How much does website design cost in South Africa? Real prices, and what changes them
Real, published prices for a business website, a site that sells or takes bookings, and a custom system, with what pushes the number up and what a site costs to run once it is live.
Website design cost in South Africa depends less on how a site looks than on what it has to do. At Fyre, a custom-designed business website of up to eight pages costs R15,000. A site that also sells online, takes bookings, runs a membership or hosts courses starts at R25,000. Custom systems start at R65,000, and keeping a site online starts at R450 a month. All our prices are in South African rand (ZAR) and include VAT.
These are the prices we publish and charge, not an average of other people’s. You will find quotes below them and above them. This guide shows what changes the number, what a site costs to run once it is live, and what to ask so that two quotes can be compared fairly. The client examples are our own work.
What a website costs, by type of site
We price a website by the kind of job it is. There are three, plus the monthly cost of keeping a site online.
| Kind of site | What it includes | Price incl. VAT | Typically ready in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business website | Up to 8 pages, a custom design, forms, set-up for Google, 30 days of support | R15,000 | 2 weeks |
| A site that sells, takes bookings, runs a membership or hosts courses | Everything above, up to 20 pages, plus one of: an online store, a booking system, a membership or a learning platform | From R25,000 | 4 weeks |
| Custom system | Custom plugins, integrations, loyalty and rewards platforms, old systems moved onto WordPress, multi-site | From R65,000 | Scoped first, after a free discovery |
| Hosting | Managed WordPress hosting with daily off-site backups (restore included) | R450 a month | Ongoing |
| Hosting and care | Hosting, plus tested updates and security monitoring | R975 or R2,450 a month | Ongoing |
The do-it-yourself route costs less up front: you pay a website builder’s monthly plan and do the work yourself. Custom work has no fixed ceiling: a system is priced by what it has to do.
What changes the price of a website?
In our pricing, what the site has to do moves the number more than how many pages it has. Selling online, taking bookings, running a membership or teaching courses takes a site from R15,000 to R25,000 or more. Custom systems start at R65,000, and work outside a package is quoted separately.
Pages, and who writes them
Our Business package covers up to eight pages and Professional up to 20, and within those limits the number of pages does not change the price. The words matter more. Copywriting is not included: you supply the text, and we give you a structured content brief and one editing pass at no charge. If you would rather we wrote it, copywriting is R975 a page, so five pages add R4,875. Photography is not included in our Business package.
A design made for you, or a template
Our Business and Professional packages use a custom WordPress design, built on the Blocksy theme rather than an off-the-shelf template. A template is one design used by many businesses; a custom design is made around yours. You pay for the design time, and the site looks like your business rather than like everyone else who chose the same template.
What the site has to do
This is where most of the difference sits. An online store, a booking system, a membership area or a learning platform adds products, payments, accounts or schedules that must be built, tested and kept working. Our Professional package, from R25,000, includes one of the four, a staging site and migration from your existing site. For a store, that means up to 50 products loaded, online payments through a payment gateway and one shipping method. More than 50 products to load, several sellers in one store, or several currencies are quoted separately, as is a larger store or system.
Plan for what comes after launch, too. Thrive Raw Food For Dogs became a client in 2025, when we built its online store. We still host and support it, and the work has included setting up MRPeasy, Google Ads, SEO, product updates and continued development. What an online store costs goes into store pricing in detail.
Connecting to other systems, or building one
Our packages do not include custom plugins or connecting the site to your accounting or stock software; that work is quoted separately. When the website is really a system your business runs on, it becomes a custom project. Ours start at R65,000 and are quoted only. The first discovery and quote are free. If you go ahead, the build starts with a detailed scoping phase, included in the price.
Custom work looks like this. GiftBucks has been a client since 2003. The platform we originally built for them had aged past maintaining, so we rebuilt it as a custom WordPress plugin with current security. Our 2025 rebuild for Financial Crime Risk Management Consultants, a client since 2009, added a learning platform and a plugin that uses AI to match their clients and suppliers. There is more on this kind of work under business systems.
Moving an existing site
If you already have a site, ask how its content will get across. Our Professional package includes migration from your existing site; on Business, moving your content across is quoted separately. If the old site runs on technology that can no longer be updated safely, it needs a rebuild rather than a move, which is the work of our rebuilds and migrations service.
