3 project slots open this month — book yours
Start a Project
Web Design

Web Design Pricing in Kenya (2026).

A transparent KES guide — what each tier actually buys, where studios mark up, and what to insist on before signing anything.

Published 28 May 2026 · 9 min read · By Owldid

A custom business website in Kenya in 2026 costs KES 35,000–80,000 at the small end, KES 80,000–180,000 in the growth tier and KES 180,000–350,000 for e-commerce with M-Pesa Daraja. Anything cheaper is usually a template with a logo change; anything more expensive needs a written justification for every extra zero. This guide explains what each tier actually includes, where the margin lives, and how to read a Kenyan web design quote.

In this guide
  1. The four real pricing tiers in Kenya
  2. Starter: KES 35,000–80,000
  3. Growth: KES 80,000–180,000
  4. E-commerce: KES 180,000–350,000
  5. Custom platforms: KES 350,000+
  6. Hidden costs to watch for
  7. How Owldid quotes
  8. FAQ

The four real pricing tiers in Kenya

Most Kenyan web design quotes fit into one of four tiers. The size of the site, the level of design custom-build, and the integrations (M-Pesa, WooCommerce, booking systems) decide which tier you land in.

Starter — KES 35,000–80,000

Best for: side businesses, solo professionals, single-location services.
  • 3–5 pages: Home, About, Services, Contact, plus one optional (Portfolio or FAQ).
  • Custom design — not a Wix template — built on your brand colours and fonts.
  • Mobile-responsive (~95% of Kenya's traffic is mobile).
  • Contact form delivered to your email; WhatsApp link.
  • On-page SEO basics: titles, descriptions, sitemap, robots.txt.
  • Google Analytics 4 wired in.
  • One round of revisions; 30 days post-launch support.

Red flag: a "KES 15,000 website" at this scope is almost certainly a recycled template on a shared subdomain. The cost of a real custom build floors at around KES 35,000.

Growth — KES 80,000–180,000

Best for: established SMEs, professional services with multiple offerings, schools, clinics.
  • Up to 15 pages with a content-managed blog or news section.
  • Branded design system: typography, colour, motion conventions consistent site-wide.
  • CMS so the team can publish updates without a developer.
  • Lead-capture forms with automated email or WhatsApp routing.
  • SEO foundation: structured data (Organization, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList), Search Console verification, sitemap, Open Graph + Twitter cards on every page.
  • Performance tuned for 4G mobile (Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1).
  • Two rounds of revisions; 60 days post-launch support.

E-commerce — KES 180,000–350,000

Best for: product businesses, online stores, restaurants taking orders.
  • WooCommerce, Shopify or custom store — depending on catalogue size and complexity.
  • M-Pesa Daraja STK Push integrated — buyer pays from their phone, you get an automated receipt. See our Daraja integration guide.
  • Card payments (Pesapal, Flutterwave) as a fallback.
  • Product variants, stock tracking, automated WhatsApp order notifications.
  • Shipping integration with local couriers.
  • Admin training and a written ops runbook.

Insist on: Daraja go-live included (not "we'll integrate when Safaricom approves" — they should handle the Safaricom application end-to-end).

Custom platforms — KES 350,000+

Best for: SaaS products, booking platforms, multi-vendor marketplaces, school systems.
  • Bespoke application logic — accounts, dashboards, role-based permissions, integrations with third-party APIs.
  • Custom database schema designed for your domain.
  • Owned source code with deployment infrastructure documented.
  • Often pairs with a monthly retainer for ongoing feature work.

This tier is priced by week, not by page. A school management system, a booking platform with payments, or a multi-vendor marketplace typically lands KES 350,000–1,200,000 depending on scope.

Hidden costs to watch for

The sticker price is usually only half the conversation. The other half hides in hosting, renewals, photography and revisions.

  • Hosting. KES 5,000–25,000/year depending on traffic. Some studios bundle one year free, some don't. Ask explicitly.
  • Domain. KES 1,500–5,000/year. Make sure the domain is registered in your name, not the studio's.
  • SSL. Should be free (Let's Encrypt). Anyone quoting KES 8,000/year for SSL is marking up something they get for nothing.
  • Stock photography. Unsplash and Pexels are free. If the studio quotes per-image, they're using a paid library or being creative with line items.
  • Post-launch revisions. Should be free in the agreed window (30–60 days). After that, get an hourly rate in writing, not "we'll see."
  • Monthly maintenance. Optional. KES 5,000–25,000/month buys you backups, security patches, small content edits, and uptime monitoring. Worth it if the site is critical; skippable if it isn't.
The cleanest test: ask the studio to email a one-page quote that separates one-time (build), one-time (Daraja or integrations), recurring annual (hosting, domain), and recurring monthly (maintenance). A studio that can't produce that on the spot has not thought about it clearly.

How Owldid quotes

Owldid publishes its tier ranges on the pricing page and quotes per project in KES with a written one-time / recurring split. We don't mark up Daraja, hosting or SSL.

Our tiers map to the four above:

  • Starter site: from KES 35,000 (3–5 pages, mobile-responsive, SEO basics, GA4, 30 days support).
  • Growth site: from KES 95,000 (CMS, blog, structured data, conversion tracking, 60 days support).
  • E-commerce site: from KES 195,000 (WooCommerce or custom + M-Pesa Daraja included).
  • Custom platforms: from KES 450,000 (school systems, booking platforms, multi-vendor marketplaces).
  • Monthly retainer: from KES 18,000/month (ongoing build + maintenance, no per-revision charge).

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a real website for less than KES 35,000?
Honestly, no — not custom-built. You can pay KES 8,000–20,000 for a Wix or Squarespace site with a template and your logo. It works, but you'll outgrow it inside 12 months and starting over is the only path forward. Spend KES 35,000 once or KES 12,000 three times.
Do I own the website if I pay for it?
You should. Insist that the contract assigns copyright on delivery and that the source code, deployment access and domain are transferred to you. Some studios keep the code "in escrow" to lock you in — walk away from those.
How long should a website take to build?
Starter: 5–10 working days. Growth: 14–21 working days. E-commerce with Daraja: 21–35 working days (Daraja go-live adds 1–2 weeks of Safaricom time). Custom platforms: 6–16 weeks. Anything faster is risky; anything slower needs justification.
What if I just want a fix to my existing site?
Hourly rates in Kenya in 2026 sit around KES 2,500–6,000/hour depending on the studio. Most small fixes (form not delivering, broken link, mobile menu glitch) are 1–3 hours.

Want a written quote with no hidden line items?

Tell us about your business in our 2-minute form and we'll send a one-page quote with one-time and recurring costs separated. No discovery-call gatekeeping.

Start a project → WhatsApp +254 113 333 522