Why no one in Egypt gives you a straight price
Ask ten agencies in Cairo "how much for a website?" and you'll get ten versions of "it depends, let's get on a call." That's not always a dodge — a real website price genuinely depends on what you're building. But the silence also hides a habit: a lot of shops want to read your face, guess your budget, and quote backwards from it. You deserve better than that, so here are real 2026 bands you can actually plan around.
Before the numbers, one distinction decides everything: are you renting or owning? A Wix or Shopify template is rent — you pay monthly forever and the platform owns the keys. A custom build is ownership — one investment, and the code is yours from day one. Keep that frame in your head as you read the bands below, because the sticker price and the three-year price are two very different numbers.
The four real price bands (2026, EGP)
Band 1 — Freelancer or Wix/Shopify template: roughly 3,000–15,000 EGP up front. This is the cheapest door in, and for a tiny business testing an idea it's not crazy. But understand exactly what you're buying: a rented layout thousands of others use, plus a monthly platform fee (often $20–$40, paid in dollars) that never stops, plus transaction cuts on every sale. You don't own the code, you can't move it freely, and "customize" means whatever the template allows — no more.
Band 2 — Custom marketing/brochure site: a properly designed, fast, mobile-first site that's actually yours — your brand, your structure, bilingual if you need it. This is where a serious local business should start, and it's the core of professional web design in Egypt. The price moves with page count, language, animation, and how custom the design is. You pay once for the build, you host it cheaply anywhere, and there's no platform landlord taking a monthly cut.
Band 3 — Bilingual e-commerce store with Fawry/Paymob: now you're adding a real engine — product catalog, cart, checkout, and Egyptian payment rails (Fawry, Paymob, InstaPay, cash on delivery) wired in properly, with Arabic and English done natively rather than machine-flipped. This costs meaningfully more than a brochure site because there's logic, inventory, security, and payment testing behind it. But you own the storefront and the customer data — you're not renting your own shop.
Band 4 — Custom web app or internal system: a portal, a CRM, a booking or patient system, a dashboard that runs part of your operation. This is the top band and the prices are genuinely wide because the scope is. For reference: YMS built IGBS, Egypt's largest IP and trademark firm, a custom system holding 17,000+ records — live four years, zero outages, owned outright. That's the category, and that's our deepest work in custom web development in Egypt.
Rent feels cheaper this month and is almost always more expensive by year three. The cheapest option is usually the most expensive one you'll ever pick.
What actually moves the price
Five levers explain almost every quote. First, page count and content depth — a five-page site is not a thirty-page site. Second, bilingual Arabic/English done natively, with proper right-to-left layout, not a translate button bolted on; it roughly adds a second design pass. Third, e-commerce and payments — every gateway (Fawry, Paymob, InstaPay) is integration, testing, and security work. Fourth, custom systems and portals — logins, databases, roles, dashboards. Fifth, ownership itself: a build you own outright is priced differently from a template you're renting.
This is also why two "e-commerce sites" can differ by a factor of five. One is a template skin over Shopify with a plugin for payments. The other is a custom storefront with native bilingual flows, your exact checkout logic, and a system you can extend forever. Same words, completely different things. When you compare quotes, compare what's underneath — not the label on top.
The rent-vs-own math over three years
Here's the trap with "cheap." Say a template setup costs you 10,000 EGP up front, then $30 a month for the platform, plus a paid theme, plus apps for things that should be built in, plus transaction fees. In dollars-paid-monthly, in an economy where the pound keeps moving, that quietly becomes one of your most expensive recurring bills. Three years in, you've paid the price of a custom site — and you still own nothing and can't take it with you.
A custom site flips that math. You pay once for the build, host it for a few hundred pounds a year, and the asset is yours — to extend, redesign, move, or sell with the business. There's no landlord, no lock-in, no "upgrade to unlock that feature." This is the whole own-versus-rent argument in one line: rent feels cheaper this month and is almost always more expensive by year three. The cheapest option is usually the most expensive one you'll ever pick.
How YMS prices (and why we don't anchor)
We don't publish a magic number, and we won't read your face for one either. The honest reason: a fair price needs the real scope, and we'd rather earn the project than anchor you to a figure before we understand it. So the first step is free and concrete — we build you a tailored mockup of your actual site, no obligation, so you can see the quality before any money is discussed.
After the mockup, we scope on a call: pages, languages, payments, systems, timeline. Typical custom projects go from kickoff to live in 6–12 weeks, and the code is yours outright the day it ships. If you want to see where this leads at the top end, read how we built the IGBS portal. When you're ready for a real number tied to a real scope, talk to us — no anchor, no pressure, just an honest plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to just use Wix or Shopify?
Cheaper this month, yes — usually 3,000–15,000 EGP to start. But you pay a monthly platform fee in dollars forever, plus app and transaction costs, and you own nothing. Over three years a template often costs more than a custom site you own outright, with no lock-in.
Why do custom websites cost more?
Because you're paying for real design, code, and ownership — not a shared template. The price reflects page count, native Arabic/English, payments, and any custom system behind it. But it's a one-time investment you own, host cheaply, and can extend forever, rather than a rent you pay monthly.
What does an online store cost in Egypt?
It depends heavily on whether it's a template skin or a custom storefront. A real bilingual store with Fawry/Paymob/InstaPay wired in, native Arabic and English, and your own checkout logic sits well above a brochure site because of the inventory, security, and payment testing involved. We scope it precisely after a free mockup.
Do I pay monthly for a custom site?
No. You pay once for the build and own the code. The only ongoing cost is cheap hosting — a few hundred pounds a year, not a dollar-denominated subscription. That's the opposite of a rented platform, where the monthly fee never stops and you never own anything.
How long does it take to build and what about ownership?
Typical custom projects go from kickoff to live in 6–12 weeks depending on scope. You own the code outright the day it ships — no licensing, no platform lock. IGBS, the custom system we built, has been live four years with zero outages and full ownership.