AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last month, a startup founder showed me three quotes for their website redesign: €2,500, €15,000, and €45,000. Same brief, wildly different prices. "Which one should I choose?" they asked. Here's the thing – they were asking the wrong question entirely.
After 7 years building websites for SaaS startups and e-commerce businesses, I've seen founders make the same costly mistake over and over. They focus on the upfront price instead of understanding what they're actually buying. The result? Beautiful websites that generate zero business results.
The uncomfortable truth is that most web design quotes are fundamentally broken. They're pricing features, not outcomes. They're selling you a "website" when what you need is a marketing asset that drives revenue.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why traditional web design pricing models are misleading (and what to look for instead)
The hidden costs that 90% of businesses don't budget for
My framework for evaluating web design investments based on ROI, not features
Real project breakdowns from €3K to €50K+ and what you actually get
When to choose expensive vs affordable options (hint: it's not about budget size)
This isn't another "web design costs €X" article. This is a reality check based on real projects, real budgets, and real business outcomes. Let's dive into what web design actually costs – and more importantly, what it should cost you.
Industry Reality
What everyone tells you about web design pricing
Walk into any web design conversation and you'll hear the same tired advice repeated endlessly. The industry has created a comfortable mythology around pricing that sounds logical but falls apart the moment you try to build a real business with it.
The "Template vs Custom" False Choice
Every pricing guide starts with this binary: templates are cheap (€500-2000), custom designs are expensive (€10K-50K). This oversimplification ignores what actually drives business results. I've seen €50K custom sites that convert worse than €500 Shopify themes.
The "Feature Checklist" Pricing Model
Most agencies price by features: contact forms (+€500), e-commerce (+€2000), mobile responsive (+€1000). This creates an illusion of value while completely missing the point. Features don't drive revenue – conversion optimization does.
The "Industry Standard" Myth
Everyone quotes these magical industry standards: "Small business websites cost €3K-8K, enterprise sites cost €25K-100K." These numbers are meaningless without context. A €3K site that generates €50K in leads is infinitely more valuable than a €30K site that sits pretty and does nothing.
The "Maintenance is Extra" Surprise
Here's where most quotes become dishonest. They present the build cost as the "total investment" then surprise you with ongoing costs: hosting (€20-200/month), updates (€100-500/month), security (€50-300/month). Suddenly your €5K website costs €2K annually to maintain.
This conventional wisdom exists because it's easy to sell and compare. Agencies can create neat packages, clients can shop around, everyone feels like they understand what they're buying. The problem? None of this correlates with business outcomes. You're optimizing for the wrong metrics.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came during my third year freelancing. I'd just delivered what I thought was a masterpiece – a €12K custom SaaS website that looked incredible, loaded fast, and had every modern feature you could want. Six months later, the founder told me they were considering shutting down because they weren't getting enough leads.
That's when I realized I was building digital ghost towns. Beautiful websites sitting empty because nobody could find them. I was charging for design and development, but my clients needed marketing assets that drove revenue.
The €3K Website That Changed Everything
The project that shifted my entire approach was with a B2B startup that had a tiny budget. Instead of my usual €15K custom build, we had €3K total. I was forced to focus only on what would drive business results: SEO foundation, conversion optimization, and lead generation.
The constraints forced clarity. No beautiful animations. No custom illustrations. No complex functionality. Just a website architecture designed around how people actually find and evaluate businesses online. Every page had a specific purpose in the customer journey.
The Reality Check
Within three months, that €3K site was generating more qualified leads than the €12K masterpiece I'd built previously. The difference wasn't the design quality – it was the strategic foundation. One was built for admiration, the other for acquisition.
This experience forced me to confront an uncomfortable truth: I'd been optimizing for the wrong metrics. I was proud of pixel-perfect designs when I should have been proud of conversion rates. I was showcasing beautiful portfolios when I should have been showcasing revenue growth.
That's when I started treating websites as marketing laboratories instead of digital brochures. Every element had to justify its existence through data, not aesthetics. This shift changed everything about how I priced projects.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Step 1: Start With Business Goals, Not Feature Lists
I completely reversed my discovery process. Instead of asking "What pages do you need?" I start with "What does success look like for your business?" The website becomes a tool to achieve specific outcomes, not an end in itself.
