By the Techmelogy team, Delhi · Published October 2026 · Last updated October 2026
If you have been asking Delhi agencies for quotes, you have probably seen the same three numbers again and again: ₹15,000, ₹50,000 and ₹1.5 lakh. They sit on the same page of the same city, and yet the websites they describe have almost nothing in common.
That is why the cheap vs custom website Delhi question is so confusing. The price gap is large, but most quotes do not say what the gap actually pays for. A cheap website can be exactly right for one business and a waste of money for another, and the same is true of a custom website.
This guide explains what each budget really buys, what the quote usually leaves out, what each option costs over three years rather than on day one, and how to decide. It is written for business owners in
| ₹15K website | ₹50K website | ₹1.5 lakh website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it usually is | Template or WordPress theme, lightly customised | Custom-designed business site or small online store | Fully custom design, advanced features or larger store |
| Typical size | 4 to 6 pages | 10 to 15 pages, or a store with a modest catalogue | 15+ pages, or large catalogue, integrations or portal |
| Who it suits | A new business that needs a professional presence now | A growing business that wants leads, brand and SEO | A business where the website is the product or the sales engine |
| Biggest risk | Looks and performs like many other sites | Paying for features you do not use | Overbuilding before the business needs it |
| Rough 3-year cost | About ₹42,000 | About ₹95,000 | About ₹2.3 lakh |
The three-year figures include the build, domain, hosting and maintenance. They use the assumptions explained later in this guide, and they exclude 18% GST. The point is simple: the price on the quote is only part of what a website costs.
Before comparing the three budgets, here is what Delhi agencies currently publish. These are vendor-published ranges, not guarantees, and they vary a lot. Treat them as a map of the market rather than a price list.
| Type of website | Published range (₹) | Source (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic or starter site | 5,000 to 25,000 | Delhi agency guides |
| WordPress build | 15,000 to 40,000 | Nextin Solutions |
| Starter site, 4 to 6 pages | About 20,000 | MarketingPulse |
| Business site, up to 15 pages | About 29,000 | MarketingPulse |
| Small business site | 15,000 to 50,000 | CSS Founder |
| Online store | 30,000 to 1,00,000+ | CSS Founder |
| Fully custom build | 80,000 to 5,00,000+ | Nextin Solutions |
Two things stand out. First, prices overlap heavily, so ₹50,000 can mean a basic site at one agency and a strong custom one at another. Second, almost none of these pages tell you what is excluded. That is the gap this guide fills.
At ₹15,000, you are buying a template-based or WordPress website. A designer takes an existing design, adds your logo, colours, text and photos, and publishes it. That is not a criticism. It is a sensible product for the right buyer.
A new business, a freelancer, a consultant or a small local shop that needs to be findable and credible this month. It also suits a business testing an idea before investing more.
At ₹50,000, you move from a template to a designed-for-you website, or to a small online store. This is where most growing Delhi businesses land.
Clinics, coaching institutes, boutiques, professional firms, manufacturers and local service businesses that depend on enquiries and want the website to look and perform like part of the brand.
At ₹1.5 lakh, you are buying custom design plus custom functionality, or a larger store. The extra money mostly pays for strategy, design depth and development hours rather than for extra pages.
Businesses where the website is a sales channel or a product: serious e-commerce brands, marketplaces, service platforms, and companies with complex workflows.
| Factor | Cheap (template or WordPress) | Custom |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Low | Higher |
| Design | Shared with other sites | Built around your brand |
| Launch time | Days to a few weeks | Several weeks to a few months |
| Speed | Varies. Themes can carry extra code | Can be lean, if built well |
| SEO control | Limited by theme and plugins | Full control over structure and schema |
| Scalability | May need a rebuild when you outgrow it | Designed to grow |
| Security | Depends on theme, plugins and updates | Smaller surface when built well |
| Ownership | Check carefully | Should be yours in full |
| Editing | Usually easy | Easy only if a CMS is built in |
| Maintenance | Plugin and theme updates | Depends on the stack |
Neither column is always better. A well-built template site beats a badly built custom one, and a custom site that no one maintains can age worse than a simple one that is updated every month.
This is the part most quotes skip. A website has a build cost, and then it has running costs. Looking only at the first number makes a cheap site look cheaper and a custom site look more expensive than they are.
This table uses mid-range assumptions, which you should replace with your own quotes. All figures exclude GST.
| Item | ₹15K site | ₹50K site | ₹1.5 lakh site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | ₹15,000 | ₹50,000 | ₹1,50,000 |
| Hosting, 3 years | ₹15,000 | ₹18,000 | ₹36,000 |
| Domain, 3 years | ₹3,000 | ₹3,000 | ₹3,000 |
| Maintenance, 3 years | ₹9,000 | ₹24,000 | ₹45,000 |
| 3-year total | ₹42,000 | ₹95,000 | ₹2,34,000 |
| Per month | About ₹1,170 | About ₹2,640 | About ₹6,500 |
Assumptions: hosting ₹5,000, ₹6,000 and ₹12,000 a year; domain ₹1,000 a year; maintenance ₹3,000, ₹8,000 and ₹15,000 a year. Add 18% GST to the build and service fees.
Notice what happens. The ₹15,000 site costs about 2.8 times its sticker price over three years, while the ₹1.5 lakh site costs about 1.6 times its sticker price. The gap between cheap and custom is smaller in practice than it looks on the quote.
