// pricing guide
How much does a website cost in South Africa?
Short answer. For a small business website in South Africa in 2026, expect to pay between R3,000 and R15,000 for the build. The national average for a five page site is around R6,250, and in Johannesburg it is closer to R7,000. On top of that you will pay somewhere between R100 and R500 a month to keep it online.
That is the honest range. Below is where the range comes from, so you can work out where you actually sit in it.
Why nobody wants to tell you the price
Ask most agencies what a website costs and you will get “it depends, let's set up a call”.
Sometimes that is fair, because a website for a law firm with four hundred pages really is a different job to one for a plumber. But often it is a sales tactic. They want you on a call so they can work out what you can afford before they name a number.
We think that is a rotten way to treat someone who is nervous about spending money. So here are real figures.
What South African web designers actually charge
A 2026 survey of South African web design pricing found the following averages:
- →A one page website: around R3,765
- →A five page website: around R6,254 nationally, and around R7,007 in Johannesburg
- →An online shop: around R8,445
- →Hosting: around R107 a month
- →Hourly rate for design work: around R500 an hour
The spread on that five page figure is enormous. The survey found quotes ranging from R900 all the way to R40,800 for what is nominally the same job.
At the top end, larger Johannesburg agencies quote R55,000 and upwards for a corporate site, and R90,000 plus for a serious online shop. If you are a small business, that is not your market. It is worth knowing those numbers exist though, so you understand why some quotes come back so high.
Why the range is so wide
Four things drive the number, and it helps to know which of them apply to you.
HOW MANY PAGES
More pages means more writing, more design and more building. A five page site is the standard starting point for most small businesses: home, about, services, gallery or work, contact.
CUSTOM OR TEMPLATE
A template is a ready-made design that gets your logo and colours dropped into it. It is quicker and cheaper, and it looks like a template. Custom means designed from scratch for your business. It costs more and it looks like you.
WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO
A site that shows information is one job. A site that takes bookings, processes payments, or manages stock is a much bigger one. Online shops cost more for good reason.
WHO IS DOING IT
A one person studio has almost no overheads. A twenty person agency in Sandton has offices, account managers and a sales team, and all of that ends up in your quote.
The costs nobody mentions upfront
The build price is not the whole story, and this is where people get caught out.
YOUR DOMAIN NAME
The .co.za address itself. Usually under R200 a year. You should own this, in your own name, not your designer's.
HOSTING
The monthly fee to keep the site live on the internet. The South African average is around R107 a month for hosting alone.
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
Security updates, backups, fixing things when they break. Some designers include this, most charge separately, and a fair number simply do not do it, which is why so many small business sites quietly break and nobody notices for months.
CHANGES
What happens when you want to add a new service or swap a photo. Some charge hourly. Some sell a monthly retainer. Some build the site so you can do it yourself.
Always ask about all four before you sign anything. A cheap build with an expensive change policy can cost you more over two years than a dearer build that you can update yourself.
What we charge
Since we have asked you to be wary of anyone who will not name a price, here are ours. See the full breakdown on our homepage pricing section.
CUSTOM WEBSITE
R3,500
Designed and built from scratch. No templates, no Wix, no WordPress. Mobile responsive, live in one to two weeks, and the files are yours to keep.
HOSTING & CARE
R250/month
Your site stays live, security stays up to date, something breaks and we fix it the same day. SSL is included, which is the padlock in the browser bar.
CHANGES RETAINER
R750/month
Optional. Ongoing content updates, design tweaks and priority support, for people who would rather not touch it themselves.
Most sites land right on those numbers. If yours will not, we tell you before we start, not halfway through.
[ WHATSAPP US → ]Hang on, R3,500 is well below the average. What's the catch?
Fair question, and you should ask it of anyone quoting under the going rate.
The honest answer is overheads. We are a one person studio in Illovo. There is no office rent, no account manager, no sales team, no reseller commission. You deal with the person building your site. That difference is roughly the gap between R3,500 and R7,000, and it goes to you rather than to a lease in Sandton.
What we do not do is cut the actual work. Every site is designed from scratch for the business it belongs to. That is the part that takes the time, and it is the part that makes your site look like yours instead of like the other four hundred businesses using the same template.
There is one real trade-off and you should know it. We are one person. We are not the right fit for a project that needs a team of six and a project manager. For most small businesses, that is not a problem. For some, it is.
Questions to ask before you pay anyone
Print these out and ask them of every quote you get, including ours.
- 01Is the domain registered in my name, and can I take it with me if I leave?
- 02Do I own the site files, or am I renting the site from you?
- 03What exactly does the monthly fee cover?
- 04What happens when I want to change something, and what does that cost?
- 05Is it a template or built from scratch?
- 06How long until it is live?
If someone gets cagey about the first two, walk away. Owning your own domain and your own site is not a negotiation.
// common questions
Website cost, answered.
What is the cheapest way to get a website in South Africa?
A do-it-yourself builder like Wix or Squarespace starts at roughly R150 to R300 a month. It is genuinely the cheapest way to get something online, and for a brand new business testing an idea, it can be the right call. The catch is that you never own it, it looks like a template, and moving off it later is a job in itself.
Why do I have to pay every month? I already paid for the website.
The build is a once-off. Hosting is the space on a server that keeps your site reachable, and that costs money every month for as long as your site is online, the same way electricity does. Care is the maintenance on top: security updates, backups, and someone to fix things.
How long does a small business website take to build?
For a five page custom site, usually one to two weeks. The thing that slows it down is almost never the building. It is waiting for photos and text from the client.
Do I really need a website if I have a Facebook page?
For some businesses, honestly, not urgently. But you do not own your Facebook page, you cannot be found properly on Google through it, and if the account gets locked you lose everything overnight. A website is the one piece of your presence online that belongs to you.
Still not sure what your project would cost?
Send us a WhatsApp and describe what you need in plain words. We will give you a number, or tell you honestly if we are not the right fit. No question is too basic. Your website, sorted.
[ WHATSAPP US → ]061 382 9267