What a business website actually costs in Switzerland.
Four ways Swiss businesses get a website built, what each one really costs in year one and year two, and the costs that don't show up on the invoice.
“In Switzerland, a custom business website typically costs between CHF 0 (DIY) and CHF 10'000+ (traditional agency) in year one, with year-two hosting and maintenance often adding CHF 1'000-1'500 even after the site is built. Antechway.ch's CHF 990/year subscription includes design, build, hosting and updates in one fixed annual fee, with no separate year-two cost.”
Updated 2026
Four ways to get a website built, and what they cost.
Most Swiss businesses end up choosing between four routes: build it yourself on a platform like Wix or Squarespace, hire a freelance designer, brief a traditional agency, or subscribe to a studio that bundles the whole thing into one annual fee. Each has a real cost — the question is whether that cost is visible on day one or spread out afterwards.
A DIY build on Squarespace or Wix costs close to CHF 0 upfront, plus your own time and a monthly platform fee once you're on a paid plan. A freelance designer, or a Squarespace-plus-designer combination, is a common middle path, and typically lands around CHF 4'500-5'000 in year one once design time and the platform subscription are added up. A traditional agency, briefed for a custom design and build, commonly quotes CHF 8'000-10'000 for a first project of this size, before ongoing hosting or maintenance.
The invoice you don't see until month thirteen.
The sticker price on a website quote is rarely the full story. Hosting, domain renewal, a maintenance retainer, and even small text or price updates are, on many projects, billed separately once the initial build is finished — and that second invoice is the one people forget to budget for.
Before you sign anything, it's worth asking four direct questions: what does hosting cost in year two? Is there a maintenance retainer, and what's the hourly rate for anything outside it? Are small content edits — a new opening hour, a changed price — billed per request? And is the year-two renewal price written down anywhere, or decided later?
If a quote says ‘all-inclusive’, it should list what that means.
"All-inclusive" is one of the most overused words in web design quotes. On our own CHF 990/year plan, it means eleven specific, named things: a custom design system, up to six pages, two languages at launch, hosting and a domain, up to three professional email inboxes, Google Analytics and Search Console set up at launch, an nLPD/GDPR-compliant cookie banner and privacy policy, unlimited small edits, a quarterly performance and security review, and the same CHF 990 renewal price the following year, guaranteed in writing.
- Custom design system
- Up to 6 pages
- 2 languages at launch
- Hosting + domain
- Up to 3 email inboxes
- Analytics + Search Console set up
- nLPD/GDPR compliance
- Unlimited small edits
- Quarterly review
- Same renewal price, in writing
Why we price the base offer at CHF 990 a year, not a one-off fee.
A website is not finished on the day it launches. Browsers update, opening hours change, a menu item gets discontinued, a new dentist joins the practice. A subscription means the site stays fast, patched and editable for as long as you use it — and it lets us charge a sane number on day one instead of a frightening one, and the same sane number again next year, in writing.
It isn't the right shape for every project. If you need e-commerce, a web app, or a 25-page brand site, a scoped, fixed-price custom engagement is the better fit — see how the two compare on our pricing page.
Questions about costs and quotes.
01Is CHF 990/year actually the total cost, or are there extras?
02Does the price go up in year two?
03Is a cheaper DIY build (Wix, Squarespace) actually cheaper?
04What does a traditional agency typically charge?
05How do I compare quotes properly?
Two paragraphs, one written quote, twenty-four hours.
Tell us about the project in plain words. You will get a fixed-price quote — or a polite, fast no — within one working day.