and restaurants |
| Online store | ₹40,000 to ₹2,00,000+ | Products, cart, online payments, orders and delivery |
| Shopify store setup | ₹15,000 to ₹1,00,000 | Theme set-up, products, payments and shipping on Shopify, plus Shopify's monthly fee |
| Custom web app or portal | ₹2,00,000 and up | Logins, dashboards and features built for your business |
Ecommerce and Shopify websites
An online store costs more because every product needs photos, descriptions and prices, and because payments, shipping and returns all have to work. If you choose Shopify, the build cost is lower, but you pay Shopify every month: in India the Basic plan is ₹1,499 a month when billed yearly (₹1,994 month to month), and Shopify adds a 2% fee on each sale if you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, such as Razorpay. Check the current Shopify India pricing before you decide.
Yearly running costs
A website is not a one-time purchase. These are the costs that come back every year.
| Item | Typical yearly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain (.in or .com) | ₹500 to ₹1,600 | First-year offers are often cheap; check the renewal price |
| Shared hosting | ₹1,500 to ₹8,000 | Enough for most business websites |
| SSL certificate (the padlock) | Usually ₹0 | Included free by most hosts today |
| Business email | ₹0 to ₹2,000 per person | Optional; many owners use Gmail with their domain forwarded |
| Maintenance and small changes | ₹3,000 to ₹25,000 | Updating prices, photos, offers and fixing problems |
| Shopify plan (if you use Shopify) | About ₹18,000 and up | Basic plan billed yearly, before transaction fees |
For a normal business website, ₹2,500 to ₹10,000 a year covers the domain, hosting and a few updates. If someone quotes you much more for “annual maintenance”, ask exactly what it includes.
What pushes the price up
- Custom design. A design made from scratch takes far longer than adapting a finished one. For most small businesses a good template looks just as professional.
- Number of pages. Each page needs content, layout and testing. Ten pages cost more than three.
- Writing the content. If you can't supply text and photos, someone has to write and source them. This is often the biggest hidden part of a quote.
- Features. Booking, online payments, a product catalogue, a members area or more than one language each add work.
- SEO and speed work. Setting up page titles, Google Business Profile and fast-loading images is worth paying for, but should be listed separately so you know what you're getting.
- Urgency. “We need it live by Monday” usually costs extra.
Hidden costs and traps
Most website regrets in India come from things nobody mentioned at the start. Ask about each of these before you pay.
- Renewal prices. Hosting is often advertised at a low monthly price that only applies if you pay for four years upfront, and renews at three to four times that. Look for the renewal price, not the offer.
- Who owns the domain. The domain must be registered in your name, with your email. If a developer registers it in theirs, moving away later can be painful.
- Getting the files. Ask for the website files and logins at handover. Some builders and agencies lock you into their platform.
- GST. A registered agency adds 18% GST. A ₹30,000 quote can become ₹35,400.
- Paid plugins and themes. WordPress sites often use paid plugins with yearly licences that land on you later.
- Change requests. Ask how many rounds of changes are included, and what each extra change costs.
Three example budgets
A salon that wants online bookings
Five pages (home, services and prices, gallery, about, contact) and a booking form that sends appointments to WhatsApp. Expect about ₹15,000 to ₹40,000 from a freelancer or small agency, plus about ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 a year for the domain and hosting. Starting from a ready-made salon template that already has a service menu and booking page cuts most of the build time.
A restaurant that wants a menu and table reservations
A menu that is easy to update, photos, opening hours, a map, and a reservation form. Expect ₹10,000 to ₹35,000. If you only need people to find you and call, a single page with the menu and a WhatsApp button is often enough at the lower end. See our restaurant and cafe templates for what that looks like.
A jewellery shop that wants to show its collection
A catalogue with prices that follow the day's gold rate, a wishlist and visit booking, without selling online yet. Expect ₹25,000 to ₹70,000 for a custom build. Selling online with payments and insured delivery moves it into online-store territory. Our jewellery templates include rate-based pricing out of the box.
How to spend less without looking cheap
Most of the cost of a small business website is design and layout work that has already been done many times. You can skip paying for it again:
- Start from a template made for your kind of business. Hyklates templates are free, complete multi-page websites for Indian businesses: gyms, salons, restaurants, clinics, jewellers, real estate and more. Preview the whole site before you download.
- Write your own content. You know your business best. A few honest paragraphs and real photos beat stock text.
- Pay for set-up, not design. If you don't want to touch files or hosting, pay someone to put the template live with your details. That is a fraction of a custom build.
- Choose hosting by its renewal price, and keep the domain in your own name.
Hyklates setup packages · fixed prices · no GST added
Want us to put a template live for you?
Pick any free template and we set it up with your logo, photos and text, on your own domain. Domain and first-year hosting are included; after that, maintenance is ₹2,999 a year, optional.
Starter
₹4,999
- Your logo, colours, text and photos
- Domain and first-year hosting
- Live in 7 days
Business
₹9,999
- Everything in Starter
- Contact form and WhatsApp button
- Google Maps and basic SEO
- Google Business Profile setup
Store / Booking
₹14,999
- Everything in Business
- Online payments or appointment booking
- Razorpay or Shopify/Wordpress connected
Questions people ask
How much does a one-page website cost in India?
A one-page website usually costs ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 from a freelancer, plus a domain (about ₹500 to ₹1,500 a year) and hosting (about ₹1,500 to ₹5,000 a year). If you start from a free template and put it live yourself, you only pay for the domain and hosting.
How much does a 20-page website cost in India?
A 20-page business website typically costs ₹25,000 to ₹80,000 from a small agency. Most of the price is writing and arranging the content for each page, not the design. A template with ready-made pages brings that down sharply.
Is there a 100% free website builder?
Builders like Wix and Google Sites have free plans, but they show the builder's branding and use its address (for example yourname.wixsite.com) instead of your own domain. To look professional you will pay at least for a domain, and usually for a paid plan.
Can ChatGPT create a website?
ChatGPT and similar tools can write the HTML and text for a simple page, but you still need a domain, hosting, and someone to check that it works on phones, loads fast and can be found on Google. They are useful for drafting content, not a replacement for a finished, tested website.
Is GST charged on website development?
Website design is a service, so a GST-registered agency or freelancer adds 18% GST to the quote. Always ask whether a price includes GST. Hosting and domain prices shown online are usually before GST too.
How long does it take to build a website?
A small business website takes one to three weeks when the content is ready. Online stores take three to eight weeks. Starting from a finished template can bring a simple site down to a few days.
What does Hyklates charge to set up a website?
Hyklates templates are free to download. If you want us to put one live for you, setup packages start at ₹4,999, with the domain and first-year hosting included and no GST added.