How Much Does A Website Cost In Ireland?
How Much Does A Website Cost?
First impressions count. Don’t judge a website by its cover — design is only one slice of a much bigger pie.
If someone is giving you a price without knowing your requirements, they do not have your long term online success in mind.
How Much Does A Website Cost
First impressions count. Don’t judge a website by its cover — design is only one slice of a much bigger pie.
If someone is giving you a price without knowing your requirements, they do not have your long term online success in mind.
As with most things, the answer is completely dependent on your expectations, technical requirements and the standard of work you want. So let's break this down into easy-to-understand terms and deliverables before looking at how much a website costs in Ireland.
Things to consider - are you asking the right questions?
- How important is a website to my company?
- How much do I want to spend on my website?
- Do I consider a website worth my time and money?
- How do I value “cost”? Time? Money? Am I happy to pay a little more if it means I have to spend less time on this project?
- How much time am I prepared to commit to this project?
- Am I looking for experienced professionals with my company’s goals at heart, or am I looking for a friend of a friend?
- What pages do I want?
- What examples of other websites do I like?
- What functionality do I need?
- What sort of online marketing budget do I have?
- Do I need a content writer?
- Do I need a photographer?
- What can I bring into the project? e.g. logo, photos, text, advertising, material, company brochures, project management skills etc.
If you’re on an incredibly tight budget (less than €1,000 for the entire website), consider a DIY option like WIX, Squarespace, Weebly or Hosting Ireland site builders for a brochure website and Shopify for an online shop. Keep in mind, this will take a lot of your own time up to design and build your own website. You will also be incredibly limited with design and functionality options.
What About Outsourcing?
Well, quite a few Irish companies have tried outsourcing their website projects to the likes of India and the Philippines. Companies based in these countries are incredibly cheap to hire. However, you get what you pay for. Outsourcing has plenty of issues: you can risk losing sensitive data and have no confidentiality; you may not be able to control operations and deliverables; your project may be low quality if the outsourcing provider doesn’t have proper processes and/or is inexperienced; there might be delays and inaccuracies in the work due to the outsourcing company juggling too many projects; poor communication leading to lower productivity if there is a language barrier and finally there can be hidden costs and legal problems if terms and conditions aren’t clearly set at the beginning of the project. Feel free to ask other companies about their websites – you’ll find the majority of those that outsourced wouldn’t do it again and have since returned to web designers closer to home.
So, let’s look at your Irish options next. The first thing to know about getting a website built in Ireland is that there are two avenues to travel down – hiring a freelancer or hiring a digital agency.
What's the difference between hiring a freelancer and hiring a web agency?
There are a few differences to take into consideration and which suits your company better. Generally speaking, a freelancer will be working on their own on your site, with one or two main skill sets. It’s difficult to find a freelancer that is a master of all areas of website strategy, design, front end development, back end development, testing, project management and marketing. Issues can arise for a client if the freelancer is trying to juggle too many projects at once or has to disappear due to illness/ personal reasons.
A digital agency will have multiple staff in house that specialise in each aspect of designing, building and marketing a website. A typical agency works with clients from a variety of industries with different needs. With extensive experience and expertise, they can accurately estimate the true scope of your project, reducing costs later with additional requirements. Agencies will have more combined experience than a freelancer on their own – meaning they have probably built the type of website you’re looking for and know what you’re trying to achieve. Agencies usually have digital marketing strategists and in-house marketers who are dedicated to achieving set goals for their clients (KPIs, conversions, leads and sales) which will help measure the success of your project.
| Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheap and cheerful | Design | Custom professional work |
| Limited functionality | Development | Bespoken and skilled functionality |
| Basic implementation | SEO | Advanced techniques implemented by SEO experts |
| Includes integration | Social Media | Included along with a marketing strategy, plan, and advice on social media |
| Little-to-no training | Training | In-person training offered, followed by videos and online documentation to help further |
| Not included | Marketing | A dedicated team of marketing experts on hand |
| 30 days or not offered at all | Warranty | Anywhere from 30 days to a year's warranty |
| Not included | Support | Includes both email and phone support |
| One freelancer split between multiple clients at the same time | Communication | Dedicated project manager devoted to your company |
| May only be interested in their next paycheck | Teamwork | Wants to work with you long term & see your business succeed |
Whichever option you go for, always make sure:
The company you work with has a mobile first approach (your website works on all devices perfectly)
The content management system your website is built on is open source – for some companies a custom CMS is a necessity, however if it can be avoided it will save you time and money in the long run. We work with Joomla, WordPress, Magento and Drupal – most agencies will work with these open source systems. Some freelancers may choose their own CMS – make sure you are able to edit your own website, otherwise you will be tied to the freelancer for future changes.
If going with a WordPress website, ensure your freelancer is configuring it correctly, a badly set-up WordPress website can cost you dearly in terms of security hacks and search engine rankings.
You’re getting Google Analytics and conversion tracking installed and configured – this will help you keep track of conversions and visitor information.
Ensure that your agency is providing you with ongoing support and maintenance, making sure your website is kept up to date and secure, and that they are on hand to help you if you run into problems.
Remember:
First impressions count. Don’t judge a website by its cover — design is only one slice of a much bigger pie.
If someone is giving you a price without knowing your requirements, they do not have your long term online success in mind.
Buying set packages can result in more charges down the road, as your website may require more work put into it than initially thought. If hiring a Dublin-based web designer (freelance or agency) expect to pay more than anywhere else in the country, simply because of the increased overheads, cost of living etc. people in the capital face.
