Every business owner's first question is the same: how much does a website cost? And the first honest answer is: it depends on what the site has to do. A one-page site and a site that brings inquiries every month are not the same product, so they don't share a price.
This article gives realistic 2026 ranges for our market — Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro — and explains exactly what you pay for. No fine print.
Why prices vary so much
The same sentence "I need a website" can mean three completely different things. A bakery needs one fast page with a price list and a map. A dental clinic needs a complete site with services, a gallery and booking. Someone else needs a reservation system with user accounts. The workload differs tenfold, so the price difference is normal.
Four things drive the price most: number of pages and content, design (ready template or custom), functionality (form, blog, booking, sales) and technology (WordPress or modern). Anyone quoting a price before asking these four questions made that price up.
Realistic ranges in 2026
The market is colorful, from students to big agencies, but serious quotes mostly land here:
- Landing page (one page): €150 to €600. Photos, services or price list, map, tap-to-call. Ideal for businesses just getting online — salon, bakery, repair shop, apartment. Our Start package is exactly that: done in 7 days.
- Business presentation site (5–10 pages): €500 to €1,500. Homepage, dedicated service pages, about, gallery, blog, contact. This is the most requested category, and quality — not page count — makes the difference. Our Business package covers exactly this range.
- Shops and booking systems: from €1,500 up. Cart, payments, calendars, accounts — the price follows the logic, not the looks.
- Custom apps: from a few thousand euros. Dashboards, portals, integrations with other systems. Priced in phases, with a contract — see the Custom package.
If a quote sits far below the lower bound, someone is saving on something you'll pay for later: speed, security, or the ability to change things.
What the price covers — and what comes later
A fair quote clearly separates one-time build from running costs. Check this list before signing:
- Domain — the site's address, paid yearly, and it must be in your name. Never agree to an agency holding your domain.
- Hosting — where the site lives. A small yearly cost for small sites, bigger for shops.
- Maintenance — updates, backups, small edits. Mandatory with WordPress, from a few dozen euros a month; minimal with modern static sites. Always ask what maintenance costs before choosing technology.
- Content — texts and photos. Good phone photos are enough to start, but someone has to polish and place them. Ask if that's included.
- Changes after launch — what an hour of work costs when you want a new page six months from now.
Rule of thumb: if a quote doesn't mention these items, they aren't free — they're just unmentioned.
WordPress or modern: the three-year math
WordPress is cheaper in month one. But the average business site carries 20–30 plugins, and over 90% of vulnerabilities come from plugins. Maintenance is therefore a monthly bill, and recovering from one serious incident routinely costs from €500 to several thousand — multiples of yearly maintenance.
A modern site costs a bit more upfront and almost nothing after: no monthly patches that break things, no database to rot. Over three years it often ends up cheaper. We broke the full comparison down in WordPress or a modern site — read it before deciding.
How to request quotes (checklist)
To get comparable quotes, send every vendor the same five answers:
- What the business does and who the buyers are.
- Roughly how many pages (one, up to 8, more).
- Whether you need a second language, blog, gallery, booking or sales.
- Whether you have a logo, photos and texts — or need those too.
- The deadline.
Whoever answers with a fixed price that doesn't change mid-way is serious. Whoever asks "what's your budget" before asking what you need — run.
Conclusion
A website isn't a cost if it brings more than it costs. Businesses that live off calls and bookings earn it back as soon as the site starts working for them — weekends, evenings, while they're busy with the job. So the price isn't measured absolutely, but against how many clients the site should bring.
For a concrete figure for your business, see our pricing or reach out — the first proposal is free.