I’m glad you asked this question, and the answer is simple, it depends on what you want. How much does a WordPress website cost in 2020? I have to make a few assumptions to answer the question in a way that is helpful to you, but the following article is a guideline, based on 2 common scenarios. I have developed websites both public-facing and internal corporate web application frameworks that vary from free to several hundred thousand Rands. This article refers to public-facing websites, using WordPress as a content management system (CMS). If you are not sure that WordPress websites are for you, please read my article – “Why choose a WordPress website vs an HTML custom coded website?” before this one.

I am going to give you an estimate of what a WordPress website would cost in 2020 based on the following 2 scenarios:

1. A website for a small business or guesthouse (no E-Commerce).
2. An E-Commerce website and online store for a small company with up to 20 initial physical products.

The following assumptions are being made:

• Branding, draft copywriting and identity are already established by the client and don’t form part of these estimates.
• All Social Media accounts are set up and branded.
• All video assets are already produced, edited and rendered.
• Product photos have been supplied.
• Several cost elements are linked to the US Dollar exchange rate and subject to change accordingly.
• Most options specified have several variations that can significantly affect the price. I have tried to keep the price in the middle of the pricing range without compromising quality.
• I have not included the use of some professional versions of plugins. These typically carry an annual cost.
• I have not included CDN content distribution pricing in the scenarios.

Annual Hosting Costs:

Domain Name Registration for a non-premium .com domain (annual fee)	R 300	$ 19
SSL Certificate (annual fee)	R 700	$ 44
Professional Hosting Service (annual fee) – includes email, FTP, Databases, IP address	R 4,000	$ 250
TOTAL:	R 5,000	$ 313
Optional Annual Maintenance Fee (monitoring security logs, and component updates on a monthly basis)	R2,400	$150

There are cheaper hosting options available, but this is the recommended configuration for a professional business WordPress website. I recommend the annual maintenance fee to all clients, as this is a key to keeping the site stable and keeping hackers out. See my article – “Why choose a WordPress website vs an HTML custom coded website?” where I discuss some of the keys to successful WordPress websites – good hosting is one of them. If you are looking to manage your own hosting, I recommend you make sure you have a good security strategy. I offer managed hosting and handle the technical, hosting maintenance and security details for you.

A WordPress website for a small business or guesthouse

This scenario is for a small business or guesthouse requiring a basic website presence. It would include the following standard pages: Home, About us, Contact, Thank You, Terms of Use, Privacy. A small business would have 4 to 5 other pages including details of their Products or Services pages. A guesthouse would have Accommodation, Facilities, Rates, Gallery and Booking Enquiry pages. I have excluded landing pages and further detail pages for clarity. I have included an average amount of image optimisation. Sourcing images and optimising them for a website is a key step that needs to be done SEO, site performance and user experience. I have found that most clients need this service, and just supply raw images. I include some basic post-processing in Photoshop where needed.

WordPress Site Set-Up and Configuration – Base Plugins, Security, SSL, Email & Accounts	R 1,500	$ 94
Professional Theme (some themes require annual fees for updates)	R 800	$ 50
Theme configuration and branding set-up, including Home, About us, Contact, Thank you, Terms, Privacy pages	R 2,400	$ 150
4 to 5 Additional Pages – Products/Services or Accommodation, Facilities, Rates, Booking Enquiries.	R 1,200	$ 75
Stock Image Sourcing and Optimisation (excluding image licensing fee where applicable)	R 800	$ 50
Supplied Image Optimisation	R 800	$ 50
SEO Optimisation	R 1,000	$ 63
TOTAL:	R 8,500	$ 532

Some projects require copywriting, branding, Social Media set-up, video production and marketing services in addition to the above line items. Anchorage Guesthouse is an example site you can view here.