How much does a website cost in New Zealand in 2026?

Typical NZ website prices in 2026

Ranges are our estimate from published NZ studio and agency price pages, checked October 2026. They are a guide to the shape of the market, not a survey of every freelancer. Freelancers sit at the low end of each range; agencies with account managers sit at the top.

For comparison, our Starter package is $499 for a one-page site with logo and quote form, and Growth is $1,199 for up to five pages with a fuller logo suite and social kit. Custom work is quoted to scope.

What actually drives the price

Page count and custom design hours are the big ones. Then integrations: bookings, payments, Xero, member logins. Copywriting and photography add days. Agencies with account managers and hourly billing sit at the top of every range because their overhead is built into your quote.

Why fixed packages cost less

We scope the package before we start, so there's no hourly meter. Sites are built as fast static pages rather than heavy page builders, which cuts build time and hosting cost. Brand identity is bundled instead of sold as a separate designer invoice. And we hand over files rather than locking you into a monthly platform.

What's usually not in the build price

Domain name: $20 to $50 a year. Hosting: $0 to $120 a month depending on how the site is built — static sites can host for nearly nothing. Professional photography, long-form copywriting, and ongoing SEO or ads are quoted separately by almost everyone, including us.

How to compare quotes

Ask four questions: Is the price fixed or hourly? Do I own the files and domain at handover? What happens to the site if I stop paying? Is the logo included or extra? If a quote can't answer those plainly, the cheap number usually isn't the real number.

Our prices at a glance

Starter: $499, 5 to 7 business days. Growth: $1,199, 10 to 14 business days. Custom: quoted after a short brief. 50% deposit to start, balance on handover.

Worked examples, not a national average

A one-page site for a Hamilton electrician who already has photos and a rough service list fits Starter at $499. The deliverable is a logo mark, one page, a quote form, a map, and the files, in 5–7 business days. A Ponsonby café that needs hours, a menu, a functions note, and a booking link fits Growth at $1,199, 10–14 business days, because that is four or five pages plus a fuller logo.

An online shop with more than a handful of products, a booking system that takes payment, or a portal for repeat customers does not fit either tier. Those start as a custom quote after a short brief. If someone offers all three for $499, the limit is hiding in the monthly fee or in pages you have to build yourself.

Ongoing costs after the build

Domain registration in New Zealand is commonly on the order of $20 to $50 a year, depending on the ending. Hosting for a static site can be a few dollars a month or included with a host you already use. A website builder subscription is often $20 to $60 a month and never ends. Email on your own domain is separate from the website quote.

Ads, photography days, and copywriting are not hosting. A half-day of photos can cost more than a Starter site. That can be worth it for a salon or a café. It is optional. We use what you have unless you hire the extra. Ongoing SEO retainers are also optional. Nothing on this site promises a ranking in exchange for a monthly fee. The running costs guide breaks each line down with yearly figures.

When a higher quote is the honest one

Pay more when the job is actually larger: product data, a booking engine, multiple languages, or a brand that needs guidelines for a team of staff. A $6,000 quote that lists those items can be fair. A $6,000 quote that is “discovery, strategy, and a homepage” with the rest “to be scoped” is an hourly project wearing a fixed-price hat.

Ask for the page list, what happens at handover, and which items are excluded. Compare that list with Starter and Growth before you decide the cheaper studio is cutting corners or the expensive one is padding. The package guide breaks down what we include. The Auckland page is only relevant if you want a studio based there — the prices are the same for remote clients.

A comparison you can fill in

Make three columns: the agency quote, a builder subscription, and a fixed package. Rows: pages included, logo included or extra, who writes the words, who takes the photos, where the form goes, monthly fee after launch, and what you keep if you cancel. Fill the cells from the proposal, not from the sales page. Empty cells are the point. A blank “ownership” row is a reason to ask before you pay a deposit, not after the design is underway.

For our column the cells are already public. Starter is $499, one page, logo mark included, your words and photos, form to your inbox, no monthly fee to us, files on handover, 5–7 business days, half to start. Growth is $1,199, up to five pages, fuller logo suite, one of booking, menu, or gallery, Google Business Profile setup, handover call, 10–14 business days. Custom is blank until the brief exists, on purpose. Domain and hosting are not in either fixed price.

A builder column often looks cheaper in month one and muddy by month twelve. Multiply the subscription by twelve and add the template, the form app, and the time. An agency column often looks expensive because it includes people in meetings. That can be worth it when you need a team to write and photograph. It is a weak comparison if the meetings are the product and the page list is still “to be confirmed”.

When the grid is filled, the decision is usually obvious. If you want the fixed-package column built, get a quote and attach the page list you actually need. We'll match it to a tier or tell you it's custom. The package guide is the line-by-line version of our column. Industry pages cover tradies, cafés, salons, and small shops if the generic ranges above are too broad for your job.

Prices on this page are in New Zealand dollars and are the amounts you pay us. They are not a survey of every freelancer in the country, and they will go stale if we change a tier. The date at the top of the guide is when we last checked the figures against our own Starter and Growth prices. If those prices and this article disagree, the pricing section on the homepage is the one to trust, and this guide needs an update.

A useful quote arrives with a page list and a date. “From $2,000 depending on requirements” is a conversation, not a price. You can still take the meeting. Just don't put that sentence in the grid as if it were comparable to $499. Get the page list first, then come back to the grid. That order saves more money than hunting for a lower headline. When you have both numbers and both page lists, the rest of this guide is just a way to check you didn't skip ownership or the monthly fee.

One more row people skip: what you do in the first month after launch. Changing a price or an hour should not require a new contract. Adding a shop should. Write that down next to the build price so a low headline with an expensive change-request rate doesn't win on the first number alone. Our Starter and Growth fees don't include a retainer. A change inside the pages you already paid for is a short job. A new capability is quoted before anyone starts.