The short answer: most small Irish businesses pay between €1,500 and €5,000 for a professionally built website in 2026, plus roughly €50 to €150 a month to host it and keep it looked after. A do it yourself builder costs less up front but more of your time. A full service agency can run to €15,000 or more.
That range is wide because “a website” can mean anything from a single page with your phone number to an online shop with hundreds of products. This guide breaks the cost down so you can work out what your website should cost, what you will pay every month after it goes live, and how to spread the cost if paying everything upfront is not ideal.
Why website prices are so hard to find
Most web designers in Ireland do not publish prices. You fill in a form, wait for a call, describe your business, and a quote arrives days later. There are fair reasons for this: every project is different, and nobody wants to be compared on price alone.
The problem is that you cannot plan a budget, or compare one designer with another, when nobody will tell you a number. That is why we put our prices on our website, with a calculator that shows the cost of the exact website you want, paid in full or monthly. The figures later in this guide are our real prices, not examples.
What a website costs, by type
The biggest factor in price is what the website has to do. Here is what you can expect to pay in Ireland in 2026 for each common type.
| Type of website | Typical Irish price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself builder | €150 to €500 a year | You build it yourself on a platform like Wix or Squarespace |
| One page website | €500 to €1,500 | One scrolling page with your services, photos and contact details |
| Brochure website (5 to 10 pages) | €1,500 to €5,000 | Home, about, services, gallery, contact and similar pages |
| Online shop | €2,500 to €10,000+ | Products, checkout, payments, shipping and stock |
| Custom software or web app | €10,000+ | Something built for your business, quoted to the scope |
One page websites
A one page website puts everything on a single scrolling page: what you do, a few photos, reviews and how to get in touch. It suits trades, start ups, events and anyone who mainly needs to be found and contacted. Our one page websites start at €650 plus VAT.
Brochure websites
This is what most small businesses need: five to ten pages explaining who you are and what you offer, built to show up in local searches and turn visitors into enquiries. Our brochure websites start at €1,200 plus VAT with five pages included, and each extra page is €100.
Online shops
An online shop costs more because there is far more to build and test: product pages, a basket and checkout, payment gateways, shipping rules, VAT and order emails. Getting products loaded is a real cost too, especially with variations like sizes and colours. Our online shops start at €2,500 plus VAT, built on WooCommerce or Shopify.
Custom software
When a business needs something built specially, rather than an off the shelf product, the price depends on the scope and is usually quoted after a planning session.
What you are actually paying for
When two quotes for “a five page website” are €600 and €4,000, they are rarely quoting for the same thing. The difference is usually in the work you cannot see:
- Planning: understanding your business, your customers and what the website needs to achieve.
- Design: a layout built around your brand rather than a template anyone can buy.
- Content: writing and organising the words, and preparing photos so they load quickly.
- Search basics: page titles, descriptions, fast loading and structured data so Google understands your business.
- Accessibility: making sure people using screen readers, keyboards or zoom can use the site, which is now a legal requirement for many online shops.
- Testing: checking every page and form on phones, tablets and computers before launch.
- Training: showing you how to update the website yourself.
A cheap quote is often cheap because some of these are left out. That is fine if you know about it, and expensive if you only find out after launch.
Who builds it: DIY, freelancer, studio or agency
Do it yourself builders like Wix and Squarespace are the cheapest way to get online in money terms. Wix plans in Ireland run from about €17 a month to €159 a month according to Website Builder Expert. The real cost is your time, and the result often looks like a template because it is one.
Freelancers usually charge €50 to €120 an hour, or €800 to €3,000 for a small business website. A good freelancer can be excellent value. Check who will look after the website once it is live.
Small studios sit between freelancers and agencies: you deal directly with the people designing and building your website, with specialists brought in when a project needs them.
Agencies typically charge €3,000 to €15,000 or more. You are paying for a larger team, account management and often strategy and marketing services alongside the website.
The costs after launch
A website is not a one off purchase. These are the running costs to budget for every year.
Domain name
A .ie domain costs around €15 to €30 a year depending on the registrar. Maxer, for example, lists new .ie registrations at €18.49 plus VAT. Make sure the domain is registered in your name, not your web designer’s.
Hosting
Hosting is where your website lives. Cheap shared hosting can be a few euro a month, but slow hosting costs you visitors and search rankings. Our hosting is €20 a month for Standard and €40 a month for Performance, plus VAT.
Maintenance and support
Websites need updates to stay secure and working: software, themes and plugins, backups, security checks and fixes when something breaks. You can pay as you go for this, which with us is €80 an hour, or take a plan. Our Essential plan is €35 a month and our Pro plan is €75 a month, plus VAT, and both bring the hourly rate down for any extra changes. The maintenance page explains what each plan covers.
