Website planning guide
What does a custom WordPress website cost?
Published starting budgets, the work that changes the price, and the questions to ask before comparing proposals.
A custom WordPress website at AK Design House starts at $10,000 for a focused portfolio or small site. Larger business websites start at $15,000, professional practices at $20,000, and corporate and nonprofit projects at $25,000. The published institutional website category is $35,000–$50,000+. These are our published project categories, in U.S. dollars, as of September 2026. The written proposal defines the actual scope and price.
Those figures become more useful when you understand the work behind them. When I scope a website, I look at the information it needs to communicate, the tasks visitors and staff need to complete, and the systems it must connect. Page count is one part of that picture.
Our published starting budgets
| Project type | Published budget |
|---|---|
| Portfolio or small website | From $10,000 |
| Essential website | From $15,000 |
| Professional website | From $20,000 |
| Corporate or nonprofit website | From $25,000 |
| Institutional website | $35,000–$50,000+ |
The website pricing page describes the intended scope of each category. A focused portfolio assumes a small, agreed set of pages and a curated presentation of work. A larger organizational website may require several audiences, content types, review teams, integrations, and a more involved migration.
A category is a starting point for a conversation. An unusually complex feature can change the scope of a small site, and a well-prepared content library can make a larger project more straightforward to plan.
What changes the cost?
Content structure and preparation
A page can contain a few paragraphs, or it can represent a product family with specifications, downloads, related items, and information maintained by several people. The second example needs decisions about how that information is stored, edited, connected, and displayed.
For Elizabeth Eakins, collection browsing connects wallpaper, fabric, and rug ranges with individual patterns and product information. The project also includes custom staff tools for uploading patterns, organizing collections, and building pages. That work supports both the public experience and the people maintaining it.
Before requesting a proposal, identify what content is ready, what needs editing, and what must be created. Confirm who supplies copy, photography, product information, and approvals. Content preparation needs a place in both the budget and the schedule.
Functionality and business rules
A simple inquiry form, a searchable document library, and an account-based ordering system have different development and testing needs. The useful question is what should happen before, during, and after a visitor completes a task.
In the ASMG commerce portal, ordering connects company accounts, ship-to locations, purchase orders, pricing rules, and delivery requirements. Those relationships require more planning than a public product listing. Integrations also need a defined source of information, access permissions, and a process for handling missing or incorrect data.
Design scope and review
Custom design includes the page hierarchy, reusable components, responsive behavior, and the way content is presented across the site. A proposal should identify the layouts and components being designed, along with the review stages. Agreeing who consolidates feedback helps keep those stages workable.
Migration and launch
An established website has existing pages, files, links, forms, and search visibility to consider. Migration can involve reviewing that material, moving approved content, mapping changed URLs, and testing the replacement. The work continues through launch checks, staff training, and a clearly defined handover.
Which costs continue after launch?
Plan the initial build and ongoing operation together. Domain renewal, hosting, software subscriptions, maintenance, content updates, and continuing search work can have separate costs. Some services may be bundled in a proposal; others may be paid directly to a provider.
At AK Design House, proposals identify copywriting, third-party subscriptions, hosting, and ongoing maintenance separately. Ask who owns each account, who renews it, what support includes, and how future development is handled. This makes the ongoing commitment easier to understand.
How to compare website proposals
Put the deliverables side by side before comparing totals. A useful comparison includes:
- Content: the pages and content types included, who prepares them, and what will be migrated.
- Design: the layouts, components, responsive states, and review stages.
- Functionality: the forms, integrations, account rules, and workflows being delivered.
- Quality checks: the agreed accessibility, performance, device, and functional checks.
- Handover: editing access, training, documentation, account ownership, and support.
- Exclusions and changes: work priced separately and the process for approving additional scope.
A specific brief gives you a better basis for those conversations. Instead of requesting “a modern website,” describe the questions customers need answered and the tasks your team struggles to maintain today.
What to send for an initial estimate
Share your current website, the reason for the project, your main audiences, and the actions you want them to take. Include an approximate content inventory, essential features, existing systems, target launch window, and available budget. If a requirement is still uncertain, identify the decision that needs to be made.
From there, I can distinguish work that is ready to scope from questions that need discovery. For a replacement website, the redesign planning guide provides a practical starting checklist.