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

“How much does a website cost?” is the first question most business owners ask us. The honest answer is: it depends. This guide explains what you’re actually paying for, the costs people forget, and how to get good value in New Zealand in 2026.

The three parts of every website’s cost

Every website has three kinds of cost. Knowing them makes quotes much easier to compare.

1. Building it: design, setting up pages and features, and adding your content. Usually a one-off cost.
2. Keeping it online: your domain name and hosting. These are yearly or monthly costs.
3. Looking after it: updates, security, fixes and changes over time. Sometimes included, sometimes extra.

1. Building your website

This is where prices vary the most. Here’s what pushes the price up or down.

Number of pages

A simple five-page website (home, about, services, gallery, contact) is much quicker to build than a 50-page website with a page for every product or location.

Custom design or template

A design made for your business takes more time than adding your logo to a ready-made template. But it usually looks more professional and fits your customers better.

Features

Every extra feature adds time: online booking, online shop, payments, member logins, quote calculators or connections to your other software. A website with an online shop costs more than one that only shows your services.

Content

Who writes the words and supplies the photos? If you provide them, the price is lower. If you need copywriting, professional photos or stock photos, that adds to the cost.

SEO

Basic SEO, such as page titles, headings, fast loading and a mobile-friendly design, should be included in any good website. Ongoing SEO to climb Google rankings is usually a separate service.

2. Domain name and hosting

Every website needs these two things, whoever builds it.

• Domain name (for example yourbusiness.co.nz): renewed every year. The price depends on the name and the ending, such as .co.nz, .nz or .com. Ours start from $15 a year.
• Hosting: the server where your website lives. Prices range from cheap shared plans to expensive managed hosting. Our WordPress hosting is $60 + GST a year, or $5 a month.

Watch out for very cheap first-year prices that jump a lot when they renew. Always ask what the price will be in year two.

3. Looking after your website

Websites need care. WordPress, themes and plugins release updates to fix bugs and security holes. Something might break after an update, or you might want to change your prices or add a new page.

Ask every web designer:

• Is support included after launch? For how long?
• What exactly does it cover: updates, fixes, content changes?
• What does it cost after the included period ends?

DIY website builders vs a web designer

Website builders let you make a site yourself with drag and drop. They can be a good option if you have time and a very small budget.

	DIY builder	Web designer
Upfront cost	Low or none	One-off design fee
Ongoing cost	Monthly subscription, every month	Domain and hosting, plus any support plan
Your time	Lots: you design, write and set it up	Little: they do the work
Result	Depends on your skills	Professional design, built for Google
Moving later	Often hard to move away	WordPress sites can usually move hosts

Before choosing, add up what a subscription costs over three years. Also think about what your own time is worth. An evening spent fighting a website builder is an evening not spent on your business.

Hidden costs to ask about

• Paid plugins or themes that renew every year.
• Stock photos, if the designer charges for them.
• Email at your domain (you@yourbusiness.co.nz), which is often a separate cost.
• Changes after launch, which may be charged by the hour.
• GST. Check whether the price includes GST. A price of “$999 + GST” is $1,148.85 including GST.

How to get a fair quote

1. Know your goal. More calls? More bookings? Online sales? Tell the designer.
2. List your must-haves. Pages, features and anything you’ve seen on other websites that you like.
3. Ask for a written quote showing what’s included, the timeline and the ongoing costs.
4. Ask to see their work, and check it on your phone.
5. Ask who owns the website once it’s paid for.

What we charge

Every business is different, so we quote each project after a free chat. Our restaurant websites are normally from $999 + GST. Our WordPress hosting is $60 + GST a year, or $5 a month.

Want a quote for your business? Get in touch or read more about our website design service.