Pricing
What a website actually costs
Last updated: July 2026 · All prices in Canadian dollars
Most web design companies answer this question with a range and a "contact us for a quote". Here are the actual numbers. A one-page site is $450. A multi-page site starts at $950. A larger build starts at $1,650. There is a one-time $250 setup fee, and hosting runs $15 a month. Nothing on this page changes depending on how your business looks on a phone call.
Build prices
Every build is custom designed for your business. None of these are templates with your logo dropped in.
| Package | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Spark | A single scrolling page: services, hours, contact, click-to-call and a map. Enough for most trades, shops and single-location services. | $450 |
| Core | Up to five pages with a gallery, service detail and a contact form. The usual choice for a growing local business. | from $950 |
| Plus | Six to ten pages, including individual service and landing pages, gallery, FAQ and about. | from $1,650 |
| Setup | One time, at the start. Domain, business email, secure hosting, SSL, going live, and your Google Business Profile claimed and configured. | $250 |
So the realistic all-in figure to get a small business online properly is $700 for a one-page site or $1,200 for a five-page site, then $15 a month.
Monthly plans and edits
A website has to live somewhere, so hosting is the one ongoing cost nobody can avoid. The edit plans are optional.
| Plan | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Live, secure, monitored and backed up. Edits are pay-as-you-go. | $15/mo |
| Standard | Hosting plus two major edits every month. | $39/mo |
| Pro | Hosting plus five major edits every month. | $79/mo |
| Single edit | One change, no plan. Send a message describing it. | $20 |
| 3-pack of edits | Three edits to use whenever you need them. They do not expire. | $50 |
| 6-pack of edits | Six edits to use whenever you need them. They do not expire. | $100 |
| New page | An extra page added to a site that is already live. | $125 |
| Small tweaks | Hours, a phone number, a price correction, a typo. On any plan. | free |
An edit pack works out to about $16.67 an edit instead of $20, and the edits do not expire, so it is the cheaper option for anyone who changes their site a few times a year without needing a monthly plan. If you rarely change your site at all, stay on the $15 plan and pay per edit. Paying $39 a month for two edits you never use costs you more than the edits would, and we will tell you that rather than sell you the bigger plan.
What every build includes
These are not add-ons and they are not billed separately.
- A custom design built around your business, not a stock template
- Mobile first, because most of your customers will never see it on a desktop
- Your domain registered or transferred and pointed correctly
- Business email on your own domain, instead of a personal address
- Secure hosting with SSL and automatic backups
- Basic SEO: titles, descriptions, structured data, sitemap and clean markup
- Your Google Business Profile claimed and set up, which for most local businesses drives more calls than the website does
- One round of changes during the build, included
What gets quoted instead
Some things genuinely cannot carry a published price, and pretending otherwise would just mean a number that changes the moment we talk.
- Online stores: product count, payment setup, shipping rules and tax handling all move the number
- Booking and appointment systems: depends entirely on how your calendar and staff work
- Customer logins and dashboards: needs a real conversation about what sits behind the login
Tell us what you have in mind and you get a firm price before any work starts. No discovery fee, no hourly meter.
How this compares to the rest of the market
Website pricing in Alberta sorts into four tiers. It is worth knowing which one you are actually shopping in, because the tier explains the price far more than the quality does.
| Tier | Typical cost | What you are paying for |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | $25 to $60/mo | Software. You are the designer, the copywriter and the support desk. |
| Freelance or small shop | $600 to $3,000 | One person building the site. Where SDS Direct sits. |
| Mid-market studio | $5,000 to $15,000 | A small team, a discovery phase and a project manager. |
| Full agency | $20,000 and up | Strategy, brand work, account management and ongoing campaigns. |
None of these tiers is wrong. A national brand with fifteen stakeholders needs the agency. A local business that needs a clear, fast, mobile-friendly site is paying for structure it will never use. The reason a quote comes back at $6,000 is usually overhead, not craft.
The ongoing costs nobody mentions up front
A build price is not the whole story anywhere, so here is the rest of it.
- Domain renewal: covered by your plan while we manage it
- Hosting: the $15 a month, no separate hosting invoice
- SSL certificate: included, not a line item
- Backups and security updates: included
- Business email: set up during onboarding
- Edits: free for small tweaks, from $20 otherwise, or bundled into a plan
Your content, photos and brand stay yours. We manage the domain, hosting and deployment as part of the service, and if your needs change we walk you through the options rather than holding anything hostage.
Working with a local business
SDS Direct is based in Airdrie, Alberta and works throughout the Calgary area, including Airdrie, Calgary, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks, High River and the surrounding communities.
It also works with local businesses right across Canada. Everything runs by phone, email and a short intake form, so the published prices are the same whether you are ten minutes up the QEII or on the other side of the country. There is no travel cost to pass on and no reason to charge a business in one province differently from another.
You deal with one person the whole way through, not a call centre and not a rotating account manager.
Questions about the price
What is the cheapest way to get a real website?
A one-page site at $450 plus the one-time $250 setup, so $700 to be online with a custom design, your own domain, business email and secure hosting. After that the only fixed cost is $15 a month. Most customers want three things from a small business site: what you do, where you are, and how to reach you.
Why is there a $250 setup fee on top of the build price?
It covers the work around the website rather than on it: registering or transferring your domain, setting up business email on that domain, configuring secure hosting and SSL, taking the site live, and claiming and configuring your Google Business Profile. Charged once, at the start, never again.
Do I have to take a monthly plan?
You need hosting, since a website has to live somewhere, and that is $15 a month. Standard and Pro are optional and only worth it if you change your site regularly. Otherwise stay on hosting and pay per edit, either $20 at a time or as a 3-pack or 6-pack that works out cheaper and does not expire.
What if I only need one change a year?
Then an edit plan is the wrong product and we will say so. Stay on the $15 plan and pay the $20 when the change comes up.
Is the price different outside Airdrie and Calgary?
No. The published prices apply anywhere in Canada. The work is handled remotely, so there is no travel cost to pass on.
Why do other quotes come back so much higher?
Mostly overhead and scope. Studios and agencies carry account managers, project managers and separate designers and developers, and price a discovery phase and revision rounds into the quote. That is worth paying for on a large project and wasted on a five-page local business site.
What is not included in these prices?
Online stores, booking systems and customer logins are quoted per project. Paid advertising and ongoing SEO campaigns are not part of a build. Everything else, including domain, business email, hosting, backups, basic SEO and Google Business Profile setup, is covered.
Ready to start?
Tell us what your business does and which package looks right. You get a plan and a firm price back, usually the same day, and nothing is charged until you agree to it.
Get started →Prefer to see the work first? The demo gallery shows the range of formats we build.