Quick answer
Chicago website costs vary by industry mainly because of features. Published 2026 Chicago pricing guides place simple service sites, such as contractors, around $2,500–$7,500 from agencies, content-heavy professional sites for law, dental and medical practices at $5,000–$15,000 or more, and e-commerce at $10,000–$50,000+.
Typical ranges by industry
The table maps common industry feature sets to typical market ranges from published 2026 Chicago pricing guides (Seven Seas Web Design, Clique Studios, 2Point Agency). These are market tiers, not quotes and not Media Express prices.
| Industry | Typical features | Typical published range |
|---|---|---|
| Contractors and home services | Service pages, project gallery, service area, quote form | $2,500–$7,500 (agency small business) |
| Lawyers | Practice area pages, attorney bios, intake forms | $5,000–$15,000 (5–10 pages); $15,000–$40,000 (10–30 pages) |
| Restaurants | Menu, hours, location, reservations or ordering links | $1,500–$5,000 (basic); more with custom ordering |
| Dentists | Service pages, booking, insurance information, team | $5,000–$15,000 (5–10 pages) |
| Medical practices | Provider pages, patient forms, locations | $5,000–$15,000; $15,000–$40,000 for larger sites |
| Real estate | Listings integration, agent pages, neighborhood content | $3,000–$15,000 (average); more with custom search |
| E-commerce | Catalog, cart, checkout, payments, shipping | $10,000–$50,000+ |
What drives the price within an industry
- Number of pages, especially service, practice area or location pages.
- Integrations: booking, listings feeds, ordering, payments, CRMs.
- Compliance needs: medical forms that handle health information may need HIPAA-compliant tools; confirm with your compliance advisor.
- Content: copywriting, photography and translations.
- Competition: crowded local markets need more content to stand out.
Ongoing costs to budget
Add ongoing costs of about $100–$400 a month and hosting of $20–$200 a month, per published guides. 312 Digital describes a realistic Chicago small business budget as $3,500–$12,000 to build plus $100–$300 a month. Stores and booking systems usually sit at the higher end.
How to budget for your industry
- List the features customers expect in your industry.
- Separate must-haves from later additions.
- Match the must-haves to the tiers above.
- Add monthly costs for hosting, licenses and support.
- Request written quotes with the same scope from 2–3 providers.
Industry notes
- Contractors: real project photos and a clear service area often matter more than extra pages.
- Lawyers: practice area pages and clear intake paths do most of the work; content volume drives cost.
- Restaurants: menu, hours and location must be current and fast on phones; ordering links are often simpler than custom systems.
- Dentists and medical practices: booking, insurance information and provider pages are expected; secure forms add cost.
- Real estate: listings integrations and neighborhood content set the budget.
- E-commerce: catalog size, payments, shipping and inventory drive both build and monthly cost.
What Media Express offers
Media Express has worked with Chicago-area businesses across many industries since 1995: 31+ years of continuous, uninterrupted web work and more than 2,500 digital projects (company records).
Media Express (Website Design Chicago) offers starter business websites from $500 under the current offer. Domain, hosting and maintenance are separate, and larger projects are quoted by scope. A starter site is not the same product as the $2,500–$8,000 site many published guides describe: it has a smaller scope, uses a proven layout and is built for a fast launch. It is a good fit when you need a credible site now and plan to grow it later.
Through Polish Network, our own network of 120+ websites and portals, businesses can also reach Polish-American audiences. See website design cost in Chicago.
Related
Questions and answers
How much does a website cost for a small business in Chicago?
Published 2026 Chicago guides put small business sites at about $1,500–$4,000 from freelancers and $2,500–$7,500 from agencies, with realistic budgets of $3,500–$12,000 plus monthly costs.
How much does a law firm website cost?
Published guides place basic 5–10 page sites at $5,000–$15,000 and 10–30 page sites at $15,000–$40,000, which is where many law firm sites fall.
How much does a restaurant website cost?
A basic restaurant site with menu, hours and location often falls in the $1,500–$5,000 basic range. Custom online ordering adds cost.
How much does a contractor website cost?
Contractor sites with service pages, a gallery and a quote form typically fall in the $2,500–$7,500 agency small business range in published guides.
How much does an e-commerce website cost?
Published 2026 guides put e-commerce sites at about $10,000–$50,000 or more, depending on catalog size, integrations and custom features.
Learn how our Chicago website design process works from first call to launch.
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Popular pages
Our own audience
We don’t buy traffic. We create it.
Most agencies build a website and leave you to find visitors. Media Express owns the audience. Polish Network is the largest Polish-American network of owned media in the USA: 120+ of our own websites and portals, social media channels and news portals.
We also run the world’s largest aggregator of Polish radio stations, with 300+ stations from Poland, the United States and the diaspora in one place. We are building the American edition now, and next an edition for every country.
And we run your business on Szef.AI, our own AI operating system and CRM that works with everything, everywhere. New and better AI models appear every day, and Szef.AI is already connected to them. It is a solution nobody can match.
More than 8 million Americans report Polish ancestry (U.S. Census Bureau). Through our network, millions of people can become your customers. A typical web design agency cannot offer you this.
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31+ years of continuous web work, same-day website design that grows from a business card site to a portal for millions of views, a media network of our own, Szef.AI, our AI operating system connected to every new model, and direct access to the people who build your site. Tell us what you have in mind; you will get a clear recommendation, scope and price before any work begins.