Website design cost Ireland: 3-year prices with VAT

Two quotes on the kitchen table. One says €695, the other €2,000, and both end in the same two words: plus VAT. Neither mentions the €295 a year, plus VAT again, that keeps the site updated, and neither lets your clients book an appointment at 10 pm without ringing you.

Comparing them honestly means adding what comes after launch, and working out whether that VAT line is yours to pay for good. Here are the real Irish prices, and the three-year sum nobody puts on the quote.

The short answer

1. To build. €695 to €1,500 plus VAT for a simple brochure site from a budget agency, €2,000 to €4,000 plus VAT from an independent designer or studio, more for custom design or a shop.
2. To keep running. Maintenance, hosting and a domain together: about €400 to €900 a year plus VAT. It comes back every year, whoever built the site.
3. The VAT. Quotes are almost always plus VAT, at 23%. Below €42,500 a year of turnover from services you don't have to register for VAT, and if you aren't registered you can't claim it back.
4. Bookings cost extra. Online booking adds €300 to €800 to an agency build; a site built around appointments is quoted €2,000 to €4,500. At Traxo, it's included from €40 a month excl. VAT.

How much does website design cost in Ireland in 2026?

Many Irish designers publish their prices, which makes the market easy to read. Here is what the options cost for a small business, as their own pages stated them on 21 September 2026.

Prices seen on each provider's own page on 21 September 2026 (links below). Traxo's prices exclude VAT; 3% is charged on payments taken online.

Every price we read in Ireland, from web designers to booking software, each with its date and source, is in our price observatory.

Sources for each row: Wix's plans page (prices vary by country, so check yours), Arrow Design's pricing guide, Amy Mc Design's price list and Designs for Growth's fees. Wider surveys land in the same place: Vimar puts a basic brochure site at €300 to €1,500 and a small business site at €1,500 to €7,000.

What is (and isn't) in a website quote?

The build price covers design, setup and launch. What sits outside it is where two quotes that look €1,000 apart end up €3,000 apart.

1. Hosting and domain. €69.99 a year for hosting and €24.99 to €44.99 for a domain at Arrow; a .ie domain is €15 to €30 according to Vimar. Small sums, but they renew every year.
2. Maintenance. A WordPress site needs its updates, backups and security checks: €295 + VAT a year at Arrow, €347 at Amy Mc Design, €35 to €200 or more a month in Vimar's survey (all read on 1 October 2026).
3. The words. Most quotes assume you write the copy. If you don't, count €250 or more per page at Designs for Growth, or €500 to €2,000 for a full site at Arrow.
4. The photos. Photography from €500 at Ireland Website Design. Stock photos are cheaper, and your regulars will spot them.
5. The changes. A new price list after launch is billed by the hour: €50 + VAT at Arrow, €80 to €125 at the agencies Ireland Website Design describes.

Which is the fair point in favour of paying properly once. It's also the argument for asking, before you sign, what the second and third years cost and who makes the changes.

Do you pay the VAT on a website if you're not VAT-registered?

Yes, and for good. A VAT-registered business reclaims the VAT it pays on a website. A business that isn't registered can't, so the 23% is simply part of the price. According to Revenue's thresholds, you must register once your turnover from services passes €42,500 in a calendar year; below that, registering is optional and most sole traders don't. Plenty of hairdressers, beauty therapists and one-van trades sit exactly there.

So multiply by 1.23. Arrow's €695 site is €854.85. Amy Mc Design's €2,000 website is €2,460. A €3,950 studio build is €4,858.50. A quote that ends in plus VAT is still a quote; it just grows by 23% on the way from the email to your bank account.

The same applies to us: Traxo's prices are also excl. VAT, and the worked example below adds 23% to our line as well. Check your own position with your accountant, and Revenue's current rates if a supplier quotes you anything other than 23% for web design.

Freelancer or agency: who should build your website?

The hourly rates explain most of the gap. Ireland Website Design quotes freelancers at €30 to €80 an hour and agencies at €80 to €125, the top end in Dublin. The same page notes that freelancers below the VAT threshold don't add VAT, which is a real saving if you aren't registered either.

A freelancer is usually cheaper per hour, though the same page warns a less experienced one can take two or three times as long; the bigger risk is continuity. Ask who holds the logins, who registers the domain (it should be in your name), and what happens if they stop answering. An agency costs more and has more people to call; it makes sense when the site is a large part of how you sell.

She's right that a DIY site takes longer than people think: a builder costs little in euro and a lot in evenings. The question for a salon or a trade is narrower: does the site need to be built from scratch, or does it need to answer the phone for you?

How much does a website with online booking cost?

This is where Irish quotes jump. Arrow prices an online booking system at €300 to €800 + VAT on top of the site. Digimark puts a booking or appointment site at €2,000 to €4,500, against €800 to €1,500 for a plain brochure site. And that's often before a monthly booking plugin or a third-party scheduling tool, which Arrow lists among the running costs.

For a salon, a barber, a clinic or a trade that books call-outs, booking is not a feature; it is the reason for the site. A contact form creates work (read, reply, agree a time); a booking page removes it. So compare the price of the booking, not the price of the website.

At Traxo, booking is in the Starter plan: services with their real durations, payment in full or a deposit if you want it, and the booking linked to your calendar. The detail is on the online booking page. If you're comparing specialist booking tools instead of websites, our comparison of salon booking software sets their fees side by side.

