For an SME in Brussels, the honest answer holds in two sentences. A truly cheap website (less than 500€ paid once, a friend of a friend doing it over a weekend, a free template dropped in a hurry) almost always ends up 2 to 3 times more expensive after 3 years, because of the premature rebuild you must launch when everything breaks, the maintenance that was never done and the SEO that never existed. The reasonable floor for a simple showcase that lasts without nasty surprises starts from 500€ for a custom showcase up to 7 pages delivered in 7 days, with code ownership, clean hosting and local SEO markup laid down from the start.
I am an independent web developer in Brussels. I work from the Le Metropole café, Charles Woeste avenue in Jette, and every month I see 2 to 3 Brussels SME sites that had gone for the very low price 2 or 3 years ago and now have to start over. This article is not here to defend a high price, it is here to show where the money really goes when you take the shortest path, and why the real saving is not in month 1 pricing but in the cost experienced over 60 months.
What "cheap" website means in Brussels in 2026
First we must define what the phrase covers. On google.be, "cheap website" and "free website" bring back four broad categories. A Wix or Squarespace free template or Personal plan around 12 euros per month, put together in a hurry without SEO or serious structure. A site made by a relative or a student freelancer for 200 to 400 euros, often without clear quote, defined hosting or written ownership transfer. An "express 299€ site" pack bought on an offshore freelance marketplace. Or a "1 euro per month site" service with a 5-year lock-in, hiding a real 60-euro cost over the term, often 3 times more once all the options are switched on.
These four routes share one common point: the announced price is real, but it only covers going live. The site is delivered as a draft, without the bricks that make a site actually work for a Brussels SME: clear structure for Google, well-marked contact page, connected Google Business profile, local texts speaking about the commune and the trade, form that actually sends an email, automatic backups. All these bricks have to be added later, often in a rush.
Hidden cost 1: the premature rebuild at 12 or 18 months
The first cost a cheap site makes you pay is the premature rebuild. On the cases I see in Jette and Brussels, a site put together too fast lasts on average 12 to 18 months before everything must be redone. The reasons are always the same: page structure does not follow the growth of the business (you added 3 services without rethinking navigation), the mobile rendering collapses on recent smartphones because the base is not maintained, the contact module is broken because the email provider changed its rules, or the person who built the site has disappeared.
At that stage, the SME has two options. Patch on a case-by-case basis every month via a spot developer, which costs 200 to 400 euros per intervention and fixes nothing deep. Or launch a full rebuild, from 500 euros for a showcase, often more once you have to migrate existing content and redo URLs without breaking the ranking already gained. In both cases, you pay again for what you thought you had paid once, plus the energy lost starting over.
Hidden cost 2: the maintenance that does not exist
The second hidden cost is the maintenance that was never scoped in the contract. A website is not a set-and-forget object: the technical base (site engine, dependencies, security certificates) moves constantly, and 6 months of neglect is enough to open a security hole, break a form or make the site disappear from Google results. To understand the full logic of security risks for an SME, see SME security, cyberattacks and real protections.
On a cheap site, maintenance is neither planned nor billed. The owner or their assistant spends 2 to 4 hours per month on average on it, often at the worst moment (the booking module goes down the day before Saturday). Valued at 40 euros per hour, these internal hours represent 960 to 1900 euros per year, without any invoice line ever showing it. On a subscription site with a clear maintainer (Studio from 49€ per month, 6-month commitment), those hours drop to zero on the owner side.
Hidden cost 3: the SEO that never existed
The third hidden cost is the most painful because it does not appear on any invoice: it is the revenue that never comes. A cheap site is almost always delivered without serious local SEO markup (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, hreflang FR/NL if bilingual), without texts anchored on the real Brussels and commune searches, and without a content plan. Measurable result in Google Search Console: the site appears on its own name but not on the commercial trade queries ("baker Jette", "physio Ixelles", "lawyer Uccle").
On the cases I follow, a properly marked-up site climbs in 3 to 6 months on local queries of low and mid competition, and generates 15 to 40 qualified contacts per month depending on the trade. A cheap site that ranks on nothing generates 0 to 3 contacts per month via Google, often fewer. The annual revenue loss for a Brussels service SME (where a lead is worth 200 to 800 euros of margin) easily counts in tens of thousands of euros per year. To understand why a site does not appear on Google and how to fix it, see Why my site does not appear on Google and how to fix it.
The real 5-year calculation, numbers on the table
Take two realistic scenarios for a Brussels SME (retail or service in Jette, Schaerbeek, Ixelles or Uccle) needing a clean showcase of 5 to 7 pages with contact form and connected Google Business profile.
