Last updated: September 2026 · Reading time: 13 min · By the Best Web Developer team
Quick answer
The typical website cost in France in 2027 is EUR 1,500–5,000 for a simple showcase site from a freelancer, EUR 6,000–20,000 for a custom agency site and EUR 12,000–60,000 or more for e-commerce, before 20% VAT. In riyals that is roughly SAR 6,000–20,000, SAR 25,000–82,000 and SAR 49,000–246,000. Maintenance adds EUR 50–400 a month.
Key takeaways
- French pricing is driven by the day rate: roughly EUR 350–600 for freelancers and EUR 550–950 for agencies.
- Many freelancers are micro-entrepreneurs who do not charge VAT, which can make them look 20% cheaper than agencies.
- Legal extras are part of the budget: mentions légales, a CNIL-compliant cookie banner, GDPR privacy notices and French-language content.
- Paris agencies often charge 20–30% more than studios in Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux or Lille for similar work.
- For Saudi brands selling into France, a French storefront usually costs less than a full custom Saudi build but needs local payment and legal know-how.
What drives website cost in France
Website cost in France depends on four things: who builds it (freelancer or agency), how much is custom, how many languages and integrations you need, and how much legal and accessibility work is included. The same brief can be quoted at EUR 3,000 or EUR 30,000 depending on those choices.
A site vitrine (showcase website) is the French term for a brochure site that presents a business, its services and contact details without online sales. A site e-commerce adds a catalogue, cart, payments and order management. Most quotes you receive will use one of these two labels.
This guide sets out the typical ranges we quote and see in French proposals, explains what is included at each level, and shows what the figures mean for a Saudi company either outsourcing to France or selling to French customers. All euro prices are before TVA (French VAT), and conversions use approximately 1 EUR = 4.1 SAR.
Note: how to read these prices
These ranges come from proposals we have reviewed and our own project quotes, not from an official survey. French prices vary by region, supplier and scope. Legal points mentioned below are general information, not legal advice; confirm your obligations with a French lawyer or accountant.
Website cost in France by project type
A simple showcase site costs EUR 1,500–5,000 from a freelancer, a custom agency site EUR 6,000–20,000, and an online store EUR 5,000–60,000 or more depending on platform. The table gives the typical bands.
| Project type | EUR (ex. TVA) | Approx. SAR | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on Wix or Squarespace | 15–50 per month | 60–205 per month | Days |
| Freelance site vitrine, 5–8 pages, WordPress theme | 1,500–5,000 | 6,000–20,500 | 2–5 weeks |
| Agency custom site, 10–25 pages | 6,000–20,000 | 25,000–82,000 | 6–12 weeks |
| Shopify or WooCommerce store | 5,000–25,000 | 20,500–102,500 | 6–12 weeks |
| PrestaShop or custom e-commerce with ERP | 20,000–60,000+ | 82,000–246,000+ | 3–6 months |
| Web application or marketplace | 50,000–200,000+ | 205,000–820,000+ | 4–12 months |
Day rates (TJM) explained
The TJM (taux journalier moyen) is the average daily rate a French freelancer or agency charges, and most quotes are built as TJM multiplied by estimated days. Freelance WordPress developers commonly charge EUR 350–500 a day, senior full-stack freelancers EUR 500–700, and agencies EUR 550–950 depending on the profile. A 20-day project therefore ranges from about EUR 7,000 to EUR 19,000.
Why freelancers can look 20% cheaper
Many French freelancers work under the micro-entrepreneur regime and, below a turnover threshold, do not charge VAT. Their invoices carry the mention “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI”. Agencies add 20% TVA. For a French business that can reclaim VAT, the difference disappears; for a consumer or non-registered buyer, it is real.
Regional price differences
Paris agencies carry higher salaries and office costs, so their day rates often run 20–30% above studios in Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille or Toulouse. Remote work has narrowed the gap for freelancers, but for agencies the Paris premium on website cost in France is still visible in most quotes we compare.
Hidden costs: legal, hosting and maintenance
French websites carry legal and running costs that first-time buyers often miss. Budget for them from the start so the quote you accept is the price you actually pay.
Legal requirements that add work
- Mentions légales: French law requires a legal notice page identifying the publisher, host and registration details.
- Cookie consent: the CNIL expects refusing cookies to be as easy as accepting them, so a compliant consent tool and correct tag setup take time to configure.
- GDPR notices and processes: privacy policy, data retention rules and a way to handle access requests. The European Commission’s data protection pages summarise the framework.
- E-commerce terms: CGV (general terms of sale), the 14-day withdrawal right and clear pricing including VAT.
- French language: consumer-facing information is expected in French, so an English-only store will not do.
- Accessibility: the RGAA framework applies to public bodies and some large companies, and the European Accessibility Act covers many e-commerce services from June 2025.
Running costs per year
- Domain (.fr or .com): EUR 10–25.