Hosting and domain name fees will be due once a year. It is best to host your website with a company in the same country as you. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is (a super low price = terrible customer service, high level of downtime). Hosting can vary greatly in pricing – from €35 to €400 for the year. As with everything else, you get what you pay for – higher prices SHOULD include monitoring, backups and updates (if not, it’s best to change providers).
Depending on which kind of provider you choose, you’ll have ongoing costs to keep your website operating at its most secure and user-friendly. This can include: SSL certificates, maintenance, uptime monitoring, backups and restoration, software updates, search engine optimisation & marketing and security monitoring.
So, let’s look at your Irish options next. The first thing to know about getting a website built in Ireland is that there are two avenues to travel down – hiring a freelancer or hiring a digital agency.
Hourly/Daily Rates For Web Designers
Hourly rates vary wildly between each group of web professionals!
Freelancers
Generally, freelancers can charge anywhere from €30-€80 per hour or €240-€640 per day – they’re pricing on their own skill level and have lower overheads than an agency.
Although a freelancer is cheaper than an agency, it may take them 2 or 3 times as long to achieve a task due to lack of experience – so you may end up paying more for certain tasks.
Digital agencies
With digital agencies, the price that is charged is usually between €80 – €125 per hour or €600 – €1000 per day. The higher end of the range is usually for agencies that are based in Dublin, with large teams and years of experience.
Note:
Digital agencies will also charge VAT on top of their hourly/daily rates. Freelancers don’t tend to include VAT as they
don’t pass the income threshold to charge for it.
Even though freelancers won’t charge you VAT this could be an indication that they don’t have a lot of projects coming
in which means they may be inexperienced in the field
Get a free consultation about your new website with our digital strategist
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So what can you expect to pay for a website in Ireland?
Remember, these are just examples of generic websites! Your project may cost less or may cost more than this, it all depends on the functionality requirements and scope of your website.
Many functionalities will be charged for separately, depending on the service you need.
- Photography from €500
- Videography from €1,600
- Drone Footage from €1,000
- Virtual tours from €600
- Content writing or translations from €100 per page
- Live chat function from €30 per month
Worried about not being able to afford the website your company deserves? Check with your local enterprise office – they can provide like for like funding to help get you online. For more info and to see if you’re eligible, check out our guide to website grants in Ireland.
When you choose Ireland Website Design for your next website project, you get a full digital service. From design to development, marketing to training. Send us in some details about your requirements, and then we can follow up with a requirements gathering call to understand your exact needs before pricing. If you’re looking for a website rebuild, our digital strategists will fully analyse your current online presence as part of this process.
Here are 5 example websites and how much they should cost:
- 10 pages of content
- 5 unique designed pages
- Mobile responsive website, design, logo, and branding services
- Gallery
- Contact forms and other forms
- Social media integration
- Basic SEO
- Google Analytics installation
- Stock images
- Outsource company quote to expect: €500 – €3,000
- Freelancer quote to expect: €2,000 – €5,000
- Agency quote to expect: €6,000 – €8,000
- 8 pages of content
- Mobile responsive website design, logo and branding services
- Up to 20 products
- Online payment processor
- SSL certificate
- Social media integration
- Basic SEO
- Google Analytics installation
- Up to 10 stock images
- Outsource company quote to expect: €1,000-€4,000
- Freelancer quote to expect: €2,500-€5,000
- Agency quote to expect: €8,000-€12,000
- 10 pages of content
- Mobile responsive website design, logo and branding services
- Jobs board/advert board
- CV upload or online payment
- Social media integration
- Basic SEO
- Stock images
- Outsource company quote to expect: €5,000-€10,000
- Freelancer quote to expect: €8,000-€12,000
- Agency quote to expect: €10,000-€20,000
- *Due to advanced functionality, you may struggle to find a freelancer able to complete this project.
- 20 pages of content
- Mobile responsive website design, logo and branding services
- Custom graphic design and build
- Professional email set up
- Content writing
- Contact form
- Blog
- Full digital strategy plan
- Inbound marketing software set up
- Email marketing series created
- Spam protection using Captcha
- Website security hardening features
- Social media integration
- YouTube integration
- Advanced SEO
- Google Analytics installation
- Facebook advertising configuration
- Google AdWords configuration
- Conversion tracking
- Up to 30 stock images
- Hosting and domain for one year
- Outsource company quote to expect: €2,000-€5,000
- Freelancer quote to expect: €6,000-€8,000
- Agency quote to expect: €10,000-€15,000
- *Due to advanced functionality, you may struggle to find a freelancer able to complete this project.
- 25 pages of content
- Mobile responsive website design, logo, and branding services
- Up to 50 products
- Multiple payment processors
- SSL certificate
- Professional email set up
- Content writing
- Blog
- Full digital strategy plan
- Email marketing series created
- Spam protection using Captcha
- Website security hardening features
- Social media integration
- YouTube integration
- Advanced SEO
- Google Analytics installation
- Facebook advertising configuration
- Google AdWords configuration
- Conversion tracking
- Up to 30 stock images
- Hosting and domain for one year
- Outsource company quote to expect: €5,000-€10,000
- Freelancer quote to expect: €8,000-€12,000
- Agency quote to expect: €10,000-€20,000
- *Due to advanced functionality, you may struggle to find a freelancer able to complete this project.