Scenario A, the "cheap" route: 350 euro site put together by a relative in month 1, plus 2 spot patches at 250 euros within the first 18 months (500 euros), plus a full rebuild at 600 euros after 18 months because the base gives up (600 euros), plus 3 internal hours per month of unbilled maintenance over 5 years (10,800 euros valued). Real cumulative over 5 years: around 12,250 euros, not counting revenue lost for lack of SEO.
Scenario B, the "plain custom showcase" route: custom showcase up to 7 pages from 500 euros in month 1, delivered in 7 days with code ownership, clean hosting around 6 euros per month (360 euros over 5 years), no premature rebuild because the base holds, 30 internal minutes per month for text updates (600 euros valued). Real cumulative over 5 years: around 1460 euros, plus the real revenue generated by local SEO that actually exists. To compare the cost logic with pre-built platforms, see Wix, Squarespace or a custom website for a Brussels SME.
The reasonable floor for a site that lasts in Brussels
The reasonable floor for a Brussels SME wanting a site that lasts 5 years without slippage is not set at random. A plain well-built showcase (5 to 7 pages, local SEO markup, clean hosting, full code ownership) starts from 500 euros one-off for the simplest version. A site with real modules (online appointment booking, click and collect, shop without commission, automatic reminder and confirmation emails, conversational assistant on the site) is on quote depending on scope, with a Pixel Noir Studio subscription from 49€ per month (6-month commitment) covering maintenance, content updates and follow-up. To understand the full subscription logic, see Website subscription in Brussels.
This logic is not "you must pay a lot, otherwise it is worthless". It is simpler: the real floor is what it takes to deliver a base that does not force you to pay 3 times again within 3 years. Below that, you are not buying a cheaper site, you are buying a site that will cost more later, without you seeing it coming.
My approach in Brussels: free diagnosis, showcase from 500€ or Studio from 49€/month
When a Brussels SME contacts me because they hesitate between a very cheap solution and a more grounded investment, I offer a free 30-minute diagnosis at the Le Metropole café, Charles Woeste avenue in Jette, or remote if simpler. I check four concrete points: what the current site actually surfaces in Google Search Console, what it costs in internal hours each month, what it sells or captures in forms per month, and what would really be missing to reach the local commune queries. We leave with a clear decision, not a parachuted quote.
On that basis, two delivery formats. A custom showcase up to 7 pages from 500€ one-off, delivered in 7 days, with clean hosting at a few euros per month, full code ownership and local SEO markup (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, hreflang FR/NL if bilingual) laid down correctly from the start. A fuller site with Pixel Noir Studio modules is on quote according to scope, generally deliverable in 2 to 3 weeks minimum, plus a Pixel Noir Studio subscription from 49€ per month with a 6-month commitment for maintenance, content updates and follow-up. To start: contact@pixelnoir.dev.
Frequently asked questions
Can a 200 euro site really work for a freelancer in Brussels?
For a strict online business card use (one page, one form, one number), a very cheap site can suffice 12 to 18 months. As soon as you need to appear on Google for local queries, cash in online, or hold 3 years without a rebuild, that floor does not hold and the real cost far exceeds a plain well-built showcase from the start. The question is not the price, it is what the site must really do over the next 3 years.
Why does a "free" site (Wix template, WordPress put together by a relative) end up expensive?
The base is free or very cheap, but all the bricks that make a site work for an SME (stable hosting, backups, security updates, local SEO, forms that really send, code ownership) are either missing or billed separately. Over 5 years, the bill often goes above a plain custom showcase paid once, plus unplanned internal maintenance hours and revenue lost for lack of SEO.
How much should you really plan for a first Brussels SME site lasting 5 years?
For a plain showcase of 5 to 7 pages holding 5 years without a rebuild, count from 500 euros one-off for the build, plus about 6 euros per month for clean hosting. For a site with real modules (bookings, click and collect, shop, assistant), the build is set on quote per project, plus a Studio subscription from 49€ per month. In all cases, you stay well below the real cost of a cheap site patched for 5 years.
How do I know if my current site is a "false cheap" one that must be replaced?
Three reliable signals. First, it does not appear in Google Search Console on the commercial queries of your trade plus commune. Second, you or your assistant spend more than an hour per month fixing things that break. Third, no one can clearly tell you who owns the code and who maintains the site. If two of those three signals are present, it is time to plan a clean rebuild rather than wait for the outage.