“What does a professional website cost?” Swiss companies ask this question daily. The answer: It depends. Anything between CHF 8,000 and CHF 150,000+ is possible. This article shows you transparently what costs depend on and how to optimally use your budget.

Price Ranges Overview

Budget Website: CHF 8,000-15,000

What you get:

  • 8-12 pages
  • Premium template with customisations
  • WordPress or Webflow
  • Shared hosting
  • Basic SEO
  • Mobile-optimised
  • Contact form
  • Existing content transferred
  • Stock photos

Timeline: 4-8 weeks

Ongoing costs:

  • Hosting: CHF 200-500/year
  • Maintenance: CHF 1,200-2,400/year
  • Total: CHF 1,400-2,900/year

Suitable for:

  • Small SMEs (1-5 employees)
  • Simple presence websites
  • Limited budget
  • Fast launch needed

Typical partners:

  • Freelancers (CHF 80-140/h)
  • Small agencies
  • Online platforms (Wix, Squarespace)

Standard Website: CHF 15,000-35,000

What you get:

  • 15-25 pages
  • Semi-custom design
  • WordPress, Craft CMS, or Webflow
  • Managed hosting
  • Blog/news system
  • Advanced SEO
  • Forms (contact, newsletter)
  • Content partially revised
  • Mix stock + own photos
  • CRM integration (optional)

Timeline: 8-14 weeks

Ongoing costs:

  • Hosting: CHF 500-1,200/year
  • Maintenance: CHF 2,400-4,800/year
  • Total: CHF 2,900-6,000/year

Suitable for:

  • SMEs (5-20 employees)
  • B2B service providers
  • Professional presence important
  • Lead generation

Typical partners:

Example breakdown (CHF 25,000):

  • Concept & strategy: CHF 3,000
  • Design: CHF 6,000
  • Development: CHF 10,000
  • Content revision: CHF 3,000
  • SEO setup: CHF 2,000
  • Testing & launch: CHF 1,000

Professional Website: CHF 35,000-80,000

What you get:

  • 30-50 pages
  • Fully custom design
  • Custom CMS or headless
  • Cloud hosting
  • Multilingual (2-3 languages)
  • Thorough SEO strategy
  • Custom features (booking, member area, etc.)
  • Integrations (CRM, marketing tools)
  • Content newly written
  • Professional photo shoot
  • UX research

Timeline: 14-24 weeks

Ongoing costs:

  • Hosting: CHF 1,500-3,000/year
  • Maintenance: CHF 6,000-12,000/year
  • Total: CHF 7,500-15,000/year

Suitable for:

  • Larger SMEs (20-100 employees)
  • B2B with high ticket prices
  • International orientation
  • Website as main sales tool

Typical partners:

  • Senior freelancers (CHF 160-220/h)
  • Established agencies (CHF 180-250/h)

Example breakdown (CHF 55,000):

  • Strategy & UX research: CHF 6,000
  • Custom design: CHF 14,000
  • Development: CHF 20,000
  • Content production: CHF 6,000
  • Photo shoot: CHF 3,000
  • Integrations: CHF 3,000
  • SEO: CHF 3,000

Enterprise Website: CHF 80,000-200,000+

What you get:

  • 60+ pages
  • Enterprise design system
  • Headless CMS + custom frontend
  • Dedicated server / enterprise hosting
  • E-commerce or platform
  • Multi-site (multiple countries/brands)
  • Complex integrations (ERP, CRM, payment)
  • 4+ languages
  • Custom development
  • Thorough content production
  • Video content
  • Ongoing optimisation (first 6 months)

Timeline: 24-52 weeks

Ongoing costs:

  • Hosting: CHF 5,000-15,000/year
  • Maintenance & support: CHF 15,000-40,000/year
  • Total: CHF 20,000-55,000/year

Suitable for:

  • Large companies (100+ employees)
  • E-commerce
  • Platforms with user generation
  • International corporations

Typical partners:

  • Large agencies (CHF 200-300/h)
  • Specialised enterprise agencies

The 7 Biggest Cost Drivers

1. Design Complexity (+50-200%)

Template with customisations:

  • Cost: CHF 2,000-8,000
  • Premium template purchased
  • Colors and fonts adjusted
  • Logo implemented
  • Small layout tweaks

Semi-custom:

  • Cost: CHF 8,000-20,000
  • Template as base
  • Custom components
  • Unique key pages
  • Brand-specific elements

Fully custom:

  • Cost: CHF 20,000-60,000+
  • Every element individually designed
  • UX research
  • Design system
  • Multiple iterations
  • Custom illustrations

What drives design costs:

  • Number of unique page layouts
  • Custom illustrations (CHF 2,000-15,000)
  • Animations (CHF 2,000-15,000)
  • Responsive optimisation (standard vs. high-end)

2. Functionality and Features (+30-300%)

Basic features (usually included):

  • Contact form
  • Google Maps
  • Social media links
  • Newsletter signup

Advanced features (CHF 1,000-5,000 each):

  • Blog system
  • Multi-step forms
  • Search function
  • Appointment booking (integration)
  • Team pages with filter

Complex features (CHF 5,000-50,000+):

  • E-commerce (CHF 8,000-150,000)
  • Member area (CHF 5,000-25,000)
  • Custom configurator (CHF 10,000-40,000)
  • Booking platform (CHF 20,000-80,000)
  • Job portal (CHF 15,000-50,000)

3. Content Creation (+20-100%)

Transfer existing content:

  • Cost: CHF 0-1,000
  • Only migration and formatting

Revise content:

  • Cost: CHF 200-500 per page
  • Editing and optimisation
  • SEO adjustments
  • Structuring

Create new content:

  • Cost: CHF 500-1,500 per page
  • Professionally written
  • Keyword research
  • SEO-optimised

Images:

  • Stock photos: CHF 500-2,000
  • Photo shoot (half day): CHF 2,000-4,000
  • Photo shoot (full day): CHF 4,000-8,000
  • Thorough (multiple days): CHF 10,000-25,000

Video:

  • Stock videos: CHF 500-1,500
  • Image film (2-3 min): CHF 8,000-20,000
  • Product video: CHF 5,000-15,000

Example 25 pages:

  • All transferred: CHF 500
  • All revised: CHF 5,000-12,000
  • All new: CHF 12,000-37,000

4. Integrations (+10-80%)

Email marketing:

  • Mailchimp, Brevo: CHF 1,000-2,000
  • HubSpot: CHF 2,000-4,000

CRM:

  • Simple (Pipedrive, HubSpot): CHF 2,000-5,000
  • Medium (custom sync): CHF 5,000-12,000
  • Complex (Salesforce, Dynamics): CHF 10,000-30,000

Payment:

  • Stripe, PayPal: CHF 2,000-4,000
  • Swiss providers (PostFinance): CHF 3,000-6,000
  • Multiple + subscriptions: CHF 6,000-15,000

ERP/inventory management:

  • CHF 15,000-60,000+
  • Depends on system complexity

5. Multilingual (+30-100%)

2 languages (DE/FR):

  • +30-50% on base price
  • CHF 25,000 → CHF 32,000-37,000

3 languages (DE/FR/IT):

  • +60-80% on base price
  • CHF 25,000 → CHF 40,000-45,000

4+ languages:

  • +80-100% on base price
  • CHF 25,000 → CHF 45,000-50,000

What costs:

  • CMS setup for multilingual
  • Translations (CHF 0.30-0.50 per word)
  • Testing for all languages
  • Maintenance of all language versions

6. CMS and Technology (+0-100%)

WordPress:

  • Software: Free
  • Setup: CHF 8,000-30,000
  • Plugins: CHF 200-1,000/year
  • Maintenance: CHF 100-500/month

Webflow:

  • Software: CHF 200-1,000/year
  • Setup: CHF 10,000-35,000
  • Maintenance: CHF 50-300/month

