A website in Slovakia in 2026 costs anywhere from €0 (a no-code Wix template that doesn't sell) to €25,000+ (an enterprise platform with ERP integration). For most small and mid-sized businesses, the real range is €1,200-€8,000 as a one-time fee, or €189-€450 monthly on a rental model. This article breaks that cost into concrete line items, shows which ones you can cut without losing quality, and which are worth paying for.
Why no Slovak agency publishes prices, and why we do
Open any Slovak web agency homepage. The price? "Contact us for a non-binding consultation." That habit comes from the golden agency era of 2008-2014, when price served as a negotiation tool, quote high first, then "make an exception" and close the client. It works if the client is a busy big-company owner with a budget where 20% up or down isn't a topic.
On the Slovak SMB market in 2026, that approach fails for three reasons. First, young business owners (millennials and Gen Z) refuse to phone just for an estimate, they want a number on the page before the first email. Second, Google now indexes pricing-page content as a qualifying signal, without prices you become invisible in AI Overviews. Third, price = trust signal. A hidden price says: "we have something to hide."
Price isn't a negotiation tool. It's a trust signal. Hidden prices say we have something to hide.
DevNova publishes pricing at /cennik with no registration, no "contact us." That filters wrong-fit clients out earlier, if someone thinks €1,800 for a website is expensive, we don't waste each other's time. And for those who consider it fair, the first contact arrives with the decision almost made.
Three payment models and when to pick which
ONE-TIME, CO-PILOT and IGNITION aren't marketing variations of the same thing. They're three different cash-flow decisions for the business. You pick based on how much cash you have, how much you want to tie up at launch, and how active a partner you need over the following months.
ONE-TIME (from €349), buy out the whole project in one payment
The simplest model: pay once, get the website + source code + documentation. You handle hosting yourself (typically Vercel at €20/mo or Hostinger at €4/mo). No monthly commitment.
This model is picked by businesses that have free cash and want to handle one transaction "once and for all." Typically distribution companies that prefer CapEx over OpEx for accounting reasons, or owners who have their own IT person and want to manage the site themselves.
- Landing tier (€349): a simple 1-page landing for a sole trader, no integrations, shipped fast.
- Marketing tier (€799): a multi-page site for a growing company with a blog, contact forms, 1-2 integrations (Mailchimp, Google Maps).
- E-shop tier (€1,399): a custom e-shop with catalog, cart, payment gateway integration (Stripe / GoPay) and an invoicing system (Pohoda / Money S3).
- Add-ons (chatbots from €120, SEO-AI €294, unique design €240) stack on top of the base tier, a full package with everything can run €1,500-€4,000 depending on scope.
CO-PILOT: 50% upfront, then only the care plan
The most popular model among Bratislava SMBs. You pay 50% of the agreed price upfront (Landing from €175, Marketing from €399, E-shop from €700), and after that you pay only the tier-based monthly care plan (€19 / €29 / €49 per month, or €9 / €15 / €19 on annual billing), which covers hosting, domain, and content updates. While the care plan is active we don't separately charge the remaining balance, we run and maintain the project, and you can cancel any time.
This model makes sense if the company is growing and wants an active partner. The care plan covers 2-3 content updates per month, a new team photo, a new service page, a seasonal CTA. Without that, after 6 months the site ages and you lose SEO momentum.
IGNITION (€0 upfront, 12-month code lease), from €29/mo
Our newest model, launched for startups and businesses with tight cash flow. No upfront payment, you pay monthly for 12 months: Landing €29/mo, Marketing €67/mo, E-shop €117/mo. After month 12 the code transfers to the client automatically (no extra buyout) and the care plan becomes optional.
IGNITION works because even the Landing tier comes in under €30/mo, an amount a small business can safely cover from a single new client's monthly revenue. Early-month risk shifts to us, if the site doesn't bring new clients, the client leaves and we sit on the unamortized setup. That's why we don't offer IGNITION to anyone; we run a brief qualification first, does the client already have existing clients who could refer them?
What hosting and a domain actually cost
This is where you most often overpay. Slovak web agencies typically charge €15-30/month for hosting + "maintenance," and the client has no idea that real hosting cost is €2-4/month (Hostinger, WebSupport.sk) or €20/month (Vercel Pro, which we prefer for Next.js sites).
Domain: .sk = €13-18/year, .eu = €8-12/year, .com = €12-15/year. For most Slovak businesses, the agency registers the domain themselves and ownership "accidentally" stays with the agency. When you end the relationship, the agency doesn't return the domain and you lose your entire SEO history. At DevNova we always register domains directly to the client, domain control = business control.
- Hosting Vercel (Pro): €20/mo, including CDN, edge functions, analytics.
- Hosting Hostinger Business: €4/mo (good for WP, not for Next.js).
- Domain .sk: €13/year via WebSupport.
- SSL certificate: €0 (Let's Encrypt, automatic via Vercel).
- Email b2b@yourcompany.sk: €5/mo via Google Workspace or €1/mo via Zoho Mail.
Care plan, what it is and when you need it
A care plan is a monthly technical maintenance package. In the Slovak context, "maintenance" is often a synonym for "we don't do anything, but take the money." The DevNova care plan has a hard-defined scope: 2-3 content updates per month, uptime monitoring, daily automated backups, SSL renewal, security patches within 48 hours of publication.
Without a care plan, the site technically degrades over 6-12 months: browsers change behavior (Chrome dropped support for old sub-resource integrity in 2025), npm packages get security patches your old code doesn't use, and Google starts penalizing sites without recent commit history per their Crawling Quality Rater Guidelines.
