Are you looking to build a website but don’t know where to start? Not everyone has enough technical expertise or understanding to know how to build a website nor do they understand the true costs of building one. Add to that the availability of grants in Singapore for any local business to request for help with building their website and it’s absolutely essential that you are very careful about the budget that you set for your site.
So, how much does it cost to get a website designed and built in Singapore? Much will depend on what you want and where you go to get it; whether you choose to do it yourself or employ an agency, but this will provide you with a thorough overview of what you can expect to pay, taking into account the work that is required. To start with, there are several factors that will determine how much your website will cost to design and develop, including:
- The size of your business, if applicable
- How many pages you want to be created for your website
- The simplicity or complexity of your website
- Whether you want to use a pre-built theme template, or you want a custom design
- Whether you need e-commerce built into the website
- Whether you need to have a back-end and user logins
- Whether you need to have a web app that has logic and database features
Everything here plays an important part in the design of your website; the next step is to break it down by website type:
1. A Website with Basic Features, for Informational Purposes
Some websites require little in the way of functionality because they are generally for information purposes only. Examples of this would be a business directory, listing details of businesses by type, or a tourism board that lists things to do and see.
Take a website for a real estate agent; it needs to have photographs of high quality, details of addresses and a description of each property for sale. It would need to list the state of the property, what amenities are available and a person to contact. A website for a lawyer would need some basic information on experience, the kind of cases they take on, legal qualifications, etc. and, for a website about food, perhaps a restaurant, a website would need to be no more than 5 pages and have details like opening times, location, menus, etc.
This kind of website would need to be no more than 10 pages and have some or all the following information:
- A blog
- A section for reviews and comments
- A contact form
- A company database login
- Opt-in form for subscription
- Bookings
- Email setup and hosting
Expect to pay anywhere between S$2,000 and S$10,000 (around $1500 to $7500 USD at the time of writing). The reason for the significant difference in pricing is because it all comes down to how much detail and how much functionality is required.
2. A Website with an E-commerce Store
Websites that contain stores are way more complicated than a standard information website and they need a lot more in the way of customization because there is more going on. Some of the features that would need to be included are:
- Logins for individual customers
- Account management to track orders, past and present, and shipping addresses, etc.
- Product section
- Images
- Information regarding products – descriptions, price, tax, shipping, etc.
- Testimonials
- Shopping cart
These are the basic additions; there may be more depending on the type of business it is.
E-commerce stores are one of the more complicated to build and, depending on how many products are being listed and on the features needed, the cost can range from S$5,000 to S$50,000 (approximately $3700 to $37500 USD). Photography costs money, as does listing each product. Add in the time factors, the person-hours needed to plan, validate and execute the work, and you can see how the costs can begin going up.
3. Community Website
These are becoming incredibly popular and everyone with their own website wants to create one. Features on these websites would include:
- Discussion pages
- Sign-up section for new accounts, including personal details and avatars
- Commenting on discussions, with the options for uploading documents or images or adding URL’s
- A possible ‘points’ system for users to rise through the ranks
A forums website could cost anywhere between S$15,000 and S$50,000 to set up (Approximately ($11,300 to $37,500 USD). However, it is worth bearing in mind that, with mediums like Facebook groups and Twitter for communication purposes, this type of website is fast dying a death.
4. A Web Application
A web application, such as Airbnb, is quite possibly the most complicated type of website to build, depending entirely on what is required on it. Not all web applications are the same; these are the different types that you might consider building:
- Marketplace Site
An incredibly lucrative type of web application, these typically have three parties involves. Amazon is a great example of a marketplace – you have the buyer, the seller, and Amazon. You would need to include functionality for multiple logins, product uploading, reviews, comparisons, etc. and it would typically cost between s$50,000 and S$300,000 (approximately $37,500 t$226,000 USD)
- Listing Site
Listing sites involve the upload of business details but all of these details, including any photographs, are to be uploaded by the business itself. You would need review features, and a system for rating businesses and that means it is vital that you have the right algorithm to put it all together and come up with the right answer. The typical cost for a website like this would be between S$20,000 and S$50,000 (approximately $15,000 to $37,500 USD)
- Custom Software
You might want to build an application of your own, like Basecamp and this would require your solution to be tailored to your exact requirements. A website like this needs to be built from the ground up; templates and standard themes are no good. All the features would need to be added in individually and this would all require an experienced programmer. A website of this kind can take many months to design and develop and would require a team, with a minimum of a manager, a back-end developer and a front-end developer. Add in the costs of design and you would be looking at a minimum of S$250,000 (approximately $190,000 USD), most likely more.
That gives you a rough idea of what it would cost for you to have a website designed and built in Singapore.
