Short answer: most Toronto business sites land between $10k–$20k CAD; e-commerce or complex builds between $25k–$70k+ CAD. Typical timelines are 8–12 weeks for service sites and 12–20 weeks for e-commerce or deeper builds.
Every project is different, but the proven formula stays consistent: clear scope, content strategy, and limited integrations, bells and whistles keep budgets lean and timelines predictable. Heavy integrations, business logic, multi-language, or custom components can push both up.
Below are honest ranges, what actually drives price, and how to plan so there are no surprises.
Website build estimates
| Project Type | Typical Scope (Examples) |
Cost Range (CAD) |
Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter service site | 5–7 pages, modern UI, basic forms, analytics | $7k–$15k | 4–8 weeks |
| Standard service site | 10–20 pages, UX/wireframes, blog, on-page SEO | $12k–$25k | 8–12 weeks |
| Redesign + migration | New IA/content, redirects, SEO-safe launch | $15k–$35k | 8–14 weeks |
| Shopify storefront | Theme + custom sections, 10–50 SKUs, key apps | $20k–$45k | 12–16 weeks |
| Shopify mid-market | Markets, subscriptions/B2B, integrations | $40k–$80k+ | 14–20 weeks |
| Headless (Contentful/AEM/React) | Design system, component library, preview, CI/CD, APIs/integrations | $50k+ | 16–24 weeks |
| Complex marketing site | 20–60+ pages, bespoke templates/sections, landing page builder, testing hooks | $50k–$75k | 14–22 weeks |
| Enterprise content platform | 50+ unique page types, advanced IA/search, roles/permissions, localization, component library | $100k+ | 20–32 weeks |
These are what we typically see around the GTA. Your exact number depends on scope, content readiness, and integrations more than anything else.
What drives price (and timeline)
Toronto or not, the same levers set the budget. The more you turn them up, the higher the cost and sometimes the ROI. Remember the 80/20 rule: 20% of features drive 80% of value. Build from your customer’s point of view.
Scope & templates
Each unique layout or component adds design, dev, and QA time
Content readiness
If we create/structure content, timelines rise, often worth it for conversions. Bring rough drafts to cut scope and cost
Integrations
Booking, CRM, subscriptions, B2B, translation workflows all add complexity
E-commerce depth
Variants, bundles, custom PDP logic, landing pages, taxes/duties, fulfillment rule
Stakeholders
More reviewers = more rounds. A single final approver keeps things moving
If you want the lower end of a range, focus the scope, keep content tight, and defer nice-to-haves to V2. We’ll lay a modular codebase so new features plug in later. Giving flexibility in both billing and scope.
Typical timelines
(so you can plan)
For a service site, 6–10 weeks is the sweet spot:
| Phase | What happens | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Align goals, scope, content, analytics | 1 week |
| Design | IA, wireframes, UI kit & key screens | 2–3 weeks |
| Build | Templates, components, CMS/theme setup | 2–4 weeks |
| QA & launch | Testing, fixes, redirects, go-live | 1–2 weeks |
| Total (typical) | 6–10 weeks |
Our take
Where the “hidden” costs live (plan for them now)
- Platform/hosting: Shopify plan + apps, or CMS server/hosting
- Content & media: Copywriting, photography, video, translations
- Maintenance: Updates, security, backups, small enhancements
How we price (simple, transparent)
Fixed scope, fixed price. We define deliverables and acceptance criteria clearly. Keep a change log for anything new that pops up. Payment is 40% to kick off, 60% at launch (milestone-based on longer builds). You always know what’s next and what it costs before we do it.
Ways to save without hurting outcomes
Trim one-off templates that aren’t as visited as your other pages. Reuse proven patterns and components instead of inventing new ones for every section. Write content in a shared doc before design starts (it accelerates everything). Ship a smaller V1, then keep a small backlog and iterate monthly. You’ll get compounding gains without stalling launch.
FAQs
What factors affect the cost of a website project?
