Straight answer first: a professionally designed small business website in Canada costs $3,500 to $10,000 in 2026, template-based builds run $1,500 to $4,000, and eCommerce stores typically land between $4,000 and $15,000, with complex builds going well past that. DIY builders cost $20 to $70 per month plus something most owners undercount: your evenings.
The spread is wide because “a website” ranges from a five-page brochure to a booking system that runs your business. This guide breaks down real Canadian pricing by website type and platform, the factors that move a quote, the ongoing costs nobody mentions in the sales call, and how to judge whether any quote will pay for itself.
Website Design Cost in Canada at a Glance
| Website type | Typical Canadian range (CAD) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify themes) | $20 to $70/month + your time | Days to weeks |
| Template-based WordPress site | $1,500 to $4,000 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Custom small business site (5 to 15 pages) | $3,500 to $10,000 | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Custom corporate or multi-service site | $10,000 to $25,000 | 6 to 12 weeks |
| eCommerce store (Shopify or WooCommerce) | $4,000 to $15,000+ | 4 to 10 weeks |
| Single landing page for ads | $500 to $2,500 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Website redesign | 70 to 100% of a new build | Similar to new |
What Each Tier Actually Buys You
DIY builders are genuinely fine for testing an idea. The costs arrive later: limited SEO control, template sameness, and the hours you spend fighting layouts instead of running your business. Our comparison of WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace covers exactly who should and should not DIY.
Template builds use a purchased theme customized with your brand and content. Fast and affordable; the trade-off is that your site shares its bones with thousands of others and bends awkwardly when you need something the template did not anticipate.
Custom design starts from your customers and goals instead of a theme file. Every page is built for a job: rank for a service, convert ad traffic, book appointments. This is the tier where a website stops being a brochure and becomes a sales asset, which is measurable.
eCommerce adds products, payments, shipping logic, tax, and integrations. Pricing scales with catalogue size and complexity far more than with looks: a 30-product Shopify store and a 3,000-SKU store with ERP sync are different projects wearing the same word.
Platform Costs: WordPress vs Shopify vs Builders
Platform fees sit underneath every design quote, so budget them separately:
| Platform | Software cost | Typical hosting/fees (CAD) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Free, open source | $10 to $50/month hosting + domain | Service businesses, content, SEO control |
| Shopify | $39 USD/month Basic ($29 on annual billing), Grow $105, Advanced $399 | Included, plus payment processing | Product sellers who want managed simplicity |
| Wix / Squarespace | $20 to $70 CAD/month | Included | Simple sites, minimal customization |
WordPress powers roughly 43% of all websites per W3Techs, which is why most Canadian agencies, ours included, build service business sites on it: no platform lock-in, full SEO control, and the site is yours. Shopify’s current plan pricing is on Shopify’s pricing page and changes by billing term; the design and build cost on top is where the ranges in this guide apply. For a deeper WordPress-specific breakdown, see our companion guide, How Much Does WordPress Web Design Cost in Canada.
8 Factors That Move Your Quote Up or Down
- Number of unique page designs. Twenty pages using four layouts costs less than twelve pages each designed from scratch.
- Custom functionality. Booking systems, calculators, member areas, quote builders, and portals are development work, not design work, and priced accordingly.
- Content creation. Copywriting, photography, and page structure are often quoted separately. “Client provides content” is the phrase that delays half of all website projects; budget for help if writing is not your thing.
- eCommerce complexity. Product count, variants, shipping rules, and integrations move eCommerce quotes more than any visual decision.
- SEO foundation. A site launched with keyword mapping, schema, clean architecture, and speed optimization costs more upfront and dramatically less to rank later. Skipping it is deferred spending, not saving.
- Integrations. CRM, payment, calendar, accounting, and marketing tool connections each add scope.
- Who is building it. Freelancers price below agencies but carry single-person risk; offshore pricing looks attractive until revisions, timezones, and quality control eat the difference.
