guide · updated 2026-10-14
How much does a startup website cost in Australia?
Short answer: a startup website in Australia runs AUD $800–3,000 for a single landing page, $6,000–20,000 for a proper multi-page site, and $15,000 and up for a full custom rebuild. Two independent Australian pricing guides, both current for 2026, agree on the shape even where their exact bands differ — here's where the numbers come from.
Price by tier (AUD)
| Tier | Price (AUD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page (1 page) | $800–3,000 | Single, conversion-focused page |
| Brochure / small business site (5–10 pages) | $3,000–15,000 | Two guides disagree on the band; budget nearer $15,000 if you want more than a template |
| Custom build with CMS | $6,000–20,000 | Custom design, content structure, speed and performance work |
| Larger site with integrations | $15,000–40,000 | Bookings, a members area, CRM |
| eCommerce | $10,000–60,000+ | Store, payments, shipping logic; a custom Shopify theme alone starts near $25,000 |
The spread is wide because it's wide in the market: one of the guides below reports five Australian providers quoting the same brief anywhere from $1,500 to $25,000. Get at least three itemised quotes — pages, features, who owns the source files — before you compare on price alone. A quote at the bottom of a band is rarely a bargain; it usually means a template, a junior designer, or a scope that will grow once you see the first draft.
Hourly rates by city
| City / segment | Typical rate (AUD) |
|---|---|
| Sydney | ≈ $120/hr |
| Melbourne | $150–200/hr |
| Brisbane | ≈ $90/hr |
| Perth / Adelaide | $100–150/hr |
| Regional Australia | $50–100/hr |
| National agency range (all cities) | $80–250/hr |
| National freelancer range | $80–150/hr |
Sydney design rates run roughly 20–30% above regional Australia for comparable work, and specialists (motion, 3D, SEO strategy) bill $200+/hr on top of the base design rate.
Refresh or rebuild?
A "redesign" quote can mean two very different projects — price them separately.
| Tier | Price (AUD) | Timeline | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light refresh | $2,000–6,000 | 2–4 weeks | Branding tweaks, content updates, same structure |
| Full refresh | $7,000–15,000 | 4–8 weeks | Deeper design changes, new pages, added functionality |
| Full rebuild | $15,000–35,000+ | 6–15 weeks | Custom design and build; larger or integration-heavy sites exceed this |
What moves an Australian quote up
- City: Sydney and Melbourne studios bill noticeably more than Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide or a regional freelancer for the same brief
- Agency versus freelancer: agencies bundle project management and a second reviewer into the higher end of the hourly range
- Platform: a template build on Squarespace or Webflow is cheaper than a custom React or Next.js site, but you trade speed for flexibility — see our Framer vs Webflow vs Next.js comparison
- Copywriting, photography and video, almost always quoted separately from the design fee
- How many rounds of revision are included, and whether "unlimited revisions" quietly means unlimited delay
- Who owns the source files and the CMS on handover — ask before you sign, not after
What's usually not included
- Hosting: $15–150/month (managed WordPress runs higher, $100–300/month)
- Domain (.com.au): $15–30/year
- Care plan / maintenance: $50–300/month, scaling to $1,000–2,000/month for a large eCommerce site
- Copywriting and photography, usually quoted separately
- SSL, premium plugins and email-marketing tools: a further $50–500/month combined
Budget an extra $75–400 a month in the first year on top of the build price — that's the realistic range across hosting, a care plan and small fixes, before you add marketing spend.
AUD against the rest of this site
Every other guide on this site prices in USD, because most of our dataset and our own clients are US- and Europe-facing. At roughly US$0.69 per AUD (1 October 2026), an AUD $20,000 Australian build is about US$13,800 — in the same band as the $8,000–20,000 we quote for a US startup site. The headline rate gap that matters more than currency is the one between regions: Clutch lists Indian product-design agencies at $25–49/hr against $80–250/hr blended across Australian cities. IST runs 4.5–5.5 hours behind AEST, so an Australian afternoon is a Bangalore morning — same-day feedback loops are practical, which is why our India-for-Australia studio list exists.
When the Australian-market premium is worth it
Local reviewers, local stock imagery and compliance sensibility (ACCC/ASIC-aware copy, .com.au conventions) are real reasons to pay the Sydney or Melbourne rate instead of going offshore. They matter less for a pre-seed landing page than for a site that has to read as unmistakably local — a consumer brand, a marketplace, anything regulated. It also matters less the earlier you are: a startup still searching for positioning gets more value from a studio that will argue with the brief than from one that happens to share a time zone. For an interactive, award-chasing build like Why Zero, timelines and cost move to a different order of magnitude entirely; see what that standard actually takes before you budget for one.
How long it takes
Australian guides quote roughly the same timelines as the rest of this site's research: two to four weeks for a light refresh, four to eight for a fuller one, and six to fifteen weeks for a custom rebuild — longer than most founders expect, for the same reason everywhere else: content and approvals, not design, set the pace. Our own breakdown by tier, with a week-by-week plan, is in how long does a startup website take.
Our prices
We quote in USD: landing pages from $12,000, full sites $20,000–40,000, designed in Figma and built in Framer or Webflow, or handed off for Next.js. We're on our own list of studios that work with Australian startups, placed honestly, never first. Websites →
Questions
How much does a landing page cost in Australia?
AUD $800–3,000 for a single conversion page. Freelancers quote the low end; agencies and anything with custom animation push toward the top.
How much does a full startup website cost in Australia?
A custom-designed multi-page site with a CMS typically runs AUD $6,000–20,000. Add bookings, a CRM integration or a members area and it rises to AUD $15,000–40,000.
What do Australian agencies charge per hour?
City averages run from about $90/hr in Brisbane to $150–200/hr in Melbourne, with Sydney around $120/hr and regional Australia $50–100/hr. Freelancers nationally run $80–150/hr.
Is an Indian or Bangalore studio cheaper for an Australian startup?
Usually, at the senior end: Clutch lists India at $25–49/hr against Australia's $80–250/hr blended range, and the time-zone overlap (Australian afternoon = Indian morning) keeps feedback loops same-day.
Sources
- whatsthedamage.com.au, web design cost guide (updated Oct 2026)
- Spark Interact, website designers cost — Australia pricing (2026 guide)
- Marketing Eye, how much does a website refresh cost in Australia in 2026
- exchange-rates.org, AUD to USD exchange rate history, Oct 1 2026
- Clutch, web design pricing
Prices checked 2026-10-14. Vendor prices change; treat ranges as of that date.
Building something people should remember?
we hate vanilla is a product and brand design studio in Bangalore, India, working with startups and tech companies across the US, Europe and Australia. Average engagement around $20,000. hello@wehatevanilla.com