Craft CMS:

  • Software: CHF 0-300 (one-time)
  • Setup: CHF 15,000-40,000
  • Maintenance: CHF 100-400/month

Headless (Contentful, Strapi):

  • Software: CHF 0-12,000/year
  • Setup: CHF 30,000-80,000
  • Maintenance: CHF 200-800/month

Custom:

  • Development: CHF 40,000-150,000+
  • Maintenance: CHF 1,000-5,000/month

7. Hosting and Infrastructure (+5-15% annually)

Shared hosting:

  • CHF 200-600/year
  • For small websites (<5,000 visitors/month)

Managed WordPress:

  • CHF 1,000-3,000/year
  • For professional SME sites

Cloud (AWS, Google Cloud):

  • CHF 2,000-8,000/year
  • Scalable, for growing sites

Dedicated server:

  • CHF 5,000-15,000/year
  • For large sites or e-commerce

Additional costs:

  • SSL certificate: CHF 0-500/year
  • CDN: CHF 0-2,000/year
  • Backups: CHF 100-1,000/year
  • Security monitoring: CHF 500-5,000/year

Price by Company Type

Startup (1-5 employees)

Budget: CHF 8,000-20,000

Recommendation:

  • Template-based
  • WordPress or Webflow
  • Focus on MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
  • Expand after product-market fit

Phased approach:

  • Phase 1 (CHF 10,000): Landing page + 5 key pages
  • Phase 2 (+CHF 5,000): Blog, extended pages
  • Phase 3 (+CHF 8,000): Custom features as needed

SME (5-50 employees)

Budget: CHF 20,000-50,000

Recommendation:

  • Semi-custom design
  • Professional CMS
  • SEO strategy
  • Content revised
  • Basic integrations (CRM, newsletter)

ROI focus:

  • Lead generation
  • Professional impression
  • Differentiation from competition

Established Company (50-200 employees)

Budget: CHF 50,000-120,000

Recommendation:

  • Custom design
  • Multilingual
  • Advanced features
  • Thorough integrations
  • Content strategy

ROI focus:

  • Scalable lead generation
  • Internationalization
  • Brand building

Enterprise (200+ employees)

Budget: CHF 120,000-300,000+

Recommendation:

  • Enterprise solution
  • Multi-site capable
  • Complex integrations
  • Ongoing optimisation

ROI focus:

  • Efficiency gains
  • Process automation
  • Globally scalable

Where You Can Save (Without Losing Quality)

1. Use Template as Base

Savings potential: CHF 8,000-20,000

  • Premium template: CHF 50-200
  • With custom adjustments for branding
  • Key pages still individual

Not for: Companies with strong branding focus

2. Phased Approach

Savings potential: Cash flow optimisation

Instead of CHF 50,000 at once:

  • Phase 1 (CHF 20,000): Core website
  • Phase 2 (+CHF 15,000): Blog, features
  • Phase 3 (+CHF 15,000): Additional languages, optimisation

Advantage:

  • Budget distributed
  • Learn from data
  • Adjustments based on user feedback

3. Prepare Content Yourself

Savings potential: CHF 3,000-10,000

What you can do:

  • Write texts yourself (agency revises)
  • Organise and select images
  • Create sitemap proposal
  • Competitive research

Savings: 15-30 agency hours

4. Use Stock Content Strategically

Savings potential: CHF 5,000-15,000

  • Stock photos for secondary pages
  • Own photos only for key pages (team, about us)
  • Stock videos for backgrounds

Don’t save: Hero images on homepage, team photos

5. Open-Source Instead of Custom

Savings potential: CHF 20,000-80,000

  • WordPress instead of custom CMS
  • WooCommerce instead of custom shop
  • Standard plugins instead of custom development

Caution: Only if open-source meets your requirements.

