How do you compare website quotes that look wildly different?

It is a situation we hear about often from owners of established businesses across the South West. You have asked two or three suppliers to quote for a new website. One figure seems almost too good to be true, one sits in the middle, and one is several times the price of the first. Each document is laid out differently and lists different things.

So which one is right?

The honest answer is that the price on its own tells you very little. Quotes that look wildly different are often quoting for different projects. Once you line them up properly, the gap usually makes more sense, and sometimes the cheapest quote turns out to be exactly what you need.

Why website quotes vary so much

"A website" can mean anything from a ready-made template with your logo and text dropped in, to a carefully planned site connected to the systems your team uses every day. Both are legitimate. They are just different things.

Most of the difference between quotes comes from three places:

• What is included. Planning, copywriting, photography, integrations, training and aftercare can all be included, left out or quietly assumed to be your job.
• How much is done for you. Some suppliers expect you to provide finished content and make decisions on your own. Others guide you through it.
• What happens after launch. Hosting, updates, support and changes can be built in, charged separately, or not offered at all.

Two quotes can share the same headline, "new five-page website", and describe very different amounts of work.

The side-by-side comparison checklist

Put each quote in its own column and work down these areas. Where a quote doesn't mention something, write "not stated" rather than guessing. Those gaps are often the most revealing part of the exercise.

1. Discovery and planning

Is there a planning stage before design starts, covering who the site is for, the page structure and what should happen to enquiries? Or does the work start straight away from a template? Neither is automatically wrong, but planning is often where a site that looks nice and a site that works part company.

2. Content: who writes it?

This is one of the most common hidden gaps. Does the quote include writing or editing the copy, or does it assume you will supply every word, ready to go? Who sources the images? If you are providing content, is there a deadline, and what happens to the timeline if it slips?

3. Design approach

Is the design based on an existing theme or template, adapted from one, or created for your business? How many rounds of changes are included? Will you see designs for key pages before the build starts, or only once the site is built?

4. Build and platform

Which platform will the site be built on, and why? Will you be able to edit pages yourself, and how easily? Are there ongoing licence or subscription costs for the platform, theme or plugins, and who pays them?

5. Ownership: domain, hosting, code and accounts

This is the area most worth pinning down in writing. Ask:

• Is the domain registered in your business's name, and will you have the login?
• Who holds the hosting account, and can you move it later if you want to?
• Do you own the finished site and its content, or is it licensed to you while you keep paying?
• Will you have admin access to the website, analytics and any connected tools?

A low monthly fee that comes with no ownership can turn out to be more expensive than it looks if you ever want to leave.

6. Forms and where enquiries go

What happens when someone fills in a form? Does it simply send an email, and to which address? Is there a confirmation for the person enquiring? Is the form linked to a clear privacy notice? Under UK GDPR, the ICO's guidance says you must provide privacy information to people at the time you collect their personal data, so it is worth knowing whether the supplier will set this up or expects you to.

7. Integrations

Does the quote connect the website to anything else, such as a CRM, booking calendar, email marketing or job management tool? If so, which connections, and who maintains them if something changes? If not, would you need them? Our guide on what should connect to your website, and what shouldn't can help you decide before you pay for connections you may not need.

8. SEO basics and redirects

Does the quote cover page titles, descriptions, headings and a sensible structure? If you are replacing an existing site, does it include redirects from your old page addresses to the new ones? Google's own guidance on moving a site with URL changes recommends permanent (301) redirects from old URLs to their new equivalents. It is easy to leave out of a quote and awkward to fix after launch.

9. Accessibility

Does the supplier say how they approach accessibility, such as readable contrast, keyboard navigation, image descriptions and clear form labels? If they mention a standard, which one? WCAG 2.2 is the latest version of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. You don't need to become an expert, but a supplier should be able to explain plainly what they will and won't check.

10. Training and handover

Will someone show your team how to update the site, and will you receive logins, documentation and a list of the accounts involved? A site you can't confidently edit tends to fall out of date quickly.

