How much does a showcase website cost for an SME in Paris?

At Sonho, a showcase website starts at €4,500 excl. VAT, and a full custom-built project (several page templates, reworked content, specific integrations) runs between €6,500 and €12,000 excl. VAT. The price is fixed as a flat fee after a discovery call, once the scope is defined. That figure is the one on the final invoice, with no amendment if the work takes longer than planned. What moves the price within that range is mostly the number of different page templates and the amount of work on the content: a €4,500 site stays simple in its architecture, a €10,000 site covers several lines of business or several audiences with distinct journeys. Before comparing two quotes, ask for their breakdown line by line: page count, feedback rounds, and what's explicitly excluded from the scope.

How long does it take to build a professional showcase website?

At Sonho, a showcase website is built in 4 to 6 weeks, from the first call to launch. That timeline isn't a sales promise, it's a method constraint: a thorough brief from week 1, clear deliverables week by week, and one round of feedback per stage. A project that stretches over several months is almost never better made, it's just less structured, with back-and-forth that piles up with no limit set in advance. For a redesign, expect the same rough timeline if the showcase website stays simple, and more like 6 to 10 weeks for a Shopify store whose catalog needs migrating. A full build with a catalog, content and custom tools generally takes 8 to 14 weeks. This schedule assumes the client's content is ready from the brief onward.

How do you spot a quote that's going to slip before you sign?

Read the clause on changes and amendments. If it mentions “minor changes included, within reason” without ever putting a number on what that covers, the quote is open-ended: what's minor to you becomes billable to the agency, and that shift in risk lands entirely on your side once the project starts. A real fixed-price quote explicitly lists the number of pages, the number of feedback rounds per stage and a contractual launch date, not an estimate. Two other signals to check: billing by time spent rather than a flat fee, and a “basic SEO” line with no detail on what it covers. On projects that stack up these signals, budget overruns generally run around 30 to 60% above the figure announced at the start. Ask for this breakdown before signing, and treat a vague answer as useful information in itself.

Does a website redesign take longer than building from scratch?

Often yes, because of an item new builds don't have: migration. Every page that changes address has to be redirected, every piece of content carried over and checked, and the SEO already earned has to be preserved rather than rebuilt from zero. For a simple showcase website, a redesign generally follows the same schedule as a new build, 4 to 6 weeks, if the volume of content to carry over stays reasonable. For a Shopify store, expect more like 6 to 10 weeks: the catalog, customer reviews and order history add a layer that design alone doesn't cover. Before signing a redesign quote, check that redirects and SEO carryover are explicitly included in the scope. Changing technical platform during the redesign can also add a few weeks to the schedule announced at the start.

Who handles my project at Sonho: one person or several points of contact?

One team, one point of contact, carries your project from the first meeting to launch: the same person follows the design, the development and the SEO, without handing off to a project manager who would then coordinate several separate teams. In practice, that changes two things. You explain your business once, and that understanding stays intact through delivery, with no brief getting reinterpreted at every handoff. And when a question comes up after launch, it reaches someone who already knows your project in detail, not a ticket in a queue. This setup makes it possible to keep a tight schedule, 4 to 6 weeks for a showcase website, without internal coordination meetings slowing the work down. It stays the same whatever the type of project, showcase website or online store.

A web agency in Paris for SMEs: how to avoid a quote that drifts and a project that drags on

A reasonable quote that doubles along the way is almost never an accident: it's the result of a vague scope. Here's how a fixed-price quote and a six-week schedule prevent it.

The short answer

A web agency in Paris for SMEs limits the risk of drift with a price fixed before the first line of code, one team, one point of contact, from brief to launch, and a tight schedule: 4 to 6 weeks for a showcase website, 6 to 10 weeks for a Shopify redesign. At Sonho, a showcase website starts at €4,500 excl. VAT, a full custom-built project runs from €6,500 to €12,000 excl. VAT, and that figure stays the one on the final invoice. On a vague quote, the overrun seen across the market often runs around 30 to 60%.

Why does a web quote almost always drift in the same way?

