If you’ve asked three Calgary web designers for a quote, you may now have three very different numbers. That doesn’t automatically mean someone is overcharging. “A website” covers everything from a one-page brochure to an online store connected to your inventory and booking software, and the price follows the work.
Most businesses already have a site. In 2023, 77.9% of Canadian private-sector businesses with five or more employees had a company website, but only 45.0% of businesses with fewer than five employees did (Statistics Canada, Table 22-10-0120-01). So whether you’re building your first site or replacing an old one, it pays to know what you’re buying.
This guide explains what actually sets the price, the common levels of website and what each one involves, the ongoing costs that have published prices you can check, and how to compare two quotes fairly.
The short answer: We couldn’t find a neutral, published survey of Calgary website prices, so we won’t quote a made-up range. The build price depends on scope: how many unique page layouts you need, who writes the content, and what the site has to do. The running costs are easier to pin down: a .ca domain typically costs $10 to $20 a year (CIRA), Shopify’s Basic plan is listed at $49 CAD a month billed monthly (Shopify Canada), and Alberta businesses add 5% GST (Canada Revenue Agency).
The five common levels of website
Every quote you get will fit roughly into one of these levels. Knowing which one you actually need is the fastest way to make sense of the numbers.
| Level | Typical scope | What pushes the cost up | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-page or landing site | A single page: what you do, where you work, proof and a contact form | Custom illustrations, several forms, copywriting | A new business, a single service or a campaign |
| Standard business site | About 5 to 10 pages from a few shared layouts: home, services, about, contact and a few service pages | Number of unique layouts, copywriting, photos | Most trades, clinics and local service businesses |
| Custom-designed site | Every page designed from scratch to your brand, often with a discovery and strategy phase | Design rounds, animation, many unique layouts | Established brands that need to stand apart |
| Online store | Products, cart, checkout, shipping and tax set up on a platform such as Shopify or WooCommerce | Product count, product options, moving data from an old platform | Businesses selling products online |
| Site with custom features | Any of the above plus online booking, customer logins, quote calculators or links to your CRM | Each connection to another system, testing | Businesses that want the site to do real work |
Two quotes for the “same” website are often quotes for two different levels. If one designer is pricing a standard business site and another is pricing a custom design, the numbers will never line up.
What changes the price of a website
Every quote comes down to time: how many hours of planning, design, writing, development and testing your project needs. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) recommends deciding which features and services you want before you set a budget, so you don’t pay for things you or your customers don’t need (BDC). These are the factors that move the number the most.
The number of unique page layouts
A 10-page site built from three layouts (a home page, a service page template and a contact page) takes far less work than 10 pages that each look different. If budget matters, limit the number of unique layouts rather than the number of pages. Ten service pages that share one well-built template can each answer a different customer question without ten times the design work.
Who writes the words and supplies the photos
Copywriting and photography are often the hidden difference between two quotes. If you supply finished text and real photos of your team and your work, that line shrinks or disappears. If the designer writes the copy, it’s usually priced per page. Content is also a common reason projects stall, because a site can’t launch until the words and photos are ready.
What the site has to do
A simple contact form is quick to set up. Online booking, a quote calculator, a customer login, online payments or a connection to your CRM or job-management software each add design, development and testing time. Before you ask for quotes, list what the site must do on launch day and what can wait for a later phase.
Online store scope
For an online store, the main drivers are the number of products, product options such as sizes and colours, shipping and tax rules, and connections to other systems. Moving products and customers from an old platform also takes time.
Search and speed groundwork
Some quotes include the technical basics: page titles and descriptions, a sitemap, structured data, fast mobile loading, and redirects from your old page addresses so you don’t lose the Google rankings you already have. Others leave them for “phase 2”. Ask, because adding them after launch can cost more than doing them during the build.
Accessibility, privacy and consent
Making a site accessible to people with disabilities takes planning and testing time, and BDC notes it’s a cost to account for when you get your business online (BDC). A contact or quote form also collects personal information. Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) applies to private-sector organizations in the province and requires consent and a reasonable purpose to collect personal information (OIPC Alberta). In practice, budget for a clear privacy policy and forms that ask only for what you need. If you plan to send marketing emails or texts, Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) has its own consent rules (CRTC).
Timeline and revisions
A fast launch doesn’t have to cost more when the scope is clear and the content is ready. Extra revision rounds and changes to the scope halfway through are what add time. Check how many rounds of changes are included and what counts as a change versus new work.
Ongoing costs to budget for
The build is a one-time cost. These are the recurring ones that owners most often forget. Where a price is published by the organization that sets it, we’ve included it.