- Hosting: EUR 60–300 for shared or managed WordPress with French hosts such as OVHcloud or o2switch; EUR 400–2,000 for high-traffic stores.
- Maintenance contract: EUR 50–400 a month for updates, backups, security monitoring and small edits.
- Shopify plan and apps: from about EUR 30 a month plus apps and payment fees.
- Content and SEO: EUR 500–3,000 a month if you want ongoing articles and optimisation.
Pro tip
Ask every supplier for a “devis détaillé” (itemised quote) showing days per phase, TJM, what is included in the legal pages and whether the cookie tool licence is extra. Then drop each quote into our free VAT calculator so you compare VAT-exclusive and VAT-inclusive figures on the same basis.
Platforms and payments French buyers expect
WordPress and Shopify dominate small-business projects, PrestaShop remains common in French e-commerce, and checkout must support Cartes Bancaires, PayPal and instalment payments. Platform choice can swing the budget by 50% or more.
Choosing a platform
WordPress suits content-led sites and blogs. Shopify is the fastest route to a well-designed store with low maintenance. PrestaShop, which started in France, has a large local ecosystem of developers and modules and suits merchants who want to self-host. Custom builds on frameworks such as Symfony or Next.js make sense only for unusual logic or very high traffic. Our guide to choosing the right tech stack walks through the trade-offs.
Checkout expectations
French shoppers overwhelmingly pay by card, usually co-branded with the domestic Cartes Bancaires network, and they expect 3-D Secure authentication. PayPal and Apple Pay are common, and instalment options such as “paiement en 3 ou 4 fois” through providers like Alma or Oney lift conversion on higher baskets. Delivery options should include relay points (points relais), which many French shoppers prefer to home delivery.
Highlight: our budget checklist for French projects
Before accepting any quote, confirm: 1) day rate and number of days; 2) VAT status of the supplier; 3) legal pages and cookie consent included; 4) French copywriting or translation budget; 5) payment and relay-point delivery setup; 6) hosting location and cost; 7) maintenance terms; 8) who owns the domain, code and accounts.
Key benefits of budgeting properly
A realistic budget buys a site that stays legal, loads fast and keeps converting for years. Underfunding usually means paying twice, once for the cheap site and again for the rebuild.
- No compliance surprises: legal pages, consent and privacy handled at launch rather than after a complaint.
- Native French content: copy written by French speakers converts far better than machine translation.
- Better conversion: familiar payment methods and relay-point delivery reduce checkout abandonment.
- Search visibility: proper hreflang, structured data and fast pages help you rank on google.fr.
- Predictable running costs: a maintenance contract fixes the monthly figure.
- Clean ownership: domain, code and accounts in your name protect you if you change supplier.
“In France, the cheapest quote is often the one that left out the legal pages, the cookie banner and the French copy. Compare the scope before you compare the price.”
— Best Web Developer strategy team
What website cost in France means for Saudi Arabia businesses
For Saudi companies, website cost in France matters in two scenarios: selling to French customers, and hiring French talent. In both, the build is only part of the budget; French legal and language work is the rest.
Selling Saudi products and experiences into France
Perfume, oud, dates, coffee, modest fashion and tourism are natural exports to France, and cultural ties such as the French partnership around AlUla give Saudi destinations visibility with French travellers. A French-language storefront on Shopify with Cartes Bancaires, PayPal and relay-point delivery typically costs EUR 8,000–25,000 (about SAR 33,000–102,500). Add proper hreflang tags so Google shows the right language; our free hreflang generator builds them for ar-SA, en and fr-FR versions.
Comparing French and Riyadh prices
A bilingual corporate site in Riyadh often costs SAR 35,000–120,000, similar to a French agency site at EUR 8,000–25,000. The difference is expertise: French teams know CNIL, French consumer law and local payments, while Saudi teams know Arabic RTL, mada, STC Pay, Tabby, Tamara and ZATCA e-invoicing. Few suppliers do both well, so many brands use a Riyadh web design team for the home market and a French partner, or a multilingual agency, for the French store.
Illustrative case: a Jeddah perfume house opens a French store
Challenge: A perfume brand selling on Salla in Saudi Arabia received growing orders from France through social media but had no French checkout. Three French quotes ranged from EUR 4,500 to EUR 38,000 with very different scope.
What we did: We normalised the quotes against the eight-point checklist, then scoped a Shopify fr-FR store with Cartes Bancaires, PayPal, Alma instalments, relay-point shipping, CNIL-compliant consent and native French copy. Total: EUR 16,500 (about SAR 67,650) plus EUR 180 a month maintenance.
Result: Launch took nine weeks. Within five months the store averaged about 260 orders a month with a 2.6% conversion rate, and instalment payments accounted for roughly a fifth of orders above EUR 150.
