Key points at a glance
- Website builder: according to market surveys €12 – €42 per month, but a lot of your own time for setup, texts, photos and upkeep.
- Agency: usually €1,500 – €5,000 one-off plus €30 – €150 per month for maintenance, tailor-made but expensive and often slow.
- Fixed price with Meine-Gastro-Website: €1,800 one-off, €30 per month for hosting and maintenance, €24 per year for the domain.
- Hidden costs: photos, ongoing menu changes, fees for reservation systems and delivery platform commissions often exceed the website itself.
- Compare the total cost over several years and include your own working time. The cost calculator gives you a market comparison.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change and some differ between federal states: check the details with your chamber of commerce (WKO) or IHK, the competent authority or your tax adviser.
Three routes to a website at a glance
There are basically three routes to a website for your venue: you build it yourself with a website builder, you hire a web agency for a tailor-made solution, or you choose a fixed-price package designed for hospitality. All three can work. But they differ a lot in who does the work, how quickly the site goes live and what it costs over the years.
| Website builder | Agency | Meine-Gastro-Website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off | no fixed amount, but your own working time | €1,500 – €5,000 | €1,800 (with CMS €3,600) |
| Ongoing | €12 – €42 per month | €30 – €150 per month | €30 per month plus €24 per year |
| First year | €144 – €504 | €1,860 – €6,800 | Package, hosting and domain as above |
| Who builds it? | You | The agency | We do |
| Time to go live | depends on your time | often several weeks to months | free preview in 3 days |
| Changes | by yourself | billed by effort or under a maintenance contract | we handle them, with CMS you can do them yourself |
The ranges come from public price surveys for Austria and Germany and are deliberately conservative. In individual cases a quote can be lower or considerably higher, for example when an online shop, a booking system for hotel rooms or many languages are added. You can compare your own configuration with the cost calculator.
Building it yourself with a website builder
Website builders tempt you with ready-made templates and low monthly prices. For a small café or an Imbiss with little content, that can be a start. But the price hides the real effort: writing texts, choosing and cropping photos, setting up the menu, maintaining opening hours, adding a legal notice and privacy policy, optimising for phones and Google. Guides estimate 40 to 80 hours of your own work for a business website before it can go live. Those hours are missing in the kitchen, at the pass or with your family.
- Advantage: low entry cost, full control, change it yourself at any time.
- Disadvantage: a lot of your own time, design often generic, loading times and accessibility depend on the template.
- Watch out: many templates load fonts, maps and analytics tools from third parties. That requires a longer privacy policy and often a cookie banner.
- Lock-in: moving to another provider usually means rebuilding the site.
Agency: tailor-made, but expensive
A web agency develops a design just for you, writes texts on request, organises a photo shoot and connects systems such as reservations, an online shop or voucher sales. That makes sense for larger businesses, hotels with room booking, hospitality groups with several locations or brands that deliberately want to stand out. The price reflects the effort: concept, feedback rounds, programming and project management are billed by the hour.
With agency quotes, pay special attention to the ongoing costs. According to market surveys, maintenance contracts with updates, security patches and a few hours for changes cost €30 – €150 per month. Without a contract, every new menu, every seasonal change and every event becomes a separate invoice. Also clarify who owns the design, texts and photos and whether the domain is registered in your name.
Fixed price: Meine-Gastro-Website
Meine-Gastro-Website is the middle way: a website individually designed for your venue, built by us, at a fixed price. The package costs €1,800 one-off. If you want to change content such as daily specials or events yourself, take the package with CMS for €3,600. On top come €30 per month (€54 with CMS) for hosting, updates and support, and €24 per year for the domain. The full scope of services is on the pricing page, optional modules under add-ons.
- Free preview: within 3 days you see your new website as a preview, with no obligation.
- Hospitality content included: opening hours with live status, menu as text, reservation or order button, directions.
- German and English are included, more languages are available as an add-on.