What does a website cost over three years? A worked example

Hypotheses, to replace with your own: a beauty therapist in Cork, working alone, about €38,000 turnover a year, so not VAT-registered. She needs a site where clients book treatments online. Agency prices are Arrow Design's published figures; the booking add-on is the midpoint of their range.

Option 1: a budget agency site with a booking add-on

1. Year one. €695 site + €550 booking add-on + €295 care plan + €24.99 domain = €1,564.99 excl. VAT. With 23% VAT: €1,924.94. Hosting is included in year one in this package.
2. Years two and three. €295 care plan + €69.99 hosting + €24.99 domain = €389.98 excl. VAT, so €479.68 with VAT, each year.
3. Three years. €1,924.94 + €479.68 + €479.68 = €2,884.30.

Option 2: Traxo Starter, billed yearly

1. Each year. €40 × 12 = €480 excl. VAT. She isn't VAT-registered, so she pays the 23% too: €590.40.
2. Three years. €590.40 × 3 = €1,771.20, setup and changes included.
3. If she takes deposits online. 3% of what is paid online. Six €10 deposits a week over 46 weeks is €2,760, so €82.80 a year. The agency site's payment provider would charge its own card fees too; we have left both out of the totals.

Result: €1,113.10 less over three years with Traxo, and no €1,924.94 to find in the first month. What she gives up is a design made only for her; what she keeps is the money, and the evenings she would have spent emailing a designer to change a price.

Can a grant pay for your website in 2026?

Less often than web design pages suggest. The Trading Online Voucher, the €2,500 grant many of them still mention, closed for applications on 13 December 2024.

Its successor, the Grow Digital Voucher, pays 50% of eligible costs, from €500 to €5,000. Three conditions change everything for a website: it funds off-the-shelf software subscriptions new to the business, for one year at most; it states that it does not support bespoke website development; and you must have completed a Digital for Business project in the previous two years and apply before spending anything. A custom agency build is out. A subscription may qualify: ask your Local Enterprise Office before you sign.

The same survey of 100 Irish small business owners found that 46% named cost as their main barrier to going digital, and that 34% had not used any of the government's digital supports.

What Traxo does, and what it doesn't

Traxo gives you a website in your business's name with online booking, payments and a record for each client, set up from your trade in about ten minutes. Starter is €40 a month excl. VAT on yearly billing, or €50 monthly with no commitment. With a team, Pro (€80 a month yearly, €100 monthly) adds a calendar and an account for each person, up to six, a live Google Maps listing and a loyalty programme that brings clients back. The detail: your website and Google visibility and how we set it up for beauty salons.

1. It isn't bespoke design. You start from a structure built for your trade. If your brand depends on a unique look, a designer is the better route.
2. It isn't an online shop. It takes bookings, deposits and payments for services; a catalogue of products to post out needs an e-commerce platform.
3. Yearly billing is a commitment. It's cheaper, and it's paid in one go for twelve months. Monthly billing costs more and you can stop whenever you like. If you cancel, the site and the domain stop with the subscription; your client records are returned to you on request within 30 days, then deleted.
4. Online payments cost 3%. On each payment taken online. Payments you take in the salon with your own terminal don't go through us.
5. We can't promise you a grant. Whether a subscription qualifies for the Grow Digital Voucher is your Local Enterprise Office's decision, not ours.

A custom site is the right buy for a business like hers, where the site itself sells the expertise. For a business whose clients mostly want to know the price and book a slot, that money works harder elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions

How much does website design cost in Ireland?

Roughly €700 to €4,000 plus VAT to build, then about €400 to €900 a year to keep the site running. Online booking adds €300 to €800 to a budget build, and a site built around appointments is quoted €2,000 to €4,500. If you are not VAT-registered, add 23% to every figure you are quoted.

How much should a small business website cost in Ireland?

For a simple, mobile-friendly site, €695 to €2,000 plus VAT to build, then about €400 to €900 a year to run. With online booking, count €1,000 to €1,500 plus VAT from a budget agency, €2,000 to €4,500 from a designer, or a monthly subscription that includes it.

Is web design charged at 23% VAT in Ireland?

Irish designers charge it at the standard rate: Amy Mc Design's prices, for example, are all + 23% VAT. A freelancer below the €42,500 services threshold may not be registered and won't add VAT; if you aren't registered either, that's worth comparing.

How much are hosting and a domain per year?

A domain is about €15 to €45 a year, and hosting for a small site €70 to €180, depending on the provider (Arrow, Amy Mc Design and Vimar, read on 1 October 2026). Maintenance on top of that, if the site runs on WordPress, is €295 to €795 + VAT a year at Arrow, depending on the plan.

How long does it take to build a website?

Two to four weeks for a simple brochure site and four to eight for a larger one, according to Arrow, and most delays come from copy and photos arriving late. At Traxo the site is prepared in about ten minutes from your trade, and once your plan is paid you put it online in one click.

Is Wix or Squarespace enough for a small business?

For a simple showcase, often yes, if you have the evenings to build it and keep it up. Once you need bookings with the right duration for each service, deposits and reminders, add-ons pile up and the saving shrinks.

Do I own my website?

Ask before you sign. The domain should be registered in your business's name, not the designer's, and the contract should say who holds the logins and what you can take with you if you leave. With Traxo, the site and the domain stop with the subscription if you cancel; your client records are returned to you on request within 30 days, then deleted.

Would you rather talk it through first? +33 7 80 98 20 43 — a real person, Monday to Saturday. We work remotely, wherever your business is.