For SaaS companies, this usually means trial signups and demo requests. For e-commerce, it's revenue per visitor and customer lifetime value. These metrics determine everything else – design decisions, technical requirements, content strategy.
Step 2: The Three-Tier Investment Model
I restructured pricing around business maturity, not arbitrary feature lists:
Foundation Tier (€3K-8K): For startups validating product-market fit. Focus on SEO foundation, basic conversion optimization, and growth infrastructure. Success metric: 50%+ increase in qualified leads within 90 days.
Growth Tier (€8K-25K): For companies with proven demand who need to scale acquisition. Advanced SEO strategy, comprehensive conversion optimization, marketing automation integration. Success metric: 2x improvement in cost per acquisition.
Scale Tier (€25K+): For established businesses optimizing mature funnels. Custom development, advanced personalization, enterprise integrations. Success metric: 20%+ increase in revenue per visitor.
Step 3: Build-in Accountability
Every project now includes performance guarantees tied to business metrics. If the website doesn't hit agreed-upon KPIs within six months, I provide additional optimization work at no charge. This forces me to focus on what actually drives results.
Step 4: Total Cost of Ownership Transparency
I present true 3-year costs upfront: initial build + ongoing optimization + technical maintenance. A €5K website with €300/month optimization might cost more than a €15K website with minimal ongoing needs. Clients can make informed decisions based on total investment, not just upfront costs.
This approach eliminates the "sticker shock" of maintenance costs and ensures everyone understands the real investment required for success.
Foundation Focus
Start with SEO architecture and conversion optimization, not visual design. 90% of business results come from these fundamentals.
Growth Infrastructure
Build systems for testing and iteration from day one. Your website should get smarter over time, not stay static.
Performance Accountability
Tie pricing to business outcomes. If the website doesn't drive results, the investment isn't working regardless of how beautiful it looks.
True Cost Transparency
Present 3-year total costs upfront. Include build + optimization + maintenance to avoid budget surprises later.
This ROI-focused approach transformed both my business and my clients' results. Instead of competing on price, I compete on outcomes. Instead of delivering websites, I deliver revenue growth.
The Numbers That Matter
Over the past two years using this framework, clients consistently see better results regardless of budget tier. Foundation tier projects average 60% improvement in lead generation. Growth tier projects typically achieve 2.5x improvement in cost per acquisition. Scale tier projects deliver an average 30% increase in revenue per visitor.
More importantly, the client satisfaction shifted dramatically. When you're measuring success by business outcomes instead of aesthetic preferences, everyone stays focused on what actually matters. No more endless revision cycles about color choices when conversion rates are the real priority.
The Unexpected Business Impact
This pricing model also improved my own business sustainability. When clients see clear ROI from their website investment, they become long-term partners instead of one-time buyers. My average client relationship went from 6 months to 3+ years because the website becomes a growth engine, not a cost center.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Lesson 1: Price the Outcome, Not the Process
The biggest insight was shifting from pricing what I do to pricing what the client gets. A €5K website that generates €100K in new business is dramatically underpriced. A €50K website that sits unused is dramatically overpriced.
Lesson 2: Constraints Force Clarity
Some of my most successful projects had the smallest budgets because limitations forced focus on what actually drives results. When you can't afford fancy animations, you focus on conversion copy. When you can't build custom features, you optimize existing ones.
Lesson 3: Maintenance Costs Are Feature Costs
Every feature you build creates ongoing maintenance debt. That custom booking system might cost €3K to build but €500/month to maintain and optimize. Factor true total cost of ownership into every decision.
Lesson 4: Business Maturity Determines Needs
Startups need validation tools, not enterprise features. Scale companies need optimization, not experimentation. Matching solutions to business stage matters more than matching budget to feature list.
Lesson 5: Data Beats Opinions Every Time
The most expensive websites I've seen failed because they were built on assumptions, not data. The most successful websites continuously evolve based on user behavior and business metrics.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups, focus on these priorities:
SEO-optimized blog architecture for content marketing
Trial signup optimization and funnel tracking
Integration readiness for marketing automation tools
Performance monitoring and A/B testing infrastructure
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, prioritize these elements:
Product page conversion optimization and checkout flow
Site speed optimization for mobile shopping experience
Review and social proof integration systems
Email capture and abandoned cart recovery automation