- No tracking and no advertising cookies: no third-party analytics tools, no cookie banner to annoy guests.
- Your content belongs to you: you take texts, photos and the domain with you if you switch.
Work out your website costs yourself
The cost calculator compares your configuration with typical market prices for agencies and website builders: one-off, monthly, in the first year and including time spent.
Hidden costs that are often forgotten
For many venues, the website itself is not the biggest item. What often costs more is everything around it: photos, ongoing upkeep and above all the fees of the services through which reservations and orders come in. If you know these costs, you can plan the website specifically to save money.
| Cost item | What to watch for |
|---|---|
| Photos | A professional shoot of rooms and dishes is a one-off investment that lasts for years. Stock photos are cheaper but look generic. |
| Menu changes | Seasonal menu, lunch menu, new prices: with agencies without a maintenance contract every change costs extra. Clarify in advance who makes changes and what they cost. |
| Reservation system | Many providers charge a monthly fee, some also fees per guest or per booking made through their portal. Ask about every component. |
| Delivery platforms | Commission per order, sometimes plus fees for advertising on the platform. Industry reports cite around 13 to 15 % with your own delivery and around 30 % with the platform's couriers. |
| Translations | Menu and key pages in English and other languages, including updates every time the menu changes. |
| Legal texts | The legal notice and privacy policy must be correct. Mistakes can lead to cease-and-desist letters or administrative fines. |
| Your own time | Every hour you spend on technology is missing from the business. Include it at a realistic hourly rate. |
How to calculate the total cost correctly
A fair comparison looks not only at the starting price but at the costs over the time you use the website, usually three to five years. Go step by step:
Collect one-off costs
Creation, design, texts, photos, setting up reservations or a shop.
Project ongoing costs
Hosting, builder subscription or maintenance contract, domain, tools: each times 12 months and times the planned years.
Estimate changes
How often does your menu change? How many events, seasonal hours, jobs per year? What does each change cost?
Value your own time
Hours for setup and upkeep times a realistic hourly rate, even if you do not pay yourself anything.
Weigh the benefits
How many direct bookings, commission-free orders or applications does the site bring? Just a few extra guests a month cover the ongoing costs. How many guests your business needs overall to cover all fixed costs is shown by the break-even calculator for restaurants and cafés.
What to look for in quotes
Questions for every provider
- Is the price gross or net, one-off or per month?
- What is included: texts, photos, menu, languages, legal notice and privacy policy?
- Who changes the menu, opening hours and events, and what does that cost?
- What is the minimum term for hosting or maintenance?
- Does the domain belong to you, and can you take your content with you if you switch?
- Is the website optimised for phones, loading time and accessibility?
- Are tracking tools or cookies used, and do you need a banner for them?
- Can a reservation system, ordering shop and Google profile be connected?
How to get it right
- Compare the total cost over several years
- Include your own working time honestly
- Clarify the cost of changes in writing in advance
- Have the domain registered in your own name
Better not
- Look only at the lowest monthly price
- Sign a quote without a clear scope of services
- Accept long terms without a way out
- Use photos from the internet you do not have the rights to
Which solution suits which venue
A website builder suits you if you enjoy design, plan time for it and the site stays small, for example for a seasonal stand or a pop-up kitchen. An agency is worth it for special requirements: a hotel with room booking and many languages, several locations, your own online shop with inventory management. For most restaurants, Wirtshäuser (traditional inns), cafés, bars and Heurige, a fixed-price package is the most economical route: professionally designed, quickly online, and upkeep stays predictable.
Whichever route you choose: the content decides whether the website brings in guests. Which content that is, is covered in the guide Restaurant website: the 13 things your guests look for. How much a good website is worth shows above all on Google: the post on local SEO explains how guests find you.
See your new website before you pay
Send us a few key details about your venue. Within 3 days you will receive a free preview with no obligation.
A free preview of your venue website, designed by us.