6. Freelancer Instead of Agency

Savings potential: 20-40%

Example:

  • Agency: CHF 45,000
  • Freelancer team: CHF 28,000

Detailed comparison →

Caution:

  • Check quality
  • Verify references
  • Consider backup risk

Where You Should NOT Save

1. UX and Strategy

Cost: CHF 3,000-10,000

Why important:

  • Poor UX = No conversions
  • Wrong strategy = Investment wasted

ROI: Good UX can increase conversion rate by 200-400%.

2. Mobile Optimisation

Cost: Included in design price

Why important:

  • 65% of Swiss web traffic is mobile
  • Google mobile-first indexing
  • Mobile users have different needs

3. Performance

Cost: CHF 2,000-5,000

Why important:

  • 1 second longer load time = 7% fewer conversions
  • Google ranking factor
  • User expectation: <3 seconds

Invest in:

  • Image optimisation
  • Code optimisation
  • Caching
  • CDN (if global)

4. SEO Basics

Cost: CHF 2,000-8,000

Why important: Without SEO, nobody finds your website.

Minimum:

  • Technical SEO
  • Keyword research
  • Content optimisation
  • Meta data

5. Security

Cost: CHF 1,500-4,000/year

Why important:

  • Hack cleanup: CHF 5,000-30,000
  • Reputation damage
  • Legal consequences (revDSG)

Invest in:

  • SSL certificate
  • Regular updates (maintenance contract)
  • Backups
  • Security monitoring

Realistic Budget Planning

Budget Framework

Initial investment: Depends on company type (see above)

Ongoing costs (annually):

  • 10-20% of initial investment
  • Minimum: CHF 1,500/year
  • Realistic SME: CHF 3,000-8,000/year

Relaunch (every 4-6 years):

  • 40-60% of initial investment
  • Or new full relaunch

Example CHF 25,000 website:

  • Year 1: CHF 25,000 (initial)
  • Years 2-5: CHF 4,000/year (maintenance) = CHF 16,000
  • Year 6: CHF 18,000 (refresh)
  • Total 6 years: CHF 59,000
  • Effective: CHF 9,800/year

Plan Buffer

15-20% buffer for:

  • Unforeseen requirements
  • Scope creep
  • Additional integrations
  • Longer testing phase
  • Content refinements

Example:

  • Budget: CHF 30,000
  • Buffer: CHF 5,000
  • Total: CHF 35,000

Checklist: Plan Budget Realistically

  • Company type considered: Startup, SME, enterprise
  • Scope defined: Page count, features documented
  • Design level chosen: Template, semi-custom, or custom
  • Content budget: New/revised/transferred calculated
  • Integrations: List created, costs researched
  • Multilingual: If needed, 30-100% surcharge included
  • Ongoing costs: Hosting + maintenance for 3 years calculated
  • Partner choice: Agency/freelancer/inhouse based on budget
  • Buffer: 15-20% for unforeseen
  • ROI calculation: How do we earn back the investment?

More on timeline planning →

Conclusion: What Does a Professional Website Really Cost?

The honest answer: It depends on your requirements.

Quick guide:

CHF 8,000-15,000: Template-based, small scope, for startups and micro SMEs

CHF 15,000-35,000: Semi-custom, medium scope, for most SMEs

CHF 35,000-80,000: Custom, extended, for larger SMEs and B2B with high tickets

CHF 80,000+: Enterprise, e-commerce, platforms

The 3 most important insights:

  1. Price is determined by requirements Not the agency is expensive, but your wishes drive the price.

  2. Cheap becomes expensive CHF 5,000 saved on quality = CHF 15,000 rework later.

  3. Think long-term A CHF 35,000 website that lasts 5 years = CHF 7,000/year plus maintenance.

Rule of thumb: Budget 1-3% of annual revenue or 15-25% of marketing budget.

Understand the cost drivers, and you can invest smartly. Invest smartly, and your website pays off many times over.

Back to complete relaunch guide →

Transparency Note: Alpine Excellence only lists verified providers. When seal holders are mentioned in this article, it serves to illustrate quality standards concretely, not as advertising.