How much does a photography website cost? The real prices in 2027

"Free" offers, subscriptions at a few euros a month, agency quotes in the thousands: it's hard to know how much to spend on your website, especially since every offer hides different fees.

We checked the official prices of the main solutions in November 2026 and ran the numbers over 3 years, with clear assumptions, so you know what to budget for your profile.

1. How much a photography website costs, in short

A photography website costs from €0 (free plan) to over €3,500 (custom agency site), and most independent photographers pay between €150 and €400 a year with a website builder. The gap depends on who builds the site (you or a provider), what it does (shop window or bookings) and what you need to add alongside.

The right budget isn't the lowest one: it's the one that gets you a professional website you can update yourself, and that fills your calendar. If you're still unsure about the platform, our comparison of the best photography website builders sets out the strengths and limits of each.

2. The 4 ways to get a website, and what they cost

You have four options: a free website, a subscription website builder, WordPress installed with a web host, or a site built by an agency or a freelancer. Each one has an advertised cost and a real cost, and they're not the same.

Option 1: the free website

Wix, Jimdo, WordPress.com and Pixieset offer a free plan, with the platform's ads or banner, an address in its name and limits (1 GB on WordPress.com, 15 pages and 100 photos on Pixieset Website). Advertised cost: €0. Real cost: your brand image.

Option 2: the subscription website builder

The most common solution: you pay a subscription, the platform handles hosting, security and updates, and you build your site from a template. Entry plans with your own domain (prices checked in November 2026, subject to change):

• Squarespace Basic: around €12/month billed annually (around €17 billed monthly).
• Wix Light: around €16.80/month incl. VAT billed annually. Online booking and payments require the Core plan, around €30/month.
• WordPress.com Personal: around €4/month billed annually, but plugins can only be installed from the Business plan, around €25/month.
• Pixieset Website Plus: around $12/month billed annually, charged in dollars.

Wix and Squarespace include the domain name for the first year on an annual plan. To choose between the two, read our article Wix vs Squarespace for photographers.

Option 3: self-hosted WordPress

The WordPress software (the .org version) is free, but everything else is on you: shared hosting, around €2 to €10/month (in France, for example, o2switch starts at around €1.86 excl. VAT/month billed annually, domain included), a photography theme that's often paid (a few tens of euros) and plugins, some of them charged every year.

The real hidden cost is your time: updates, backups, security, fixes when a plugin breaks something. WordPress is still the best choice for a blog that's heavily geared towards SEO, if the technical side doesn't scare you.

Option 4: the agency or freelancer

In France, for example, a custom showcase website costs between €2,000 and €8,000, with a median price of around €3,500, and between €2,500 and €4,000 for a showcase site for a freelancer or small business (source: La Fabrique du Net, October 2026). Some small entry-level packages start at around €1,500.

On top of that come hosting, the domain and often a maintenance contract. Before you sign, ask whether you'll be able to edit your site yourself (add a gallery, change a price) without going back to the provider.

3. The real cost over 3 years: the table

Over 3 years, a photography website costs around €450 to €1,100 with a website builder, around €430 with WordPress (not counting your time) and over €3,700 with an agency.

Our assumptions, so you can redo the maths with your own figures:

• Annual billing, prices checked in November 2026.
• Domain: €12 a year; if it's free for the first year, we count 2 years.
• WordPress: hosting at €5/month, a €60 theme (one-off) and €50 a year of paid plugins. Average assumptions, not checked prices.
• Agency: median price of €3,500, same hosting and domain, no maintenance.
• Fotostudio: Launch at €18/month (€216 a year) and Pro at €28/month (€336 a year), VAT included, billed annually.

Prices checked in November 2026 on the official pricing pages, subject to change. Prices may vary depending on your country and the applicable VAT.

Two remarks. WordPress looks cheapest, but only if your time is worth nothing: one hour of maintenance a month is 36 hours over 3 years, multiplied by your hourly rate. And the rows don't contain the same things: Fotostudio Pro costs more than Squarespace Basic, but also includes clients, quotes, contracts, invoices and galleries. To compare like with like, add the tools you use alongside to Squarespace (see section 8).

Finally, Fotostudio Launch is a genuine way in: a complete 8-page website (home, services, prices, portfolio, about, contact…) and all your business management for €648 over 3 years, with no domain name to buy. You move up to Pro the day you want your own domain or more than 5 active sessions at the same time.

4. The hidden costs to plan for

The cost of a photography website doesn't stop at the subscription: domain, professional email, client galleries, booking, invoicing and contract tools often get added to the bill. Here's the checklist to go through before choosing.

