How much does a website cost?
A custom website in 2026 ranges from a single marketing page to a full web application, and the price tracks that range. A clean, fast, SEO-ready marketing site built by a freelance developer is far more affordable than a web app with accounts, dashboards and payments. The main cost drivers are the number of pages, whether content is dynamic, and whether you need a backend.
What you are paying for
Two sites with the same number of pages can cost very differently depending on what is behind them. A brochure site is mostly design and content; a web application is software.
- Number of pages and how custom each is
- Static content vs a CMS you can edit yourself
- A backend (accounts, database, payments, admin panel)
- Custom design vs adapting a template
- SEO depth, animations and integrations
Why Next.js instead of WordPress or Wix
WordPress and Wix are fine for a simple brochure, but they get slow and rigid the moment you need real performance, custom features or a web app. A Next.js site is server-rendered for speed and SEO, fully custom, and scales from a landing page to a full product without rebuilding.
For anything you expect to grow — or that needs to rank — a modern stack pays for itself by not needing to be replaced in a year.
Built to be found
A website nobody finds is wasted money. The sites I build ship with technical SEO and GEO baked in — structured data, dynamic sitemaps, clean metadata, fast Core Web Vitals and an llms.txt — so both Google and AI answer engines can understand and recommend them.
Key takeaways
- Price tracks scope: a marketing site is far cheaper than a web app.
- Next.js beats WordPress/Wix for speed, SEO and scalability.
- SEO and GEO should be part of the build, not an upsell.
- A modern stack avoids a costly rebuild later.
Frequently asked questions
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Have a project in mind?
I’m a freelance software engineer available for hire worldwide. Let’s talk.
varlikbbusiness@gmail.com