A WordPress business site in Delhi NCR costs ₹15,000–40,000 to build even though the software is free — you’re paying for hosting setup, design adaptation, page building, testing and handover. The real value is that you can edit it yourself afterwards, which only holds if you actually receive the four logins.
Why you pay when WordPress is free
The software is genuinely free and always will be. It’s one of six things a website needs:
| Component | Free? | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress software | Yes | ₹0 |
| Domain | No | ₹700–1,200/yr |
| Hosting | No | A few thousand/yr for a small site |
| Theme | Free ones exist; good ones are paid | ₹0 to a one-time licence |
| The build | No | The bulk of any quote |
| Content — text, photographs, prices | No | Your time, or paid for |
So five of six cost something, and the free one is the least labour-intensive. The full answer to “if WordPress is free, why am I paying?”
What the build charge covers
The part that’s least visible and takes the most time:
- Installing and configuring WordPress, hosting, SSL and email
- Adapting a theme to your business rather than leaving it as a demo
- Building each page with your content, in a structure that suits your services
- Making it work properly on a phone — where most of your visitors are
- A contact form, tested, delivering to an inbox you check
- A WhatsApp button with the country code included
- Speed work, mostly compressing images
- Technical hygiene: page titles, sitemap, staging blocked from search engines
- Testing every link and form on a real phone
Several days of work for someone competent. That’s the difference between a WordPress install and a website.
Cost bands
| What you’re buying | Cost in NCR |
|---|---|
| WordPress site, 5 pages, you supply content | ₹15,000–40,000 |
| 5–8 pages with content written for you | ₹35,000–70,000 |
| Elementor or similar page-builder site | Same bands; the builder is a tool, not a price tier |
| WooCommerce store | ₹60,000 upward |
| Redesign or migration of an existing WordPress site | ₹15,000–50,000 |
| Hourly work for changes on an existing site | Ask for a stated rate |
Freelancer vs company: in this market “hire wordpress developer” carries low advertiser competition and cheap clicks, while “wordpress development company” sits higher. Practically, a freelancer suits a simple site where you supply content; a two-to-five person studio adds continuity if one person is unavailable. Ask any freelancer who takes over if they’re ill or take a job.
The four logins you must hold at handover
This is the caution that matters most, because a WordPress site you can’t log in to gives you none of the platform’s advantage.
| Login | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Domain registrar | Your business name; where renewal notices go |
| Hosting | Where the site lives; the files |
| WordPress admin | Editing your own content |
| Google account — analytics, Search Console, business email | Measurement and verification |
Register the domain and hosting in your own accounts before hiring anyone, and give the developer access rather than ownership — registrars and hosts both support that. Then insist the WordPress admin account is created in your name at launch, not as a shared login you’re told about verbally. The nine-item handover checklist, and what to do if you hold no passwords.
The real value: editing it yourself
The main practical reason to choose WordPress over a static build or a hosted builder is that you can change your own prices, add a page, and swap a photograph without paying someone ₹500 each time.
That only works if two things are true:
- You have the admin login, in your own name.
- Somebody showed you how. Ask for fifteen minutes of screen-share at handover covering: editing text on a page, changing a price, replacing an image, and adding a new page. Most developers will do this if asked and almost none offer it.
Ask for it in writing as part of the scope. It’s the difference between owning a site and renting one.
Speed, security and maintenance
Three WordPress-specific realities worth budgeting for:
Speed. WordPress can be fast or slow depending mostly on image weight and hosting quality. Ask for images to be compressed at build, and check load time on a cheap phone on mobile data rather than on the developer’s laptop.
Security. WordPress and its plugins release regular updates, many security-related. Skipping them for a year is the usual route to a compromise — and cleanup in India typically runs ₹20,000–50,000 or more, frequently exceeding what the site cost to build.
Maintenance. Either take a plan or do it yourself:
- Plan: ₹1,000–2,500 a month for a static site, or ₹15,000–30,000 a year. Insist on a written list — backups off-server, software updates, uptime monitoring, a set number of edits, and a response time.
- Yourself: take a backup, then click update, once a month. Legitimate and free if you’ll actually do it.
Fair maintenance pricing, and why a backup you hold matters.
What to ask before paying
Will the domain and hosting be in my own accounts, and will I get the WordPress admin login in my own name? Is the theme licence in my name? Are images compressed at build? Will analytics and Search Console be under my Google account? Will you spend fifteen minutes showing me how to edit a page? And what’s the year-two cost for domain, hosting and maintenance?
Six questions. A developer who answers all six plainly is worth more than one who’s ₹5,000 cheaper.
What to do this week
- Register the domain and buy hosting in your own accounts before hiring.
- Ask for the WordPress admin account to be created in your name.
- Add the fifteen-minute editing walkthrough to the scope in writing.
- Ask whether the theme licence is in your name.
- Decide maintenance deliberately — a plan with a written list, or monthly updates yourself after a backup.
If you want it done the certain way
We build on WordPress with the domain, hosting and admin login in your name, the theme licence yours, images compressed at build, and fifteen minutes at handover showing you how to edit your own pages. Published price and year-two cost before you commit. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- The complete guide to your first business website in Delhi NCR
- Is WordPress free? Then why am I paying?
- The website handover checklist
- What’s a fair monthly maintenance amount?
- WordPress templates and “free website” builders
- Real website price list for Delhi NCR
FAQ
How much does a WordPress developer charge in Delhi NCR?
₹15,000–40,000 for a five-page business site where you supply content, ₹35,000–70,000 with content written for you, and ₹60,000 upward for a WooCommerce store. Plus domain, hosting and 18% GST.
If WordPress is free, why am I paying for a website?
The software is free; a domain, hosting, often a paid theme, the build work and your content are not. You’re paying for configuration, design adaptation, page building, phone testing, speed work and handover.
What should I own after a WordPress site is built?
Four logins: the domain registrar, hosting, the WordPress admin account in your own name, and your Google account for analytics and Search Console. Also the theme licence and a downloaded backup.
Should I hire a WordPress freelancer or a company?
A freelancer suits a simple site where you supply content and price matters most. A two-to-five person studio adds continuity if one person is unavailable — worth asking any freelancer who takes over if they’re ill or take a job.
How much does WordPress maintenance cost?
₹1,000–2,500 a month for a static site, or ₹15,000–30,000 a year, and the plan should list backups off-server, software updates, monitoring, a set number of edits and a response time. Doing monthly updates yourself after a backup is a legitimate free alternative.
Can I edit a WordPress site myself?
Yes, and it’s the main reason to choose it — but only if you hold the admin login in your own name and someone spent fifteen minutes showing you how. Ask for that walkthrough in writing as part of the scope.