11. Aftercare and support terms

Is there a period after launch for fixing problems? Who handles updates, security and backups, and at what cost? How quickly will they respond if something breaks, is that written down, and is there a minimum contract term?

12. Payment stages

How is payment split, and what triggers each stage? What extra costs are likely, such as additional pages or third-party subscriptions, and how are they priced? Clear stages linked to visible progress protect both sides.

Questions to ask every supplier

Send each supplier the same short list. How clearly they answer will tell you a lot.

1. What exactly is included, and what is not included that we might assume is?
2. Who writes the content, and what do you need from us, by when?
3. Will we own the domain, the site and its content, and hold the logins to every account?
4. Where will form enquiries go, and what happens to them after that?
5. If we are replacing an existing site, how will you handle redirects from old pages?
6. How do you approach accessibility, and what do you check before launch?
7. What training and handover documents will we receive?
8. What does aftercare cover, what does it cost, and what are the terms for leaving?
9. How are payments staged, and what could cause the price to change?

A worked example (hypothetical)

The following is an invented scenario, not a real business or real quotes. All figures are illustrative only.

Imagine a long-established firm of chartered surveyors in Devon, with a dated site and enquiries that arrive by email and get tracked in a spreadsheet. The owner has three quotes:

• Quote A: £1,950 (illustrative). A template site built on a popular website builder. Five pages, the client supplies all text and images, one round of changes, no redirects mentioned. Hosting is on the builder's monthly plan, in the client's own name. A one-hour training call is included. No aftercare beyond that.
• Quote B: £6,800 (illustrative). A planning workshop, adapted design, copy editing on the client's drafts, redirects from the old site, basic SEO setup, forms sent to a shared inbox with a confirmation email, training and a short documented handover. Optional monthly support listed separately.
• Quote C: £15,500 (illustrative). Everything in B, plus a fully custom design, professional copywriting for all pages, forms connected to a CRM with automatic follow-up reminders, accessibility checks before launch and a defined aftercare period.

On price alone, A looks like the obvious choice and C looks excessive. Side by side, they are three different projects: A assumes the owner writes everything and manages the site alone, while C includes a lead system the firm may or may not need.

The right answer depends on the business. If the main problem is that the site looks old and the team is happy writing its own content, A might be perfectly sensible, provided the old pages are redirected (worth asking for or doing yourself). If enquiries regularly slip through and several people share them, the extra work in C starts to make sense. B might be the right middle ground. The point is that the comparison is now about what the business needs, not just the number at the bottom.

When the cheaper quote is the right choice

A cheaper quote is not automatically a worse one. It may well be the right decision if:

• you need a simple brochure site with no systems behind it
• you are comfortable writing your own content and keeping it up to date
• a well-chosen template suits your business and you can maintain it yourself
• enquiries are manageable and already handled well by email
• the ownership, redirects and support terms are clear and acceptable

Not every business needs a planned, connected build. Paying for things you won't use is not good value, whoever you buy from. If you are unsure whether your current site needs light changes or something deeper, our guide to whether a refresh is enough or you need a rebuild is a useful place to start.

When the higher quote may be worth it

The more involved option tends to earn its place when the website has to do more of the work: when it needs to reflect a business that has grown and now looks smaller online than it really is, when enquiries need to reach the right person reliably, or when the site has to connect properly to how the team handles leads. In those cases, the planning, content and integration work is often the part that makes the difference.

A sensible next step

At Westward Digital, we build websites and connected lead systems for established businesses across Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Bristol, and Bath & North East Somerset. Marcus plans the work directly, and before a full build we offer Digital Discovery, a planning stage that pins down what should be built and what can wait. Projects start from £4,500, and we will tell you plainly if a simpler option elsewhere would suit you better.

If you have quotes in hand and can't tell what separates them, send us your quotes or brief, or book a Digital Discovery conversation, and we will help you compare like with like.