Most Canadian small businesses pay $4,000 to $10,000 for a professionally built custom website, then a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year to keep it hosted, updated and secure. A do-it-yourself builder can cost under $600 a year in plan fees. A large custom build or a serious online store can run well past $25,000. All figures here are in Canadian dollars and before GST/HST.
The range is wide because "a website" covers everything from a five-page brochure site to a store with thousands of products. This guide breaks down what each type costs, what moves the price, and how to compare quotes that look nothing alike. For a ballpark on your own project, the website cost calculator takes about two minutes.
Website costs in Canada at a glance
- DIY website builder: roughly $250 to $1,700 a year in plan fees, plus your own time
- Freelancer template site: about $1,000 to $4,000, one time
- Small business custom site: about $4,000 to $10,000, one time
- Larger custom or CMS build: about $10,000 to $40,000 or more
- E-commerce store: about $5,000 to $30,000 or more, plus platform and payment fees
- Ongoing costs: domain, hosting, maintenance and content, from a few hundred dollars to several thousand a year
These are typical ranges for the Canadian small business market, not quotes. The sections below explain where your project is likely to land and why.
DIY website builders: Wix, Squarespace and Shopify
Website builders charge a subscription and you do the work. Plan prices as of October 2026:
- Squarespace: CA$21 to CA$109 a month billed annually, or CA$30 to CA$139 billed monthly, across the Basic, Core, Plus and Advanced plans.
- Shopify: $37 CAD a month for Basic billed yearly ($49 billed monthly), $99 for Grow ($132 monthly) and $389 for Advanced ($517 monthly). Card processing fees are extra.
- Wix: roughly $17 to $160 a month on yearly billing, from the Light plan to Business Elite. Wix sets the currency and price by location, so confirm the Canadian figure at checkout.
Paid themes, apps and a business email account add to the subscription. The bigger cost is your time: writing every page, sourcing photos, setting up forms, learning the editor and fixing things when a template update moves them around.
A builder is the right call for a new business testing an idea, or a sole proprietor who needs a simple online presence. It gets harder when you need integrations with other software, careful search optimization, a bilingual site, or accessibility that holds up to a real review.
Freelancer template sites: about $1,000 to $4,000
At this price a freelancer usually takes a commercial theme, often on WordPress or a builder, adds your logo, colours and content, and launches. For a straightforward service business it can be good value.
Before you sign, ask:
- Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the admin login?
- Is the theme properly licensed to you, and who renews it?
- Who writes the content, and how many rounds of changes are included?
- What happens after launch if something breaks, or if the freelancer moves on?
Lower prices usually mean you supply all the text and photos, revisions are limited, and nobody is updating the site once it goes live.
Small business custom sites: about $4,000 to $10,000
This is where most established local and regional businesses land. In this range you should expect:
- A planning stage that maps your services, customers and the pages you need
- A design built around your brand rather than a stock theme with your logo dropped in
- Roughly 8 to 25 pages, with a content management system you can edit yourself
- Fast, mobile-friendly pages and basic on-page search optimization
- Redirects from your old site so existing search rankings are not thrown away
- Quote or contact forms with spam protection and a clear privacy notice
- Accessibility built to WCAG 2.0 Level AA from the start
- Analytics, launch support and training on how to update the site
This is the core of what Shane builds for trades, contractors and professional offices. See small business websites for what a typical project includes.
Larger custom and CMS builds: about $10,000 to $40,000 or more
The price climbs with complexity, not page count. Projects move into this range when they need:
- Many distinct page layouts, such as location pages, team profiles, resource libraries and event listings
- Custom features like member logins, booking, directories, calculators or registration
- Integrations with a CRM, booking system, inventory or accounting software
- Migration of hundreds of existing pages or posts
- Full English and French versions
Slo-Pitch Central, a national sports platform Shane built, sits at this end of the scale: accounts, data and many page types working together. Most small businesses never need this, and a good developer will tell you so.
E-commerce websites: about $5,000 to $30,000 or more
A Shopify store set up on a customized theme with a modest catalogue sits at the lower end. Custom themes, large product imports, wholesale pricing, product customizers and integrations with warehouse or accounting software push it up. TeamGear.ca, a team apparel store Shane built, is a good example of a store where the ordering process itself needed real design work.
Budget for platform fees, card processing, paid apps, and Canadian specifics: GST/HST, PST and QST set up correctly at checkout, shipping rates, and French product content if you sell into Quebec.
Ongoing costs most quotes leave out
- .ca domain: CIRA, which runs the .ca registry, says a .ca typically costs $10 to $20 a year. Regular renewal rates and add-ons at many registrars land closer to $15 to $30. You must meet CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements to hold one.
- Hosting: from about $10 a month for basic shared hosting to $100 or more for managed or high-traffic hosting.
