How much does a website cost in Bangkok? A clear pricing guide

What decides how much a website costs?

The price of a website is decided by its scope: how much has to be planned, designed, written, built and tested. Two sites can look similar on a phone screen and still be very different jobs underneath. These are the factors that move the price most:

• Number of pages and layouts. A five-page business site is a smaller job than a forty-page site with service pages, team profiles and a blog. What matters most is how many different page layouts need designing, not only the page count.
• Custom design or template. A template gives you a ready-made layout to fill in. Custom design starts from your brand, your customers and your goals, so it takes longer, but the result fits your business instead of the other way round.
• Features. Online booking, payments, member areas, product catalogues, class schedules and calculators all add design, build and testing time.
• Languages. A site in Thai and English needs translated copy, a language switcher and correct search setup for both versions. In Bangkok this is often worth doing, but it adds work.
• Content. Copywriting, photography and video are often the hidden part of the budget. If you supply finished words and images, the price is lower; if the agency writes and sources them, it goes up.
• Integrations. Connecting the site to LINE, a CRM, a booking system or an email tool means extra setup and testing.
• Search readiness. Proper page titles, structured data, speed work and analytics take time to do well, and they decide whether people can find the site at all.

When you compare quotes, compare these items line by line. A noticeably cheaper quote usually means something on this list has been left out, and you will pay for it later in time, fixes or lost enquiries.

What types of website are there, and how does the price change?

Most business websites fall into one of five types. The further down this table you go, the more planning and build time is involved, and the larger the budget needs to be.

A personal brand site, such as the one we built for executive coach Marisa Chuawiwat, sits in the business-site group. A booking-led site, such as Na Clinic’s bilingual website with online booking, has more moving parts, so it needs a larger budget and more testing.

If you are unsure which type you need, start with the job the site must do: win trust, take bookings, sell products or serve existing customers. That answer usually points to the right type, and the right type points to a sensible budget.

Freelancer, agency or DIY builder: which gives the best value?

The best value is the option that matches the job, not the cheapest one on paper. Each route has a place:

• DIY website builders such as Wix or Squarespace have the lowest starting cost. They suit a very new business that needs something simple online quickly and has the time to build it. The trade-off is your own hours, and a site that can look like many others. We compare the options properly in custom website vs Wix or Squarespace.
• Freelancers can be good value for smaller, well-defined projects. Quality and reliability vary widely, and one person may be strong at design but weaker at copywriting, search setup or long-term support.
• Agencies bring strategy, design, writing, development and search setup under one roof, with a process and a team behind it. They usually cost more than a freelancer but carry less risk on larger or business-critical sites.

Whichever route you choose, ask to see live websites the person or team has built, not only screenshots, and check who will own the domain, the content and the code when the project ends. Our guide to choosing a web design agency lists the questions worth asking.

How much does PJW Partners charge for a website?

At PJW Partners, custom websites start from $1,500 USD. That starting point covers a custom-designed site for a business with a clear, focused scope. Larger builds, with more pages, online booking, two languages, a shop or connections to other systems, get a tailored quote once we understand what the site needs to do.

Most of our websites launch in 3 to 6 weeks. We price in US dollars because we work with clients worldwide, across Asia, Europe and the US, and every site can launch in English and Thai.

A few Bangkok examples show how scope changes from one business to the next. Hein Htet Aung, a personal trainer, needed a cinematic personal brand site built to book sessions. Kingdom Law Group needed a premium, search-ready site for a law firm. Different businesses, different jobs, so different quotes. You can see more on our work page and a fuller breakdown in our website cost guide.

What ongoing costs should I budget for after launch?

A website has running costs after launch, and they belong in your budget from the start. The main ones are:

• Domain name: your web address, renewed every year or for several years at once.
• Hosting: the server that keeps your site online, usually paid monthly or yearly.
• Maintenance: software updates, security checks, backups and small fixes.
• Content and growth: new pages, articles, photos and search improvements as your business changes.

For most small business sites these costs are much smaller than the build itself, but they add up over the life of the site, and skipping them is how websites become slow, insecure or out of date. We explain each one in website maintenance costs and domain and hosting explained.

How do I set a realistic website budget?

A realistic budget starts from what the website must achieve, then works back to the pages, features and content that job needs. Follow these steps:

1. Write down the one job the site must do. For example: get consultation bookings, generate quote requests, or prove you are credible to corporate buyers.
2. List the pages and features that job needs. Be strict. A clinic needs treatment pages and booking; it may not need a blog on day one.
3. Decide on languages. If your customers search in Thai and English, plan for both now rather than adding one later.
4. Be honest about content. Will you write the copy and supply photos, or do you need help? This is where many budgets go wrong.
5. Add the first year of running costs. Domain, hosting and maintenance belong in the same budget as the build.
6. Get two or three quotes on the same brief. Comparing quotes for different scopes tells you nothing. Our guide on how to write a website brief makes this easy.
7. Think in return, not only cost. Work out what one new client is worth to you. If a handful of extra clients would cover the investment, the site is worth doing properly.

Tell us what your business needs and we will reply within one business day with the next steps towards a clear scope and price. Start your project here.

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