What does a church website cost?
A professionally built church website costs between $1,200 and $4,000 as a one-time build, depending on the number of pages. Hosting with email runs $15 per month. Ongoing care starts at $400. Church website builders cost less per month but require the congregation to do the design and writing.
What is included at each price?
The Basic package at $1,200 covers a homepage and one or two subpages, typically Contact and About. It includes two revision rounds. This is the right size for a church plant or a congregation that needs an accurate, current presence rather than a large site.
The Medium package at $2,000 covers up to five subpages. This is where sermon archives, event calendars and giving pages usually appear. Adding shop or donation-store functionality costs a further $1,800.
Larger projects begin at $4,000. They include ten or more subpages, two SEO landing pages built to rank, and three revision rounds.
What are the ongoing costs?
Hosting with email addresses costs $15 per month and covers up to ten mailboxes. For most congregations this is the only fixed monthly cost.
A domain name costs roughly $10 to $20 per year, paid to the registrar rather than to the designer.
Search visibility work is separate and optional. The SEO Light package is $400, SEO Spotlight is $1,200 and covers two heavily optimised landing pages, with each further page at $800.
Which costs appear later that nobody mentions?
Online giving carries transaction fees on every gift. These are paid to the payment provider, not to the web designer, and they vary widely between platforms. On a small recurring gift the difference between providers is material over a year.
Photography is the second cost churches underestimate. Stock photographs of other people's congregations are visible as stock photographs and undermine trust. A local photographer for one Sunday morning is a better investment than most design upgrades.
The third is time. A website nobody updates loses its value within a year, regardless of what it cost to build.
Is a church website builder cheaper?
A church website builder costs less in cash and more in hours. Monthly platform fees are typically lower than a one-time build, but the congregation supplies the design decisions, the writing and the ongoing assembly.
Builders make sense when a volunteer genuinely enjoys the work and will keep doing it. They fail when that volunteer moves away, which is the common outcome. A side-by-side comparison is on the church website builders page.
What should a small congregation budget?
A congregation under 80 members should plan for $1,200 to $2,000 for the build, $15 per month for hosting, and roughly $15 per year for the domain. That is the whole picture for a site that stays accurate and loads quickly.
Search visibility work is worth deferring until the site itself is right. Ranking a page that does not answer the visitor's question wastes the money twice.
| Package | One-time | Pages | Revision rounds | Suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $1,200 | 1-2 subpages | 2 | Church plant, small congregation |
| Medium | $2,000 | up to 5 | 2 | Established congregation |
| Medium + shop | $3,800 | up to 5 plus store | 2 | Congregation selling or collecting online |
| Larger | from $4,000 | 10+ plus 2 SEO pages | 3 | Multi-site church, ministry, school |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a monthly fee for the website itself?
No. The build is a one-time cost. The only recurring charge from Christian Web Designer is hosting with email at $15 per month, and that is optional if the church hosts elsewhere.
Do you require payment up front?
Projects are split across the build. The exact schedule is agreed before work starts and written into the offer, so there are no surprises mid-project.
What happens if we need more pages later?
Pages can be added after launch and are quoted individually. Nothing about the initial package prevents the site from growing.
Are the prices in dollars or euros?
Prices are quoted in US dollars because most enquiries come from outside the eurozone. Christian Web Designer is based in Schwaz, Austria, and can invoice in euros for European clients.
Does the price include text and photographs?
A first draft of the text for every page is included. Photography is not; a local photographer usually produces far better results than any remote alternative.
Is there a discount for churches or charities?
Pricing already reflects that most clients are congregations, ministries and non-profits rather than corporations. There is no separate corporate rate being discounted.
Talk it through first
A short call costs nothing and usually clarifies whether this is the right next step for your organisation.
Get in touch