Planning
Website development cost in India: compare the scope, not just the quote
A practical website budget worksheet: pages, content, integrations, recurring costs and handover, with SliceCode’s own planning ranges clearly explained.
Ask every provider to price the same page list and acceptance criteria. A low build quote can leave content, hosting, editing and support unaccounted for.
Start with what the website must do
“A five-page website” is not a complete brief. Five simple information pages and five pages with a booking workflow require different work. Write down the visitor, their main question and the next action on each page before comparing prices.
For an illustrative consulting business, the first release might contain a homepage, a services overview, one detailed service page, evidence of previous work and a contact page. If every service needs different examples, prices and questions, expand the page list intentionally. Do not buy extra pages simply to hit a package size.
- List every page and who supplies its approved copy and images.
- Describe forms, notifications, bookings and external systems.
- Identify who edits content after launch and how often.
- Specify phone layouts, accessibility checks and the browsers that matter.
Use a planning range with explicit boundaries
SliceCode publishes ₹40,000–₹60,000 for a defined business website and ₹60,000–₹90,000 for a scoped web application or MVP. These are our planning ranges, not market averages or a promise that any feature fits inside the package. The written proposal confirms deliverables and exclusions.
Our website planning timeline is 2–3 weeks once the agreed inputs are ready. A missing content owner can delay a simple site; an external integration can add investigation before a reliable delivery date is possible. Ask when the timeline starts and how review rounds affect it.
| Budget item | Question to resolve |
|---|---|
| Design and build | Which page types, revisions and functionality are included? |
| Content and assets | Who writes, approves and licenses them? |
| Hosting and domain | Who owns the accounts and pays renewals? |
| CMS and integrations | Are setup and recurring usage charges separate? |
| Support | What is a defect, and what is a paid enhancement? |
Normalize the quotes before selecting a provider
Give each candidate the same brief and request an itemized response. Mark each requirement included, excluded or needing discovery. A proposal that mentions “SEO included” should spell out the pages, titles, canonical URLs, sitemap and launch checks. Ongoing writing and search analysis are separate work unless explicitly included.
Compare first-year cost as build cost plus agreed content work, subscriptions and maintenance. Keep usage-based services separate because their cost depends on traffic or activity. Ask whether applicable taxes are included in the final quote; do not silently assume them.
Tie payment milestones to reviewable outcomes
Useful milestones are an approved page plan, a working preview and a release that passes the agreed checks. “Development complete” is too vague if nobody has submitted the contact form or tested the mobile menu. Agree how a change request is estimated before it becomes urgent.
At handover, verify repository access, deployment access, domain ownership and instructions for routine edits. Save the support contact and renewal dates somewhere the business controls. The best quote is one whose responsibilities you can explain a month after launch.
- Open the site on a phone and complete the main enquiry journey.
- Confirm delivery of a test form message with the project team.
- Check access to source code and business-owned service accounts.
- Record the support period, response arrangements and renewal costs.