Changes, support and set-up for Google
A Business site includes two rounds of changes, 30 days of support after launch and a handover video. Professional includes three rounds and 60 days. Both are set up for search, speed and security, with Rank Math, LiteSpeed and Wordfence configured. We connect Google Analytics 4 and Search Console, and set up your Google Business Profile. All three are free from Google, as at 2 October 2026 (Google Analytics, Search Console, Business Profile); what you pay for is setting them up properly.
Ongoing SEO is not part of any website package. Our SEO audit is R6,500, and half of it is credited against the first month if a retainer starts within 30 days; the retainer starts at R7,500 a month, for at least six months. How much SEO costs in South Africa explains what that buys.
Where you are
Location does not change our prices. The same published prices apply wherever you are, and we quote and bill every client in rand, including clients outside South Africa, who carry their own currency conversion and cross-border bank charges. Since 2001, Fyre has built and run sites and systems for South African businesses, and for clients internationally in the UK, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
A worked example
Say you run a physiotherapy practice and want six pages, online bookings and the words written for you. The bookings make it our Professional package, from R25,000. Six pages of copywriting at R975 each add R5,850, so the build is from R30,850. With the basic care plan at R975 a month, the first year is from R42,550, all incl. VAT. If the booking rules go beyond a standard set-up, that part is quoted per task before we start.
How much does a website cost per month?
Once it is live, a website costs from R450 a month at Fyre, for managed hosting. The basic care plan, which adds tested updates, security monitoring and a monthly health email, is R975 a month with hosting included. The full plan, with two hours of changes every month and faster response, is R2,450.
| Managed hosting | Basic care | Full care | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price incl. VAT | R450 a month | R975 a month | R2,450 a month |
| Hosting on LiteSpeed, daily off-site backups and a restore when needed, SSL, uptime monitoring, five mailboxes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WordPress, plugin and theme updates, with a backup before each one | No | Yes | Yes |
| Wordfence security monitoring and uptime alerts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reports | No | Monthly health email | As basic, plus a monthly performance and security report, a quarterly speed review and a broken-link and 404 sweep |
| Changes to your site | Quoted per task | Quoted per task | Two hours a month, then quoted per task |
| Response time | No set time | 1 business day | 4 business hours |
| When the site is down | No set time | 4 business hours | 4 business hours |
Add the build and a year of running costs together and you have the number that matters most: the cost of the first year.
| Build | Next 12 months | First year | Each year after | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business website with hosting | R15,000 | R5,400 | R20,400 | R5,400 |
| Business website with basic care | R15,000 | R11,700 | R26,700 | R11,700 |
| Store, bookings, membership or courses, with basic care | From R25,000 | R11,700 | From R36,700 | R11,700 |
Costs that are easy to forget
- Your domain name. It renews every year, so ask whether your quote covers it. We register and renew domains, including .co.za, .co.zw and most other extensions, and quote domain prices per request.
- Email. Our hosting includes five mailboxes.
- Paid themes and plugins. Some carry a yearly licence. Ask who pays the renewals. We do not use paid themes: our sites are built on Blocksy, because a paid theme comes loaded with things a site does not need. A paid theme or plugin you want is licensed to your own account at your cost; if we buy it, a small markup covers the cost.
- Changes and new features. Two hours a month come with the full care plan. Anything else is quoted per task before we start.
- SEO, if you want to be found for competitive searches.
Sometimes a site needs more than upkeep. Big City Life, a photographer’s site, was referred to us while it was running very slowly. We reduced it from roughly 85GB to about 4.5GB, moved it onto our hosting and added security. The running costs nobody quotes goes through each monthly cost in turn, and our website maintenance and WordPress hosting pages set out what we do.
Should you build it yourself, hire a freelancer or use a studio?
Build it yourself if the site is simple and you have the time: you pay a builder’s monthly plan instead of a build fee. A freelancer suits a small, well-defined job. A studio makes sense when the site must take payments or bookings, connect to other systems, or still be looked after in five years.
| Website builder | Freelancer | Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suits | A simple site, when you have the time | A small, well-defined job | A site that takes payments or bookings, connects to other systems, or must be looked after for years |
| What you pay | A monthly plan | A build fee | A build fee, then hosting and care each month |
| Who does the work | You | The freelancer | The studio |
| What to ask | What the plan leaves for you to do | Who looks after the site after launch, and who takes over if they move on | What the price includes, and whether they will still be there in five years |
Website builders charge a subscription. As at 2 October 2026, Wix’s plans page listed paid plans from US$17 a month on a yearly subscription paid up front, with applicable taxes added according to your billing address. On the same day, Shopify’s South African pricing page listed its Basic plan at US$25 a month, or US$19 a month paid yearly. The plan pays for the platform. The design, the words, the set-up for Google and the upkeep are still yours. What a Wix website really costs over three years and WooCommerce vs Shopify go further.