Freelancer vs agency vs DIY in France
DIY is cheapest for testing an idea, freelancers offer the best value on simple sites, and agencies are safer for e-commerce and anything with integrations. The table sets out the trade-offs.
| Option | Typical site vitrine price | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | EUR 200–600 a year | Fast, cheap, easy edits | Generic design, you handle legal setup |
| Freelancer (micro-entrepreneur) | EUR 1,500–5,000 | Direct contact, often no VAT | Limited capacity, single point of failure |
| Regional agency | EUR 5,000–12,000 | Team, process, support contract | Slower start, 20% TVA added |
| Paris agency | EUR 8,000–20,000 | Brand design depth, enterprise experience | Highest price for similar output |
| International multilingual agency | EUR 7,000–18,000 | Arabic, English and French in one project | Check French copy is native |
If you need a French store alongside your Saudi site, our e-commerce development service plans both on one codebase or platform, with separate legal and payment setups per market.
Highlight: three-year total cost example
A EUR 9,000 agency site with EUR 150 a month maintenance and EUR 200 a year hosting costs about EUR 15,000 over three years (about SAR 61,500). A EUR 3,000 freelance site that needs a EUR 6,000 rebuild in year two, plus ad hoc fixes, often ends up close to the same figure with more disruption.
Pricing trends for 2027, from Paris to Vision 2030
Expect French prices to rise modestly as compliance work grows, while AI tools lower the cost of simple sites. For Saudi exporters, Vision 2030 trade and tourism goals make multilingual storefronts more common.
- Accessibility built in: the European Accessibility Act makes accessible e-commerce a baseline, adding 5–10% to many builds.
- AI-assisted production: AI shortens content drafts and prototyping, pushing basic site vitrine prices down while strategy and custom work hold their value.
- AI search: French users increasingly get answers from AI assistants, so structured, well-sourced content matters more than volume.
- Data sovereignty: French buyers are showing more interest in European hosting, just as Saudi buyers look for local hosting under the PDPL.
- Vision 2030 exports: Saudi tourism, culture and consumer brands are targeting Europe, creating demand for Arabic, English and French sites managed together.
Frequently Asked Questions about website prices in France
How much does a website cost in France in 2027?
Typical prices before 20% VAT are EUR 1,500–5,000 for a freelance showcase site, EUR 6,000–20,000 for a custom agency site, EUR 5,000–25,000 for a Shopify or WooCommerce store and EUR 20,000–60,000 or more for PrestaShop or custom e-commerce with integrations. Maintenance usually adds EUR 50–400 a month, and hosting EUR 60–300 a year for smaller sites.
What is a TJM for web developers in France?
TJM stands for taux journalier moyen, the average daily rate a freelancer or agency charges. French freelance web developers typically charge EUR 350–500 a day for WordPress work and EUR 500–700 for senior full-stack work, while agencies commonly bill EUR 550–950 a day. Most quotes are the TJM multiplied by the estimated number of days for each phase.
Do French freelancers charge VAT?
Many do not. Freelancers under the micro-entrepreneur regime who stay below the VAT turnover threshold invoice without VAT and add the mention “TVA non applicable, art. 293 B du CGI”. Agencies and larger freelancers charge the standard 20% rate. For VAT-registered French businesses the difference is recoverable, but for consumers and non-registered buyers it makes freelancers noticeably cheaper.
What legal pages does a French website need?
A French business website needs a mentions légales page identifying the publisher and host, a privacy policy meeting GDPR, and a cookie consent tool that makes refusing as easy as accepting, in line with CNIL guidance. Online stores also need general terms of sale, clear VAT-inclusive pricing and information on the 14-day withdrawal right. Confirm details with a French lawyer.
How much does it cost a Saudi company to launch a French online store?
A French-language Shopify store with Cartes Bancaires, PayPal, instalment payments, relay-point delivery, legal pages and native French copy typically costs EUR 8,000–25,000, about SAR 33,000–102,500, plus EUR 100–400 a month for maintenance and apps. Saudi companies should also budget for French customer service, returns handling and GDPR-compliant data processes before launch.
Is WordPress, Shopify or PrestaShop cheaper in France?
WordPress is usually cheapest for showcase sites and blogs because themes and developers are plentiful. Shopify has the lowest setup and maintenance effort for small and mid-sized stores but adds monthly fees. PrestaShop is free to download and has a strong French ecosystem, yet self-hosting, modules and updates often make its three-year cost similar to or higher than Shopify.
How long does it take to build a website in France?
A freelance showcase site usually takes two to five weeks, a custom agency site six to twelve weeks and a mid-sized online store six to twelve weeks. Custom e-commerce with ERP integration often takes three to six months. French summer holidays in July and August slow many agencies, so plan launches and approvals around that period.
Setting a realistic website cost in France
A realistic website cost in France for 2027 runs from about EUR 1,500 for a simple freelance site to EUR 60,000 or more for serious e-commerce, before VAT. The biggest variables are the day rate, the number of days, legal and language work, and ongoing maintenance.
For Saudi businesses, the French market rewards brands that invest in native French content, familiar payments and GDPR-grade data handling. Budget for those from the start, compare itemised quotes, and keep every account in your own name.
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