A web project that drifts is almost never the result of bad faith. It's the result of a contract where the scope stays vague and billing runs on time spent. Everything hinges on what the contract names, and what it leaves in the dark from the start.

The scenario follows a recurring pattern. First, a rushed brief that skips the questions that get expensive later: who signs off, how many rounds of feedback are included, and in what form. Then an elastic clause, along the lines of “minor changes included, within reason”, never given a number.

Finally, the point of contact changes along the way: the salesperson hands off to a project manager, who hands off to an outsourced developer. The verbal commitments from the first meeting don't carry over. At each handoff, the brief gets reinterpreted, and you pay again in the time it takes to re-explain your business to someone new.

What are the three moments where the budget blows up?

Three friction points come up in the majority of SME web projects, the signals to watch for in a quote before signing. On a vague quote, the gap between the first number and the final invoice often runs around 30 to 60%.

The unlimited mockup. A quote that mentions design iterations without stating how many is an open-ended quote. Ask how many rounds of feedback are included, and in what form.
Milestones with no firm date. A project billed “at the end” never pushes the agency to deliver sooner. Ask for a contractual launch date.
“Basic” SEO as an option. Tags, heading structure, image weight, structured data: every line item left out becomes a separate invoice, or an invisible gap.

Why is a large Paris agency rarely a good fit for an SME?

Paris has hundreds of web agencies, from large firms to small collectives. Many display big-name clients and certified processes. For an SME that needs a showcase website or an online store, that size is often a structural disadvantage, not an asset, for three specific reasons.

First problem: multiple points of contact. The project passes through a salesperson, a designer, a developer and an SEO specialist, and no one knows your business as a whole. Second problem: the economics, a high fixed cost that pushes agencies to recycle templates or outsource part of the work.

Third problem: availability after launch. Large firms keep rotating their teams onto new projects; once your site is live, you drop into a low-priority queue. Changing a page, adding a section, fixing an error: each action becomes a ticket in a shared queue.

How do a fixed-price quote and a six-week schedule prevent drift?

A fixed-price quote isn't a low quote, it's a quote whose scope is defined precisely enough that the price stops moving, even if the build takes longer than planned. At Sonho, this rests on two non-negotiable commitments, whatever the size of the project.

The first: the price is fixed before the first line of code. A showcase website starts at €4,500 excl. VAT, a full custom-built project runs between €6,500 and €12,000 excl. VAT. That figure stays the one on the final invoice, no amendments, no billing by time spent.

The second: the schedule. Four to six weeks for a showcase website, a method constraint: a thorough brief in week 1, clear deliverables week by week, one round of feedback per stage. One team, one point of contact, carries the project from brief to launch. Payot Property, delivered on this schedule, scores 98 for performance on mobile PageSpeed.

	Open-ended quote	Fixed-price quote (Sonho)
Final price	Amendments possible	Fixed after the call
Schedule	No firm date	4 to 6 firm weeks
Point of contact	Changes along the way	One team
Feedback	“Minor”, no number	Defined rounds

What should an SME's scope of work include before signing?

Before signing with an agency, check that the quote explicitly answers these questions. They aren't unreasonable demands: their absence from a quote is already telling you something.

Scope. Number of pages with their expected content, features listed one by one (contact form, FAQ, client area), and what's explicitly excluded (maintenance, content writing).
Process. Number of feedback rounds per stage, format of the feedback (shared tool, document, meeting) and expected response time on each side.
Timeline. A contractual launch date, not an estimate, interim milestones with their deliverables, and a clause covering what happens if the deadline slips.
Ownership and independence. Ownership of the source code on delivery, full admin access, and training to manage content afterward without depending on a developer.

What if the site already exists? The special case of a redesign

A redesign carries a constraint a new build doesn't have: the existing site. You have to preserve what the old site has built up (Google rankings, product pages, customer accounts, inbound links) while building a new one. Every page that changes address has to be redirected, every piece of content migrated and checked one by one.

It's the item most redesign quotes underestimate: on a store with several hundred product pages, migration can weigh as much as the design work. Check that redirects and SEO carryover are included in the scope. The right platform gets chosen with this comparison on website redesigns.

