How much does a Drupal website cost? What factors influence the overall development cost?

Drupal is an exceptional platform to build business websites. From small businesses to Enterprises, it is perfect for every type of website. Drupal reduces the time of development and helps with quick website creation with its impeccable in-built modules and functionalities.

It has ample features to handle colossal data efficiently. With several happy clients across the globe, Drupal is one of the most popular and reliable CMS we have in the market.

When it is an out-of-the-box platform, then how much does it cost to use Drupal for creating a website? How does Drupal website cost vary?

If you are wondering the same question, let us help you with the answer.

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Factors that influence Drupal website development cost

1. Website size

Among other important factors, website size is one of the primary components to impact its development cost. The more pages, sections, elements, functionalities, and features you will add, the more it costs.

2. Complexity of the project

Complexity of a website is depending on its technical intricacies. The level of dynamism, integrations, etc. is factor that decide complexity of any website, which eventually determine the development cost.

Complex workflow with many people involved in a project definitely increases the development cost. Because assigning various roles to different personnel take time.

Though Drupal has amazing in-built APIs, you must configure and set up them. Moreover, if you wish to create a multi-lingual website, it may require a bit more time to configure this feature. These all factors ultimately enhance the development cost of the website.

3. Deadlines

Your project size and complexity will decide the size of team and cost will vary accordingly. If the project needs a smaller team with limited resources and you have enough time to market, choose team accordingly in your budget. However, if you have tight deadlines and project is bigger than usual, you may need a larger team of professionals. Bigger team directly impacts the cost of Drupal website development.

4. Customization

Customization of website as per your business goals decides the cost of Drupal website development. You may choose whatever integrations your Drupal website requires, what sort of UI/UX it needs, and what all features or functionalities you need to add or remove from Drupal website.

However, Drupal’s core and contrib modules ultimately reduce the development cost because you don’t need to buy external APIs. Thus, relying on Drupal and using more and more in-built functionalities help you to manage the development in lesser amount. If you are starting from scratch, you may opt for a pre-built solution as well at a fixed price instead of going for custom options (because it increased development cost); however, it is entirely up to your business goals and requirements.

5. Quality of website development

Have you ever brainstormed on points that matter for your business website development? Are you looking for a quality solution with negligible to zero downtime? Visual bugs and data loss are some reasons that hurt your website quality and eventually conversions as well. To maintain the quality of your Drupal website, maintenance must run in a loop and it is only possible when you have a dedicated team for this work.

6. Features

The more features you wish to be included in your Drupal websites, the more cost it will take. It is as simple as you are decorating your home; as many elements you will add up to home decoration, they will keep on increasing its cost.

If you want more custom content types, more custom modules, more integrations, etc., then be ready to pay more.

7. External APIs

Drupal 8 and 9 have amazing REST API functionalities that allow you to integrate easily with third-party services. Per integration cost roughly can go around $500 or more + external services charge.

8. Multi-language setup

Drupal 9 has made it easier for you to build multi-lingual sites and outgrow your business. It has in-built 4 modules to support multi-lingual features. All you have to do is enable them, which is a short process. However, to set up this functionality to work properly you may need professional help.

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10. Choice of agency or freelancer

An established and experienced agency can be more helpful than a freelancer. Though hiring an agency can be slightly expensive but you will have usable and reliable aftermath. Also, for any given reason, if a freelancer leaves the project in between, finding a replacement will be a difficult task and will increase time to market as well.

Whenever you start hunting right agency for Drupal website development, it is important to check a few points like do they have certified Drupal developers, what is their previous experience, their live projects, agency’s location, etc. These factors will help you find a right agency.

Custom Drupal Website Development Stages

1. Planning and Analysis

Whenever you feel the need for a website or a new business website, the first thing first is its planning and need analysis. Making a project’s scope and design, brainstorming on modules and extensions, discussing deadlines, etc. are some of the important aspects of a business website development.

2. Drupal Design and Development

Then the second step is to start building the layout, client approval, and final UI UX design of the website, and then the development of the website. By applying the best possible UI UX practices, you try to create a business website that fulfils all your business requirements.

3. Testing and Deployment

Once the design and development part are completed, the testing is necessary. You ought to check everything on a test server and if getting issues, then fix them before the actual deployment.

These stages impact the cost of Drupal website development directly. The level of advancement, time taken in each step, and the number of resources effects the cost of website development.

Price estimation of custom Drupal website

So, here is the answer of your question how much does it cost to build a Drupal website? Well, it mainly depends on the type of website you wish to build and how complex it will be.

Simple Drupal based corporate website

A standard business website with sections like About us, News, Blogs, Services, contact us, etc. cannot be much expensive. Though its development cost varies as per regions as well.

A simple website charges approximately are – America - $4000 to $10000, Europe - $1000 to $8000, and Asia & Pacific - $1000 to $5000 (they may fluctuate as per additional requirements, and current market).

Large enterprise website with various user roles

You can build an enterprise website using incredible platform Drupal. A mix of multiple user roles, and everything an enterprise website needs, is the slightly an expensive option and that will cost you approx. $15000 to $18000 (minimum) and it may go as higher as $45000 approx.

A large complex website or enterprise website rates are – in America - $15000 to $42000, Europe - $10000 to $25000, and in Asia & Pacific - $8000 to $20000 (they may vary as per current market and as per your additional requirements).

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Wrapping up

It is hard to determine the exact cost of a Drupal website development due to several factors involved in it. Once you shortlist a few web development agencies and discuss your requirements with them, then only you will get the exact number you need to bear to build a fully functional Drupal website.

Hiring a group of unrivalled Drupal experts is important. Even if it costs a little more, it is worth spending money on the right people. You can contact Skynet Technologies to hire a Drupal developer. Skynet Technologies is a Web development company that provide custom Drupal web development services and has a team of experienced Drupal developers who will give the right shape to your website. Please fill out the form to learn more about our service or mail us at [email protected].