A website is an investment, so judge it by what it returns. Use this simple formula:
Customers needed = three-year cost ÷ profit per customer
Here is an example where each new customer brings ₹5,000 in profit:
| ₹15K site | ₹50K site | ₹1.5 lakh site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-year cost | ₹42,000 | ₹95,000 | ₹2,34,000 |
| Customers needed over 3 years | 9 | 19 | 47 |
| Customers needed per month | About 0.25 | About 0.5 | About 1.3 |
The numbers will be different for your business. If one customer is worth ₹50,000 to you, even the ₹1.5 lakh site needs fewer than five customers over three years. If one customer is worth ₹500, a ₹1.5 lakh site is hard to justify. The decision is about your margins, not about which option sounds more professional.
Before you pay a deposit, check these.
A very low price is not automatically a scam, but a price far below the market usually means something is missing. Ask what.
| Your situation | Likely best fit |
|---|---|
| New business, small budget, need to be online quickly | Cheap (₹15K range) |
| Local service business that wants steady enquiries | Mid-range (₹50K range) |
| Clinic, coaching centre or professional firm building a brand | Mid-range, with a custom design |
| Small online store with a modest catalogue | Mid-range store on Shopify or WooCommerce |
| Growing e-commerce brand with many products and integrations | Custom or advanced store (₹1.5 lakh range) |
| Platform, marketplace, booking system or portal | Custom (₹1.5 lakh and above) |
| Not sure yet whether the idea works | Start cheap, then upgrade |
When you are validating an idea, when your customers mostly find you by word of mouth, or when you plan to rebuild within a year anyway. Spending ₹1.5 lakh before you have proven demand is a common and avoidable mistake.
When your website is how you sell, when you need unusual features, when speed and SEO are central to growth, or when you have outgrown a template and each workaround costs time.
Many Delhi businesses start with a solid template site, then upgrade to a custom design when revenue justifies it. This works best if you choose a platform you can migrate from, and keep your domain, content and analytics.
"Cheap websites never rank." Not true. Rankings depend on content, site structure, links and competition. A simple site with strong, useful pages can outrank a heavy custom site with little content.
"Custom always means faster." Only if it is built well. A bloated custom site can be slower than a lean template.
"A bigger price means a better agency." Price tells you scope, not quality. Ask for live examples and speak to clients.
"Once it's built, it's done." Websites need updates, security patches and fresh content. Budget for them.
"I'll just build it with an AI tool for free." AI builders are useful for simple pages, but you still need to check ownership, performance, SEO setup and what happens when you need something custom. Whatever you use, check who owns the result and what happens when you need something the tool cannot do.
The platform changes both cost and flexibility.
If you want help choosing, see our website designing company in Delhi page.
Delhi buyers have a few local realities worth building into the brief.
Techmelogy is a Delhi-based website development and digital marketing company, based in Azadpur and serving Delhi NCR and clients elsewhere in India. We build WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento sites, custom business sites in PHP and Laravel, web applications, and mobile apps, and we handle SEO and digital marketing.
We start by asking what the website needs to do for your business, then recommend the option that fits, which is sometimes the cheaper one. For reference, our published starting points line up with the three budgets in this guide:
| Budget | What it maps to at Techmelogy |
|---|---|
| ₹15K-30k range | Basic business website, listed from ₹15,000 |
| ₹50K range | Custom, SEO-ready business website, listed from ₹50,000 |
| ₹1.5 lakh range | E-commerce store or custom web application, listed from about ₹1,50,000 |
Your quote depends on pages, features, content and integrations, and we confirm it in writing before work starts. You can read what clients say on our testimonials page, browse our web development services, or ask about digital marketing once your site is live.
Published Delhi prices range from about ₹5,000 for a very basic site to several lakh for fully custom builds. Most small business sites fall between ₹15,000 and ₹50,000, and custom or larger store projects often start around ₹80,000 and above. Add 18% GST, plus hosting and domain renewals.
Usually a template or WordPress site of about 4 to 6 pages, with a mobile-friendly layout, a contact form and basic setup. Written content, custom design, real SEO work and long support are often extra, so ask for an itemised list.
It is worth it when the website is central to how you sell or when you need features a template cannot provide. If you only need an online presence, a well-built template site may serve you better and cost less.
Yes. Rankings depend on content, structure, speed and competition, not only on price. A simple, fast site with clear, useful pages can rank well, though a badly built one of any price may not.
Domain and hosting renewals, maintenance, content, photography, premium plugins, payment gateway fees for stores, and GST. A three-year view shows the real cost better than the build price.
Template sites can take days to a few weeks. Custom projects take several weeks to a few months, depending on scope and how quickly content and feedback arrive.
Often, yes, if you are validating an idea. Keep your domain, content and analytics so the upgrade is smooth, and choose a platform you can migrate from.
You should. The domain, hosting account and admin access should be registered in your name, and the agency should confirm this in writing.
Agencies charge 18% GST on website services. If your business is GST-registered, you can usually claim input tax credit. Check with your accountant.
Not sure which budget makes sense for your business? Tell us what you sell, who your customers are and what you want the website to do. Ask for a free quote and a no-obligation review of your current site, and we will recommend the option that fits.
