How Much Does a Website Cost in 2022? A Realistic Breakdown

So how much does a website cost in 2022?

The short answer is: it depends.

Your website price depends on several factors including;

• Your website’s design requirements
• Content requirements
• The web hosting and blogging platform you pick
• Whether you want landing pages, custom-built pages, and so on

When it comes to building a website, you have two options: DIY (Do It Yourself) or outsource it to professionals. 

If you’re looking for an affordable choice, DIY is the BEST option as you can go with the self-hosted WordPress option and it costs you just around $35 a year.

The best part? Building a website on a small budget is not rocket science. 

Even if you’re completely new to the online world, you can get started with a budget as low as $100 to $200 a year.

If you’re looking to build a website on a shoestring budget, this guide is exclusively for you where you’ll discover;

• How much does it cost to have a website?
• Picking a reliable web host for just around $35 a year
• Choosing a premium website design for just around $60 a year and much more

So are you curious to find out how much it costs to build a website? Let’s get started!

Quick note: We’re MOSTLY going to talk about the DIY (Do It Yourself) way to build a website in this guide. DIY is the BEST and CHEAPEST option.

How Much Does a Website Cost? 

When it comes to building a website from scratch, you need a few important things. Here’s a simple breakdown of a website price;

• Website infrastructure cost (which includes basic things like domain name registration and web hosting purchase)
• Website maintenance cost (your website design cost, content requirements, essential tools & plugins)

So let’s talk about these two things so you can easily discover how much does a website cost per month (or year). 

How much does a website cost for website infrastructure? 

You only need the following two things:

1. A domain name
2. Web hosting

So let’s talk about these two things first before we move on to the cost of website maintenance.

Domain name purchase

Approximate Cost: $10 to $20 a year

The first thing you need to do before launching a website is to purchase a domain name.

A domain name is the address people type into a browser in order to reach a website. 

For example, www.Google.com is the domain name for the website Google.

Most domains that are available on popular domain name registrars like Namecheap or GoDaddy will cost you just around $10 to $20 a year.

In case you’re buying premium domains or expired domain names, the cost will vary from $100 to several thousand dollars.

If you’re planning to create a website for the first time, you don’t need premium domains. Just make sure to pick a domain that’s easy to remember and easy to type.

If you’re struggling to come up with good domain name ideas, use a free domain name generator tool like Lean Domain Search.

Here’s how it works;

Once you’re on the Lean Domain Search, enter any keyword or topic.

Let’s say you want to start a soccer blog, you can enter any relevant keyword like “football” on their site to get domain ideas.

Have a look;

See that? The website instantly generated over 2000 .com domains that contain our example keyword. Similarly, you can pick any keyword to find thousands of great domain ideas for free.

Web hosting purchase 

Approximate Cost: $35 to $1000+ a year

Once you have purchased a domain, you need a web hosting provider that stores all your website files and is responsible for making sure your server is up and running.

There are many types of web hosting options available including shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, etc.

For beginners, we HIGHLY recommend the shared hosting option as it is not only affordable but easy to use.

When it comes to shared hosting, there are many hosting providers out there but we recommend Bluehost.

Why Bluehost? Here are a few benefits of using Bluehost.

In case you’re curious, here’s a quick tutorial on getting started with Bluehost hosting for just $35 a year.

Click on this exclusive link to visit the Bluehost website.

Once you’re on their site, go to their shared hosting plans where you’ll find three hosting plans.

Have a look;

As you can see above,  you’ll find 3 shared hosting plans including;

1. Basic is perfect for beginners where you can install 1 website along  with 10 GB of space
2. Plus costs you $5.45 per month where you get 20 GB space and install unlimited sites
3. Choice plus costs you $5.45 per month where you get all the features from the Plus plan along with free domain privacy and backups

If you’re looking for the most affordable option, choose their Basic plan as it costs you $35.40 per year.

Make the payment and you’ll be ready to install WordPress on Bluehost.

In case you need any help, mail us at [email protected] and we’d be glad to help.

How much does a website cost for website maintenance?

For website maintenance, you need the following three things;

1. Website design (purchasing a premium theme)
2. Content requirements 
3. Essential tools and plugins 

Website design

Approximate Cost: $50 to $1000+ 

The first impression is the last impression when it comes to online.

So it’s important to make sure that your website makes a good impression. For website design,  you can go with TWO options: DIY and hiring a professional designer. 

Any professional designer will charge you between $1000 to $10,000 depending on the complexity of the project. 

But there’s good news: you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on website design.

You can spend a few bucks on purchasing a premium theme to create an appealing design for your site. We’ll show you how.

If you’re on WordPress, you can go for a theme like GeneratePress.

GeneratePress is a popular WordPress theme known for its lightweight design and fast performance.

It offers a “Site Library” option where you can find a ton of pre-made website templates that you can use to create an appealing website design. It also comes with a wide range of customization options.

Have a look at the site library of GeneratePress;

Whether you’re looking to create a simple blog or a complex website, GeneratePress can help you easily do that.

How much does GeneratePress Premium cost?

GeneratePress premium offers the following two pricing plans.

1. Yearly plan: As the name suggests, this is the yearly plan which is great for those who’re on a small budget. It costs you just $59 per year and you’ll get the following things.

