How much does a website cost in Switzerland in 2026?

A website budget starts with the job it needs to do

A website’s price tells you little until you know what is being delivered. A short site that introduces a consultancy and collects enquiries has a different workload from an online shop with a product catalogue, payments and delivery rules. Both may be described as a “small website”. The label hides the decisions that determine the cost.

Begin with the outcome. Do you need people to call, request a quote, book a visit or buy something? Then list the pages, content and functions needed to complete that journey. For a business in Geneva or Lausanne, languages belong in that first conversation: English and French affect the writing, navigation, review process and ongoing updates.

This guide uses Navanem’s own published starting prices as reference points. They describe our offers, rather than a Swiss market average. A detailed quote is what connects a price to your project.

Our published starting prices

At the time of publication, Navanem’s pricing page lists an essential business website from CHF 900, a professional business website from CHF 1,790 and an online store from CHF 2,490. Website maintenance starts at CHF 79 per month. VAT is extra where applicable; the quote specifies the scope and any additional services.

A starting price is useful when it helps you decide whether an offer is worth discussing. It cannot tell you the final cost of a bilingual site with unfinished copy, custom booking rules and an existing catalogue to migrate. Those requirements need to be priced explicitly.

Ask what the starting offer assumes. Are you supplying the text and photographs? How many page layouts are included? Does “editable content” cover the whole site or selected fields? What training and revisions are allowed for? Getting these answers early is more useful than bargaining over a figure attached to an unclear deliverable.

Count different layouts, not just pages

Ten pages can be straightforward when they share one well-designed service template. Five pages can require more work when each has its own layout, content structure and interaction. A sensible quote distinguishes the templates being designed from the pages being populated.

For example, imagine a consultancy with a homepage, four service pages, an about page and a contact page. If every service follows the same structure, the agency can design one service layout and adapt the content. Add an interactive assessment with conditional questions and downloadable results, and the work changes substantially even though the main navigation barely changes.

Make room for the less visible screens too: a form confirmation, an empty search result, an unavailable product, a useful error page. These are part of the experience your customers receive. If they matter to the project, include them in the scope rather than discovering them during testing.

Content is a work package of its own

“We have the text” can mean approved copy ready to publish, or a collection of old brochures that someone still needs to turn into web pages. Those situations need different budgets. Before asking for proposals, mark each page as ready, needing revision or needing to be written.

The same applies to images. Check whether you have suitable files, permission to use them and versions that work on mobile. A wide team photograph may work in a desktop banner and leave everyone’s face cropped on a phone. Image selection, preparation and alternative text all take time.

For additional languages, budget for writing and review by someone who understands the audience. A convincing English service page needs natural terminology and clear examples. It also needs its own title, description, links and contact journey. Keep a named owner for future updates so the two versions do not drift apart after launch.

Our guide to preparing a business website can help you gather this material before the design work begins.

Features create testing work as well as build work

A booking form might look like a calendar and a button. Behind it sit availability rules, confirmation messages, cancellations, time zones and the question of where customer data goes. An online store adds stock, failed payments, delivery areas, taxes and refunds. Connecting a CRM adds permissions and failure handling.

Describe the expected behaviour with examples. “A customer can book an appointment” is broad. “A customer can book one of two services, receive a confirmation and cancel through a link” gives an agency something it can estimate and test.

• Identify the systems the website must connect to and who provides access.
• List any subscription or transaction fees charged by those services.
• Agree what happens when an integration is unavailable.
• Separate functions required for launch from functions that can be commissioned later.

You can often keep the first version smaller without weakening the core journey. A reliable enquiry form may meet the initial need while a more elaborate customer portal waits for a separate brief.

Set aside a budget for keeping the website running

The build is only one line in the budget. Record the domain renewal, hosting, backups, software licences and maintenance separately. Check who invoices each item, how often it renews and what happens if you change provider.

Hosting and maintenance cover different responsibilities. Hosting provides the environment in which the site runs. Maintenance might include updates, technical checks and recovery support, but its exact meaning depends on the agreement. Content changes and new features may be billed separately. A monthly amount without a description is difficult to compare.

A static site can have a modest hosting setup and still depend on a form service or a content platform. A CMS needs updates and attention to its extensions. A custom application adds its own operational work. The technology choice should therefore be discussed alongside the person or team who will maintain it.

Ask for a simple first-year and following-year breakdown. It should make one-off work, recurring commitments and optional changes easy to distinguish.

Compare proposals against the same brief

Two prices become comparable when both agencies are answering the same question. Give each agency the same page list, language requirements, content status and feature examples. Then compare inclusions and exclusions before comparing totals.

• Design: custom layouts or an adapted template, mobile work and revision rounds.
• Content: writing, editing, images, content entry and language versions.
• Delivery: forms, integrations, migration, testing and launch support.
• Handover: training, documentation, source access and account ownership.
• After launch: defect handling, maintenance scope, response arrangements and renewal costs.

Write down the assumptions yourself if a proposal leaves them implicit, then ask the agency to confirm or correct them. A short written clarification can prevent a much longer discussion when the finished site differs from what you expected.

Be especially careful with the phrase “SEO included”. Ask which tasks it covers. Titles, crawlable pages and a sitemap are foundations; ongoing research, new content and measurement involve further work. Google’s SEO Starter Guide is a useful independent reference for that conversation.

Keep control of a smaller first version

If the full brief exceeds the available budget, narrow the launch deliberately. Keep the main offer, the evidence needed to trust it and a working contact route. Defer features with limited immediate use. Decide what can be added later and how the first version will accommodate it.

Cutting review time, removing backups or launching with unfinished contact pages rarely saves money for long. Reducing the number of distinct layouts, providing approved content and agreeing one decision-maker are more constructive ways to limit the workload.

If you already have a website, investigate whether targeted improvements can solve the problem. Our fix or redesign guide helps separate repair work from a full replacement. A redesign also needs a plan for existing addresses and content; abandoning them can create avoidable problems for visitors and search engines.

Questions about website budgets

Does a lower price always mean a worse website?

No. A focused site with supplied content can be relatively simple to deliver. Compare the agreed scope, quality checks and handover. The concern is a price that relies on assumptions you have never been shown.

Should I include SEO in the launch budget?

Yes, include the work needed to make the site understandable and accessible to search engines. Decide separately whether you also need recurring SEO support. Neither a build fee nor an ongoing contract guarantees a particular ranking.

Can I get a fixed quote?

A defined scope makes a fixed quote much more useful. Agree the deliverables, assumptions, exclusions and change process first. If an important integration is still unknown, resolve it before treating the full project price as settled.

Have a project in mind? Send us your goals, page list and available content. We can discuss the scope and prepare a quote that explains the work.