Australian Bureau of Statistics count for June 2026: 2.66 million actively-trading businesses in Australia, 97.3% of them with fewer than 20 employees (ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2026). Every single one of them needs a website. Almost none of them can get a straight answer on what it costs.
Every other “how much does a website cost in Sydney” post gives you a range from $500 to $50,000 and calls that a guide. That’s not a guide — that’s a shrug. So we’re going to do the thing that most Sydney web-design agencies won’t: publish our actual prices, our actual process, and the actual things we don’t include.
The three transparent packages — what each one is for
We build websites in three tiers. The price you see is the price you pay. There is no “starting at” and no “call for a quote.”
| Package | Price (AUD) | Best for | Build time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | From $1,500 | Single-service small business, tradies, solo practitioners | inside 2–4 weeks |
| Business | From $3,500 | Established SMB with multiple services, team pages, blog | 2–4 weeks |
| E-commerce | From $6,000 | Retailers, restaurants with online ordering, product-led businesses | 4–6 weeks |
The full pricing page — Web Design Services and Templates — lists what’s in each package. Every tier includes: responsive design that works on every device, a page-speed baseline that passes Google Core Web Vitals, on-page SEO for your primary keywords, Google Business Profile alignment, and a Cloudflare-Pages hosting setup that you own after handover.
What “Starter” actually delivers at $1,500
A Baulkham Hills electrician doesn’t need a 20-page site with a blog. They need five well-built pages — home, about, services, service area, contact — plus a booking-ready enquiry form, Google Business Profile alignment, and a page that ranks for “emergency electrician Baulkham Hills.” That’s what $1,500 buys. It’s not a template you fill in yourself; it’s a designed site with real copy, live in a fortnight.
What “Business” adds at $3,500
Business tier is for the accounting practice, the physio clinic, the marketing consultancy — the operation with 4–15 staff, multiple service lines, and a story worth telling. You get up to 10 pages, a proper blog set up so you can publish weekly, a lead-magnet download system, and the SEO structure to compete for the terms that actually convert (which are almost never the “big” ones).
What “E-commerce” adds at $6,000
E-commerce tier is the shop, the boutique, the restaurant taking online orders. You get everything in Business, plus a Shopify or WooCommerce store, product photography guidelines, payment gateway integration, a category+filter structure that Google indexes properly, and abandoned-cart recovery. At $6,000 you’re launching with real merchandising — not a plugin dumped onto a marketing site.
Why we can price this way when other Sydney agencies can’t
The honest answer is our production model. Most Sydney agencies quote hourly and pad in a discovery period they haven’t started yet. We’ve built out 100 industry-specific templates (see the list) — real, tested layouts for the industries we work with most often. That doesn’t mean your site looks the same as somebody else’s — the templates are structural, not visual. Colour, imagery, copy, and page order are always custom. What the templates skip is the weeks of “let’s brainstorm the sitemap” that other agencies bill you for.
That’s why our Starter and Business builds ship inside the 2–4 week window the FAQ quotes, and E-commerce inside 4–6 weeks. It’s not because our work is worse — it’s because we’ve done the sitemap work already for 100 different industry patterns.
Our 5-step process — what actually happens week by week
We break every project into the same five steps. Larger tiers spend more time in Design and Develop; the shape is identical.
- Discovery. Video call. We map your services, your competitors, your ideal customer, and the keywords that would actually drive revenue. You leave with a documented sitemap.
- Design. You get design directions on the homepage before we build anything else. Real content, real photography, real Cosmos design system. You pick one and we lock it.
- Develop. We build the pages in Astro on top of the industry template, wire the forms, wire Google Analytics 4 + Google Business Profile, and stage it on a private URL. You review during this phase.
- Launch. DNS cutover on a Tuesday morning (never a Friday). Cloudflare Pages goes live, redirects from the old site go up, Google Search Console gets pinged.
