2026 Australian website pricing at a glance
| Build type | Price range (AUD) | Who delivers it | Time to launch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY (Wix / Squarespace / Shopify) | $200–$1,000 incl. yearly hosting | You | 2–6 weeks of your evenings |
| Freelance offshore | $800–$3,500 | One person + small team | 2–4 weeks |
| Australian freelancer | $2,500–$7,000 | One person | 4–8 weeks |
| Australian boutique agency | $6,000–$25,000 | Team of 3–10 | 8–16 weeks |
| Large Australian agency | $25,000–$100,000+ | Team of 10+ | 12–26 weeks |
| Enterprise custom build | $80,000–$500,000+ | Multiple teams | 6–18 months |
Where these numbers come from: quotes I see Australian small businesses receive, week in week out, plus each platform's published Australian pricing. They're market observations, not laws — but if a quote sits far outside these ranges, ask why.
What you're actually paying for
Most quotes don't break the cost down, which is why pricing feels arbitrary. Every legitimate Australian website project contains the same seven jobs, whoever builds it:
- Discovery and strategy — 5–15 hours. Understanding the business, audience, goals and content.
- Design (UX + UI) — 15–60 hours. Wireframes, mockups, revisions.
- Development — 20–100 hours. Building the actual site on your chosen platform.
- Content writing — usually billed separately, commonly $80–$200 per page.
- SEO setup — keyword research, meta tags, schema, sitemap, Search Console. 5–15 hours. This is the step cheap builds silently skip.
- Testing and launch — cross-browser, mobile, speed checks.
- Training and handover — showing you how to update it yourself.
Australian agency hourly rates commonly run $120–$250/hour in 2026. That alone explains why a 5-page site quote in Sydney often lands at $8,000+.
Platform cost comparison
| Platform | Build cost | Annual hosting + plugins | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Premium | $1,500–$5,000 | $250–$500 | Small business, fast launch, low maintenance |
| WordPress (self-hosted) | $2,500–$15,000 | $200–$1,500 | SEO-heavy, content-driven sites |
| Shopify | $2,500–$8,000 | $720–$3,600 | Pure ecommerce, multi-channel selling |
| Squarespace | $1,000–$3,500 | $250–$450 | Portfolios, restaurants, single product |
| Webflow / Framer | $3,000–$12,000 | $300–$700 | Custom design, marketing sites |
| Custom / headless | $15,000–$80,000 | $1,200–$4,800 | High traffic, complex requirements |
Why Australian agencies charge what they charge
A small Sydney or Melbourne agency typically pays $90,000+/year for a mid-level designer, $110,000+/year for a developer, superannuation on top, plus rent, insurance and a software stack. That overhead is real and it comes out of every project. Agencies aren't overcharging — they're charging what their cost base demands. If your business genuinely needs an account manager you can meet for coffee, that price is fair.
But if you're a small business that needs a working website with proper SEO and you don't need the in-person handholding, you have other options — and that's most of the market.
The offshore option — and where it goes wrong
Offshore freelancers and small studios can deliver the same Wix or WordPress build for 30–50% of the AU agency price. That's not a trick; it's a different cost base. The pitfalls are real though:
- Fiverr-tier $150 builds — usually a template with your logo dropped in. No SEO, no support, no ownership.
- No timezone overlap — if your designer is offline during your business hours, every revision costs you a day.
- No long-term support — a cheap build nobody will fix in six months is the most expensive build of all.
Whoever you hire, wherever they are, apply the same test: real Australian client references you can call, same-day replies during your hours, the site owned under your accounts, SEO setup included in writing, and no lock-in clause.
Hidden costs almost nobody quotes for
| Cost | Typical AU price |
|---|---|
| Domain (.com.au or .au) | $15–$25/year |
| Email hosting (Google Workspace) | ~$9.40/user/month |
| Premium plugins / Shopify apps | $200–$1,200/year |
| Stock photography licences | $100–$500 one-off |
| Copywriter (if you don't write it) | $80–$300/page |
| Logo and brand assets | $300–$3,000 one-off |
| Maintenance retainer | $50–$300/month |
Budget realistically: a $3,000 site with proper hosting, email, basic plugins and a copywriter for five pages lands at $4,500–$5,200 in year one.
How to choose
If your annual revenue is under roughly $200K, you're usually best served by a freelancer or lean studio — the agency price is hard to justify. Above $500K, an agency's strategic layer can start earning its premium. In the middle, the deciding factor is content velocity: publishing two-plus posts a month favours WordPress plus someone who knows on-page SEO; updating quarterly means Wix plus a good designer is plenty.
What I charge: every Mkista project gets a fixed written quote after a free strategy call — no hourly billing, no lock-in retainers, and if I'm not the right fit I'll say so and point you to someone who is. Details on the Melbourne web design page.
FAQ
Is a $500 website good enough for a small business?
For a single-page brochure, yes. For anything that needs to rank, capture leads or sell — no. You'll replace it within 12 months and pay twice.
How much should an SEO-ready website cost?
From around $1,800–$2,500 with a lean freelance operation doing proper meta, schema, sitemap and Search Console setup; closer to $4,500+ with an established local freelancer. Below that, the SEO is usually missing.
Wix or WordPress?
Wix to update it yourself with zero technical skill; WordPress for maximum SEO control and regular publishing. Build price difference is small — the maintenance burden is the real difference. Longer answer: Wix vs WordPress for Australian businesses.
How long does a build take?
Three to six weeks if content is ready; two to four months if it isn't. Content is almost always the bottleneck.
Monthly or upfront?
Fixed-price upfront. $99/month "subscription websites" lock you in for years and you never own the site.
Want a straight number for your project?
Tell me what you need and I'll give you an honest read — including whether I'm the right fit.
Or call +61 468 030 786