A good freelancer can build a good site; what matters is what happens after launch. If you have been left with a site nobody will touch, read taking over a website when your developer has disappeared.
What a studio should add is continuity, and it is what we sell alongside the build. We have built and run websites since 2001, and some of our clients have been with us for more than twenty years. Our web design service sets out how we work.
Why do website quotes differ so much?
Quotes differ because they price different jobs under the same name. One quote for a five-page website may be a template with your details added; another may be a custom design, set up for Google, with support after launch. The numbers only compare once you know what each includes. These questions make that clear.
- Does the price include VAT? Ours do. VAT is 15% (SARS, as at 2 October 2026), so a quote that adds it at the end is 15% more than the number you were shown.
- Is the design made for you, or a template?
- How many pages, and who writes them?
- How many rounds of changes are included?
- Is the site set up for Google? Page titles and descriptions, Search Console, Google Analytics and your Business Profile.
- What happens after launch? How long support lasts, and what updates, backups and security cost each month.
- Is the domain included, and what does it renew for? Ours are quoted per request.
- Are paid themes or plugins included, and who pays the renewals?
- What happens if the scope changes? We quote extra work per task before we start.
- How and when do you pay? A 50% deposit, and the balance on go-live.
Website design packages in South Africa compared: what the lowest quotes leave out takes this further.
What does it cost to fix a hacked or broken website?
At Fyre, cleaning up a hacked website starts at R5,200: a response within 24 to 48 hours, malware removal, hardening, Wordfence set-up and a request to Google to take the site off its blocklist, with a three-month care plan as a minimum. If the site is not worth saving, a rebuild starts at R15,000, after a credited R2,220 assessment.
Xscape4u, a tourism and accommodation site, was referred to us after a compromise: it was being injected with links to offshore casino sites. We rebuilt the entire platform, extracted the data, left the hacked content behind and delivered it clean, with encryption and Wordfence. Tested updates, backups and security monitoring, the work in every care plan, are there to keep you from needing this. If it has already happened, start with what to do in the first 24 hours, or see website rescue.
When will you pay for a website again?
There is no fixed lifespan. A site needs rebuilding when the technology under it can no longer be updated safely, or when the business outgrows what it can do. Until then, the cost is hosting and care. Some of our longest-standing clients show what that looks like in practice.
Bonethrower has been a client since 2002, and its site was most recently rebuilt in 2016. Tin Soldier and Something Fab, formerly ABFAB Online, have both been clients since 2005, and we rebuilt both sites in 2025. What a website redesign costs covers the price of a rebuild, and sites that last covers what keeps one going.
How we price a website
We publish fixed prices for our packages, so you can check a price before you talk to us, and we quote other work per task before we start. Custom systems are quoted after a free first discovery. Payment is a 50% deposit and the balance on go-live, every price is in South African rand and includes VAT, and we reply to new enquiries the same business day.
Every package, with what it includes and what it leaves out, is on our website pricing page. To price your own site, tell us what it has to do: Get a quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a full website design cost?
A full website, meaning the design, the build, set-up for Google and support after launch, costs R15,000 incl. VAT at Fyre for up to eight pages. If it also sells online, takes bookings, runs a membership or hosts courses, it starts at R25,000, and custom systems start at R65,000. Add running costs from R450 a month, and check that any quote you compare includes the same things.
How much does it cost to design a 5-page website in South Africa?
A five-page business site fits our Business package: R15,000 incl. VAT for up to eight pages, with a custom design, forms, set-up for Google, two rounds of changes and 30 days of support. If you want us to write the five pages, copywriting adds R975 a page, or R4,875. Hosting starts at R450 a month. What a 5-page business website costs has the detail.
How much does it cost to pay someone to design your website?
Paying us to design and build a business website costs R15,000 incl. VAT for up to eight custom-designed pages, and hosting starts at R450 a month. A freelancer also charges a build fee. Building it yourself on a website builder avoids that fee, but you pay a monthly plan and do the design yourself. Whoever you pay, ask who looks after the site after launch.
Can ChatGPT actually create a website?
It can write the code for a web page, and OpenAI’s help centre says ChatGPT can preview supported code, and that supported previews may include HTML pages. A preview is not a working business website, though. That still needs a domain, hosting, security updates, forms that reach you and set-up for Google, and someone to keep it running. Those are the costs this guide sets out.