- Grow. Optional ongoing engagement for content, SEO, and iteration — see SEO Services and Google Ads Management on the main site for what those look like.
What’s a separate line item (and where to find it)
- Domain registration — via Namecheap or Crazy Domains; comparison + current AU offers there.
- Hosting after handover — from $50/month per the Templates page; Cloudflare Pages is included in the initial setup.
- SEO retainer — from $500/month (see /services/seo).
- Google Ads management — from $400/month + ad spend (see /services/google-ads).
- Custom e-commerce beyond the standard package — from $15,000+ (per the FAQ on the main site).
- Complex integrations — booking systems, CRMs, ERP connections quoted separately based on the API and volume.
If a Sydney agency quotes you $1,500 and quietly assumes you’ll pay for domain, hosting, and integrations later, that’s not a $1,500 site — it’s how a $1,500 quote becomes a $4,000 invoice. Everything above is on the main site so you can see it before we speak.
When each tier is the right call
- Starter if: single practitioner, one or two services, revenue under $500K, no immediate need for a blog. Realistic customer: emergency plumber in the Hills, sole-trader accountant, mobile dog groomer.
- Business if: 4–15 staff, multiple service lines, need to publish content, sell trust as much as service. Realistic customer: physio practice, boutique law firm, digital marketing consultancy.
- E-commerce if: physical or digital products, online ordering, click-and-collect, or subscription boxes. Realistic customer: café with online ordering, boutique retailer, artisan food producer.
Tier up only when the business genuinely needs it. We’ve had E-commerce enquiries where the honest answer was “start on Business and add a Shopify store in six months when you actually have products.”
What comes after launch
Your website is a growth asset, not a launch event. Whether or not you take on a Grow retainer with us, plan for three things in the first 90 days after launch:
- Get Google Search Console live on day one. Track what pages Google is indexing and what queries you’re appearing for.
- Publish at least four pieces of real content — case studies, service deep-dives, how-tos your customers actually ask about. This is what moves rankings for the terms that convert.
- Sync the website’s messaging with your Google Business Profile. The Q&A section on your GBP is doing more heavy lifting than most Sydney businesses realise. Full playbook here.
Frequently asked questions
What does “From $1,500” actually cover?
The Starter tier begins at $1,500 — the exact quote depends on page count, form complexity, and whether you bring your own copy or need us to write it. The optional line items (domain, ongoing hosting from $50/month, SEO retainer from $500/month) are listed on this page and on /services so you can see them before we speak.
How long does a Sydney website actually take to build?
Business websites: 2–4 weeks. E-commerce: 4–6 weeks. Both timelines are quoted on our FAQ page. Faster than the industry norm because we’ve pre-built 100 industry-specific templates that skip the sitemap-brainstorm phase most agencies bill for.
Can I move to a bigger tier later if my business grows?
Yes — every tier is built on the same Astro + Cloudflare Pages stack, so upgrading is additive rather than a rebuild. If you need a shop added to an existing marketing site later, we’ll quote the increment against the E-commerce package rather than starting over.
Do you build outside Sydney?
Yes — we work with businesses across Australia. Our project management, meetings, and industry-template library are Sydney and Hills District weighted, but the work is delivered remotely and clients across NSW, VIC, QLD, and WA use the same packages.
What if my project doesn’t fit a standard package?
Custom e-commerce starts from $15,000+ per the FAQ on the Web Design Services page. For anything beyond that we’ll be honest about whether a fully custom build actually beats a template-backed one for your case — for most SMBs the money is better spent on content and SEO once the site is live.
Where to go next
- Compare hosting for your new site — our sister brand Cloud Geeks reviewed Kinsta managed WordPress hosting for Australian small business, and it’s the honest read if you’re weighing your options.
- Domain first? — Crazy Domains vs Namecheap for Australian business is the decision-map for AU-specific registration.
- Ready to talk? — book a 30-minute discovery call and we’ll walk you through which package fits and quote the exact price on the call.