• The domain name. Expect €10 to €15 a year. In France, for example, a .fr at OVHcloud costs around €6 incl. VAT the first year, then around €9.35 a year; for a .co.uk, it's generally €10 to €15 a year. When it's "free", it's only free for the first year.
• Professional email. An address like hello@yourstudio.co.uk inspires more trust than a Gmail. It's often paid for separately, with an email provider.
• Client galleries. Neither Wix nor Squarespace offers proper delivery galleries where the client makes a selection. Many photographers add a dedicated service, such as Pixieset Client Gallery (around $8 to $40/month billed annually, depending on the plan).
• Online booking. At least the Core plan on Wix; on Squarespace, it goes through Acuity Scheduling, a separate paid service.
• Invoicing, quotes and contracts. Your website doesn't handle them: the software you use alongside is part of the real cost.
• Paying twice. Website, galleries, booking: every tool has its price. Add everything up before deciding a website is "cheap".
• Photo storage. Entry plans often limit storage space, which fills up fast when you deliver hundreds of photos per session.
• Commission on sales. If you sell prints: 2% on Squarespace Basic, 7% on Zenfolio, 15% on Pixieset's free gallery plan.

To sort through your business tools, our comparison of business management software for photographers helps you see which ones already combine several of these features.

5. Is a free website a good idea?

No, not for a professional business: a free website displays the platform's ads, forces an address on you that's hard to remember, and looks amateurish to clients who are about to trust you with an important moment. It's still useful for testing a tool before paying.

Put yourself in the shoes of a couple looking for their wedding photographer and comparing emma-photo.co.uk with emmaphoto.wixsite.com/portfolio, with a Wix banner at the top of the page. Which one looks more serious? The answer is obvious, even if the photos are excellent.

Another limit: without your own domain, everything you build (links, SEO, business cards) relies on the platform's address, and you lose part of it the day you switch solutions.

An entry plan with a domain costs around €12 a month: just one extra session a year more than pays for it.

6. Beware of introductory prices

The promotional prices displayed in big letters (first year, 4-year commitment, free domain) almost always go up at renewal: always check the price after the offer period.

Examples checked in November 2026:

• Hostinger Website Builder shows a very low introductory price over 48 months, but the Premium plan renews at around €10/month.
• Jimdo includes the domain for the first period, then it costs around €26 a year.

One-off promotions (Black Friday, end of year) follow the same logic. It isn't a trap in itself, but base your budget on the renewal price, not the introductory price.

7. How much to invest for your profile

A photographer who's just starting out can get by on €150 to €200 a year, an established photographer gains from investing in a website connected to their business management, and a studio with several activities can justify a bigger budget, or even an agency.

You're just starting out

An entry-level website builder with your own domain is more than enough: around €12 to €17 a month. Avoid the €3,000 agency: your style is going to evolve, and your website with it. Make the most of free trials to test two or three tools. Our guide to starting your photography business helps you prioritise your initial spending.

You're established

You have enquiries to follow up and galleries to deliver: your website needs to turn visitors into bookings. Now's the time to add up the cost of all your tools together (website, galleries, booking, invoicing) and ask yourself whether a single subscription could do the job.

You run a studio

Several photographers, specialities or brands: you may need several websites and several languages. An agency is justified for a truly unique site, as long as you can still handle updates yourself. Otherwise, a plan that manages several sites on your own domains is easier to keep alive.

Think in sessions: a €300-a-year website with an average session at €200 pays for itself in two sessions. If you're not sure about your prices, the photography price calculator helps you set your session rates based on your costs.

8. A website included in your business software

Another option is to choose business management software that includes the website: you pay a single subscription for your website, bookings, quotes, contracts, invoices and galleries. That's what Fotostudio has offered since 2026, and it's also the approach behind Pixieset Suite.

At Fotostudio, the plans are as follows (prices per month including VAT, billed annually; billed monthly, expect €22, €34 and €49):

• Launch, €18/month: 5 active sessions, 30 GB of galleries, an 8-page site on a subdomain (your-studio.fotostudio.io).
• Pro, €28/month: unlimited sessions, 100 GB, a site on your own domain.
• Business, €41/month: 300 GB, several sites on your own domains.

Hosting and HTTPS are included. There's no host or theme to pay for. Only the domain name is bought separately, from a registrar (around €10 to €15 a year). The details are on the Fotostudio pricing page.

The honest comparison

For a simple portfolio with no business management, a builder like Squarespace is still cheaper: around €144 a year on Basic, compared with €216 for Fotostudio Launch (site on a fotostudio.io address) or €336 for Pro (with your own domain), billed annually. And if you're happy with your current business software, adding Squarespace or Wix to it is a reasonable choice.

The maths changes if you also pay for business management software. In that case, compare the sum of your two subscriptions with a tool that does it all. With Fotostudio, every contact request creates a lead record, the pricing blocks read your catalogue, and booking, galleries, quotes, contracts and invoices open on your website, at your address, in your design.

If you're already in the Pixieset ecosystem, Pixieset Suite is a serious option: around $28/month billed annually (Starter) for galleries, website and business management (booking, invoices, contracts), charged in dollars, with a client area that isn't built into your website at your own address.

Fotostudio's limits: a new builder (2026), 9 starter templates (far fewer than Wix or Squarespace), no general e-commerce store like Shopify (the store sells prints, albums and gift cards), and a custom domain requires the Pro plan. If those points work for you, you can try building your photography website with Fotostudio for 2 months, with no credit card.

FAQ: what a photography website costs

Conclusion: compare the total cost, not the advertised price

A photography website doesn't need to be expensive to be professional. What counts is the total cost over several years, with the tools around it: domain, galleries, booking, business management.