„WordPress is free“ – this statement is technically correct, but often leads to completely false assumptions about the actual cost of a website.
The WordPress software itself is free to use. However, a professional corporate website requires much more: domain, hosting, design, content, extensions, security, and last but not least, time for creation and ongoing maintenance.
So what does a WordPress website really cost? The honest answer is: It depends on what the website is supposed to do. A simple company website has completely different requirements than a multilingual corporate presence or a WooCommerce store.
This guide shows what costs make up a WordPress website, which price ranges can be realistic for SMEs, and where supposedly cheap solutions end up being expensive later.
Why WordPress is free – but the website is not
WordPress is open-source software and can basically be installed and used for free. However, initially, this only provides you with the content management system.
For a complete website, additional requirements include, among other things:
- a domain
- Web hosting
- a suitable theme or custom design
- Plugins for required functions
- Texts and images
- Setup and Configuration
- Backups and security measures
- ongoing maintenance and updates
Therefore, the crucial question is not what WordPress costs, but what the finished website costs, including setup and operation.
How much does it cost to create a WordPress website?
This is where the biggest price differences arise. Basically, there are three typical options: create it yourself, work with a freelancer, or have the website implemented by an agency or web service provider.
Option 1: Create a WordPress website yourself
If you install, design, and set up WordPress yourself, you can keep the direct costs relatively low.
Costs arise, for example, for:
- Domain and hosting
- Premium Theme or Page Builder
- paid plugins
- Stock photos or other media
What is often missing from this calculation is one's own working time.
WordPress needs to be set up, the design customized, pages built, content created, and functions tested. Anyone dealing with WordPress for the first time can easily take several working days or significantly longer to do this.
DIY is therefore not automatically free. The effort is simply not billed as an external invoice.
Option 2: Have a WordPress website created by a freelancer
Freelancers can be an interesting solution, especially for smaller and clearly defined projects.
The prices vary considerably and depend, among other things, on experience, design requirements, number of pages, and range of functions.
A simple corporate website can be in the low four-digit range. With custom design, additional features, or extensive content work, the effort increases accordingly.
Option 3: WordPress website created by an agency or web service provider
In a professional implementation, the service consists of more than just installing WordPress and creating a few pages.
Depending on the project, this can include, for example:
- Consulting and Design
- Information and site structure
- custom design
- responsive design for smartphone and tablet
- technical configuration
- Forms and further functions
- SEO Basics
- Performance optimization
- Testing and Publication
That is why for a professional SME website several thousand francs a realistic order of magnitude. More complex projects can be significantly higher.
However, a serious price can only be given once the scope and requirements are known.
You can find more about the professional implementation at Web design at CURIAWEB .
What factors determine the price of a WordPress website?
The number of pages alone says surprisingly little about the actual effort. Ten simple information pages can cause significantly less work than three pages with complex functions.
Important cost factors include, among others:
- Scope and structure of the website
- individual or pre-made design
- Creation and preparation of the content
- Multilingualism
- Forms and interfaces
- Member or customer areas
- Appointments
- WooCommerce and E-Commerce
- SEO requirements
- Migration of existing content
Therefore, blanket statements like „A WordPress website costs CHF 2,000’ without knowing the project are not very meaningful.
How much does WordPress hosting cost?
In addition to creation, there are ongoing costs for technical operation. This includes hosting in particular.
WordPress requires PHP, a database, storage space, and sufficient server resources. For a business website, hosting should therefore not be chosen based solely on the lowest price.
More important, for example, are:
- sufficient resources
- fast memory
- current PHP versions
- SSL certificates
- regular backups
- Safety mechanisms
- accessible support
At CURIAWEB, hosting runs on modern infrastructure in German data centers. CURIAWEB itself is a Swiss company with personal support from Chur.
You can find the current packages and prices at WordPress Hosting at CURIAWEB .
How much do a domain and SSL certificate cost?
The website usually has its own domain, for example firma.ch. The costs depend on the respective domain extension and the registrar.
For Swiss companies, a .ch domain is often the obvious choice. Depending on their business activities, additional extensions such as .com or .de can be useful.
For more information, please visit Domains at CURIAWEB .
By the way, an SSL certificate for the encrypted HTTPS connection doesn't necessarily have to cost extra these days. At CURIAWEB, SSL certificates are included in the hosting.