• All premium features
• Full access to the Site Library
• 1 year of updates
• 1 year of premium support
• Use on up to 500 websites

2. Lifetime plan: If you want lifetime updates and support to GeneratePress, this plan is just for you. It costs you $249 which is a one-time payment where you’ll get the following features.

• All premium features
• Full access to the Site Library
• LIFETIME updates
• LIFETIME premium support
• Use on up to 500 websites

All the plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Content requirement

Approximate Cost: $50 to $1000/month

You can’t keep your website empty, right? It needs to have several pages and content.

A few important pages include;

• About us page
• Contact page
• Landing pages where you can talk about your business, products, or services

All the above-mentioned pages need “content”.

You need to decide how you’re going to create the content. Again, there are multiple ways to create content: DIY or outsource it to someone.

The most affordable option is to do it yourself (DIY). You can create the content on your own or you can simply use AI writing tools like Jasper.

Jasper AI is a popular AI-writing assistant that automatically creates content for you.

All you need to do is to give some input (such as topic or keywords) and Jasper AI will generate content for you. 

Here’s an example of using Jasper to create content.

Let’s use the “Paragraph Generator” template from Jasper which helps you generate 100% original content in the form of paragraphs.

You just need to give some input (title, content brief, etc) and Jasper will create content for you.

Now, simply enter the “Generate AI Content” button and it will create content automatically.

Have a look;

See that? It creates multiple versions of text based on the input you give.

Similarly, you can create content almost on ANY topic you want. The best part? Jasper AI gives you access to over 50 copywriting tools that you can use to create everything from blog posts to essays to product reviews, Facebook ads, and much more.

How much does Jasper AI cost?

The best part about Jasper is that it’s extremely affordable. 

Jasper currently offers the following two pricing plans.

1. The starter plan’s pricing starts at $29 per month (for 20K words) and goes up to $399/mo (for 320,000 words per month)
2. Boss mode plan’s pricing starts at $59 per month (for 50K words) and goes up to $600/mo (for 700,000 words per month)

With Jasper, you’ll get features like;

• Access to over 50 templates including ads, headlines, descriptions
• Generate content in 25+ languages
• 5-user login access
• Unlimited projects and much more

So what are you waiting for? 

Try Jasper 5 Day Free Trial (Get 10,000 FREE Words)

Must-have tools for a website

Approximate Cost: $50 to $100 a month (you can also try free tools if you’re on a tight budget)

You need to have access to a few essential tools to run a profitable website in 2022. Here are some of the tools that we use and highly recommend.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google. It helps you analyze your website’s traffic, your visitors’ behavior, their demographic information, how much time your users spend on particular web pages, and much more.

Google Search Console (GSC)

GSC is another free tool provided by Google and it is an essential tool for every website, as it lets you track your website’s performance, check indexing issues, identify search queries, and much more.

Also, whenever you publish a new post or page on your website or if you have made some major changes to your website, GSC will let you request recrawling of your pages. 

Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO toolkit that makes a website owner’s life easier as it gives access to 50+ powerful tools in one place.

Here are some of the tools you’ll get access to;

• Keyword magic tool
• Competitor analysis
• Brand monitoring
• Social media management
• Site audits
• Keyword rank tracking and much more

The pricing of Semrush starts at $99.95 per month and if you want more details, check out the different Semrush pricing plans from here.

Want to try Semursh for FREE? Use the following link to grab its free trial.

In case you’re looking for more tools, check out these 45 best blogging tools that you can use to grow your website.

Website Cost: Do It Yourself (DIY) vs Outsourcing, Which Is Better?

If you’re confused about the cost of DIY and outsourcing it to a professional, this section is for you.

DIY (Do It Yourself) cost breakdown:

• For domain purchase & hosting: Around $35 to $50 a year (with Bluehost)
• Website design (premium theme): Around $50 to $100 a year (with GeneratePress Premium)
• Content requirement: Zero to $500 a year (zero if you create content by yourself or $500/year with AI tools like Jasper)
• Essential tools to run a website: Zero to $1000/year (zero if you pick free tools or $1000/year with tools like Semrush)

The overall cost to run a website (DIY): $100 to $1500+ a year

Outsourcing to professionals or agencies:

• For domain purchase & hosting: $500 to $5000 a year
• Website design: Around $1000 to $5000+ a year 
• Content requirement: Most professional writers charge $100 to $200+ per article and if you publish 100 articles a year, the cost would be $10,000 to $20,000 a year
• Essential tools to run a website: Zero to $1000/year (zero if you pick free tools or $1000/year with tools like Semrush)

The overall cost to run a website (Outsourcing): $10,000 a year to $20,000+ a year

What’s the verdict?

Unless you have a HUGE budget for your website, don’t go for the “outsourcing” option as it costs a bomb. Fortunately, DIY is not rocket science and even beginners can create and manage their website easily (that too within a small budget).

FAQs | How much does it cost to build a website? 

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the cost of building a website in 2022.

Final thoughts on how much does it cost to run a website

Your website cost depends on two things: whether you want to go DIY or outsource it to someone.

As we discussed in the post, it’s better and cheaper to go with the Do It Yourself option. If you need any help regarding website creation using WordPress platform, you can mail us at [email protected]

So what do you think about the website design cost? Did you find this guide useful? Do you still have any questions about building a website? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.