“How much for a website?” is the first question almost every client asks us, and the honest answer is: it depends on what the website needs to do. A five-page company profile and an online store with payments are both “websites”, but they are very different amounts of work.
This guide explains what actually drives the cost, so you can compare quotes from Kuching, Kuala Lumpur or anywhere else on equal terms.
The four common types of business website
1. Company profile website
A handful of pages: home, about, services, portfolio and contact, with WhatsApp and Google Maps. This is the starting point for most SMEs, professional firms and contractors. Cost depends mainly on the number of pages, whether you have your own photos and text, and how custom the design is.
2. Content-managed website
The same as above, but your team updates news, events, listings or a directory themselves. A mall directory or a tourism site with many attractions falls here. Expect more setup time for the editing system and training.
3. Website with registration or bookings
Forms that collect sign-ups, bookings or applications, often with online payment and email confirmations. Conferences, races, homestays and clinics need this. Each extra step in the process adds work, and payment gateway integration adds testing.
4. E-commerce website
Product catalogue, cart, checkout, payment gateway, shipping rules and order management. The number of products, variations and delivery options drives the cost.
What drives the price up (or down)
- Number of unique page layouts. Ten pages that share two layouts cost less than ten completely different pages.
- Content. If you supply final text and photos, the project moves faster. Copywriting, photography and translation (for example English and Bahasa Malaysia) add cost.
- Features. Registration, payments, member logins, multiple languages and integrations each add development and testing.
- Custom design versus template. A template is cheaper up front. A custom design fits your brand and content better and usually ages better.
- Deadline. A site that must be live before an event date may need more people on it at once.
The yearly costs people forget
The build is a one-off cost. These come every year:
- Domain name renewal (.com or .com.my).
- Hosting, ideally on Malaysia-region servers so pages load fast for local visitors.
- SSL certificate, often included with good hosting.
- Business email on your own domain.
- Maintenance: updates, backups, security fixes and small changes.
Many agencies, including us, bundle these into one annual support package so nothing quietly expires. Ask every vendor exactly what their yearly fee covers.
Cheap websites that cost more later
We regularly rescue sites where the previous vendor disappeared with the domain, the hosting login or the only backup. Before you sign, make sure the domain is registered in your company’s name, you will get admin access, and backups are included.
How to get an accurate quote
Send each vendor the same short brief: what the site must achieve, the pages you think you need, features such as payments or bookings, whether you have content ready, and your deadline. You will get quotes you can actually compare.
If you are in Kuching or anywhere in Sarawak, request a quote with that brief and we will reply with a clear, fixed price. Our packages page shows what each type of project includes. See our web design service for what every Techlaju website includes.