- Domain name. CIRA, the not-for-profit that manages .ca, says a .ca domain typically costs $10 to $20 a year. CIRA sets the wholesale price ($10.50) but doesn’t sell domains directly, so you buy through a registrar, and first-year promotional prices often renew at a higher rate (CIRA). To hold a .ca domain, you must also meet CIRA’s Canadian Presence Requirements (CIRA).
- Hosting. The WordPress software itself is free, open-source software licensed under the GPL (WordPress.org), but it needs a hosting plan. WordPress.org recommends a host that supports PHP 8.3 or greater, MariaDB 10.11 or greater or MySQL 8.0 or greater, and HTTPS (WordPress.org). Hosting prices vary with speed, backups and support, so compare the renewal price, not just the first-year offer. Shopify includes hosting in its plans.
- Platform fees. On Shopify Canada, the Basic plan is listed at $49 CAD a month billed monthly, or $37 CAD a month billed yearly. Online card payments through Shopify Payments start at 2.8% + 30¢ CAD on that plan, and a 2% third-party transaction fee applies if you use another payment provider (Shopify Canada pricing, checked 9 October 2026). Paid themes and apps are extra.
- Maintenance. WordPress, theme and plugin updates, backups, security monitoring and fixes when something breaks. Someone has to do this, either you or a maintenance plan.
- Software licences. Some form, booking, SEO and security plugins charge a yearly licence.
- Business email. Email on your own domain is usually a separate monthly cost per user.
- GST. Website quotes in Canada are usually shown before tax. In Alberta, the GST rate is 5% and there’s no provincial sales tax (Canada Revenue Agency).
If you’ve heard about federal grants for websites, check that a program is still open before you count on it. For example, the Canada Digital Adoption Program’s Boost Your Business Technology stream stopped accepting new applications on 19 February 2024 (BDC).
Renting a website vs owning it
Some providers offer a website for a monthly fee instead of a one-time build price. That can make sense if cash flow matters more than ownership, or if you want someone else to handle every update. Over time, though, the monthly fee adds up, so multiply it by 36 and compare that three-year total with a one-time build plus your own hosting and maintenance.
Before you sign any plan, monthly or one-time, get clear answers to three questions:
- Whose name is the domain registered in?
- If you leave, can you take the website, its content and its design with you?
- What happens to the site, and to your Google rankings, if you stop paying?
How to compare two website quotes
When two proposals are far apart, lay them side by side and check each one against this list:
- Is it a fixed price for a written scope, or a “starting at” price?
- Which of the five levels above is it really quoting for?
- How many pages, and how many unique layouts, are included?
- Who writes the content and who supplies the photos?
- Are mobile speed, basic SEO setup and redirects from your old site included?
- Is analytics set up, with tracking for calls and form submissions, so you can see where enquiries come from?
- Who owns the domain, the hosting account, the website files and the logins once the project is paid for?
- How many rounds of revisions are included?
- What do hosting, the domain and maintenance cost after the first year, and what exactly does maintenance cover?
- When does the timeline start: when you pay the deposit, or when your content is delivered?
A quote that’s much lower than the others usually leaves something out. A quote that’s much higher should be able to tell you exactly what the extra money buys.
Where XMetaSol fits
We don’t publish a rate card, because the factors above change from one project to the next. Instead, we send a written scope and a free, fixed quote after a short call, before any work starts. For a standard business website, that scope covers up to 6 core pages, help writing the copy, a quote form, click-to-call and WhatsApp buttons, basic SEO, analytics and 2 rounds of revisions. Most standard business websites go live within 5 business days of receiving your completed questionnaire and logo, Shopify stores usually in under 3 days, and every site comes with 30 days of free fixes after launch. Once you’ve paid in full, the domain, the site, its content and the admin logins are yours.
You can read more about how we build sites on our web design and development page, see what’s involved in getting found on Google on our SEO and local marketing page, or learn how we work with businesses in Calgary. If you’re a contractor, our Google Business Profile checklist for Calgary contractors is a good next read.
Sources
- Statistics Canada, Table 22-10-0120-01, “Types of web presence by industry and size of enterprise” (Survey of Digital Technology and Internet Use, 2023; released 17 September 2024): statcan.gc.ca
- CIRA, “How much does a .CA domain cost?” (6 May 2026): cira.ca
- CIRA, “Canadian Presence Requirements”: cira.ca
- WordPress.org, “About”: wordpress.org
- WordPress.org, “Requirements”: wordpress.org
- Shopify Canada, pricing page, checked 9 October 2026: shopify.com/ca/pricing
- Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST calculator (and rates): canada.ca
- BDC, “How to create a budget for your e-business project”: bdc.ca
- BDC, “Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP)”: bdc.ca
- Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, “Overview of Privacy Laws”: oipc.ab.ca
- CRTC, “Frequently Asked Questions about Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation”: crtc.gc.ca
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