For a Shopify store, migration adds a layer: catalog, customer reviews, order history. A Shopify redesign generally takes 6 to 10 weeks at Sonho, redirects included, detailed in this guide on Shopify migration. On Pimo Care, a bilingual France/Switzerland store redesigned on this timeline, mobile LCP dropped by 1.8 seconds.

What questions should you ask an agency before signing?

No one can claim an agency is the right choice for every project, including ours. Certain questions quickly reveal whether a provider is used to working with SMEs.

“Can you show two or three sites delivered to comparable SMEs, with access to the source code?” An agency confident in its work says yes without hesitating.
“Who will be my point of contact, and will they stay on the project from start to finish?” A project manager who “coordinates” several teams is a signal worth watching.
“What happens if I need to change a page two months after launch?” The answer tells you whether you'll be independent.
“Can the quote increase during the project, and under what conditions?” Silence tells you what you need to know before signing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a showcase website cost for an SME in Paris?: At Sonho, a showcase website starts at €4,500 excl. VAT, and a full custom-built project (several page templates, reworked content, specific integrations) runs between €6,500 and €12,000 excl. VAT. The price is fixed as a flat fee after a discovery call, once the scope is defined. That figure is the one on the final invoice, with no amendment if the work takes longer than planned. What moves the price within that range is mostly the number of different page templates and the amount of work on the content: a €4,500 site stays simple in its architecture, a €10,000 site covers several lines of business or several audiences with distinct journeys. Before comparing two quotes, ask for their breakdown line by line: page count, feedback rounds, and what's explicitly excluded from the scope.
How long does it take to build a professional showcase website?: At Sonho, a showcase website is built in 4 to 6 weeks, from the first call to launch. That timeline isn't a sales promise, it's a method constraint: a thorough brief from week 1, clear deliverables week by week, and one round of feedback per stage. A project that stretches over several months is almost never better made, it's just less structured, with back-and-forth that piles up with no limit set in advance. For a redesign, expect the same rough timeline if the showcase website stays simple, and more like 6 to 10 weeks for a Shopify store whose catalog needs migrating. A full build with a catalog, content and custom tools generally takes 8 to 14 weeks. This schedule assumes the client's content is ready from the brief onward.
How do you spot a quote that's going to slip before you sign?: Read the clause on changes and amendments. If it mentions “minor changes included, within reason” without ever putting a number on what that covers, the quote is open-ended: what's minor to you becomes billable to the agency, and that shift in risk lands entirely on your side once the project starts. A real fixed-price quote explicitly lists the number of pages, the number of feedback rounds per stage and a contractual launch date, not an estimate. Two other signals to check: billing by time spent rather than a flat fee, and a “basic SEO” line with no detail on what it covers. On projects that stack up these signals, budget overruns generally run around 30 to 60% above the figure announced at the start. Ask for this breakdown before signing, and treat a vague answer as useful information in itself.
Does a website redesign take longer than building from scratch?: Often yes, because of an item new builds don't have: migration. Every page that changes address has to be redirected, every piece of content carried over and checked, and the SEO already earned has to be preserved rather than rebuilt from zero. For a simple showcase website, a redesign generally follows the same schedule as a new build, 4 to 6 weeks, if the volume of content to carry over stays reasonable. For a Shopify store, expect more like 6 to 10 weeks: the catalog, customer reviews and order history add a layer that design alone doesn't cover. Before signing a redesign quote, check that redirects and SEO carryover are explicitly included in the scope. Changing technical platform during the redesign can also add a few weeks to the schedule announced at the start.
Who handles my project at Sonho: one person or several points of contact?: One team, one point of contact, carries your project from the first meeting to launch: the same person follows the design, the development and the SEO, without handing off to a project manager who would then coordinate several separate teams. In practice, that changes two things. You explain your business once, and that understanding stays intact through delivery, with no brief getting reinterpreted at every handoff. And when a question comes up after launch, it reaches someone who already knows your project in detail, not a ticket in a queue. This setup makes it possible to keep a tight schedule, 4 to 6 weeks for a showcase website, without internal coordination meetings slowing the work down. It stays the same whatever the type of project, showcase website or online store.