The biggest drivers of website cost are scope and complexity. Things like number of page types, depth of UX and design, content needs, integrations, and whether we are redesigning or rebuilding from scratch all play a role.
Timeline and team also matter. A tighter deadline, more decision makers, or heavy custom development will increase effort.
Can we start with a smaller website and grow over time?
Yes. A lot of businesses start with a strong concise website that covers their core user journeys. We then layer on more pages and features once the site is live and delivering a return on investment.
We can scope a first phase that fits your current budget and timeline, then keep a clear backlog for future phases. That way you are not over committing up front, but you are also not painting yourself into a corner technically.
Does accessibility (AODA or WCAG) affect website cost?
Designing and building for AODA and WCAG 2.1 AA does add some effort, because we are following best practices for things like contrast, keyboard navigation, focus states, semantics, and forms and reviewing them more closely.
Accessibility is usually a smart investment rather than a huge cost spike. We can calibrate the level of auditing and remediation to your risk profile, industry, and legal requirements, and price that in transparently. If you need WCAG AAA level considerations in specific areas, we can scope that in as additional work and call out the extra effort and cost up front.
Will I be able to edit the site myself, or do I need to budget for every change?
You should not have to call a developer every time you want to tweak a heading. We set up CMS fields and components so your team can safely edit copy, images, and common layouts on their own.
For more structural changes or new features, it often makes sense to budget some support hours.
What ongoing costs should I expect after launch?
There are usually a few buckets: hosting and infrastructure, third party tools, and care or maintenance. For most marketing and brochure sites in Toronto, hosting and tools tend to be relatively modest compared to the build itself.
If you choose a care plan with us, we bundle updates, security, small enhancements, and basic monitoring into a predictable monthly cost.
Can you migrate our site without losing SEO value or wasting our past investment?
Yes. A big part of website cost in Toronto is the time and money you have already put into content and SEO. When we migrate or redesign, we map important URLs, set up redirects, carry over critical content, and preserve metadata where it still makes sense.
We also keep an eye on Google Search Console after launch to catch any indexing or crawl issues. The goal is to step up your experience without throwing away the equity you have already built.
Can we reuse our current brand and content to keep costs down?
Absolutely. Reusing a solid brand, logo, or content library is one of the easiest ways to lower project cost and speed up a website build.
Which CMS is most cost effective for our website?
There is no single best CMS for every Toronto business. WordPress, Shopify, headless options like Contentful, and enterprise tools like Adobe Experience Manager and Optimizely all have different benefits, cons, and costs.
What matters most is how your editors work, what you are integrating with, and how complex the site will be over time. We walk through those questions with you, then recommend a platform that balances build cost, licensing, and long term maintenance.
Do you help with website content, and how does that impact budget?
Yes. We can work with rough drafts you provide, co write key pages with you, or handle more of the content from strategy through to final copy.
Content support adds time and cost, but it usually improves conversion and SEO enough to pay for itself. If budget is tight, we can focus on the highest value pages first, such as the homepage, services, and core products.
What are your payment terms for website projects?
For most website projects we use a simple structure. Typically 40 percent to start and 60 percent at launch or final delivery.
On larger or longer builds, we can break this into more milestones that line up with key phases like strategy, design, and development.
Does a bilingual or multilingual website cost more?
Yes, supporting multiple languages does increase cost, because there is more content to design around, more templates to wire up, and more logic for things like navigation and hreflang.
For Toronto and Canadian organizations that need en CA and fr CA, or global teams that need multilingual setups, we plan this in from the start so it is scalable and intutiive rather than feeling like it's taped on.
Bottom Line
If you’re budgeting for 2026 in Toronto: plan $10k–$20k for a solid service site, $25k–$70k+ for e-commerce or complex builds, and 8–12 or 12–20 weeks respectively. Keep scope focused, content ready, and approvals tight. You’ll move faster and spend smarter.
Next step: If you’ve got a rough scope, we’ll share a range within a day and a fixed quote after a short discovery call.
Get in touchContents
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