Updated: October 1, 2022
Updated: June 16, 2020
Originally Published on July 15 2019

How Much Does A Website Cost in Canada?

Here at Rad Websites one of the first questions people always ask us is how much does a Website cost? The truth is, the cost of building a website depends on your personal budget and goals. In this article, we’ll show you the ins and outs of building a website so not only you know the process but the entire process. Depending on the complexity of your website, for example, the number of pages, plugins you are using, the amount of custom coding you have, whether it’s an infomercial website or an ecommerce, your cost will fluctuate.

That isn’t why your here and that is not what you wanna here from the Rad Websites crew. Well here we take a rad stand. I will tell you what it costs. so you can plan and dream and then reach out when your ready.

A Rad developer can cost you anywhere between $150 and $180 USD per hour. While that may seem like a lot of money, is completely worth it because the end product will reflect you and your brand. We have all seen what a cheap website looks like and at Rad affordable and cheap are way different. Rad Websites thinks that anyone can have there dream site and we have a way to affordably get you there. Rad!

Having said that, Now I am going to tell you what you need (the ingredients) to build a website. this is all part and parcel to how much does a website cost in Canada, and at the end of this post, we’ll explain in detail our cost structure and even give you some tips on how you can save money and bring that cost down. (No Skipping To The End) So what do you need to build a website? Here is the ingredient list and the steps you should take.

Domain Name

At a very basic level, your domain name is your website’s address on the internet. It’s what your customers type into their browsers to access your website. Once you register a domain name with a company like CanHost, GoDaddy or Bluehost, you’ll get the right to use that name for your website for
however long your purchased it for. You are required to renew your domain every year that you have it. Domains unless you are purchasing premium are around $25 per year. you have to renew these after the term has expired.

*RadProtip Register your Domain for 10 Years. It the maximum allowed and it shows google you believe you are here to stay!

Web Hosting

Web hosting is like the home of your website. This is where you store the content and images of your website. When a visitor tries to access your website by typing in your web address, they’ll be directed to the website files stored on your web hosting server.
There are a lot of different types of web hosting services such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, cheap hosting, WordPress hosting, and dedicated server, just to name a few. When you’re starting out, we recommend you choose shared hosting or WordPress hosting because both are the best for most website owners in terms of affordability and needs. When your website becomes more popular, you might want to switch to dedicated hosting.
Cool (Basic) Hosting with Rad Websites is $185/yr
Awesome (Mid) Hosting with Rad Websites is $349/yr
Rad Hosting (Advanced) with Rad Websites is $549/yr

*RadProtip Host your website on Canadian soil. This protects your intellectual property and your clients from prying eyes

Website Builder or CMS

A website builder makes it easy to create a website the way you want it to look. There are many choices fisher price website builders (not made by fisher price)out there including – Shopify, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, read our blog on why to stay away from these companies or talk to AJ he will tell you.
Here at Rad Websites we always use and recommend WordPress. WordPress is the platform of choice for around 49% of all website owners. It gives you endless possibilities to create your website the way you want. It also gives you complete control over your website so you can customize it in both the front and back end. One of the key features of WordPress is it is free and open-source software so there are thousands of different tools to help you. Most Importantly and this is also the RadProTip, you own and control your website. No one else does, period.

*RadProtip Work With Rad Websites and WordPress and you always own and control your website.

Estimating the Cost Based on Your Goals

How to add it all together

Ok Now you know what the main ingredients are, but how do we get from that to a Rad Website,
Before I go on and to recap,

• • Decide on a domain $20 – $200
  • Choose your hosting package $185 – $549
  • Speak to a digital advisor at Rad Websites to determine what you need or decide what you can affordHourly $150 USD/hr
    

5 hour block $140/hr
10 hour block $135/hr
25 hour block $125/hr
50 hour block $100/hr

Don’t worry if your Canadian everything is priced in Canadian dollars

With this info your basic site cost including domain and hosting is about $1500 for 10 hours of dev time, add in the hosting package and choose your domain and you pretty much have the cost of a simple one pager.

