How much does it cost to build a website?

Imagine that you are a constructor. One day your friend Joe comes to you and says: “Hey, I want to build a house in the forest. How much will it cost?" What will you answer?

Any constructor would ask: “What kind of house do you need? What materials and equipment will you use? Do you want to do it yourself or hire a construction crew?" The cost of a small wooden house built by one person on their own is not comparable with the cost of a two-story red brick cottage built by a construction company.

The same is true for Drupal website cost. This article discusses the average website development cost and gives a clear answer to the question: how much does it cost to create a website?

Drupal website design

First of all, you need to articulate what goals and objectives you set for your website. For example, you need a website for your blog with a standard set of features and a simple design. Such a Drupal website can be created by yourself absolutely free. Just read a couple of guides or watch YouTube tutorials. 

It is another matter if you need to develop a selling promotional website for your business with a custom design. It is a serious step that you will have to spend money on.

It’s no secret that websites with unique design increase sales (more on that in The business value of design by McKinsey). A professional web designer can help you develop a custom design for your project, but that's not all. You will also need a front-end developer to run your website with a new design. Moreover, if you have some extra money and you don't have time to be in constant touch with the development team, you can hire a project manager who will monitor the project's progress, but it’s not necessary.

Drupal pricing

Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS). Every Drupal website contains Drupal modules. Drupal modules allow you to add necessary features to your website, and you can install them for free.

So, is Drupal free? Yes, Drupal modules are free.

But every business is unique and sometimes a standard set of features is not enough to implement a project. That's why the development of additional Drupal modules is required. (Note that Drupal websites are still cheaper than others.) To do this, you need an experienced Drupal development company. Below are the average mid-level website developer cost per hour in 2023:

• North America: $100–$175 per hour
• Western Europe: $60–$100 per hour
• Eastern Europe: $30–$50 per hour
• Asia and Pacific: $10–$30 per hour

As you can see, the hourly rate can vary dramatically by region. That’s why companies prefer to work with outsource web development firms from different countries.

Drupal website development cost

The website cost is usually calculated based on an hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours spent on a project. 

Website development cost directly depends on the features you need and the complexity of website design. Below, you’ll find examples of the existing types of sites and see how long it takes to develop such a website based on our experience.

Landing page development

If you need to be able to edit the content of your promo page yourself, the Drupal CMS is the best solution. The development of a simple landing page will take 50-70 hours.

Average cost of website development:

• North America: $5,000–$12,250
• Western Europe: $3,000–$7,000
• Eastern Europe: $1,500–$3,500 
• Asia and Pacific: $500–$2,100 

Company website development

The development of creative custom design is very important for corporate websites because the reputation of your company will directly depend on this. Development of a standard corporate website with such sections as "About Us", "Services", "Portfolio", "News", "Blog", and "Contacts" will take 200-250 hours.

Average cost of website development:

• North America: $20,000–$43,750 
• Western Europe: $12,000–$25,000 
• Eastern Europe: $6,000–$12,500 
• Asia and Pacific: $2,000–$7,500 

Mobile app development

Drupal is universal. It suits not only website development but can also be used for the back-end development of mobile applications. This fact makes Drupal even more attractive. The minimum estimated time for the back-end run on Drupal is 150-200 hours.

Average cost of website development:

• North America: $15,000–$35,000 
• Western Europe: $9,000–$20,000 
• Eastern Europe: $4,500–$10,000 
• Asia and Pacific: $1,500–$6,000 

E-commerce website development

E-commerce websites are online stores and large trading platforms, such as Amazon. Perhaps, the most difficult type of project to implement, so the time needed for an e-commerce website development corresponds. The minimum estimated time is 250-300 hours.

Average cost of website development:

• North America: $25,000–$52,500 
• Western Europe: $15,000–$30,000 
• Eastern Europe: $7,500–$15,000 
• Asia and Pacific: $2,500–$9,000 

RELATED: Website and app building tips for different fields

→ 7 must-have practices for a successful e-commerce store
→ Website building for real estate
→ Creating a food delivery app
→ Drupal for e-Learning websites

Website design and development cost

Now you can see how many options for creating a website exist. And this is only in theory. In real life, it is much more interesting. For example: 

• you can develop a logo design and overall style and apply them to a free template yourself.
• you can choose a free template and commission its further development to any freelancer.
• you can buy a template or pay for a subscription to a website builder tool and fill it out yourself. But in this case, you should pay for a copy or illustrations.
• you can commission a web development agency to implement the whole project.
• you can buy ready-made websites on sale (yes, this is also possible).

The cost will depend on which way you prefer to do it. In some cases, you can save money, in others, you make a mistake and overpay. And sometimes everything goes according to plan.

Conclusion

In this article, we gave you the average cost of website build for different kinds of projects and now you have an idea of how the price is calculated.

Remember that website design cost depends entirely on a development team and your requirements. It is very important to find an experienced development team that will be able to cater for your ideas and requests. And don't forget that every business is unique and requires individual solutions.

If you’re looking for a Drupal alternative, check out React.js.