Short version: across five recent projects, budgets ran from $1–2k (a small clinic storefront, 2 weeks) to $8–12k (an AI travel platform, ~11 weeks). Price tracked scope almost linearly: pages and design are cheap, custom logic and integrations are what move the number.
Most articles about website cost — including our own guide — give you ranges. Ranges are useful for orientation, but they're abstract. This is the other thing: five real projects with the actual numbers attached, so you can find the one closest to yours and reason from a real data point.
The five projects
| Project | What it was | Budget | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orbito Trip | Consumer AI travel platform — itinerary engine, tour catalogue, custom front end | $8–12k | ~11 weeks |
| RenderCode Academy | EdTech platform — in-browser coding exercises, multiple learning paths, progress tracking, certificates | $6–10k | 8–10 weeks |
| Ayurexim | Brand identity + e-commerce store for a herbal skincare line, built to ship internationally | $4–6k | ~7 weeks |
| Kiren Jadhav | Cinematographer portfolio — showreels, project galleries, heavy media, self-service updates | $2–3k | ~4 weeks |
| Akanksha Clinic | Healthcare storefront — public store plus an admin side for patients and orders | $1–2k | ~2 weeks |
What each budget actually bought
Akanksha Clinic — $1–2k, 2 weeks. The low end. A focused store with a simple admin panel, built on a clear, small scope with fast feedback. The result is a storefront and back office in one system that non-technical clinic staff run daily. Two weeks is only possible when the scope is genuinely small and the client can approve quickly — this is not the timeline for "a website," it's the timeline for this website.
Kiren Jadhav — $2–3k, ~4 weeks. A portfolio, but a demanding one: large video files, a specific dark film-strip aesthetic, and the requirement that he could add new projects himself without a developer. Most of the budget went into making heavy media load without stalling and into a simple editing setup. Design-led, little custom logic — which is why a portfolio like this sits well below an e-commerce or platform build.
Ayurexim — $4–6k, ~7 weeks. Here the number climbs because it's two workstreams: a brand identity and an e-commerce build, with international shipping in scope from the start. This is roughly where a small business site with real commercial function lands. The outcome, in the founder's words, was going "from a home business to the global internet."
RenderCode Academy — $6–10k, 8–10 weeks. A platform, not a site. Learners write and run real code in the browser from the first lesson; there are multiple learning paths, progress tracking and certificates. Custom application logic is the entire cost driver — the marketing pages around it were a rounding error next to the product itself.
Orbito Trip — $8–12k, ~11 weeks. The top of this set. A consumer product with an itinerary engine, a tour catalogue and a front end tuned so results feel instant. The build had to stay simple on the surface while doing real work underneath, and the design system had to scale to new destinations without a redesign. Anything with a custom engine and a real user flow starts here.
What the ranges do and don't include
- Included: design, build, testing, launch, and handover of the code and accounts.
- Usually separate: copywriting, photography, ongoing hosting (typically a few hundred a year), and a maintenance retainer.
- Not a price list. Each number reflects that project's scope, feedback speed and starting point. Yours will differ — use the closest row as a reference, not a quote.
The pattern
Two things move the price, and neither is the number of pages:
- Custom logic. A brochure site, a portfolio and a storefront on an off-the-shelf platform are all in the low-to-mid range. The moment there's an engine, a dashboard, accounts, or a non-standard flow, you're in the upper range — RenderCode and Orbito cost 4–6× the clinic store for exactly this reason.
- How many workstreams. Branding and build, or store and admin, roughly doubles a single-workstream project of the same size.
If you can describe your project in one sentence and it doesn't contain the words "engine," "dashboard," "accounts," or "and also," you're probably in the $1–4k band. If it does, plan for $6k and up.
For a real number on your specific project, tell us what you're building — every project is scoped with a fixed quote before any work starts. See also what a business website costs and how long a website takes to build.
Budget figures are approximate ranges, rounded, and reflect project scope rather than a standard rate. Timelines are from kickoff to launch and depend heavily on how fast feedback comes back.