The short answer: it depends on the type of website
The cost of a website in Canada depends less on the number of pages than on what the site has to do. A one-page site that presents an offer and collects requests has nothing in common, in workload, with an online store or a platform with user accounts. The table below gives broad market orders of magnitude, before tax. They are not quotes: prices vary a lot between freelancers, small studios and large agencies, and between regions.
| Type of website | Typical scope | Broad market range (CAD, before tax) |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify) | Template, you do the work | A monthly subscription, plus your own time |
| Landing page | One page, one offer, a form | From a few hundred to a few thousand dollars |
| Business website | About 5 to 10 pages, custom design | From a few thousand to well over ten thousand dollars |
| Website with a content management space | Pages you edit yourself: catalogue, news, gallery | Usually more than a brochure site of the same size |
| Online store | Catalogue, cart, payment, shipping, taxes | Often several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars |
| Platform or SaaS | User accounts, dashboards, database, subscriptions | Quoted case by case, often tens of thousands of dollars |
Agency hourly rates in Québec are commonly quoted somewhere between about $75 and $150, which explains why two quotes for the same brief can differ so much: the number of hours estimated matters as much as the rate.
What drives the price of a website
Whatever the type of site, the same factors push the price up or down. Knowing them helps you decide where to spend and where to save.
- Custom design or template: a design created for your brand takes longer than adapting a theme, but it sets you apart and is built around your content.
- Number of page types: ten pages built on the same layout cost less than five pages that each need a different layout.
- Content: who writes the texts, who provides the photos? Copywriting, photography and translation are often the hidden part of the budget.
- Features: booking, quote forms, catalogue, member area, online payment, integrations with your tools. Each one adds design, development and testing time.
- Languages: a site aimed at Québec must be offered in French; a French and English site means two versions to write, check and maintain.
- Compliance: a privacy policy and consent management under Québec's Law 25, accessibility under Ontario's AODA for larger organizations.
- SEO: the technical basics should be included; ongoing content and local visibility work is a separate budget.
- Deadline: a very short deadline can mean more people on the project at the same time.
Recurring costs to plan for every year
The price of building a site is only part of the story. A website also has running costs, and a quote that does not mention them is incomplete.
| Item | What it covers | How it is usually billed |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your address, for example a .ca or .com | Per year, usually a modest amount |
| Hosting | Servers that deliver your site | Monthly or yearly; depends on traffic and features |
| Professional email | Addresses at your domain | Per user, per month |
| Maintenance | Updates, security, small changes, backups | Package or hourly |
| SEO | Content, local visibility, reports | Monthly, often with a minimum term |
| Payment fees | For online stores and subscriptions | A percentage per transaction, charged by the payment provider |
| Licences | Themes, plugins, paid tools | Monthly or yearly |
Ask every provider to list these items in writing. A low build price can hide high monthly fees, and the reverse is also true.
Sales tax on your website invoice
Prices are generally quoted before tax. On top of the quote, sales taxes apply depending on the situation: in Québec, the GST (5%) and the QST (9.975%); in Ontario, the HST (13%). Other provinces have their own combination of GST, HST or PST.
Which tax applies to a service like web design depends on rules about where the service is supplied and who the provider is. If you run a registered business, you may be able to claim the tax back as input tax credits. Your accountant is the right person to confirm this for your situation. If you plan to sell online yourself, our guide to sales tax for online stores in Canada goes further.
The Québec and Ontario factor: language, privacy, accessibility
Three rules can affect the scope, and therefore the budget, of a Canadian website. They are better planned at the start than added afterwards.
- French language: under Québec's Charter of the French language, as amended by Bill 96, a commercial website aimed at Québec must be offered in French, with a French version at least as accessible as any other. See our Bill 96 guide.
- Privacy: Québec's Law 25 requires, among other things, a designated person in charge of personal information and a privacy policy in clear terms. See our Law 25 guide.
- Accessibility: in Ontario, organizations with 50 or more employees must make their public websites meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA. See our AODA guide.
How to get quotes you can actually compare
- 01Write a one-page brief
Your business, your goal for the site, your audience, the pages you need, the features, the languages and your deadline.
- 02Say who provides the content
Texts, photos, logo, translations. This single point often explains half the gap between two quotes.
- 03Ask for an itemized quote
Design, development, content, SEO basics, launch, and each recurring cost listed separately.
- 04Ask what happens after launch
Who hosts the site, who updates it, how much a change costs, how support works.
- 05Read the contract
Payment schedule, timeline, what is delivered, and who holds which rights and accounts.
- 06Open live examples
Ask for sites the provider has built that you can open on your phone, not just screenshots.
Our checklist for choosing a web agency in Canada lists the questions to ask at each step.
Our prices at Ecosystem Annexe
We publish our starting prices so you can place your project quickly. A landing page starts from CA$1,400 (one page with a contact form, about one week). A multi-page website starts from CA$4,300 (about five pages with baseline SEO, about two weeks). A platform with member accounts, dashboards and a dedicated database is quoted on request, for about four weeks of work. The quote is free and personalized.
Every site includes baseline SEO: pre-rendered pages readable by Google and AI tools, a title and description per page, a sitemap and structured data. Our optional SEO package costs CA$1,200 to set up, then CA$450 per month. Clients based outside France can be billed in Canadian dollars, and payment can be split into a deposit and a balance.
See all the details on our offers page (in French), browse our case studies, or contact us for a quote (page in French; we reply in English).
Updated November 13, 2026