WordPress Plans and Pricing: How Much Does a WordPress Website Cost in India? (2026 Guide)

On this page

1. Is WordPress free? WordPress pricing and plans explained
2. WordPress.com plans vs WordPress.org: which pricing applies to you?
3. The one-time and yearly costs
4. Typical price ranges by type of website
5. Examples: where different sites usually land
6. What makes a website cost more?
7. Why quotes vary so much
8. How to get an accurate quote
9. How to keep the cost down without cutting corners
10. The running costs after launch: a yearly ledger
11. Quick check: what will you pay at renewal?
12. When to get help
13. FAQs

WordPress plans are the paid hosting tiers sold by WordPress.com, but most Indian business websites don't need one: the WordPress.org software is free, and what you actually pay for is a domain, hosting and the build. For most small businesses in India, that means roughly ₹15,000 to ₹40,000 to build a professional WordPress website, plus a few thousand rupees a year for domain and hosting.

Short answer: A WordPress website in India usually costs about ₹15,000 to ₹40,000 to build for a small business, more for catalogues, bookings or WooCommerce stores. WordPress.org itself is free. Yearly running costs are the domain, hosting and optional maintenance, so compare renewal prices, not first-year offers, and ask for a fixed written quote.

Is WordPress free? WordPress pricing and plans explained

The WordPress software itself (from WordPress.org) is free and open source: there's no licence fee to use it, however big your site gets. What you pay for is everything around it:

• A domain name (your web address), renewed every year
• Hosting (the server your site lives on), usually paid yearly
• Design and development, the time someone spends building the site
• Optional premium themes and plugins, many with yearly licences
• Ongoing maintenance, whether you do it yourself or pay someone

Don't confuse this with WordPress.com, a hosted service with its own paid plans. If these terms are new, see domain, hosting and SSL explained.

Related: how long a WordPress website takes to build.

WordPress.com plans vs WordPress.org: which pricing applies to you?

"WordPress plans" usually means WordPress.com, a hosted service where the plan decides what you can do. WordPress.org is the free software you install on any hosting. At the time of writing, the differences that matter are:

	WordPress.com plans	WordPress.org on your own hosting
Software cost	Included in the plan	Free
What you pay for	A monthly or yearly plan	Domain, hosting and the build
Custom domain	On paid plans	Always
Installing any plugin or theme	Only on higher plans	Always
Online store	On the commerce-level plans	WooCommerce, free plugin
Moving host later	Possible, with an export	Full control of files and database

Plan names and prices change, so check WordPress.com's pricing page. The free plan suits a personal blog; a business needing payment gateways, enquiry forms and full SEO control usually ends up on a higher plan or on WordPress.org. The rest of this guide covers the WordPress.org route. Moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org later is a routine migration.

The one-time and yearly costs

Item	Typical cost	How often
Domain name (.com / .in)	₹500 – ₹1,200	Yearly
Hosting (shared / managed)	₹2,500 – ₹15,000	Yearly
Premium theme or Elementor Pro	₹0 – ₹6,000	Yearly (optional)
Design & development	₹10,000 – ₹1,00,000+	One-time
Maintenance & updates	₹1,500 – ₹6,000	Monthly (optional)

Most of your budget goes into design and development: the time spent planning, building, testing and launching.

What the one-time cost covers

• Planning the pages, structure and features with you
• Design, either adapting a theme or building from a custom design
• Building and testing every page on phones, tablets and desktops
• Setting up forms, WhatsApp buttons, maps, payments or bookings
• Basic SEO setup, speed optimisation and security hardening
• Launch: connecting the domain, SSL, backups and a short handover

Ask what each quote includes from this list.

Typical price ranges by type of website

These are typical freelance market ranges in India. Agencies usually charge more; very cheap offers often cut corners on speed, security or mobile design.

• Landing page (1 page): ₹5,000 – ₹15,000. Ideal for ad campaigns or a single product or service.
• Small business website (5–8 pages): ₹15,000 – ₹40,000. Home, about, services, gallery, contact, with a mobile-friendly design.
• Larger business or B2B website: ₹35,000 – ₹80,000. Product catalogues, many service pages, brochures and quote forms.
• WooCommerce online store: ₹30,000 – ₹90,000+. Products, payment gateway, shipping, order emails and coupons.
• Custom features: booking systems, memberships, multilingual sites or custom integrations add to the cost based on complexity.

Planning an online store? See what affects the cost of an e-commerce website in India for platform, payment, shipping and running-cost factors.

Examples: where different sites usually land

Examples, not quotes:

• A consultant or CA firm with five pages, a contact form and WhatsApp button on a good theme: towards the lower end of the small business range.
• A clinic with a page per treatment, doctor profiles and online appointment requests: higher in the small business range, because booking needs setting up and testing.
• A manufacturer with a product catalogue, downloadable brochures and quote forms: the larger business range; the number of templates and how much product data needs entering matter most.
• A clothing store with sizes and colours, cash on delivery, shipping zones and GST invoices: the WooCommerce range, moving higher with many variations, custom features or a large product upload.
• A single landing page for an ad campaign: the landing page range, depending on design work and tracking needs (see landing page cost factors).

What makes a website cost more?

1. Number of pages and templates

Each unique page layout takes design and build time. Twenty service pages sharing one template cost far less than twenty completely different designs.

2. Custom design vs a ready-made theme

Adapting a good theme is quicker and cheaper. A fully custom design built from Figma takes longer but gives you a unique look.

3. Features and integrations

Online payments, appointment booking, CRM integration, multiple languages and product filters all add development and testing time.

