"How much for a website?" has the same honest answer as "how much for a vehicle?" — a scooter and a truck both qualify. Here are realistic 2026 numbers for Indian business websites by tier, so you can budget before talking to anyone.
Cost by tier
| Tier | What you get | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|
| Template site | WordPress/Wix theme, your content, basic contact form | ₹15,000–60,000 |
| Semi-custom | Custom design on a CMS, 5–15 pages, blog, SEO setup | ₹0.6–2 lakh |
| Fully custom | Designed and engineered from scratch (Next.js), animations, integrations, performance | ₹2–8 lakh |
Web applications — portals, dashboards, anything with logins and workflows — are a different category entirely: see our web application cost guide.
What moves the price
- Design ambition. Template themes are cheap; distinctive design that builds brand trust is designer time.
- Page and content volume. 5 pages vs 40 pages is a different project. Copywriting, photography, and translations are often the hidden schedule item.
- Performance and SEO engineering. Fast, structured, schema-marked pages cost more upfront and earn compounding search traffic — the entire reason speed and technical SEO matter.
- Integrations. CRM capture, WhatsApp chat, booking, payments — each adds scope.
- CMS needs. If your team will edit content weekly, a proper CMS setup pays for itself; if the site changes yearly, skip it.
The cheap-site trap
A ₹20,000 template site is genuinely fine for validating a business. It is a poor tool for competing in search or converting high-value clients — template sites are slow, look interchangeable, and rank accordingly. When leads pay for the site many times over, upgrading to semi-custom or custom is the highest-ROI marketing spend most SMBs can make. If you already have a site underperforming, start with our redesign guide.
Ongoing costs
Domain and hosting (₹3,000–20,000/year for most business sites), plus maintenance — see the website maintenance guide for what to budget monthly.
Want a number for your specific scope? Use the free cost calculator or tell us what you need — fixed quote within one business day.
For how this sits against every other kind of build — websites, apps, SaaS, CRM, ERP and AI, priced side by side — see our software development cost guide for India.
Frequently asked questions
How much does website development cost in India?
In 2026, a template website costs ₹15,000–60,000, a semi-custom site with custom design on a CMS runs ₹0.6–2 lakh, and a fully custom-engineered website costs ₹2–8 lakh. Web applications with logins and workflows are a separate, higher category.
Why do custom websites cost more than templates?
You're paying for distinctive design, performance engineering, and technical SEO — pages that load fast, rank in search, and convert high-value visitors. Template sites are interchangeable and rank accordingly; custom sites are marketing assets that compound.
What ongoing costs does a website have?
Domain and hosting run ₹3,000–20,000 per year for most business sites, plus maintenance of ₹3,000–8,000 monthly for updates, backups, and security on brochure sites — more for CMS-heavy or high-traffic sites.
How long does website development take in India?
Template sites launch in 1–2 weeks, semi-custom sites in 3–6 weeks, and fully custom builds in 6–12 weeks — with content preparation (copy, photos) usually the hidden schedule item, not engineering.