"How much does a website cost?" is a question I hear several times a week. And the answer is frustrating, because it's: from zero to infinity. But you're not here for me to tell you "it depends." I'll show you specific numbers, what you get for them, and where the hidden costs are that most people find out about too late.

Option 1: Do it yourself for 0-200 PLN

Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, Google Sites. Free plans with a subdomain like yourbusiness.wixsite.com. For your own domain add 50-80 PLN per year, to remove Wix ads - from 60 PLN per month.

Sounds cheap? Because it is cheap. But there's a catch.

Template websites from builders load slowly. Lighthouse score drops below 60/100, which means Google will push you down in results. You have no control over the code, so Schema.org and advanced SEO are out. And AI chatbots struggle to index dynamic builders.

Who it works for: hobbyists, bloggers, people who want to check if they even need a website. For a business that wants to acquire customers online - not enough.

Option 2: Freelancer for 500-2,000 PLN

On Polish classifieds and service marketplaces you'll find hundreds of offers for "website from 300 PLN." On Facebook groups, even cheaper. On Fiverr you'll find someone from India for 50 USD.

The problem with the cheapest freelancers is simple: you get a WordPress template from Themeforest for 60 USD, changed color and uploaded logo. Done in 2 hours, invoice for 500 PLN. The website technically works, but loads in 4 seconds, has zero SEO optimization, and looks like 400 other websites on the internet.

There are, of course, good freelancers. For 1,500-2,000 PLN you'll get a solid business card website - custom design, responsiveness, basic SEO. The difficulty is finding such people, because they don't hang out on classifieds.

Risk: the freelancer disappears in 3 months and there's nobody to fix a typo. I've seen this many times.

Option 3: Studio / small agency for 2,000-8,000 PLN

This is where the professional approach starts. Custom graphic design, responsiveness, on-page SEO, Google Analytics, deployment. Often hosting and technical support are included for the first year.

The range is wide because it depends on scope. A business card site with 3-4 sections is the lower end. A site with 5-7 subpages, blog, forms, integrations - the upper end.

For 3,000-5,000 PLN you get a solid product that will work for years. This is the sweet spot for most small businesses.

Option 4: Large agency for 10,000-50,000+ PLN

Strategy workshop, customer personas, UX prototypes, A/B testing, dedicated project manager, copywriting, photo shoot. The website as part of a larger marketing strategy.

Makes sense for companies with budget and scale. If your business does 500,000 PLN in annual revenue, a 20,000 PLN website is a worthwhile investment. If you're just starting out with 5 clients - overkill.

Hidden costs - this is where most people get it wrong

The price of the website is one thing. Maintenance costs are another. And this is where problems start, because you only learn about them after signing the contract. Or after a year, when you get a renewal invoice.

Hosting. WordPress needs a server. Cheapest: 10-15 PLN/month. Fast: 30-80 PLN/month. A pure HTML website on Cloudflare? 0 PLN. Zero. Nothing. Cloudflare Pages' free plan is enough for 99% of business card websites.

Domain. 50-100 PLN per year for .pl. About 60 PLN for .com. This is a cost regardless of who builds the website. But watch out: some agencies register the domain under their name. When you want to leave, you have to "buy it back." Always register the domain yourself.

SSL (security certificate). On Cloudflare - free, automatic. On many hosting providers - 80-200 PLN per year. Or included in a more expensive hosting plan.

Updates and security. WordPress requires regular updates. Do it yourself? You risk breaking something. Outsource to an agency? That's 50-200 PLN per month for a "care package." Per year: 600-2,400 PLN. A static HTML website requires no updates - because there's nothing to update.

Email on your domain. [email protected] sounds professional. Google Workspace: from 25 PLN/month (300 PLN/year). Cloudflare email routing (forwarding to Gmail): 0 PLN.

What you'll really pay over 3 years

Let's do a simple calculation. Business card website, 3 years of use.

WordPress with a freelancer: website 1,500 PLN + hosting 40 PLN/month x 36 = 1,440 PLN + domain 70 PLN/year x 3 = 210 PLN + updates 100 PLN/month x 36 = 3,600 PLN. Total: 6,750 PLN.

Pure HTML on Cloudflare: website 1,500 PLN + hosting 0 PLN + domain 70 PLN/year x 3 = 210 PLN + updates 0 PLN. Total: 1,710 PLN.

Difference: 5,040 PLN over 3 years. That's money you can spend on advertising, business cards, or growing your business. Or just keep in your pocket.

What to look out for regardless of budget

Responsiveness. Over 60% of internet traffic is from phones. If the website doesn't look good on a phone - it doesn't work. Every proper website in 2026 must be responsive. It's not an "add-on" - it's a standard.

Speed. Google officially says that sites loading over 2.5 seconds lose positions in results. Ask your developer what Lighthouse score they guarantee. If they don't know what Lighthouse is - keep looking.

Who owns what. The domain, hosting, website code - everything should be yours. Not the agency's. I've seen companies that, after switching providers, found out they had no access to their own domain. Sort this out before work begins.

The most expensive website isn't the one that costs 50,000 PLN. The most expensive is the one for 500 PLN that doesn't work, brings no clients, and has to be rebuilt from scratch a year later.