What a small business website costs in Ottawa: 18 studios' prices
Starting prices from 18 Ottawa web design studios, read October 11, 2026: $269 to $4,997, median about $850, plus what moves a quote.
A small business website in Ottawa starts anywhere from $269 to $4,997, depending on the studio. Of the 18 Ottawa-area studios that publish a starting price, the middle one starts at about $850.
When an owner asks me what a website costs, my usual answer is anywhere from a few hundred bucks to around $8,000. True, but no help for a budget. So on October 11, 2026, I went through the pricing page of every Ottawa-area studio that posts a starting price and wrote each one down. Below is what I found, plus the questions that explain why two quotes for the same business can be thousands of dollars apart. The full list, with a link to each studio's own page, is in our guide to what 18 Ottawa studios charge.
The prices side by side
These are starting prices: the lowest figure each studio puts on its own site. A starting price is a floor, so your quote can land above it once pages, writing and extras are counted. The median means half the 18 start below it and half start above.
| What you are buying | Published starting price |
|---|---|
| Lowest of the 18 studios | $269 |
| Middle of the 18 (median) | about $850 |
| Highest of the 18 | $4,997 |
| One page or landing page | $450 to $2,000 |
| A few pages | $1,000 to $4,000 |
| Squarespace, billed yearly | $21 to $46 a month |
| Wix, billed yearly | $21 to $44 a month |
The builders in the last two rows look cheaper on paper. Kootenay Made's Shopify vs Squarespace in Canada (2026): Which One to Pick lists the same $21 Basic and $46 Plus monthly prices on Canadian annual billing. The catch is the work: with a builder, the words, the photos and the setup are still on you.
What actually moves the price
Most of the gap between two quotes comes from the same few places, and none of them show up in a starting price.
The biggest is how many pages you need. A plumber who does one thing well can get away with a single strong page; a clinic with several services across more than one location can't. If you're not sure which side you're on, here is how a one-page website works.
Writing is where owners lowball the most. Some studios hand over finished text and others wait for yours, so a cheaper quote can simply mean you're the one writing the service descriptions, the about section and the hours. Photos work the same way: a quote that expects you to supply them is pricing a different job from one that includes them.
Extras are easier to spot. A contact form is basically standard, while booking, payments and a store are quoted separately. If you're a barber who wants clients to book a chair online, or a cafe that wants to sell gift cards, expect that on its own line, and don't line up a quote that has it against one that doesn't.
Ownership is the one people forget to ask about. A few setups only stay up as long as you keep paying the studio every month. That's why the ownership question in the list below has more than one part.
To keep the quote down, work backwards through the same things: fewer pages if one will do, your own photos, and extras left until customers ask for them.
What you keep paying after launch
The build price isn't the whole bill. A domain costs roughly $15 to $25 a year. Hosting can be free or a monthly fee, depending on how the site is set up. Email on your own domain is usually extra, so don't assume it comes with the site.
Tax is the other gap. Most of the studio price pages I went through never mention HST, so ask whether the quote in front of you includes it before you put it in your budget.
Questions to ask before you hand over money
Put these to every studio you're comparing, in writing if you can:
- Who writes the words, you or me?
- What's included, and what's quoted separately?
- Who owns the domain and the code once I've paid, and does the site stay up if I stop paying monthly?
- What will I pay each year after launch, and is HST included?
- Can I see the finished thing before I pay the rest?
I'd lean on that last question harder than the others. Scrolling your actual site on your own phone settles more than any mockup. On page count, my rule is the plumber and the clinic above: one strong page for one trade done well, more pages once you have several services or locations to explain.
A fair warning: I build websites for a living, so weigh this with that in mind. The studio starting prices came from each studio's own pricing page on October 11, 2026. The Squarespace and Wix prices were recorded in the same guide that day, the domain range comes from that guide too, and the $8,000 is my usual answer, not a count. All of them will drift. If you want to compare against ours, Page Cove's prices are on our pricing page, and you can ask for a one-page website built first to scroll on your phone before you decide.