How much does a website cost? One-off and running costs for SMEs in Switzerland
How much does a website cost for an SME in Switzerland? Agency and DIY prices, hosting, domain, email and maintenance, with an example budget.
A simple website for an SME in Switzerland usually costs CHF 2,000 to 8,000 as a one-off at an agency. Running costs for hosting, domain and email add around CHF 90 to 220 per year and, if you outsource upkeep, a maintenance contract of a few hundred to a few thousand francs per year. If you build it yourself, you pay mainly with your own time. The figures below come from publicly available price overviews of Swiss providers (as of October 2026) and show what the price depends on.
Distinguish one-off and running costs
A sound budget separates two types of cost. One-off costs cover concept, design, implementation, copy and images. Running costs cover hosting, domain, email, maintenance and any licences. Many offers state only the one-off price; over five years, however, the running costs often make up a large share of the total.
- One-off: concept and structure, design, technical implementation, copy, photos, setting up forms and the privacy policy
- Running: web hosting, domain, email mailboxes, updates and maintenance, licences for themes or plugins, minor changes
A second point concerns lifespan. A company website is usually revised or rebuilt after a few years. So calculate over a period of about five years: one-off costs plus five times the annual costs. This total shows what the website really costs and makes offers with different splits comparable.
What Swiss agencies charge for a website
Prices vary widely, because «website» can mean very different things. The following overview summarises the guide values from the guide by Onlineshop Factory, a Swiss web agency.
| Type of website | One-off costs | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| One-pager | CHF 800 – 2,200 | business card, startup, sole proprietorship |
| SME website with 5–10 pages | CHF 2,000 – 8,000 | trades, service providers, practices |
| Complex website with 20+ pages | CHF 8,000 – 16,000 | larger SMEs, B2B, multilingual |
| Online shop, simple | CHF 2,000 – 8,000 | small range of up to around 50 products |
| Online shop, extensive | CHF 6,000 – 21,000 | large range, integrations |
Other analyses arrive at similar orders of magnitude. The Swiss web design report by digitalawards.ch analysed 60 publicly published starting prices: the median was around CHF 2,900 and the average around CHF 4,250. The agency loaded.ch quotes CHF 3,500 to 15,000 for a professional SME website. Important: «from» prices describe the entry point, not the final project price.
Hourly rates
Where work is billed by time, the same source gives these hourly rates: freelancers CHF 80 to 150, smaller web agencies CHF 120 to 180, established web agencies CHF 150 to 250 and advertising or communications agencies from CHF 200.
What drives the price up
- Copy written by the agency: around CHF 100 to 300 per subpage
- Photos: stock images free to around CHF 50 per image, a photo shoot from around CHF 800
- Multilingual content: from around CHF 1,000 per additional language
- Booking or reservation system: around CHF 500 to 2,000
- Integration with CRM or ERP: from around CHF 1,500
- Members’ area or e-learning: from around CHF 2,000
These figures come from the Onlineshop Factory guide mentioned above. In Switzerland in particular, with several national languages, multilingual content is often the largest extra item. If you supply the copy yourself, you save the most, but you need to plan time for it.
Tip: Ask for a quote with a fixed scope: number of pages, number of revision rounds, who supplies copy and images, and what is included after launch. Then offers can genuinely be compared.
Doing it yourself: website builder or WordPress
If you build it yourself, there are two routes. According to Onlineshop Factory, a website builder costs around CHF 20 to 60 per month, is quick to set up, but ties you to the provider. The alternative is a CMS such as WordPress on your own web hosting: you pay for hosting and domain, have full design freedom and can later hand the website over to an agency or move it to another provider.
In both cases, your own time is the biggest cost factor: planning the structure, writing copy, choosing images, testing forms and keeping the website up to date. For an association or a sole proprietorship this is often feasible. If the website should regularly generate enquiries, help with at least structure and copy is worth it.
