Indian Website Cost Planning Sheet (2026 H1)

Six tiers from one-pager to custom mobile app, with year-1 + year-2 numbers, plus 12 hidden-cost line items most agency quotes leave out.

Tier 1 — One-page site (₹4,000 – ₹12,000)

Best for: a single landing page, event microsite, or "we exist" presence. Static HTML or single-page Wix/Wordpress.

Year-1 total: ₹8,000 – ₹18,000 (including domain + hosting + SSL).

Year-2 onward: ₹3,000 – ₹6,000 per year (hosting + occasional touch-ups).

Tier 2 — Brochure site, 5-7 pages (₹18,000 – ₹45,000)

Best for: a small business with services, team, contact, and a basic blog. WordPress with a stock theme + light customisation, or static HTML.

Year-1 total: ₹25,000 – ₹60,000.

Year-2 onward: ₹6,000 – ₹15,000 per year.

Tier 3 — Lead-gen / sector-specific site (₹45,000 – ₹1,20,000)

Best for: conversion-focused sites with multiple landing pages, lead magnets, schema markup, basic CMS, integrations with HubSpot/Mailchimp/Razorpay.

Year-1 total: ₹70,000 – ₹1,50,000.

Year-2 onward: ₹15,000 – ₹35,000 per year.

Tier 4 — Ecommerce starter (₹50,000 – ₹2,50,000)

Best for: 50-300 SKUs on Shopify or WooCommerce. Includes product setup, payment gateway, basic shipping rules, abandoned-cart email.

Year-1 total: ₹1,00,000 – ₹3,00,000 (includes Shopify subscription / WP hosting).

Year-2 onward: ₹40,000 – ₹1,00,000 per year (subscription + maintenance + occasional new feature).

Tier 5 — Custom build (₹1,50,000 – ₹6,00,000)

Best for: custom features, custom design system, Laravel / Django / Next.js. Builds where Shopify / WordPress can't deliver the workflow.

Year-1 total: ₹2,50,000 – ₹8,00,000.

Year-2 onward: ₹60,000 – ₹2,00,000 per year (hosting + retainer for changes).

Tier 6 — Custom + native mobile app (₹4,00,000 – ₹15,00,000)

Best for: web + iOS + Android + backend + admin. Either a startup MVP or a serious internal tool.

Year-1 total: ₹6,00,000 – ₹20,00,000.

Year-2 onward: ₹1,50,000 – ₹4,00,000 per year (hosting + retainer + Apple/Google subscriptions).

Hidden costs to budget for separately

Domain registration: ₹500 – ₹2,000 per year

SSL certificate: ₹0 (Let's Encrypt) to ₹4,000 (paid SSL with warranty)

Business email: ₹125 – ₹250 per user per month (Google Workspace / Zoho Mail / Titan)

CDN: ₹0 (Cloudflare Free) to ₹3,000+ per month for higher tiers

Design source files (Figma): ask for them upfront, often charged extra

Photo licensing (stock or shot): ₹500 – ₹50,000+ depending on use

Content writing: ₹1,500 – ₹15,000 per page, often bundled but always confirm

Copywriting (separate from content): ₹3,000 – ₹25,000 per page for high-conversion copy

Translations (Hindi / regional): ₹1,500 – ₹6,000 per page per language

GST 18% — most agency quotes show pre-GST

Annual maintenance contract (AMC) — typically 10-20% of build cost per year

Security patches and emergency fixes — confirm what's included vs hourly

Sample fully-loaded ₹85,000 lead-gen site (line by line)

Build: ₹65,000 (5 pages, 1 lead form, schema markup, basic CMS)
Domain (1 year): ₹600
SSL: ₹0 (Let's Encrypt)
Hosting (1 year): ₹3,500
Business email (1 user, 1 year): ₹1,500
Stock photos (3 images): ₹1,200
Copywriting (5 pages): ₹6,500
GST 18% on the build portion: ₹6,700
Year-1 total: ~₹85,000
Year-2 onward: ₹5,000 – ₹15,000 (hosting + email + occasional touch-ups)