A website as a freelancer (zzp) costs €500 to €2,500 at most builders for a clean site, and for most freelancers that’s exactly the right choice. You rarely need a €6,000 custom site to look findable and professional. Where it goes wrong usually isn’t the build, it’s the fine print: a “free” website you actually rent by the month, a domain that isn’t in your name, or code you can never get out of. We’re honest about that, even when it means you don’t need us. This guide covers what a freelancer website realistically costs, which route fits you, and how to avoid renting your own site instead of owning it. If you want the full price breakdown per type of site, read our cluster on what a website costs. For the wider template-versus-custom call, see our complete guide to custom websites.
Do you really need a website as a freelancer?
Almost always, yes. Your own website is the one place where you fully decide what a prospect sees first, independent of a LinkedIn algorithm or a platform that takes a cut. According to CBS, more than 1.2 million people worked as self-employed (zzp’ers) in the Netherlands in early 2024. That’s a lot of competition for the same job, and a client choosing between you and two others will google your name before they call.
Does that mean an expensive site? No. For a consultant, coach or tradesperson, a clear site of a few pages is often enough: who you are, what you do, for whom, and how to reach you. A one-pager can work fine. What matters isn’t the size but whether the site is yours and whether it loads fast on a phone. More on that below.
Only if you rely entirely on referrals and deliberately don’t want to be found online can you delay a website. But then you’re skipping the one channel that works for you around the clock without you having to be there.
What does a website cost for a freelancer?
A freelancer website costs roughly €500 to €6,000 one-off, depending on who builds it and how much bespoke design goes in. On top of that comes €10 to €50 a month for hosting and your domain. Most freelancers are well served by the template route in the €500 to €2,500 band. Here are the four routes with realistic figures for the Dutch market in 2026.
| Route | What you get | One-off | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com) | A site builder where you do the work | €0-€500 | €10-€30 |
| Template via a freelancer or agency | An existing theme, set up and filled for you | €500-€2,500 | €10-€40 |
| Professional agency (semi-custom) | Bespoke design on a theme or light CMS | €2,500-€6,000 | €15-€50 |
| Full custom | Bespoke design and your own code | €4,500+ | €20-€60 |
A freelance web builder typically charges €50 to €100 an hour, a specialist agency €85 to €165. What drives the price isn’t the label but the scope: how many pages, who writes the copy and shoots the photos, and whether something has to connect (calendar, payment, newsletter). Supply good content yourself and you save hundreds straight away.
The biggest mistake we see freelancers make is looking only at the build price and forgetting hosting, maintenance and licences. A cheap site can cost more over two years than an honest one. How that works is in our cluster on the hidden costs of cheap websites, and the full price breakdown per type of site is in what a website costs.
Template or custom: which route fits you?
For most freelancers a good theme is the right first step. Custom is a site built specifically for your brand and goal, with code that you own. That sounds appealing, but you pay for it too, and you only need that freedom once a template starts working against you. The table below puts the two routes side by side.
| Template or site builder | Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | A clear site of a few pages | Bookings, a webshop, a strong brand, growth |
| One-off | €500-€2,500 | €4,500+ |
| Lead time | 1 to 3 weeks | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Grip on speed and SEO | Limited, depends on the theme | Full |
| Ownership | Varies, watch the domain | All code and access with you |
| Room to grow | Up to a point, then it stalls | Grows with your business |
If you go template, the platform choice matters most. WordPress, Webflow, Wix and Squarespace differ a lot in speed, freedom and how much you can move later. We explain that call in WordPress vs Webflow, Wix and Shopify. And if you’re weighing a freelancer against an agency, read software agency versus a solo developer before you decide.
Watch the “free” website: do you rent or own your site?
At the top of Google you’ll find providers promising a “free professional website” where you only pay a fixed monthly fee. Sounds great, but do the math. With that kind of subscription you rent your site: the domain often isn’t in your name, you don’t get the code, and if you switch you start over. That isn’t a partnership, it’s dependence.
A small sum makes it concrete. €25 a month is €1,200 over four years, and after those four years you still own nothing. A one-off site of €800 that is actually yours is cheaper and leaves you free to change providers tomorrow. The point isn’t that a monthly fee is always wrong, some hosting plans are fine paid monthly. The point is that you need to know what you rent and what you own.
This is exactly why we hand over code and access as standard on every build. Why ownership matters so much and how to spot lock-in is in website ownership and no lock-in.
What does your freelancer website legally need?
You don’t need a separate KvK registration to build a website, but as a freelancer you’re already registered and a few rules apply once your site offers services. Sort out three things before you go live.
- Your KvK number. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce, KvK, requires you to show your number on business communications, and a site offering your services counts. Put it in the footer or on your contact page.
- A privacy statement. If you collect data through a contact form, a newsletter or analytics, the GDPR requires you to explain what you do with that data. The Dutch data protection authority sets out the minimum.
- Terms and conditions. If you sell online or deliver services through the site, terms belong there. We work with fixed terms and conditions as a standard deliverable, for example.
This isn’t legal advice, but a starting point. A good builder points you to these three instead of quietly skipping them.
How do clients find you online?
A beautiful site nobody finds earns you nothing. For a freelancer, the win sits in two things: speed and a clean structure. Speed, because almost all your traffic comes from a phone. According to Statcounter, more than half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. And Google found that 53% of mobile visitors leave a site that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Google measures that experience through Core Web Vitals, three numbers your site scores on. A slow, plugin-heavy template sinks on those; a cleanly built site scores well and keeps visitors. How to measure and improve it is in website speed and Core Web Vitals. Beyond that, give the site a logical structure: one clear page per service, a title and description that fits, and copy that answers your client’s question. That’s most of what a freelancer needs to get found locally and by name.
When do you actually need custom as a freelancer?
Start with a template and move to custom only when you hit a real limit. That limit usually looks like this:
- You want online bookings or appointments that feel like a natural part of your site, not a jump to a separate tool.
- You’re going to sell products with logic, stock or shipping rules a standard webshop can’t handle.
- You need a logged-in client area, for example a portal where clients see documents or progress.
- Your brand is your selling point and a theme a thousand other sites run on undermines it.
If none of that rings true, custom is freedom you don’t have to pay for yet. If some of it does, you’re closer to our custom websites and the trade-offs from the complete guide to custom websites. The switch doesn’t have to happen at once: many freelancers start with a clean template and only build custom when revenue justifies it.
What’s the first step?
- Write down what your site has to do. Not the styling, the goal. Who should land here and what action should they take? Half a page is enough.
- Choose your route honestly. Run through the four situations above. None apply, and a good template is faster and cheaper than custom.
- Prepare your briefing so quotes are comparable on equal footing. Our website checklist and briefing helps you do that.
Book a no-obligation intro call if you want to spar about the right route. No sales pressure, just honest advice, even when it comes down to “a template is enough for you”. TopDevs is a Dutch software agency that builds custom software, AI integrations and automations, and that’s exactly why we’ll tell you when you don’t need that yet.