- Accessibility and compliance. Ontario businesses subject to AODA requirements should build accessibility in from the start; retrofitting costs more.
The Ongoing Costs Nobody Puts in the Proposal
A website is not a one-time purchase. Budget these annually:
- Domain: $15 to $50 per year
- Hosting: $120 to $600 per year for quality managed hosting
- SSL: usually included with good hosting
- Maintenance and updates: $50 to $300 per month for plugin updates, backups, security, and small changes
- Licenses: premium plugins and themes, typically $100 to $400 per year
A realistic lifetime view: a $5,000 website with $1,500 per year in running costs is $12,500 over five years, about $208 per month for your hardest-working salesperson. That framing matters more than the sticker.
The Cheap Website Trap
The $500 website exists, and here is what it usually is: a template filled in quickly, no keyword research, stock text, no schema, slow hosting, and no tracking. It functions as an online business card that nobody finds. The expensive part comes later: it will not rank without rework, it converts ad traffic poorly (which silently inflates your cost per lead on every campaign you ever run), and within two years you pay again for the site you should have bought once. The same logic applies to “free website included” offers from marketing bundles: you often do not own it, and leaving the provider means starting over.
What a Good Website Returns: Real Canadian Examples
The point of spending properly is what the asset produces. From our own published work: Kennedy Dental got a practice site patients trust and said so in a public 5-star review. Topman Trucking launched a professional site with full email migration and called the process smooth and stress-free. My Own Rental took a seasonal watercraft rental business online with booking built in. And Heritage Floor & Home turned a local flooring store’s site into its best salesperson. Different budgets, same pattern: the site was scoped to a business goal, not to a page count.
What Infinity Digital Charges
Our website design services cover every tier in this guide: WordPress and custom builds, eCommerce, landing pages, and conversion optimization for sites that get traffic but not enquiries. Packages are published on Our Pricing with no hidden line items, and every build ships with SEO fundamentals, speed optimization, and tracking included, because a site without them is a liability we would rather not put our name on. As a web design agency serving all of Canada from our Mississauga head office, we quote after a short call about your goals, and the quote itemizes exactly what you are paying for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Professionally built, expect $2,000 to $5,000 depending on whether it is template-based or custom, with content writing and SEO foundation being the main variables inside that range.
Because the quotes are not for the same website. One includes copywriting, SEO architecture, speed work, and tracking; another is a theme install. Ask each provider to itemize, and the mystery usually disappears.
The software is. The site is not: hosting, a theme or custom design, plugins, and the build itself are where the cost lives. What free open-source software buys you is ownership and portability, which is worth more than it sounds the day you want to switch providers.
Plan for the Shopify subscription (from $39 USD monthly on Basic) plus $4,000 to $15,000 for design and build depending on catalogue size, plus payment processing on each sale. Apps commonly add $50 to $300 per month as stores grow.
Usually 70 to 100% of new-build pricing. Good redesigns keep what works (rankings, content that converts) and rebuild what does not, and the audit that decides which is which is the first deliverable.
Template builds: 2 to 4 weeks. Custom small business sites: 3 to 6 weeks. eCommerce: 4 to 10 weeks. The most common delay is content, so start writing (or hire writing) the week you sign.
For hosting, domain, and maintenance, yes: typically $60 to $350 per month all-in depending on the level of care. Treat maintenance as insurance; an unpatched WordPress site is the most common hack we get called to fix.
Not automatically. Price buys rankings only when it is spent on the things Google measures: speed, structure, content quality, and mobile experience. A $15,000 site with no SEO plan loses to a $6,000 site built around one. Check any builder's speed claims against our free Core Web Vitals ebook.
Ours is published as a visual walkthrough: WordPress Web Design Process: From Idea to Launch, from discovery through go-live. Any agency should be able to show you theirs.
If the site's job is leads or sales, yes, and it is cheaper as part of the build than as a retrofit. A site converting at 2% versus 4% is the difference between doubling your ad budget and doubling your leads for free.
