"How much does a website cost in Egypt?" is the most common question we receive, and the honest answer is: it depends on what the website has to do. A five-page brand site, an online store with 2,000 products, and a web platform with user accounts are three different products that happen to share the word "website". This guide explains the factors behind the price so you can read quotes intelligently — and so nobody sells you a template as a custom build, or a custom build when a template would do.
We deliberately do not publish price lists at Jad Digital: every project is scoped and priced in writing after a free consultation, because a number without a scope is a guess. What we can share is how the number is built.
The 8 factors that determine the cost of a website
1. Type of website
The biggest driver. Broadly:
Each step up adds design, engineering, testing, and integration work.
- Landing page — one page, one goal, usually for a campaign.
- Brand / corporate website — home, services, about, portfolio, contact, blog.
- E-commerce store — catalog, cart, payments, shipping, accounts.
- Web application / portal — logins, roles, dashboards, data, integrations.
2. Number of unique page designs
Not the number of pages — the number of *different layouts*. A blog with 200 articles uses one article template; a corporate site with ten sections that each look different needs ten designs. Ask any vendor how many unique templates their quote includes.
3. Custom design vs. template
A customized template is faster and cheaper; a custom design created for your brand in Figma, reviewed with you, and built from scratch costs more and looks like nobody else. Both are legitimate — the problem is paying for one and receiving the other. See how we approach UI/UX design.
4. Languages and content
An Arabic/English website is not "the same site twice". It needs bilingual design (RTL and LTR), content written for each audience, and separate indexable URLs with correct SEO signals so Google ranks both. Content writing itself — pages, product descriptions, blog articles — is often the largest hidden cost when the client has no text ready. We explain the SEO side in why a bilingual website matters.
5. Functionality and integrations
Forms and maps are cheap. Booking engines, calculators, member areas, CRM and WhatsApp integrations, payment gateways, shipping APIs, and ERP synchronization are not. Every integration is scope — list them explicitly.
6. Performance, SEO, and technical quality
Two sites can look identical and behave completely differently on a phone. Server-side rendering, optimized images, Core Web Vitals, structured data, and Search Console setup take engineering time and are the difference between a site that ranks and one that does not. Cheap quotes almost always skip this — check the vendor's own site in PageSpeed Insights.
7. Team seniority and process
A senior team with a project manager, weekly demos, a staging environment, QA on real devices, and documentation costs more per hour than a single freelancer — and reduces the risk of a project that never launches. The right choice depends on stakes: a small brochure site and a company's main lead-generation channel do not carry the same risk.
8. Content and media readiness
Photography, videos, logos in vector format, and finished text either exist or must be produced. Ask what the quote assumes you will provide.
What cheap quotes usually leave out
When a quote is dramatically lower than the others, one or more of these is typically missing:
None of these is wrong to exclude — as long as it is written down. Compare exclusions before totals.
- Custom design (a template will be adapted)
- Content writing in Arabic and English
- Mobile optimization and performance work
- SEO setup: metadata, structured data, sitemap, Search Console
- Testing on real devices and browsers
- Domain, hosting, and SSL for the first year
- Training and documentation
- Any support after launch
- Ownership of the code and accounts
Ongoing costs to budget for
A website has running costs beyond the build:
A good proposal states these clearly; a good vendor helps you keep them proportionate.
- Domain and hosting — modest for a brand site, higher for stores and apps with traffic.
- Maintenance — security updates, backups, plugin or dependency upgrades.
- Content and SEO — the monthly work that makes the site produce leads.
- Third-party services — email, payment gateway fees, transactional SMS/WhatsApp, premium plugins.
- Changes — new pages, campaigns, and features as the business evolves.
Pricing models you will encounter
- Fixed price per scope — the healthiest model for most business websites: a written scope, a price, a timeline, and priced change requests.
- Hourly / time and materials — fair for open-ended or maintenance work, risky for a site with an undefined scope.
- Monthly subscription (site as a service) — low upfront cost, but check who owns the site and what happens if you stop paying.
- Templates and DIY builders — cheapest upfront, appropriate for very small businesses, limited when you need Arabic SEO, integrations, or growth.
How to compare proposals fairly
Our guide to choosing the best software company in Egypt covers the full checklist, and how to choose a software company explains what a fair proposal contains.
- Put the proposals side by side and list what each *includes and excludes* before looking at totals.
- Check the number of unique page designs, languages, integrations, and SEO work in each.
- Confirm ownership, support terms, and timeline.
- Ask each vendor what they would remove to fit a smaller budget — the answer reveals what actually matters.
- Call one reference per vendor.
When is a more expensive website the cheaper choice?
When the website is your main source of leads or sales. A site that loads in two seconds, ranks for your keywords in Arabic and English, and converts visitors into inquiries pays for itself many times over; a cheap site that nobody finds is the most expensive option of all, because you also pay for the ads that replace the traffic it should have earned. The question is not "what is the lowest price" but "what will this site produce for the business".
How Jad Digital prices a website
After a free consultation we send a written proposal that lists the pages and designs, languages, features, integrations, SEO and performance work, what you will provide, what is excluded, the timeline, the support terms, and a fixed price per phase. You own everything at handover. See our web development service and live examples in our portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
Why do website prices in Egypt vary so much?
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Because quotes describe different products: template versus custom design, one language versus bilingual, static pages versus integrations, and different levels of performance, SEO, and support. Compare scope before price.
Is a template website good enough for my business?
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For a very small business with simple needs, often yes. If the site must rank in Arabic and English, integrate with payments or CRM, or serve as your main lead channel, a custom build is usually the better investment.
What is the most common hidden cost?
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Content. Writing Arabic and English pages, product descriptions, and articles takes real work and is rarely included in cheap quotes.
How long does a website take to build?
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A landing page: about a week. A brand website: 2–4 weeks. A store: 3–8 weeks. A web application: 8–16 weeks. Timelines depend on scope and how quickly content and feedback are provided.
Do I have to pay everything upfront?
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No. Fixed-price projects are normally paid in milestones — for example at signing, after design approval, and at launch — with the schedule written into the contract.
