How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in Australia?

Short answer

There is no single Australian website price.

Current published Australian guides put DIY website platforms at a few hundred dollars a year, professional small-business builds around A$1,500 to A$5,000, and agency/custom projects from roughly A$5,000 into the tens of thousands.

Online stores and more complex systems can cost considerably more.

The important part is understanding what is actually included in the quote.

Orbital Solutions builds websites and business automation for trade, service and technical businesses. We don't publish a fixed website price because scope varies materially from one business to another.

The figures below come from published Australian guides and should be treated as market indications rather than Orbital pricing.

Current published Australian ranges

Current Australian reference guides:

Australian Small Business Guide:

https://australiansmallbusiness.com.au/marketing/small-business-website-cost-australia

webteam:

https://webteam.au/how-much-does-a-website-cost-australia/

The ranges don't agree perfectly, and they don't need to.

“A website” can mean a five-page presence built from supplied text, or a strategy, copy, design, custom functionality and integration project.

That is why the scope matters more than the headline figure.

One current Australian guide also places freelance development rates around A$80-A$180 per hour. At that range, A$4,000 represents roughly 22 to 50 hours of work.

That doesn't tell you whether a quote is good or bad, but it gives useful context for understanding what has to fit inside the number.

Why website quotes vary so much

Two quotes for a “five-page website” can be thousands of dollars apart and both be reasonable.

The difference is usually what happens around those five pages.

Who works out the content?

If you supply finished copy, page structure and imagery, the job may largely be design and implementation.

If the provider has to understand the business, work out the page structure, define the positioning and write the website copy, that is a materially different project.

Template or custom design?

A strong template adapted well can be perfectly appropriate.

Custom visual design takes more time and generally costs more.

Neither approach is automatically better.

The question is whether the website suits the business, customers and commercial objective.

Forms and integrations

A simple enquiry form is relatively straightforward.

A form that also:

• acknowledges the customer
• routes the enquiry
• creates an internal action
• sends information to another platform
• accepts files
• triggers a workflow

requires additional design, implementation and testing.

Booking, payment, CRM, job-management and customer-portal functionality can add significantly more work.

Search foundations

Ask whether the project includes basic technical search foundations such as:

• page titles and descriptions
• canonical URLs
• sitemap
• crawlable content
• redirects from an old site
• removal of development noindex rules
• Search Console setup or handover

Ongoing SEO and content work are separate from getting these foundations correct at launch.

Support after launch

Some providers include:

• launch support
• hosting
• backups
• security updates
• small content changes
• monitoring

Others hand the website over at launch and charge separately for anything afterwards.

Neither approach is inherently wrong.

Make sure you know which one you're buying.

The ongoing costs

Also check whether quoted prices include GST.

Ten questions to ask before comparing quotes

1. Which pages are included?
2. Who determines the page structure?
3. Who writes the copy?
4. Who supplies or prepares the imagery?
5. Is the visual design template-based, adapted or custom?
6. Which forms and integrations are included?
7. What search and launch foundations are included?
8. Who owns and controls the domain?
9. What happens after launch?
10. What are all ongoing costs, and is GST included?

An example

Illustrative only.

Quote A is A$2,000.

It covers five pages using an existing template. You provide the copy and images. It includes a basic contact form. Hosting is separate and future changes are billed as needed.

Quote B is A$6,000.

The provider first works through what the business needs to communicate, plans the page structure, writes the copy, creates individual service pages, implements an enquiry workflow, sets up the search foundations and includes a period of launch support.

Quote B is not automatically overpriced.

Quote A is not automatically poor value.

They're different jobs.

Is a cheap website a false economy?

Not necessarily.

If most work comes through referrals and the website mainly needs to confirm that the business is legitimate, a simple DIY or low-cost website may be completely adequate.

It becomes poor value when the website is expected to help generate work but the scope leaves out the things needed to do that properly.

Website builder or professional help?

This is a separate decision from cost alone.

If you're deciding whether to build it yourself or pay somebody to do it, see:

Website Builder vs Web Designer: An Honest Guide

What is the website worth to the business?

Cost is only one side of the decision.

Consider:

• how customers currently find the business
• what an average customer or project is worth
• whether the existing site creates enquiries
• whether poor presentation is costing credibility
• how much owner/staff time DIY work consumes
• what happens to enquiries after they arrive

A website that creates an enquiry that nobody responds to, or a quote that nobody follows up, is only solving part of the customer journey.

Orbital covers that second part through:

https://www.orbitalsolutions.com.au/automation/

Why Orbital doesn't publish a fixed website price

Orbital websites are scoped around the business and what the site needs to accomplish.

A single public number would either overstate a simple project or understate a more involved one.

We prefer to understand the requirement first and quote the actual scope.

See:

https://www.orbitalsolutions.com.au/websites/

FAQ

Is GST included in website quotes?

Not always.

Check whether every figure you are comparing is inclusive or exclusive of GST.

Can I build the website myself for less?

Yes.

DIY website builders can be considerably cheaper upfront.

The trade-off is your time and the fact that you are responsible for planning, writing, building and maintaining it.

How long does a small business website take?

It depends on the scope and how quickly decisions, copy and imagery are available.

A useful quote or proposal should explain both the expected timeline and what the customer has to provide.

Do I have to pay monthly?

Most businesses will have ongoing domain and hosting/platform costs.

Business email is often another ongoing cost.

Maintenance or care plans are optional arrangements, but somebody still needs responsibility for keeping the site functioning and current.

Who should own the domain?

The business should control its own domain registration and account access.

Have a website quote you're not sure about?

If you've received a quote you can't make sense of, or you need a website scoped properly, tell us what the site needs to do.