A small business website in Montreal costs anywhere from $20 per month on a DIY builder to $10,000 or more from an agency. The realistic middle for a professional 5-page site built for you is $500 to $2,500 one-time, or $100 to $300 per month on a subscription arrangement that includes hosting and updates.
The tiers, honestly
DIY builders: $20 to $50 per month
Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy work if you have the time and an eye for layout. Most owners do not finish: the site stays half-built, or it launches looking like a template because it is one. Budget 20 to 40 hours of your own time for a result you are lukewarm about.
Freelancer: $500 to $2,500
A competent freelancer delivers a clean 5-page site in two to four weeks. Quality varies widely, and the common failure mode is the disappearing freelancer: the site launches, then there is nobody to call when something breaks a year later.
Agency: $3,000 to $15,000
Agencies deliver strategy, custom design, and reliability, priced for businesses where the website drives serious revenue. For a landscaper or a garage that needs credibility and a phone number that gets found on Google, agency pricing rarely makes sense.
What actually matters for a local business site
- Shows up when someone searches your name plus your city
- Loads fast on a phone, where most local searches happen
- States what you do, where you do it, and how to call you, above the fold
- Has real photos of your work, not stock images
A five-page site that nails those four points outperforms a $12,000 site that buries the phone number.
A different way to buy it
The traditional process asks you to pay a deposit, wait weeks, and hope you like the result. Some builders now reverse it: they build the complete site first and show you the finished product, and you only pay if you want it. No deposit, no mockups, no risk on your side. That is the model we use at NovaCodeLabs for Montreal and Rive-Sud businesses.