*RadProtip it is about 8 – 10 hours of work per page of your website

Alright I digress, you may also want to consider just hiring Rad Websites or someone to do it for you. If that is the case, the first thing you should consider is what is the website going to be used for. If it’s just a placeholder then you probably don’t want to spend a ton of money, but if you’re going to put through hundreds of transactions a month, then it’s worth it to spending the extra money to make sure it can handle what you and your clients throw at you. Anyways,

Do You Need A Custom-Built Website?

Installing a pre-built WordPress theme is the easiest way to roll out a new website. Especially if you are going to do it yourself. It also helps you save on costs and looks amazing. The downside, normally with these is of course, is that your website won’t be super original and might even look similar to your competition. What we like to do is have you choose a theme that you like and then we build that theme from scratch with a builder, like wp Bakery or Elementor you can work with.

However, if you want to give a unique look and feel to your website, then you’ll have to build a custom WordPress theme. With a custom site, the sky is the limit. You can do whatever you want and add any type of element you can dream of. Whether this is worth the extra cost, well…
you’ll have to decide. The answer is yes. Next to consider is?

What Features Will You Need?

When starting out, you won’t need all the extra bells and whistles. Even though it may seem like you do. Start small, it’s essential to write down the list of features that you think you will need now and the ones you’ll need down the line. This helps you streamline the entire development process and focus on features that are of high priority (the stuff that will make your life easier and those that are just nice to have. When you hire a developer, it’s critical that you communicate which features are absolutely must-haves. However, keep in mind that these might just be personal preferences and might not be the same must-haves for the people visiting your website – your customers.

*RadProtip Meet with a digital advisor at Rad Websites is the easiest way to determine what you will need to be successful.

Does Your Website Need To Take Transactions?

If your website needs a portal to take transactions, it will probably increase the cost as it’s harder to develop an ecommerce website than an infomercial website. However, as more people are buying products online, it might be worth it to spend a little extra money and give your
customers the convenience of buying in their underwear. Ecommerce Online Stores, Come with a base set of 10 simple products.
SO if you take a 50 hour block you will have a Rad Website with basic ecommerce if that’s what you need and then adding each additional product is easy, its $15/ simple product and $30/ for variable product. So 10 more variable products, would add $300 and 100 more would be $1500 – $3000 depending again if they are simple products or variable

*RadProtip Variable products are products that have different sizes or colors or Flavors for example. Simple products are just that simple for example brown coffee table.

The Rad Websites Deal

Now I told you that I would show you how to save money on your website, didn’t I? At Rad Websites, we have a unique way of pricing our services. We generally bill our time in blocks of hours. We do this because our clients love the transparency, flexibility and control it allows.

If you live in Medicine Hat here is where you can save a lot of money on your project.
40% to be exact if you are a chamber of commerce member here you already get this discount!!
if you are not sign up now and you will get this discount on your project. that is an unprecedented $85/hr on any block of hours. Tell them you joined for your Rad discount on a website or just tell them AJ sent you.

Most of our pricing is peppered throughout this resource for you. if you don’t live in medicine hat that’s ok you can still get your costs down.
Rad Websites Hourly Rate is $150/hour USD, for both development and marketing.
If you purchase:
a 5-hour block of time that number goes down to 140/hour
a 10-hour block of time, drops the hourly even further to 135/hour. Purchasing a 25-hour block it drops to 120/hour. Purchasing a 50+ hour block gets our best available rate of $100/hour. Rad Websites wants your business to be online and we want it to be affordable we also have a slew of payment plans available so its not something you have to pay for all at once.

Rad Right? Like I said we tell you. now you can do it on your own if you like you know what you need to be successful or you can contact a digital advisor at Rad Websites. One more way we are making the world rad one website at a time. We look forward to bringing your business online.