Three quotes for the same site, three prices that have nothing in common. Before you pick the cheapest or the most reassuring one, read what each quote writes down, and what it leaves out.
I'm a freelance developer based in Paris, and I work with businesses in the US, Canada, Europe and the UAE. I sell websites and redesigns, so I'm not neutral. Here is the checklist I'd give a friend before they sign anything.
1. The lines a website quote should contain
A useful quote reads like a list of deliverables, not a single number. These are the lines to look for.
Pages. The number and the list: home, services, about, contact, legal pages. And languages: a site in two languages means twice the copy and twice the checks.
Features. Contact form, booking, online payment, client area, blog. Each one on its own line, with what it does. "Booking module" isn't enough; "booking with an email confirmation and a reminder the day before" is something you can check at delivery.
Copy and photos. If the quote doesn't say who writes the text, it's you. Plan the time, or ask for the copywriting price.
Design. Custom or a bought theme, and how many rounds of revisions on the mockups. With no number, every change can turn into an invoice.
Basic SEO. "SEO included" means nothing until the quote spells it out: a title and description for each page in Google (title tag and meta description), an XML sitemap submitted to Google, structured data, measured speed (Core Web Vitals). Every site I deliver includes these in its price; ongoing work, such as new content and rank tracking, is a separate service.
Ownership. Source code and domain name in your name, and the right to move hosting whenever you want. A site where the provider keeps the domain is a rented site.
After launch. Hosting per month, maintenance (optional or required), and the warranty after launch: how many days, covering which defects.
Timeline and payment. A delivery date and a payment schedule. Paying 100% upfront leaves you with nothing to negotiate with if the project slips.
The basics. The date, how long the quote stays valid, the provider's legal identity, and whether prices include tax. Once both sides sign it, the quote in most cases becomes the contract: it's the document you'll both point to if there's a disagreement.
2. How to compare two quotes
Put the quotes side by side, line by line, using the list above. Every line missing from a quote is either work that won't be done or a cost that will show up later. Ask the provider to fill the gaps before you compare prices.
Then compare over three years, not on signing day. A worked example: a €800 site with €40 a month for hosting costs €2,240 over three years. A €1,500 site hosted for €10 a month costs €1,860. In this example, the cheaper quote at signing is the more expensive one to run.
Last, ask who writes the code and who will pick up the phone after launch. If it isn't the person who wrote the quote, ask for their name. I cover that choice in freelance developer or web agency.
3. Red flags
A promised Google ranking. "Guaranteed first page", "top 3 in 30 days". Google itself tells businesses to avoid anyone who guarantees a ranking.
A rented site that isn't called one. A low entry price, a monthly fee, and the code or the domain staying with the provider. The day you leave, you start over.
A package with no detail. "5-page website, flat fee" and nothing else. At delivery you can't ask for anything, because nothing was written down.
Full payment upfront. A three-step schedule protects both sides: with me, 30% at signing, 40% at the midpoint, 30% at delivery.
A redesign with no redirect plan. That's the next section.
4. Redesign quotes: the extra lines
A redesign isn't a new build. The current site has pages Google knows, links pointing to them, and sometimes clients arriving through them every week. The quote has to say what happens to them.
Page inventory. The list of current URLs, each with its impressions and clicks in Google Search Console. Everything else builds on it.
Redirect plan. Every old URL redirected (301) to its new page. Without it, the pages that bring you clients return an error and end up out of Google's index.
Content transfer. The person in charge of moving the text, images and blog posts, and the state they arrive in.
Before-and-after measurement. Rankings and speed recorded before launch, so you can compare after. I rebuilt the iPixelP site in five weeks (Next.js 15), and its Lighthouse mobile score on PageSpeed Insights went from 42 to 96. On 27 September 2026, the site was the first organic result on Google for "agence audiovisuelle Tunisie" and "agence de production vidéo en Tunisie".
Every redesign I take on includes the redirect plan and its checks after launch. Budgets are broken down in what a website redesign costs. Still unsure whether to fix or rebuild? An audit answers that: see what an SEO audit costs.
5. What a site costs, and what my quote contains
My prices are public, excluding VAT, and invoiced in euros:
- Starter site, €450 to €2,200, one to two weeks: custom design, responsive build, basic SEO setup, a CMS for your own updates, contact form.
- Professional site, €2,200 to €10,000, two to six weeks: several languages, booking and scheduling, third-party integrations, a blog with a clean SEO structure.
- Custom platform, €10,000 to €25,000 and up, six to twelve weeks: online payments, user accounts and dashboards, a custom admin panel.
- Redesign, from €1,200.
Hosting runs €10 to €50 a month depending on the site, and maintenance is optional, from €150 a month. The code is yours at delivery. Payment comes in three parts: 30%, 40%, 30%. A 30-day warranty follows launch. I work in English, French or German.
My quote sets out the scope in writing, you sign it before I start, and I reply within 24 hours on weekdays with a precise price. Run it through the same checklist as the others. Everything is on my pricing page. To see where your budget fits, read what a website costs to build in 2026.
Sources
- Google Search Central, "Do you need an SEO?" (avoid ranking guarantees).
- iPixelP case study, PageSpeed Insights measurements before and after the rebuild.
Planning a new site or a redesign? Send me the scope of the quotes you already have, or describe your project. Within 24 hours on weekdays, you get my written quote on the same lines. Request a quote or see all prices.
