Ask three Atlanta web shops to quote the same five-page site and you can receive three numbers so far apart they seem to describe different products. One quote lands in the hundreds. One lands in the low thousands. One arrives as a proposal PDF with a number that looks like a used car. None of them explain the gap.
The gap is real, and it has reasons. Knowing them puts you back in control of the conversation.
What actually drives the price
Who does the work. An agency quote carries an account manager, a project manager, a designer, a developer, and the office they sit in. You pay for that structure whether or not your project needs it. A freelancer carries none of it, which is why freelancer quotes run lower, and also why freelancers sometimes disappear mid-project. A small studio sits between the two: one accountable name, no overhead pyramid.
What “website” means in the quote. The word hides enormous range. A template with your logo dropped in is one product. A site designed around your business, written for the customers you actually want, built to load fast on a phone in a parking lot, and wired correctly into Google is a different product at a different price. When two quotes differ by thousands, this is usually the difference.
What happens after launch. Some builders price low and earn it back in monthly fees you discover later. Some price high and vanish the day the site goes live. Ask every builder the same question: what does month two look like, and what does it cost?
The honest range
In Atlanta, a small business should expect roughly this landscape: template builds from solo operators often land in the hundreds; custom builds from independent professionals commonly run into the low-to-mid thousands; agency builds start around five thousand and climb quickly. These are patterns, not laws. Outliers exist in both directions, and a higher number does not guarantee better work.
Industry survey data backs the pattern: the median spend for a professionally built site lands near five thousand dollars, with independent developers typically quoting between fifteen hundred and five thousand.
What matters more than the number is what the number includes, in writing: the pages, the words, the speed standard, the Google setup, and who owns what when the work is done.
What TenGlade charges
TenGlade publishes its pricing, which remains unusual in this market. The Build is $500 one-time: a four-to-five page premium site, designed and written for your business, fast on every phone, with domain, email, and analytics sorted at launch. Build + Visibility is $1,600 one-time: everything in The Build plus the foundation that gets you found on Google and recommended by AI assistants. Full Service is $700 a month: the site, the visibility work, and fresh content, handled continuously.
After launch, an optional care plan is $50 a month for hosting, updates, fixes, and a real person who answers. Content work beyond that is $100 an hour. No setup fees, no surprise invoices, no “contact us for pricing.”
Why the entry price is low
A fair question deserves a plain answer. The Build is priced as a starting point, not a loss leader with a trap behind it. The studio earns ongoing revenue from clients who choose visibility work, monthly service, or care after seeing the build quality. The incentive structure is simple: the first project has to be good enough that you want the second one. You are free to take the site and walk; you own all of it either way.
The question that cuts through every quote
Whoever you talk to, ask this: “Walk me through exactly what I get, what I own, and what I will pay in the next twelve months.” A good builder answers in plain language without flinching. A weak one reaches for jargon. The answer tells you more than the price does.
Take fifteen minutes to find out what your business actually needs. No pitch, no homework, and an honest read even when the answer is simple. Book a 15-minute call.