Platform and payment fees
If you sell online, your platform and payment provider take their share. Shopify plans in Ireland are about €33, €88 or €384 a month before VAT for Basic, Grow and Advanced, plus card fees, according to Style Factory. WooCommerce has no monthly platform fee, but you pay for hosting and any premium extensions you need.
A realistic monthly budget for a small business website, including hosting and maintenance, is €50 to €150 a month.
Paying monthly instead of upfront
Paying several thousand euro in one go is hard for a new business, or for any business that would rather keep cash for stock, staff or marketing. That is why we offer every website on a monthly plan as well as paying in full.
How paying monthly works with us
- You pay a setup fee of 25% of the website to get started.
- The rest is spread over 12 or 24 months, starting when your website is ready to review on our staging server.
- Hosting and support are included in the monthly price while you pay, so the monthly figure is everything.
- After the term, the website is paid for and you only pay for hosting and support.
Paying monthly costs 15% more overall than paying in full. That is the price of spreading the cost, and we show both totals in the price calculator so the difference is never hidden.
An example: a five page brochure website
| Pay in full | Pay monthly over 12 months | Pay monthly over 24 months | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront | €1,200 in three stages | €345 setup fee | €345 setup fee |
| Each month | Hosting and support only, if you want them | €142, hosting and support included | €99, hosting and support included |
| After the term | €55 a month for hosting and support | €55 a month for hosting and support |
All prices are plus VAT. If you pay in full, the €1,200 is split into three stages: 30% to get started, 40% when your website is ready to review, and 30% when it goes live.
Who paying monthly suits
- New businesses that need a professional website now but want to keep cash for opening costs.
- Businesses replacing an old website that want a fixed monthly cost instead of a large one off bill.
- Anyone who would pay for hosting and support anyway, since those are already part of the monthly price.
If you can comfortably pay in full, it is the cheaper option. If you cannot, a clear monthly plan is far better than a cheaper website that does not do the job.
Accessibility is now part of the cost
Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act has applied in Ireland. Online shops and many other online services must be usable by people with disabilities: navigable by keyboard, readable by screen readers, clear at high zoom and with strong colour contrast. The CCPC has published guidance, and microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 staff and turnover under €2 million) are exempt.
Even if you are exempt, an accessible website reaches more customers and tends to rank better. It is far cheaper to build accessibility in from the start than to fix an existing website later, so ask any designer how they handle it.
Red flags when comparing quotes
- The domain is in the designer’s name. You should own your domain and your website.
- No mention of what happens after launch. Who updates it, backs it up and fixes it if it breaks?
- Prices without VAT that are not labelled. 23% is a big difference.
- “Free” websites with a long contract. Check the total over the contract and what happens when it ends.
- No examples of similar work. Ask to see websites they have built for businesses like yours.
Questions to ask a web designer
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
- Who will I deal with day to day?
- How long will it take, and what do you need from me?
- Will I own the domain and the website?
- What does hosting and maintenance cost each month?
- Can I update the website myself?
- How do you make sure the website is accessible and shows up on Google?
- Can I spread the cost?
Our prices at a glance
Everything here is on our pricing page, where the calculator works out the exact cost of the website you want, paid in full or monthly.
- One page website: from €650
- Brochure website: from €1,200, with five pages included and extra pages at €100
- Online shop: from €2,500, on WooCommerce or Shopify
- Hosting: €20 a month (Standard) or €40 a month (Performance)
- Maintenance: €35 a month (Essential) or €75 a month (Pro), or pay as you go at €80 an hour
- Pay monthly: a 25% setup fee, then the rest over 12 or 24 months with hosting and support included, 15% more than paying in full overall
All prices are plus VAT. If you would like to talk it through, get in touch and we will give you a clear, no obligation quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cheap €300 or €500 website worth it?
Sometimes, if all you need is a page with your phone number on it. At that price there is usually no time for planning, writing, search basics, accessibility or testing, and the site is often on a platform you cannot take with you. Ask exactly what is included and who owns the domain and the website before you pay.
Do Irish web designers include VAT in their prices?
Not always, so check. Many quote prices before VAT at the standard rate of 23%, which adds almost a quarter to the bill if you are not VAT registered. Our prices are shown plus VAT so you can compare like with like.
Is it cheaper to pay for a website monthly?
No, paying in full is always cheaper overall. Paying monthly spreads the cost so you keep cash in the business, and hosting and support are included while you pay, but the total is higher. A good monthly plan shows you both totals side by side before you choose.