Custom website development cost in India (2026)

The honest short answer: a custom website in India in 2026 costs between ₹15,000 and ₹5,00,000+, depending on what's on the page and what's behind it. The longer answer — which is what most founders actually need — is below.

What you actually pay for

A website price isn't one bucket — it's a sum of several. Understanding the breakdown helps you ask better questions when you get a quote.

1. Design — Figma mockups for each unique screen. About 25–35% of total cost.
2. Frontend development — the visible part. About 35–45% of total.
3. Backend & integrations — forms, payments, admin panel, third-party APIs. About 20–30% if needed, ₹0 if you don't.
4. Content & SEO setup — about 5–10%. Often skipped by cheap agencies — and it's exactly why their sites don't rank.
5. Hosting + domain — typically ₹0–₹5,000/year on Vercel hobby tier or Hostinger / Cloudflare.

Why the same brief costs ₹15k from one agency and ₹3 lakh from another

1. Template vs custom

₹15k usually means a WordPress theme with your logo dropped in. Identical to thousands of other sites, slower, harder to rank, harder to change later. ₹50k+ usually means a custom-coded site — designed for you, owned by you, faster, easier to maintain.

2. Stack matters

A site on PHP/WordPress is fast to ship but you carry ongoing plugin-and-update cost forever. A site on React + Next.js costs slightly more upfront but ships with 90+ PageSpeed scores out of the box and almost no maintenance for years.

3. Number of unique screens

A 5-page brochure site is fundamentally cheaper than a 20-screen platform with user accounts, dashboards, search and integrations. Each unique screen needs design + frontend + (often) backend.

4. Custom backend or not

A static marketing site with a form-to-email needs no backend (₹0 of backend cost). A real-estate site with property listings, search, agent accounts and inquiry tracking needs a real backend (~30% of total).

5. Integrations

Razorpay, Stripe, GST APIs, Tally, WhatsApp Business API, Mailchimp, OAuth providers — each costs 4–16 hours of work to wire correctly. Five integrations = roughly ₹40–60k extra.

What each tier actually gets you

₹15,000 – ₹30,000 — entry tier

• 5–8 pages (Home, About, Services, Contact, plus 1–3 more)
• Mobile-responsive design
• Contact form with email notifications + WhatsApp link
• Basic SEO (meta tags, sitemap, GSC submission)
• Free domain / hosting setup assistance
• 7-day post-launch support

Good for: a solo professional, a local business, an early-stage startup that just needs a credible web presence.
Skip if: you need payments, user accounts, search, or a CMS.

₹50,000 – ₹1,00,000 — small business / e-commerce tier

• 10–15 pages with category structure
• Custom design (not a template)
• E-commerce: product catalog, cart, checkout, Razorpay / Stripe
• Or: portfolio with case studies + custom CMS for blog
• Full SEO setup with structured data
• Analytics, conversion tracking, GA4 + Search Console
• 7-day post-launch support

Good for: a real business with revenue from the website itself.

₹1,50,000 – ₹3,00,000 — platform tier

• 20+ unique screens / templates
• User accounts, login, role-based access
• Custom search, filtering, pagination
• Admin dashboard for the team
• Multiple integrations (payments + email + WhatsApp + analytics)
• 30-day post-launch support, monthly maintenance available

Good for: real-estate platforms, marketplaces, two-sided products, content sites with editorial workflow.

₹3,00,000 – ₹6,00,000+ — SaaS tier

• Full product with user-facing app + admin + billing
• Subscription / metered billing (Stripe / Razorpay subscriptions)
• Email / notification system
• API for third parties
• Real-time features (websockets, live updates)
• Performance and security testing
• Documentation and team onboarding

Good for: SaaS founders shipping a real product to paying users.

Hidden costs nobody tells you about

• Stock images. Free stock (Unsplash, Pexels) is great but limited. Premium stock (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock) runs ₹3,000–₹15,000.
• Custom photography. If you want real photos of your team / office / product — budget ₹15,000–₹50,000 for a half-day shoot.
• Copywriting. Most agencies don't include copywriting — they expect you to write the words. Budget ₹10,000–₹50,000 if you want a professional copywriter.
• Ongoing maintenance. Budget ₹3,000–₹15,000/month after launch for security patches, bug fixes, content updates.
• Domain renewals. ₹800–₹1,500/year. Set auto-renew.

What we charge (and why)

At Verelios Labs, our base website tier is ₹14,999 for a 5-page custom-coded site. We can hit that price because we've built ~50 sites on the same stack (Next.js, Tailwind, Vercel) and have a tight, repeatable process. We don't lose money — we trade margin per project for volume and direct WhatsApp-based ops with zero account-management overhead.

For bigger projects (e-commerce, real estate, custom platforms) we charge between ₹50,000 and ₹3,00,000 with a fixed quote up-front and milestone payments. See our website development page for the full breakdown, or request a quote directly.

How to spot agencies that will overcharge you

• They refuse to give a fixed quote. "Time and materials" is fine for very large projects, but on websites under ₹3 lakh it usually means the price will inflate.
• They quote in hours, not deliverables. You don't want to pay for hours — you want to pay for a website.
• They charge "consulting fees" before showing any work. A reputable agency will give you a free 15-minute scoping call and a free mockup.
• They don't commit to a delivery date. Vague timelines = projects that drag for months.
• They don't let you own the code. If the contract doesn't explicitly transfer IP to you, walk away.

How to spot agencies undercharging in ways that hurt you

• Quote under ₹10,000 for a "custom" site. That's a WordPress template. Fine if you understand what you're buying — not fine if you were sold "custom".
• "Lifetime maintenance free". Either it's a marketing gimmick or the agency will disappear in 6 months.
• "We'll deliver in 3 days for ₹5,000". Three days isn't enough to design, build, test and deploy anything serious.

So, what should you actually budget?

A useful rule of thumb: your website budget should be roughly 5% of your annual marketing budget. If you spend ₹10 lakh/year on Google + Meta ads, ₹50k on the site that ad traffic lands on is a no-brainer. If you spend ₹1 lakh/year on ads, ₹15–30k is the right tier.

And remember: the website is a one-time cost, but it stays up for years. Most clients don't need a new website until 3–5 years later, when their brand has evolved.

Want a fixed quote for your project? Send us a two-line message describing what you want to build. We'll send a free 48-hour mockup and a written quote — no commitment, no upfront payment. Start here.