How much does a website cost in the Netherlands?

The short answer: how much does a website cost in 2026?

How much does a website cost? In the Netherlands in 2026, a simple website usually costs between €500 and €2,000. If you need custom features, such as a webshop, a member area or connections to other software, you're quickly looking at €2,000–5,000. A larger agency project can run to €12,000 or more.

That's a wide range, and not very helpful if you just want to know where you stand. In this article I explain where the differences come from, which costs follow after launch and how to compare quotes fairly.

In full honesty: I build websites for freelancers and small businesses myself, from Oudenbosch in West-Brabant. So I have a stake in this topic. I've still tried to write it as neutrally as I can, including where it doesn't work in my favour.

One thing to know if you're new to the Dutch market: web designers here almost always quote business prices excluding VAT (btw), which is 21%. All prices in this article exclude VAT too.

Website prices by type

Based on quote data from platforms such as Trustoo, the Dutch market roughly breaks down as follows. Treat these as indications, not fixed rates. Every builder calculates differently.

Hourly rates for web design in the Netherlands are usually between €65 and €105. At its core, a quote is an estimate of hours. The clearer you are about what you want, the sharper that estimate gets.

• Simple website: €500–2,000. A few pages, a contact form and your own branding. Enough for most freelancers.
• Advanced website: €2,000–5,000. Custom features, such as a CMS to edit your own content, a member area, a small webshop or integrations with other software.
• Large custom projects: easily €5,000–12,000 or more. Think large webshops, complex integrations or an extensive design process at an agency.

Freelancer, agency or do it yourself?

Who builds your website matters at least as much as what gets built. Roughly, you have three options.

For a freelancer or small business, an agency is often more than you need. You don't need a team of five for an eight-page site. If you do need a complex webshop or lots of integrations, an agency can be the sensible choice.

• Freelance web designer: roughly €800–3,000. One point of contact, short lines, usually faster. Do think about continuity: what happens if that person stops or falls ill?
• Web agency: roughly €3,000–12,000, often plus €50–200 a month for hosting and maintenance. More capacity and specialists, but you also pay for account managers, meetings and an office.
• DIY with Wix, Squarespace or an AI site builder: a subscription of a few tens of euros a month, plus your own time. Fine to get started, but the result is often generic and performs worse in Google.

What drives the cost of a website?

When I put together a quote, I look at the same things as any other builder. These are the biggest price drivers, roughly in order of impact.

• Custom functionality. A CMS, member area, webshop, forms with logic or integrations with other systems take the most hours.
• Number of pages. Every page needs to be designed, filled and checked, on desktop and on mobile.
• Copywriting. Do you supply the text, or does the builder write it? Good copy takes work. In practice it's often the part that takes longest to arrive.
• Photography. Stock photos are cheap. A photographer costs a few hundred euros or more, but you see the difference straight away.
• Languages. For an international business, a site in both English and Dutch is often a must. Many Dutch builders charge a substantial extra for each language.
• Feedback rounds. How many times can you ask for changes before extra hours appear on the invoice?
• SEO basics. Good titles, a sitemap, structured data and setting up Google Search Console. Sometimes included, sometimes a separate line item.
• Hosting and maintenance. Who keeps everything running after launch, and what does that cost per month?

The costs after launch

A website isn't finished once it's live. There are ongoing costs that are easy to overlook if you only look at the build price. I wrote a separate article about this: website maintenance costs. In short:

• Hosting: from a few euros to tens of euros a month, depending on what's included.
• Domain name: a .nl domain costs a few euros a year.
• SSL certificate: the padlock in the browser. Free with good hosting, but check.
• Updates and security: especially with WordPress, where plugins need constant updating.
• Backups: who makes them, and can you actually restore them when something breaks?
• Business email: Google Workspace costs €6.80–8.10 per user per month, Microsoft 365 around €5–6.
• Changes: a new service, different opening hours, an extra page.

Subscription or one-off payment?

More and more providers sell websites as a subscription. You pay €49–149 a month and the build is included. That sounds attractive: no large upfront cost.

Do the maths, though. €99 a month adds up to almost €3,600 after three years. You're often tied in for at least twelve months. And if you cancel, the website usually isn't yours. You start again from scratch.

With a one-off payment, you own the site. After that you only pay for hosting and maintenance, which you can choose or arrange yourself. I think that's the fairer setup. If your budget is tight at the start, a subscription can still make sense. Just choose it consciously. You can see how I've set it up myself under hosting and maintenance.

An example: how I price it myself

At truck8.dev I work with fixed prices, so you know where you stand before we start. A one-pager costs €795. A business website of up to 8 pages costs €1,495, including setup of Google Search Console and Bing. If you need your own CMS and articles, up to around 20 pages, it's €2,495. Copywriting, two feedback rounds and extra languages are always included, so a site in English and Dutch costs the same as a single-language one. All prices exclude VAT. The full overview is on the pricing page.

I can keep to those prices because I build with AI and then finish everything by hand. How that works and where the limits are is explained in building a website with AI. Examples of sites I've built are under portfolio.

How to compare quotes fairly

Two quotes of €1,500 can deliver completely different things. So don't just look at the total at the bottom. Ask these questions before you sign:

• Is copywriting included, or do I need to write the text myself?
• How many feedback rounds do I get?
• Is a second language included, and if not, what does it cost?
• Will the site be set up in Google Search Console and Bing?
• What do hosting and maintenance cost per month, and what's included?
• What does a small change cost after launch?
• Do I own the website and the code if I ever leave?
• Is the domain name registered in my own name?