Ask three providers in Gran Canaria what a website costs and you might hear €300, €1,800 and €6,000 for what sounds like "a normal business site". All three can be honest answers. The range is not random. It reflects build method, scope, languages, and how much strategy you get beyond pretty pixels.
This guide breaks down what you pay for with DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace), freelancers, and agencies on the island or working remotely with local clients. No webshop platforms here: this is about brochure sites, service businesses, portfolios and lead-generation websites.
The three main routes
1. DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow templates)
Typical cost: €0-500 setup plus €15-45/month for premium plans.
Best for: side projects, temporary landing pages, businesses with time to learn the editor and no budget yet.
Trade-offs: templates look familiar to everyone, mobile PageSpeed is often mediocre, multilingual setup is clunky, and you still need copy, photos and legal pages yourself. Exporting later can be painful if you outgrow the platform.
A salon in Maspalomas on a Wix free plan with a .wixsite.com subdomain signals "hobby" to expat clients comparing you to a polished competitor.
2. Freelance developer or designer
Typical cost: €400-2,500 one-off on Gran Canaria and Spain, highly variable.
Best for: clear scope, one-person businesses, WordPress or simple static sites when you found someone reliable through referrals.
Trade-offs: availability. Freelancers disappear on holiday, move away, or take full-time jobs. Maintenance after launch is often "send me a WhatsApp". Quality varies: some deliver excellent WordPress, others clone a theme in a weekend. Ask who handles updates when plugins break.
3. Agency or structured studio (custom build)
Typical cost: €800-5,000+ for standard business sites; €1,500-3,500+ for complex multilingual or industry-specific projects (property search, booking flows).
Best for: businesses that depend on Google leads, expat markets (NL/EN/ES), and owners who want one team for design, SEO, hosting and support.
Trade-offs: higher entry price. You pay for process, backups, and accountability. For many Gran Canaria service firms, that pays back in fewer rebuilds and faster load times.
What actually drives the price
- Number of pages: a one-pager costs less than ten service pages plus FAQ
- Design: customised layout vs template with your logo swapped in
- Languages: each locale adds translation, hreflang and QA. See multilingual website guide
- Functionality: contact form vs booking calendar vs property search
- SEO included: metadata, schema, Google Business alignment, or just "we build it and you hope"
- Content: you supply text vs agency copywriting
- Photography: phone snaps vs professional shoot on location in Las Palmas
Two quotes at €900 and €2,400 might not compare the same deliverables. Always ask: pages, languages, revisions, hosting, legal pages, analytics, speed target, and post-launch support.
Hidden costs nobody puts in the first email
- Domain: €10-20/year for .es, .com or .nl
- Hosting: €5-50/month depending on platform and traffic
- Email: professional @yourdomain.es often €3-8/month unless bundled
- Maintenance: WordPress updates €30-100/month or ad-hoc hourly
- Premium plugins: SEO, forms, caching, security on WordPress
- Content updates: €40-80/hour if you cannot edit yourself
- SEO ongoing: from €150/month if you want rankings, not just a live site
A €350 website quote that excludes hosting, SSL, privacy policy and mobile optimisation is cheap for a reason.
WordPress vs custom: cost over three years
WordPress itself is free. The bill comes from hosting, theme, plugins, fixes, and someone who knows what they are doing. Realistic three-year WordPress total for a small business: €1,500-3,000 when maintained properly.
Custom static sites (Next.js) cost more upfront at some agencies but drop on maintenance. Fewer moving parts, fewer emergency calls after an automatic plugin update breaks the contact form. Compare in depth: WordPress vs custom website and why WordPress is slow.
WordPress powers a large share of the web, but popularity does not mean it is the cheapest long-term choice for a five-page accountant site in Vecindario.
Example budgets by business type on Gran Canaria
Autónomo plumber or cleaner (Spanish + English): €500-900. Five pages, WhatsApp button, Google map, basic SEO, legal footer with NIF.
Expat advisor (NL/EN/ES): €900-1,800. Multilingual, trust content, FAQ on NIE/residency, fast mobile. Related: expat website setup.
Restaurant Las Palmas: €700-1,200. Menu as text, hours, reservation link, Restaurant schema, photo gallery optimised for mobile.
Real estate agency: €1,500-3,500+. Search, filters, maps, many listings, CRM integration. Higher scope by nature.
What CanarySites charges (transparent)
We publish tiers so you can self-qualify before a call:
- Starter: €249 one-off or €24.95/month. One page, contact form, mobile optimised, SSL, WhatsApp support
- Professional: €549 one-off or €49.95/month. Up to five pages, own domain, basic SEO, analytics, email setup
- Premium: €999 one-off or €89.95/month. Unlimited pages, advanced SEO, multilingual NL/ES/EN, maps, maintenance
Full detail on pricing. Monthly plans typically require a 12-month term and include hosting.
How to choose without overpaying
- Match spend to revenue per client. If one new client is worth €800, a €549 site that brings two clients per year is obvious ROI
- Do not buy unlimited pages you will never write
- Ask for PageSpeed scores on mobile, not only desktop screenshots
- Check expat references if your clients are Dutch or British
- Get legal pages included for Spanish commercial law
- Plan SEO and reviews alongside launch: local SEO guide, reviews guide
DIY vs agency: when to upgrade
Stay on DIY while validating a idea. Move to professional when Google becomes a primary sales channel, when expat clients judge you against home-country competitors, or when you spent six months fighting Wix SEO limits.
A static site without CMS suits many Gran Canaria owners who change content quarterly, not daily.
Timeline
- DIY: days to weeks depending on your evenings
- Freelance: 2-6 weeks, risk of delays
- CanarySites Starter: about 5 working days with content ready
- Professional/Premium: 1-3 weeks typical
Red flags in quotes
Walk away or ask hard questions if you hear: "We will add SEO later", no mention of mobile speed, no legal pages for Spain, unlimited revisions with no scope document, or price under €200 for a full multilingual build. Something important is being skipped.
Next step
Request a free website audit if you already have a site. We tell you what is worth keeping and what is not. No quote pressure.
Ready to build fresh? See our website service or contact us. We are on Gran Canaria, work in Dutch and English, and quote fixed scope before you commit.