A site without a care plan doesn't stay static. It degrades.
Hidden costs agencies don't advertise
A classic Slovak web agency billing you €4,500 for a "comprehensive solution" actually charges substantially more via hidden line items. After a year, the real total is often €8,000-12,000. Here are the most common hidden items:
- Changing the hero copy, €120 (5 minutes of work). You thought it was included.
- Adding another language version after launch, €1,800 (technically that's a day of work with i18n).
- Migrating to a new design after a year, €4,200 (because "the original design is outdated"). Without a care plan, that can actually happen.
- Domain renewal, €45/year (real cost €13/year).
- "Premium" SSL, €120/year (Let's Encrypt = free).
At DevNova all of these are either included in the care plan or aren't charged, copy changes are included, the domain is registered to you, SSL is free. Because if we charged for these, the client would leave after a year, and we want them to stay.
When to invest more (and when not to)
Not every business needs an €8,000 site. Concrete situations where it makes sense to go higher:
- You do B2B with a long sales cycle (healthcare, law, B2B distribution), €4,200+ Marketing tier makes sense because of content marketing as a conversion trigger.
- An e-shop with €15,000+/month volume, €6,000+ for a bespoke e-shop with a fast checkout amortizes in 4-6 months via higher conversion rate.
- A local business in Bratislava with competition (gastro, fitness, clinics), €3,600+ for the SEO Boost package amortizes in 6-12 months via organic leads.
And the reverse, when NOT to invest higher:
- You're starting out, don't yet know what your customer wants, go IGNITION from €29/mo (Landing tier) and invest the difference in testing the offer.
- You run a service business where 80% of clients come via word-of-mouth, a €349 ONE-TIME Landing is enough, invest the money in networking.
- You sell commodities (the same product as competitors), design won't help, you're competing on price, the site should be minimal and fast.
A real example: a gastro client in Petržalka
An anonymized client (a restaurant in Petržalka, 35 seats, daily turnover ~€800-1,200) came to us with a ~€1,000 budget. The Marketing tier (€799) with a booking system and menu manager made sense, but the upfront was tight. Option A: ONE-TIME €799 + booking add-on at once, cash flow tight. Option B: CO-PILOT, 50% (€399) upfront, rest via a €29/mo care plan. Option C: IGNITION, €0 upfront, €67/mo over 12 months.
We picked option C. After 4 months, online bookings via the site crossed 40% of all reservations (was 0%, all phone before). The phone freed up for menu questions. After month 12 the code transferred automatically to them, and they moved to an optional Hosted care plan at €29/mo. Total first-year cost: 12 × €67 ≈ €804 (≈ Marketing tier basePrice). Without us, the "€800 something" site would have brought zero online bookings and the client would have switched agency within a year anyway.
Closing: three questions to ask before contacting any agency
- Is the price published on their site? If not, ask why.
- Do I own the source code and domain after launch? If not, walk away.
- What's the post-launch process? If the answer is "you get the starter package" with no further detail, it'll fall apart in 6 months.
If you want a concrete number for your project, fill out /brief, we reply within 24 hours with a recommended tier, timeline, and quote. No registration, no commitment.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What's the cheapest site that's worth ordering?
€349 ONE-TIME (Landing tier) or €29/mo IGNITION over 12 months. You can't go lower without compromising on: code ownership, mobile responsiveness, basic SEO, or security. A €0/mo Wix or AI-builder template looks cheaper, but you'll lose a year before realizing it didn't bring clients. That is exactly what happened to one client whose AI-builder site we rebuilt from PageSpeed 54 to 99. Full case with the numbers here.
Q: Why the gap between €349 and €1,399+?
Complexity. €349 (Landing) is a 1-page site with no integrations. €1,399 (E-shop) is a custom e-shop with catalog, cart, payment gateway, and invoicing-system integration. A maxed-out package with unique design and an AI chatbot can run €3,500-4,000 via add-ons. At E-shop tier, 50% goes to functionality, 30% to design and content, 20% to SEO + integrations.
Q: Do I really need a care plan?
Yes, unless you have your own developer checking security patches every 2 weeks. Without a care plan the site technically degrades and after 6-12 months you'll either need a costly migration or risk a security vulnerability. A care plan at €19-49/mo (or €9-19/mo on annual billing) depending on tier is cheaper than ad-hoc fixes.
Q: How does this compare to a €800 freelancer?
A €800 freelancer delivers 80% of the functionality but lacks accountability after launch. When the payment gateway breaks on a Sunday, the freelancer is on the next gig. DevNova has an SLA with a 48-hour response, that's what you pay extra for. For a personal site or portfolio, a freelancer is fine. For a commercial site that generates leads, you need a studio with accountability.
Q: Do you discount for startups or nonprofits?
Yes. For certified nonprofits, 15% off ONE-TIME. For pre-seed startups (less than 6 months from incorporation), we recommend IGNITION from €29/mo (Landing tier) so the setup amortizes via 12 monthly payments. For Y Combinator and similar accelerators, we have a dedicated partnership program, contact us at b2b@devnova.eu with details.
About the author
Tair Khamitov, founder and lead developer of DevNova in Bratislava. Since October 2025 he has delivered websites, AI automation, and e-commerce platforms for small and mid-sized businesses across Central Europe. Pricing published openly at /cennik, projects documented at /work. Contact: b2b@devnova.eu.