- Maintenance: software updates, backups, security monitoring and small edits. Care plans commonly run $100 to $800 or more a month. The website maintenance cost guide breaks this down.
- Accessibility: Ontario businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA under the AODA website requirements. Building it in costs far less than fixing it later.
- French translation: businesses serving Quebec generally need French content that is at least as available as the English. See the guide to Bill 96 and French websites. Translation is usually priced per word, plus the work of building and maintaining the French version.
- Content and photography: professional copy and photos are often the difference between a site that looks fine and one that brings in work.
- Software licences: premium plugins, booking tools and email marketing services usually renew yearly.
GST/HST goes on top
Most Canadian web quotes exclude sales tax. A registered supplier generally charges the rate for the province where the client is located. Rates in effect as of October 2026:
- 5% GST: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the three territories
- 13% HST: Ontario
- 14% HST: Nova Scotia (reduced from 15% on April 1, 2025)
- 15% HST: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island
Quebec also has QST, and some provinces apply their own sales tax rules to software and digital services, so check with your accountant. An $8,000 website for an Ontario business is $9,040 with HST. A freelancer earning under $30,000 a year in taxable sales does not have to register, so a quote with no tax on it is not automatically a mistake.
What drives the cost of a website
- Unique layouts, not page count. Ten service pages built from one template cost far less than ten pages that each need their own design.
- Content. If the developer writes or rewrites your copy, that is real work and should be priced as such.
- Custom features and integrations. Every connection to another system needs building, testing and maintaining.
- Migration. Moving and redirecting a large existing site takes time.
- Languages. A French version roughly doubles the content to create, review and maintain.
- Accessibility and compliance. Accessible design, privacy notices and consent tools add effort, and save money later.
- Who does the work. An agency has account managers and overhead. An independent developer has less, but also less capacity.
- Timeline. Rush jobs cost more.
How to compare website quotes
A $3,000 quote and a $12,000 quote often describe two different projects. Line them up with this checklist:
- Is the scope written out page by page or template by template?
- Who writes the content and supplies the photos?
- Is accessibility to WCAG 2.0 or 2.1 Level AA included and tested, or does the quote just say "mobile-friendly"?
- Are redirects from your old URLs included?
- Do you own the domain, hosting account, code and content outright?
- Are privacy policy, cookie consent and email sign-up compliance covered?
- How many rounds of revisions are included?
- What happens after launch: warranty period, training, and the monthly cost of support?
- Are third-party costs such as themes, plugins, apps and hosting listed separately?
- Is GST/HST included or extra?
Ask each vendor to quote against the same written scope. If one will not, that tells you something about how the project will go.
When a cheaper site costs more
A low upfront price is not a problem on its own. It becomes one when the site cannot be edited without paying the developer, has no backups, gets rebuilt from scratch in two years, or draws an accessibility complaint. When you compare quotes, compare what you will spend over three to five years, not just the launch invoice.
If you are just starting out, a builder plan and a weekend of work may be all you need. Once the website is a main source of new customers, it is worth paying for a site built properly and someone to look after it.
Questions people ask
What is the average cost of website design for a small business in Canada?
There is no reliable national average, and figures quoted online are often American. In practice, most Canadian small businesses that hire a professional for a custom site pay about $4,000 to $10,000 before tax. Template sites from freelancers start around $1,000, while complex builds and larger online stores can pass $25,000. Your scope matters more than any average.
Is it cheaper to build a website myself?
In cash, yes. Squarespace plans start at CA$21 a month billed annually and Shopify Basic is $37 CAD a month billed yearly, as of October 2026. The trade-off is your time and the limits of the template. If your site is a main source of leads or sales, the hours you spend and the business you miss can cost more than hiring help.
How much does a website cost per year to run?
A simple site might cost $200 to $500 a year for a .ca domain and basic hosting if you handle updates yourself. With a professional care plan covering updates, backups, security and small edits, expect roughly $1,200 to $9,600 a year depending on the level of service. Online stores also pay platform and payment processing fees.
Do website quotes in Canada include GST/HST?
Usually not. Most quotes are before tax, and a registered supplier adds the rate for your province: 5% GST in provinces like Alberta and British Columbia, 13% HST in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI. Quebec also has QST. Ask each vendor to state tax separately so quotes compare fairly.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Because they rarely describe the same project. One quote may assume you write all the content and skip accessibility, while another includes copywriting, redirects, accessibility testing and training. Ask every vendor to price the same written scope, and list what is not included. The differences usually become obvious once the scope is on paper.
Does a bilingual website cost twice as much?
Not twice, but noticeably more. The design and structure are shared, so the extra cost is mainly translation, building the French pages, and testing both versions. Every future update also needs doing in two languages. For businesses serving Quebec, French content is generally a legal requirement rather than an option, so plan for it from the start.