How Much Does a Website Cost?
A regular business website starts at $2,000 CAD, and larger or custom projects are quoted individually. Here is what moves that number, and what you pay every month after launch.
Quick Answer
- Regular business websites start at $2,000 CAD.
- Larger sites, online stores and custom features are quoted per project, with a fixed, itemized quote after a free consultation.
- Monthly costs are a domain, hosting, and for stores a platform subscription and payment fees.
- Maintenance is optional: our plans are $149, $299 or $599 a month.
What We Charge
The prices we publish, and what they cover.
| Service | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Regular business website | From $2,000 CAD | Your core pages, mobile-first design, contact forms, SEO setup and training, with a fixed quote before work starts. |
| Custom project | Quoted per project | Online stores, larger sites and custom features are scoped with you and quoted after a free consultation, before any work starts. |
| Website updates | Quoted per request | One-off changes with no retainer. You approve the quote and timeline first. |
| Essential Care maintenance | $149/month | Security, updates and backups for a site that mostly needs to stay online and safe. |
| Professional Care maintenance | $299/month | Adds content updates (up to 2 hours a month), SEO monitoring and speed work. |
| Enterprise Care maintenance | $599/month | Up to 5 hours of content updates a month and the fastest response times. |
We are a team of developers in Mississauga and have been building websites since 2018. Every project starts with a free consultation. We ask what the site has to do for your business, recommend a platform, and send a fixed, itemized quote. If your scope changes later, we quote the change before doing it.
What Moves a Quote Up or Down
Six things decide most of the price. None of them is the platform name on its own.
| Factor | Keeps cost down | Pushes cost up |
|---|---|---|
| Pages and content | A handful of pages with text you supply | Dozens of pages, a blog, location or service pages, or content we write or migrate for you |
| Design | A clean layout built around your brand | A fully custom design with mockups for every page, or a new logo and brand identity first |
| Features | Contact forms, maps, galleries | Online booking, quote carts, property search, member areas, custom calculators |
| Selling online | No store | A product catalogue, checkout, shipping and tax setup, and payment gateways |
| Moving an old site | Starting fresh | Migrating hundreds of products or pages and keeping old URLs redirected |
| Integrations | None | CRM, email marketing, inventory, accounting or a custom API |
The cheapest way to lower a quote
Cut scope, not quality. Launch with the pages that bring in enquiries, and add the blog, extra service pages or a booking system later. Having your text, photos and logo ready before the project starts also saves time you would otherwise pay for. Our checklist of what to prepare before building your website covers it.
What Different Projects Involve
Real projects from our portfolio, to show how scope changes the work.
A contractor with no online presence
Leviathan Contracting, a masonry contractor, had no website, no ads and no Google listing. We built the website, set up a Google Ads campaign and created their Google Business Profile so they could be found before the busy season.
A custom Shopify store on a tight timeline
Far Beyond Miniatures needed a store that looked nothing like the stock themes. We built a fully custom Shopify theme, and the store was designed, built and launched in 14 days.
A brand and a store from scratch
Reef in the City had no logo or branding. We designed the brand first, then page-by-page mockups for approval, then built the custom Shopify store. More deliverables means a bigger quote.
Rebuilding a large WooCommerce store
Coins For Anything had more than 40 plugin updates nobody dared run. Testing them on a copy of the site broke it, so we rebuilt the store and organized over 700 WooCommerce products with filtering. Catalogue size and migration drive this kind of quote.
Software rather than a website
Habitat for Humanity Sault Ste. Marie needed donors to book pickups online and staff to plan routes. That is a custom portal, priced as custom software, not as a website.
A site that keeps growing
We have worked with Modern Solution Realty for over three years, adding features and improving performance as the brokerage grows. Ongoing development is budgeted month to month, not as one launch price.
How the Platform Affects Cost
The platform changes where the money goes, more than how much you spend in total.
WordPress
WordPress itself is free. You pay for hosting, any paid plugins, and someone to keep it updated. It suits service businesses that want to edit their own pages and publish content. See WordPress development.