4. Content

If you provide finished text and good photos, the project moves faster. Content writing, photo editing or product uploads are usually charged separately.

5. Speed and SEO work

Caching, compressed images, schema and clean structure take more effort than a basic build, but pay back in rankings and enquiries.

6. Who builds it

Freelancers, small studios and larger agencies have different overheads, processes and levels of support, and price accordingly. See freelancer vs agency for the trade-offs.

7. Deadline and support

A rushed deadline means rearranging other work, and some quotes include post-launch support or training while others don't. Both affect the price.

Running a service business? See whether you should show prices on your website.

Why quotes vary so much

Quotes far apart usually aren't for the same thing: one includes content entry, speed work, SEO setup and a month of support; another is a theme with your logo. Very cheap sites skip work you don't see, such as backups, security and mobile testing, and those gaps cost more to fix later. See the real risks of very cheap websites.

How to get an accurate quote

To get a fixed, accurate quote from any developer, share:

1. The pages you need (a simple list is fine)
2. 2–3 websites you like the look of
3. Features you need: forms, payments, booking, WhatsApp, blog
4. Whether you have content and photos ready
5. Your deadline and budget range

Use the website brief template so every developer quotes on the same scope.

Got several quotes? See how to compare website quotes, and agree fair payment terms and milestones before work starts.

How to keep the cost down without cutting corners

• Start with the pages you really need and add more later
• Use a well-supported theme instead of a fully custom design if a unique look isn't essential
• Have your text and photos ready before the project starts
• Add advanced features in a second phase, once the site is bringing in enquiries
• Choose hosting on its renewal price and support, not just the first-year offer
• Avoid paying for premium plugins that duplicate features you already have

The running costs after launch: a yearly ledger

The build quote is only the first-year bill, and most surprises come from lines nobody wrote down. Before you accept any quote, list these and decide who pays for each (see also website maintenance cost in India):

• Domain and hosting renewals. The first year is often discounted, and renewal can cost 2–3× more. Ask for the renewal price.
• Licences you may not know you have. Premium themes, page builders, form, backup and security plugins usually carry yearly licences. Plugins stop getting updates if the licence lapses, so ask for licences in your name.
• Business email. Usually charged per user per month, so it grows with your team.
• SSL. Most hosts include a free certificate now. If a quote charges a yearly SSL fee, ask why.
• Content. New photos, page updates, blog posts and translations are ongoing work, not a one-time job.
• Getting visitors. A site does not bring enquiries on its own. SEO, Google Ads or social campaigns are a separate budget.
• Payments. If you take money online, Razorpay, PayU and similar gateways charge a fee on each transaction, plus GST on that fee.

Costs that only appear when something goes wrong

A hacked site, a broken update or a lapsed domain can each cost more than a year of maintenance. Keep domain, hosting and licences in your own accounts, turn on auto-renew and keep off-site backups.

Questions to ask before you accept a website quote

• Which yearly renewals will I pay after the first year, and roughly how much?
• Are the theme and plugin licences in my name?
• Who owns the domain, hosting and admin logins?
• What happens, and what does it cost, if I need changes after launch?
• Is maintenance included, optional, or not offered?

Quick check: what will you pay at renewal?

Two five-minute checks before you compare quotes:

1. Domain: run whois yourdomain.in in a terminal (or use your registrar's lookup page) and note the registrar and the expiry date. If the domain sits in a past developer's account rather than yours, fix that before anything else.
2. Hosting: in your hosting panel, open the billing or services page and read the renewal price for your plan, not the first-term offer. Renewal is the number to budget every year.

A quote that leaves out renewals is not the full cost of the website.

When to get help

Get help when the site has to bring in enquiries or sales, when you need payments, bookings or a store, or when you want a fixed price instead of an open-ended hourly bill. Through WordPress website development you send your page list, a few sites you like and the features you need, and get a written scope and a fixed quote with the domain, hosting and licences in your own name. For a store, see WooCommerce development.

FAQs

What is the WordPress website cost in India for a small business?

For a small business site of around five to ten pages built on a good theme, expect roughly ₹15,000 to ₹40,000 for the build, plus a few thousand rupees a year for domain and hosting. Stores and custom features cost more.

How much does a WordPress domain cost in India?

A .com or .in domain usually costs about ₹500 to ₹1,200 a year, depending on the registrar and any first-year offer. Check the renewal price, and register the domain in your business's name so you always control it.

What are WordPress plans, and do I need one?

WordPress plans are WordPress.com's hosted tiers. A business site built on the free WordPress.org software does not need them: you pay for a domain, hosting and the build instead, as in the tables above.

How much is WordPress, and how much does a WordPress website cost in India?

The WordPress.org software is free; the website cost depends on the type of site. Most small business websites fall in the small business range shown above; landing pages cost less, and larger business sites and WooCommerce stores cost more. A clear brief gets you an exact figure.

What is the yearly cost of a WordPress website?

Domain and hosting renewals, plus any premium licences and, optionally, a maintenance plan. The table above shows typical ranges.

Does WooCommerce cost extra?

The WooCommerce plugin is free, but a store takes more work to build than a brochure site: products, payments, shipping, taxes and order emails all need setting up and testing. Payment gateways charge transaction fees and some extensions have yearly licences, so check current terms with each provider.

Is maintenance really necessary?

It's optional, but someone needs to update WordPress, plugins and themes, take backups and check the site regularly. If you don't do it yourself, a maintenance plan usually costs far less than cleaning up a hacked or broken site.