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Is this website quote fair?
Answer fourteen questions from the quote you are holding. You get where the price sits against our published price list, the terms that put you at risk, and five questions to ask before you pay. No email needed.
Answer from your quote
Enter the quoted price and answer the questions and your reading appears here.
With JavaScript off, the fixed price list, the red-flag table and the questions to ask are all written out below. Read them against your quote.
The only benchmark
What are our fixed prices for the same scope?
The price check compares your quote with these four brackets, the same figures as the published price list. It is one studio's written price, not a market average. The row your scope lands in is marked as you answer.
| Bracket | Price (CAD) | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $999 | A polished, single-purpose site to plant your flag online — fast and affordably. |
| Launch | $2,400 | A sharp, fast site to get you online and converting. |
| Growth | $4,900 | The sweet spot — a bigger site built to scale with you. |
| Signature | $9,900+ | A one-off flagship build with everything turned on. |
How do I know if a website quote is fair?
Look at two things separately: the price and the terms. The price tells you what you pay once. The terms tell you what you are tied to afterwards. A cheap quote with the domain in the agency's name and a 24-month contract can cost you more than an expensive one where you own everything and can leave on a month's notice.
For the price, the only honest comparison is against a written price for the same scope. This tool scores your scope in the way our own calculators do (pages, design depth, e-commerce and whether you edit the site yourself), picks the fixed DevShutter bracket that scope falls in, and shows how far your quote is from it. That is one studio's published price list, not a market average, and we do not claim to know what every agency charges. A quote far above ours is a reason to ask for line items. A quote far below ours is a reason to ask what has been left out.
For the terms, check who owns each thing you will depend on after launch: the domain, the hosting account, the design and code, and the login to edit. If the answer to any of them is the agency, you are renting your own website.
Website quote red flags
Each row is a fact you can check on the quote or contract. Red rows put something you rely on in the agency's hands. Check rows are not proof of a problem, but they need an answer in writing before you sign.
| Flag | Why it matters | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Red flag The domain is registered in the agency's name | The registrant controls the address. If you part ways, they can refuse to hand it over or charge you for it, and your site, email and search history sit behind it. | Will the domain be registered in my name, with me as registrant, and can you send me the login today? |
| Red flag Hosting is on the agency's account and can't be moved | A site you cannot move is a site you cannot leave. Your only choice when the price rises is to pay it. | Whose account is the hosting on, and how do I move the site to another host if I leave? What does that cost? |
| Red flag The agency keeps ownership of the design and code | Without a written transfer you may only be licensed to use a site you paid for, and a new developer may not be allowed to touch it. | After I pay in full, do I own the design, code and content files outright, and where does the contract say so? |
| Red flag 100% is due before work starts | You have paid for everything and hold nothing. If the work is late or poor, you have no leverage left. | Can payment be split into stages tied to work I can see, instead of all before work starts? |
| Red flag A 24-month or longer lock-in | Two years is a long time to be tied to any supplier, and the fee keeps running even if the service is poor. | What happens if I cancel before the term ends? Is there an exit fee, and is it written in the contract? |
| Check An unnamed "SEO package" | A package with no named tasks cannot be checked. You will not be able to tell whether the work happened. | Which SEO tasks are in the price, how many per month, and what report will I get? |
| Check A monthly fee with no stated cover | A recurring charge that does not say what it buys is hard to cancel and easy to raise. | What exactly does the monthly fee cover: hosting, updates, backups, hours of changes? What happens to unused hours? |
| Check Only the agency can edit the site | Every price change, new photo or typo becomes a request to them, and often a bill. | Can I edit text and images myself without paying you, and will you show me how? |
| Check The price is far under our fixed price for the same scope | A price well under a written price for the same scope usually means something is left out, or is charged for later. | What is not in this price: copywriting, photos, forms, revisions, e-commerce set-up? |
| Check The price is about twice our fixed price or more | It may buy work ours does not, or it may not. You cannot tell without line items. | Can you break the price into line items so I can see what drives it? |
What should a website quote include?
A quote you can compare has the number of pages, whether the design is a template or drawn from scratch, what the site can do (forms, booking, checkout), who writes the words and supplies the photos, how many rounds of changes are included, and a launch date. If any of those is missing, the price is a guess, and the gap tends to come back later as an extra invoice.
It should also say what happens after launch. Who registers and renews the domain, whose account the hosting is on, what a monthly fee covers line by line, how you get your files if you leave, and who owns the design and code once you have paid. These lines cost the agency nothing to write down, so a quote that leaves them out is asking you to trust rather than check.
SEO is the line most often left vague. "SEO package" is not a deliverable. A deliverable is named: pages to be written, technical fixes, a monthly report, a number of hours. If you cannot tell afterwards whether it was done, you cannot tell whether you paid for it.
Questions to ask a web designer before signing
Ask these in writing and keep the answers with the quote. The tool above picks the five that matter most for your answers.
- Will the domain be registered in my name, with me as registrant, and can you send me the login today?
- Whose account is the hosting on, and how do I move the site to another host if I leave? What does that cost?
- After I pay in full, do I own the design, code and content files outright, and where does the contract say so?
- Can payment be split into stages tied to work I can see, instead of all before work starts?
- What happens if I cancel before the term ends? Is there an exit fee, and is it written in the contract?
- Which SEO tasks are in the price, how many per month, and what report will I get?
- What exactly does the monthly fee cover: hosting, updates, backups, hours of changes? What happens to unused hours?
- Can I edit text and images myself without paying you, and will you show me how?
- What is not in this price: copywriting, photos, forms, revisions, e-commerce set-up?
- Can you break the price into line items so I can see what drives it?
- How many rounds of changes are included, and what does an extra round cost?
- Who writes the page text and finds the photos, and what happens if I send them late?
- What is the launch date, and does the price change if it slips?
- After launch, who fixes it if something breaks, how fast, and at what price?
- If I leave, what do I get handed over: files, logins, and a copy of the site, and how long does it take?
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