How much do WordPress themes and plugins cost?
WordPress offers thousands of free themes and plugins. However, paid extensions are also frequently used for professional websites.
This can incur annual license costs, for example for:
- Page Builder
- Form solutions
- Multilingualism
- SEO features
- Backups
- Safety features
- WooCommerce Extensions
For a simple website, these costs can be low. However, for more complex installations, multiple licenses can quickly add up to several hundred francs per year.
That is why it is worth checking before installing a plugin whether the feature is actually needed. More plugins do not automatically mean a better website.
How much does ongoing WordPress maintenance cost?
A WordPress website requires ongoing maintenance even after launch. WordPress core, plugins, and themes receive regular updates.
Ongoing maintenance includes, depending on the website, for example:
- Updates
- Functional checks
- Backups
- Safety checks
- Performance controls
- Troubleshooting
Anyone who does this work themselves mainly invests time. Anyone who wants to outsource it must plan for corresponding ongoing costs.
We explain in detail which work is actually necessary in the guide WordPress Maintenance & Support for SMEs .
Backups: Small in price, immensely important in an emergency
Another item is data backups. With good hosting, basic backups should already be in place.
At CURIAWEB, daily backups are included with hosting. For websites with additional requirements, a supplementary, independent backup solution can be useful.
You can read what a sensible backup strategy looks like under Backup strategy for SMEs .
How much does a WordPress online store cost?
A WooCommerce shop is also a WordPress website, but it is usually significantly more complex than a classic corporate website.
Additional work arises, for example, from:
- Product structure
- Payment service provider
- Shipping configuration
- Taxes
- Order confirmation emails
- legal requirements
- Testing of the entire ordering process
Therefore, the price of a WooCommerce shop cannot be meaningfully compared to that of a simple information website.
Even when it comes to hosting, requirements can be higher. Further information can be found under WooCommerce Hosting with CURIAWEB .
The often-forgotten costs: outages and poor implementation
Not all website costs appear on an invoice. A slow, buggy, or poorly maintained website can indirectly become much more expensive.
Examples are:
- lost customer inquiries
- non-functioning forms
- Outages of an online shop
- slow loading times
- Security issues
- complex later repairs
That doesn't mean an expensive website is automatically a good website.
It simply means: The purchase price alone is a poor benchmark for the actual costs.
How much does a WordPress website cost in total for an SME?
An exact figure without knowing the project would not be serious. As a rough guide, however, different project sizes can be distinguished.
- Simple website: few pages, existing content, standard features, and low customization
- Professional SME website: individual structure, professional design, multiple contents, and additional functions
- Complex website or online store: custom features, interfaces, e-commerce or extensive requirements
The creation of a professional SME website is often in the range of a few thousand francs. More complex projects can be significantly higher.
In addition, there are the ongoing costs for hosting, domain, potential software licenses, and, if applicable, maintenance.
Cheap or expensive: Which is the better WordPress website?
Neither a low nor a high price automatically says anything about the quality. What matters is whether the solution fits the company's requirements.
A small local company may not need a custom development costing CHF 20,000. Conversely, a CHF 500 flat-rate offer for a complex multilingual online shop is hardly realistic.
A sensible solution lies where requirements, quality, and budget align.
Website, hosting and support from a single source
For SMEs, it can make sense not to distribute web design, hosting, domains, and technical support across numerous service providers.
This has less to do with a specific product package than with clear responsibilities. When it first has to be clarified in the event of a problem whether the agency, hoster, domain provider, or another service provider is responsible, unnecessary effort is created.
CURIAWEB combines web design, WordPress hosting, domains, and technical support under a single point of contact in Switzerland.
If you want to know what your planned website would specifically cost, an individual quote is more useful than any flat-rate price list.
Conclusion: What does a WordPress website really cost?
WordPress itself is free. A professional WordPress website is not.
The actual costs are incurred by Concept, creation, hosting, domain, extensions, maintenance, and ongoing operation.
For a simple website, the costs can remain manageable. A professional SME website often ranges in the area of a few thousand francs, while complex projects can cost correspondingly more.
Therefore, another question is more important than the lowest possible number: Which website does the company actually need, and which solution reliably fulfills these requirements?
