There is a question every business asks at some point. And the honest answer always disappoints: it depends.
Not because we want to dodge the question. But because it's the only correct answer. Asking how much a website costs is like asking how much a commercial space costs. It depends on whether it's in the centre of London or on an industrial estate. Whether you need a full fit-out or can take it as-is. Whether you plan to be there ten years or two.
The question isn't asked in bad faith. It's asked because it assumes that "a website" is a concrete thing with a stable price. It isn't.
Both extremes exist. And both make sense in the right context. A €300 website works for testing whether a business has traction, for a basic portfolio, for when you literally have nothing. A €50,000 website works for large e-commerce operations, for platforms with complex business logic, for companies turning over millions.
The problem isn't the price. The problem is when someone pays €50,000 for what they needed for €3,000 — or pays €300 for something that costs them clients every single day.
The right question isn't "how much does it cost?" but "what does it need to do?" Does it need to explain who you are and get people to contact you? That's one thing. Does it need to sell products online? That's another. Does it need to rank on Google for specific terms in your sector? Yet another.
Each answer leads to a different budget. Not because prices are arbitrary, but because the work is different.
When someone asks us how much it costs, we always return the same question: how much is it costing you not to have it? Not abstractly — in clients going to a competitor because their site looks more serious. In proposals you don't send because you have nowhere to point people. In time you waste explaining things a good website would explain on its own.
What a well-made website costs is always less than what it costs not to have one.
So the next time someone tells you "it depends" when you ask the price of a website, don't read it as a dodge. Read it as the first real question in a conversation worth having.