How much does a website cost in Chile

When someone asks "how much does a website cost?", the honest answer has three variables. But there is a difference between explaining those variables and hiding behind them.

What actually changes the price is three things: how many sections it has, what the site has to do beyond showing information (take payments, manage stock, book appointments) and how much content has to be produced or migrated.

A one-page site with your service, your contact details and a form cannot cost the same as a store with 200 products, payments and shipping. Anyone quoting the same number for both is improvising.

These are the base values from my quote calculator. The calculator is literally the same table I use internally, so what you see there is what I will charge you.

Development prices. Projects billed outside Chile are invoiced in US dollars. On top of the price come monthly hosting, the yearly domain and the cost of keeping the site running — all paid by the client. The final price is agreed in writing, with the detailed scope, before any work starts.

If your case is "I don't know which of these I need", the usual answer is a landing page. Most businesses that write to me first need to exist on Google and receive enquiries; the store or the system come later, once there are sales to organise.

This is the part almost nobody publishes. Each extra feature has a concrete value, and you decide which ones you need. Nothing is added "just in case".

The most requested extras, on top of the base price:

• Admin panel — CLP 135,000: upload products or projects without depending on me.
• Online payments — CLP 60,000: card processing, local gateways or international providers.
• Bookings with slots — CLP 105,000: a calendar with real availability.
• Inventory — CLP 105,000: stock that decreases itself when you sell.
• Invoicing — CLP 120,000: tax documents integrated.
• Reports — CLP 90,000: sales, margins and whatever you want to measure.
• Technical SEO — CLP 75,000: structure, structured data and per-page metadata.
• AI chat — CLP 180,000: answers questions using your business information.

A real example: a hardware store needing a point of sale, inventory, invoicing and reports starts at CLP 699,990 and adds CLP 315,000 in extras. That is a complete system, not a website.

If you want the exact figure with your own features, the quote calculator does that sum live and shows you the total before you talk to anyone.

I would rather say it before it comes up in the conversation:

• Monthly hosting. A monthly cost paid by the client; it depends on traffic and on the type of system. I advise you and configure it at no extra cost, but the provider is paid separately.
• Yearly domain. Renewed every year and registered in the client's name. The development includes pointing it at the site.
• Keeping the site running. Updates, backups, renewals and fixes. It can be a monthly plan or one-off work, but it is a cost that exists and the client covers it.
• Content. If you have no copy or photos, they have to be produced. I can write the copy with you or leave you the structure to fill in.
• Changes after delivery. The project includes the agreed revision rounds. Anything after that is quoted by complexity, or covered by a monthly support plan.
• Advertising. Ranking on Google with ads is a separate budget. The site is built so it can rank, which is different.

None of this is a surprise if it is written down from the start. The problem is not that separate costs exist: the problem is when they show up afterwards.

On this site I compare every price with what a traditional consultancy charges. It is roughly double. And yes, there is a concrete reason.

A large consultancy has an office, a sales team, project managers and a structure that has to be paid every month. I don't. That is what lets me charge half for the same technical scope.

But I am not always the right option. If you need a team of ten people, an SLA with penalties or phone support at three in the morning, my structure is not the one for that — and telling you so is part of the job.

What I can offer is that you always talk to the person writing the code. No intermediaries, no "I'll pass it to the team", no information getting distorted along the way.

This applies to me and to any provider:

1. A price with no scope. If it doesn't say how many sections, which features and how many revisions, it is not a quote: it is a number.
2. They don't tell you who owns the code. Ask. If you cannot take the project to another provider when it ends, you are renting, not buying.
3. "Free" hosting tied to the provider. Almost always means you cannot leave.
4. Timelines with no delivery date. "In a few weeks" is not a deadline.
5. They ask for 100% upfront. A deposit is normal; the whole payment before seeing anything is not.

And one question that separates serious providers from the rest: what happens if I want to change provider in three months? The answer should be "you take the code and the database with you".

If you hold a USD 149 quote and a USD 400 one, the question is not which is cheaper: it is what the USD 250 includes that the other doesn't. Ask both for the same things:

• A list of pages and features, one by one.
• Which technologies are used and who owns the code.
• How many revision rounds are included and what happens if you need more.
• Hosting and domain cost, in writing, with the provider named.
• What post-delivery support covers and for how long.

With those five answers the comparison makes itself. And if a provider won't put them in writing, you already have your answer.