Shopify
Shopify is a monthly subscription that includes hosting. In Canada the Basic plan is $49 CAD a month billed monthly, or $37 a month billed yearly, according to Shopify's Canadian pricing page. Card processing fees come on top. Our Shopify cost guide breaks it all down. See Shopify development.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns WordPress into a store. There is no platform subscription, but you pay for hosting, payment processing and any paid extensions, and you are responsible for updates. Compare the two in WooCommerce vs Shopify for Canadian stores. See WooCommerce development.
React and Next.js
A custom-coded site costs more to build than a WordPress site with the same pages, because more of it is written from scratch. It makes sense when you need features or speed that a theme and plugins cannot give you. See React development.
Not sure which fits? Read WordPress vs Shopify vs React.
Costs After Launch
Budget for these every year, whoever builds the site.
| Cost | How it is billed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Yearly fee to your registrar | Register it in your own name. See our domain guide. |
| Hosting | Monthly or yearly, set by the host | Included in the plan price on hosted platforms like Shopify, Wix and Squarespace. |
| Platform subscription | Monthly, only on hosted platforms | Shopify in Canada starts at $49 CAD/month on the Basic plan billed monthly ($37 billed yearly). |
| Payment processing | A percentage plus a fixed fee per sale | Only if you sell online. Shopify Payments, Stripe and WooPayments each publish their Canadian rates. |
| Paid plugins, apps or themes | One-time or subscription | Depends entirely on what the site needs. Ask for a list before you sign off on a quote. |
| Maintenance | Monthly | Our plans are $149, $299 or $599 a month. Optional, but someone has to keep the site updated and backed up. |
Domain tip: register the domain in your own name and keep the login. Our guide on owning and managing your domain explains why.
Watch For These in a Low Quote
- Leases dressed up as deals. A low monthly price where you never own the site, and it disappears if you stop paying.
- Accounts in the developer's name. Your domain, hosting and site files should belong to you.
- Missing basics. Mobile layout, contact forms, SEO setup and training should be in the quote, not extras added later.
- No support after launch. Ask what happens when something breaks in month three.
Before you sign
Ask every developer the same questions: what exactly is included, what costs extra, who owns the accounts, and what support you get after launch. Our guide on how to find the right web developer has the full list.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a small business website cost with PrimaryDM?
A regular business website starts at $2,000 CAD. Larger sites, online stores and custom features are quoted per project, because every website is different. After a free consultation you get a fixed, itemized quote before any work begins.
Why do quotes for "a website" vary so much?
Because the word covers very different jobs. A five-page brochure site, a store with hundreds of products and a custom booking portal are different amounts of work. Quotes also differ in what they include: some cover design, content entry, SEO setup, training and support after launch, and some leave those out. Compare quotes line by line, not just by the total.
What does a website cost every month after launch?
At minimum, a domain and hosting. Stores add payment processing fees on each sale, and hosted platforms like Shopify add a monthly subscription. Paid plugins or apps may add more. If you want someone to handle updates, backups and security, our maintenance plans are $149, $299 or $599 a month.
Do I need a maintenance plan?
No. Shopify handles its own platform updates, and some owners keep their own WordPress sites updated. A plan makes sense when nobody on your team has the time or know-how to run tested updates, check backups and respond when something breaks. You can also request one-off updates with no plan or retainer.
Is a website builder like Wix or Squarespace cheaper?
Usually cheaper to start, because you do the work yourself and pay a monthly subscription. The trade-off is your time, the limits of the builder, and that the site lives on their platform. For many very small businesses it is a reasonable first step. Compare the options in our guide to agencies, freelancers and website builders.
Should I avoid "$0 down, pay monthly" website deals?
Read the contract closely. Some monthly website deals are leases: you never own the design or the content files, and if you stop paying the site goes away. Before you sign anything, confirm who owns the domain, the hosting account and the site files.
Sources
Fees, rules and dates on this page come from these official pages. They change, so check the source before you rely on a number.
Get a Fixed Quote for Your Website
Tell us what the site needs to do. We will recommend a platform and send a fixed, itemized quote before any work starts.
Book a Free ConsultationReady for a Real Number?
Send us a few lines about your business and the site you need. The consultation is free.
What happens next?
- 1.We'll review your project requirements
- 2.Schedule a discovery call within 24 hours
- 3.Provide a detailed proposal and timeline
- 4.Begin development with your approval