The tool does the arithmetic
Your search, knit into cloth. The calculator below runs its own math.
A website design cost calculator that shows its own math.
This page is the calculator. Pick a build type, toggle what it should include, and a price range appears — no email, no call, running entirely in your browser. It's here to answer one question before you talk to anyone: what neighborhood is this project actually in?
Here's how it computes. Each build type carries a base range. Each thing you switch on stacks its own range on top. The gap between the low and high number isn't hedging — it's the honest width of a label like "marketing site," which can mean five pages or fifteen.
I'm David Weaver. I built this tool and the WebGL loom on the homepage of this site — one person designs, builds, and answers the form. The range here is a planning number. When you want the exact one, describe the project and I send it back itemized, free.
01
Pick a build, toggle the extras, read the range
What are you building?
What should it include?
Estimated price
$2,000 – $8,000
This is a rough estimate based on the options you picked. Tell me about the project and I'll send you an exact price. There's no charge to ask.
02
Step one: the base build sets the floor
You choose one. It fixes the starting range before any extras stack on:
| Base build | What it is | Sets the range to |
|---|---|---|
| Full marketing site | Several pages, copy, tracking | $1,500 – $6,000 |
| Three.js / WebGL landing | One page, custom 3D hero | $1,999 – $5,000 |
| Interactive experience | A custom interactive site or campaign | $3,000 – $15,000 |
| Web application | Accounts, data, payments | $6,000 – $30,000+ |
The calculator prices custom work. For a fixed 1–3 page scope, the Express Website on /pricing starts at $249.
03
Step two: the toggles, ranked by how far they move the number
Each switch adds its own range on top of the base. Biggest mover first:
AI feature — adds $2,000 to $8,000
A chatbot, recommender, or generator. The moment a site thinks, it becomes software: engineering, guardrails, and running cost. This is the widest single lever in the tool.
3D / motion hero — adds $400 to $2,000
A custom animated centerpiece — the part people screenshot. Optional, and the one line an agency can't copy from a template.
SEO + conversion tracking — adds $500 to $2,000
Schema, analytics, and server-side conversion events wired in at build time. On by default here, because skipping it blinds every later marketing decision.
Copywriting — adds $300 to $1,500
I write the words instead of waiting on a doc that never arrives. Smallest add on the sheet, usually the best money in the build.
04
Watch it add up
A worked example, since the mechanic is the whole point. Start with a full marketing site: $1,500 to $6,000. You want me to write the copy, so switch on copywriting (+$300 to $1,500) and the range moves to $1,800 to $7,500. Add SEO and conversion tracking (+$500 to $2,000) and it settles at $2,300 to $9,500. Three picks, and the neighborhood is set.
That $7,200 spread is the signal, not the noise. It's the distance between a clean five-page build and a large, heavily custom one wearing the same name — which is exactly the gap your brief closes.
05
Why one number would be a lie
The tool answers with a spread, not a single figure, on purpose. "Full marketing site" can mean five clean pages or a fifteen-page build with custom templates — a fourfold difference under one label. The low end is the lean version of what you picked; the high end is the same build fully loaded.
Where you land between them comes down to specifics no calculator can see: page count, how custom the design is, and how much work the copy has to do. That is why the last step is a person reading your brief, not another dropdown.
06
Turn the range into a brief
The output is only worth the picks behind it, so send both. Note the base build you chose, the toggles you left on, and — the part that actually sets the price — the one thing the site has to make a stranger do. Drop that into the contact form and scope starts from a shared artifact instead of a vague call.
The inquiry arrives tagged "An app," so it lands in the right thread. You get a written, itemized number back from me, and it will not come in higher than the neighborhood you already saw here.
Proof over promises
Open the work. Judge it live.
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BABA Smoke Shop
A local-business marketing site for a Columbus, GA smoke shop. No backend, complete local-SEO metadata, and deliberate restraint.
2026 · Software · Shipped
BookWriter
AI book-writing software from an author with thirty books of skin in the game — live, billing, and tested 454 files deep.
2026 · Software · Shipped
Black Nile
A conversational website builder where small businesses talk, a site appears, and their own AI answers customers — metered to the credit.
Straight answers
Asked often. Answered honestly.
- Why does the calculator show a range instead of one price?
- Because a label like "marketing site" covers builds that differ fourfold. The low end is the lean version of what you picked; the high end is the same thing fully loaded. Your real number sits between them, decided by page count, how custom the design is, and how much the copy does — details the tool can't see but a brief can.
- Which input moves the number the most?
- The base build type first — a web application starts several times higher than a marketing site. After that, the AI feature toggle is the widest lever, adding $2,000 to $8,000. Motion, tracking, and copywriting move it far less.
- The calculator says my project is around $X. Is that a quote?
- No — it's a planning neighborhood built from the same ranges I actually quote from, so nothing gets walked back later. Send me the build and toggles you picked plus a short description and you get an itemized number in writing, free.
- What if my project doesn't fit the four build types?
- Pick the closest one and describe the rest in the form. The four types are a starting frame, not a menu — plenty of commissions are hybrids, like a marketing site with one app-like feature bolted on. The person reading your brief sorts that out.
- Is there a cheaper option than the calculator's lowest range?
- Yes. The calculator prices custom work, which starts around $1,500. For a fixed 1–3 page scope with conversion copy and source ownership, the Express Website on /pricing starts at $249. Use that page when you want a set price, this one when you're scoping something custom.
- Does using the calculator cost anything or commit me to anything?
- No. It's free, runs client-side, and needs no email or sign-up. Asking me for the exact price afterward is free too — there's no retainer required to start a conversation.
The calculator gave you the neighborhood. Describe the project for the street address — itemized, in writing, free.