Build your site with AI or hire an agency

The real numbers first

For a brochure site — the classic business site: who you are, what you offer, how to reach you — the ranges observed in France in 2026 are these:

With a freelancer: 800 to 3,000 € depending on experience and page count, with some sources going to 4,500 € for fuller projects.

With an agency: 2,000 to 10,000 € and beyond for complex projects, the average professional site sitting between 1,500 and 3,000 €.

Both options add upkeep: 35 to 500 € per month depending on the service level — the cost everyone forgets at comparison time.

With an AI: the tool subscription, hosting and the domain name — a few dozen euros a month in total. And your time, which we need to talk about, because that is where the calculation is decided.

What you actually buy from a professional

Reducing the agency to “very expensive web pages” is a misreading. What you pay for is the right not to deal with it: someone makes the calls for you, carries the responsibility if it fails, and maintains the site while you are busy elsewhere.

For a business that is already running, where every hour is billable, that right is often worth its price.

What the AI option really asks of you

AI flipped the balance: what used to require a professional became feasible for someone who does not code. But “feasible” does not mean “free” — you pay in hours.

Count evenings, not isolated hours: describing, reviewing, correcting, publishing. The difference between five of them and twenty rarely comes from the tool. It comes from method: people who give their AI written instructions and barriers move in a straight line; people who improvise pay for every mistake twice.

The honest calculation

Put it in one line: your hourly rate × the hours it will take you, against the professional’s quote.

If your hour is expensive and your schedule is full, the 1,500 € freelancer is probably a good deal. If you are starting out, cash is tight and you can invest evenings, the several-thousand-euro gap funds your learning time very well — and what you learn stays.

There is a second, less visible dividend: whoever built their site can change it in an hour afterwards, without calling anyone back. Autonomy is bought once and serves forever.

The middle path, often the best one

More and more people combine the two: build it yourself with the AI, then pay for a few professional hours to review what you cannot see — security, compliance, the details.

You keep control, you keep most of the savings, and an expert eye passes behind you where it counts. It is the best of both worlds — provided you arrive at the professional’s door with a clean project, which, once again, is a matter of frame, not talent.