How Much Does a Custom Website Cost in India in 2026?
Anywhere from ₹5,000 to ₹10,00,000+ — the real number depends on scope, platform and who builds it.
A basic brochure site in India can cost as little as ₹5,000, and a full custom SaaS or enterprise platform can run past ₹10,00,000 (Hostinger) (RedPulse). There is no fixed price list for this — several agencies explicitly warn that Indian web pricing "is not standardized and should not be viewed as a flat or fixed number" (Aalpha). What follows is a breakdown by project type, so you can figure out which range actually applies to you.
Why there's no single number
If you've asked three agencies for a quote and gotten three wildly different answers, you're not being scammed — you're seeing how fragmented this market is. Across more than a dozen Indian web-dev and hosting blogs published in 2025–2026, categories like "basic," "standard," and "e-commerce" overlap heavily. E-commerce alone is quoted anywhere from ₹15,000 to ₹20,00,000+ depending on which guide you read.
Part of the confusion comes from who's asking. Rupee-denominated blogs aimed at domestic Indian clients tend to quote much higher ceilings than agencies pricing for overseas clients. One agency serving international customers quotes a narrower, dollar-based range of $800–$6,500 for a project (Aalpha) — considerably lower than most rupee figures aimed at the domestic market for comparable work. If you're getting quotes from both types of vendors, expect the gap.
Basic and informational sites: the most common tier
Most small businesses in India need a 5–15 page site with a CMS, a contact form and basic SEO — nothing exotic. Here's how that's priced across sources:
Practically, if you're a services business, a clinic, a small manufacturer or a consultancy with a straightforward site brief, budget somewhere in the ₹20,000–₹1,00,000 band and treat anything wildly outside that as either a red flag (too cheap, likely a template with no real customization) or over-scoped (too expensive for what you're describing).
E-commerce: the widest disagreement in the market
This is where quotes scatter the most, because "an online store" can mean a 20-SKU WooCommerce site or a 5,000-SKU marketplace with custom logistics integrations. The spread:
The takeaway isn't to pick a middle number — it's to size the project first. Product count, whether you need custom logistics/inventory integrations, and whether you're building on an existing platform (Shopify, WooCommerce) versus a fully custom stack all move the number by an order of magnitude.
Custom apps, SaaS and enterprise builds
If what you actually need is a web application — a portal, a booking system, an internal tool, a SaaS product — pricing moves into a different bracket entirely. Systematic Infotech cites ₹3,00,000 to ₹10,00,000+ for custom web applications and SaaS platforms (Systematic Infotech), and one agency quotes a spread as wide as ₹7,500 to ₹25,00,000+ depending on customization and vendor (Aero Business Solutions).
If a vendor quotes you a flat ₹50,000 for something you've described as a custom SaaS platform, that's worth questioning — either the scope has been misunderstood, or corners are going to get cut.
Freelancer vs. agency vs. studio: what the hourly gap tells you
GoDaddy breaks this down by hourly rate: independent freelance designers in India typically charge ₹1,000–₹3,000 per hour, while agencies charge ₹5,000–₹20,000 or more depending on site type and page count (GoDaddy). Separately, freelancer project costs are pegged at ₹10,000–₹50,000 for full projects (AceMindTech).
One model worth flagging specifically: monthly subscription bundles that combine build, hosting and maintenance for ₹1,500–₹5,000/month. These look attractive on a cash-flow basis, but the same source cautions that site ownership under such plans "usually" reverts to the vendor if payments stop (AceMindTech). If you go this route, get it in writing what happens to your domain, code and content if you cancel.
Recurring costs people forget to budget for
The upfront build cost is only part of the bill. Three things to plan for:
Domain and hosting. A .in domain runs ₹575 for the first year with a ₹625 renewal; a .com is ₹1,150 — and all these figures exclude 18% GST, which you add on top (DomainIndia).
Maintenance. Figures here vary a lot depending on how the vendor structures billing:
These aren't directly comparable because they're structured differently (flat monthly fee vs. annual bundle vs. percentage rule), so ask any vendor to specify which model they're quoting under before you compare numbers across proposals.
SEO. Usually billed separately from both build and maintenance, at ₹8,000–₹50,000/month depending on scope (AceMindTech).
What's specific to India
A few things matter here that a generic "how much does a website cost" guide from a US or UK source won't cover:
A quick checklist before you accept a quote
Questions people also ask
Is ₹5,000 enough for a real business website?
At the very low end, that figure typically buys a template-based WordPress site with premium plugins/themes rather than custom design or development (GoDaddy). It can work for a simple brochure presence, but it's not comparable to a custom-built site.
Why do e-commerce quotes vary so much more than basic site quotes?
Because "e-commerce" covers everything from a 100-product WooCommerce store to a 5,000-SKU marketplace with custom integrations, and different sources segment by scale differently — from ₹60,000 for small stores up to ₹1,00,00,000 for large marketplaces (Kumo HQ).
Should I use a monthly subscription plan that bundles build, hosting and maintenance?
It can lower upfront cost, with plans quoted at ₹1,500–₹5,000/month, but check ownership terms carefully — site ownership usually reverts to the vendor if payments stop (AceMindTech).