Ask five Kiwi web designers what a website costs and you’ll get five very different numbers. Some will say a few hundred dollars. Others will quote more than a new car. Neither is lying. They’re selling different things.
This guide sets out the main options in New Zealand, roughly what each costs, and what you get for the money. Then you can compare quotes like for like.
NZ website prices at a glance
These are rough market ranges for a marketing website, the kind a firm uses to win work. They are not prices for an online shop or a custom app. Most NZ quotes exclude GST, so add 15%.
- Do it yourself (Wix, Squarespace and the like)$0–$600 a year, plus your time
- Offshore marketplaces and templates$300–$2,000
- Freelance web designer$3,000–$10,000
- Small design studio$8,000–$25,000
- Larger agency$30,000 and up
Do it yourself: $0–$600 a year
Website builders have come a long way, and for a hobby or a brand-new sole trader they are fine. The software is cheap. The cost is your time, and the result looks like everyone else’s template.
Good for: testing an idea, a one-page placeholder.
Watch for: hours lost to fiddling, and a site that quietly tells clients you’re small.
Offshore marketplaces: $300–$2,000
You can get a site built overseas for very little. Usually that means a stock theme with your logo dropped in. Copy, photos and local search are left to you. Changes after launch become a new job, often across a time zone.
Good for: very tight budgets.
Watch for: who owns the site, who hosts it, and what happens when something breaks.
Freelance web designer: $3,000–$10,000
A good local freelancer can do excellent work. You get one person who knows your project. The catch is that one person rarely does everything well: strategy, writing, design, build and hosting. Ask which of those are included and which are left to you.
Good for: simple sites with a clear brief and content ready to go.
Watch for: holidays, illness and capacity. If they are busy, so is your website.
Small design studio: $8,000–$25,000
This is where most established professional firms land. A studio has the people to plan the site, write it, design it and build it, and still gives you a direct line to the people doing the work. Expect a fixed price, a clear timeline and someone who looks after the site once it’s live.
Good for: firms that win work on reputation, where the site has to look as good as the people behind it.
Watch for: quotes that leave out copywriting or photography. Those two make or break a site.
Larger agency: $30,000 and up
Big agencies run big projects well: complex integrations, many stakeholders, national campaigns. You pay for account managers, workshops and process. For a 10-to-50-person firm, much of that budget goes on things you don’t need.
Good for: large organisations and complex builds.
Watch for: being a small fish. Senior people sell the job; junior people often deliver it.
What are you actually paying for?
Two quotes for “a five-page website” can be thousands apart because the hours go into different things. A proper quote should cover:
- Thinking. Who the site is for, what they need to find, and what you want them to do next.
- Words. Clear copy that says what you do in the first five seconds. Most DIY sites fall over here.
- Pictures. Photography or carefully chosen images. Stock photos of handshakes don’t win mandates.
- Design and build. A site that works on a phone, loads fast and shows up properly in Google.
- Life after launch. Hosting, security, backups and the small changes you’ll need every month.
The costs that turn up later
The build price is only part of it. Before you sign, ask about:
- Hosting and maintenance, often charged monthly and sometimes not mentioned until launch.
- Change requests. Is updating a team photo a free five-minute job, or a billable ticket?
- Your time. If you’re handed a content system to “update yourself”, someone in your office now has a second job.
- Leaving. If you move on, do you keep the site, the domain and the files?
How we price
We publish our prices because we think you should know before you ask. A complete marketing website from WhiteSpace Studio is a fixed price, with copywriting, photography sourcing, search setup and hosting included. There’s no content system to learn: send us the change and we make it for you.
Our standard price is from $21,500. Until 13 December 2026 we’re building at a foundation price of $11,500, with six months of hosting, maintenance and updates free. Not ready for a whole site? We’ll design your landing page for free so you can see the difference first.