Running costs: hosting, domain, email and maintenance
| Item | Guide value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Web hosting | around CHF 80 – 200 per year | entry-level plans of Swiss providers without promotional discount, as of October 2026 |
| .ch domain | around CHF 6 – 15 per year | watch the renewal price |
| often included in web hosting | separate mailboxes cost extra | |
| Maintenance by an agency | around CHF 60 – 600 per month | updates, backup checks, small changes |
| Cookie banner tool | from around CHF 100 per year | only if needed |
Maintenance is the item most often underestimated. A CMS such as WordPress needs regular updates to the system, theme and plugins, otherwise security gaps appear. Public maintenance packages from Swiss agencies range from around CHF 59 per month to CHF 7,200 per year, depending on the scope. If you install updates yourself, you save this item, but you should have a backup first.
As soon as your website processes personal data, for example via a contact form, the Data Protection Act requires a privacy policy. Onlineshop Factory quotes from around CHF 300 for this. This is general information, not legal advice.
Example budget for an SME website
A realistic example: a joinery business wants a website with 8 pages in German, a contact form, its own .ch domain and four email mailboxes. The agency handles implementation and maintenance and writes the copy, and there is a half-day photo shoot for the images.
| Item | Agency option | DIY (WordPress) |
|---|---|---|
| Design and implementation (one-off) | CHF 5,000 | own time |
| Copy, 8 pages at CHF 200 (one-off) | CHF 1,600 | own time |
| Photo shoot (one-off) | CHF 800 | own photos or stock images |
| Privacy policy (one-off) | CHF 300 | template, adapted yourself |
| Total one-off | CHF 7,700 | around CHF 0 |
| Web hosting per year | CHF 142.80 | CHF 142.80 |
| .ch domain per year (from renewal) | CHF 14.90 | CHF 14.90 |
| Email mailboxes | included in hosting | included in hosting |
| Maintenance, CHF 100 per month | CHF 1,200 | own time |
| Total running per year | CHF 1,357.70 | CHF 157.70 |
| Total over 5 years | CHF 14,488.50 | CHF 788.50 plus own time |
The hosting in this example is HostOn Web Hosting Rigi at CHF 11.90 per month, with unlimited email mailboxes; at HostOn, the .ch domain costs CHF 14.90 per year and is free for the first year with web hosting; the example uses the yearly price. The values for design, copy and photos are within the ranges given above. Your own project may be well above or below them.
How to save without cutting the wrong corners
- Supply copy and images yourself, but leave the implementation to a professional
- Start with a few good pages and expand later
- Register the domain to your own company and manage admin access yourself
- Compare the renewal price for hosting, not just the promotional price
- Install updates regularly or sign a maintenance contract with a clear scope
- Do not order expensive special features that nobody uses
Tip: Always calculate your budget over five years. A cheap build with expensive maintenance can end up costing more than a solid website you can maintain yourself.
Finding the right hosting for your budget
For most SME websites, a web hosting plan is enough; a WordPress plan or a VPS only pays off with several websites, shops or special requirements. HostOn’s free hosting calculator asks about the type of website, visitors, number of websites and the access you need, and recommends a suitable plan with its annual price. That way you can put a concrete figure for hosting into your budget straight away.
Frequently asked questions on this topic
For an SME website with 5 to 10 pages, Swiss agencies usually quote CHF 2,000 to 8,000 as a one-off cost. On top of that come running costs for hosting, domain and maintenance of a few hundred to a few thousand francs per year.
Hosting and domain alone cost around CHF 7 to 20 per month. With an agency maintenance contract, around CHF 60 to 600 per month is added, depending on the scope.
For an association, a sole proprietorship or a simple online business card, often yes, if you have the time and some skill. For a website that should regularly generate enquiries, professional help with structure, copy and search engine optimisation is usually worth it.
Swiss agencies quote around CHF 2,000 to 8,000 for a simple shop and CHF 6,000 to 21,000 for extensive shops with integrations. Running costs include payment fees, maintenance and usually more powerful hosting.
Maintenance with updates to the CMS and plugins, renewing the domain at the regular price, paid plugins or themes with an annual licence, and updates to copy and the privacy policy.
That is governed by the contract. Make sure the domain is registered to your company and that you receive admin access to the website and hosting. This is general information, not legal advice.
