The short answer
Most New Zealand salons choose one of three routes: build it yourself, pay a freelancer, or hire an agency. As a rough guide for budgeting:
| Route | Up front | Ongoing | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | $0 | About $25-$60/month | You're the designer, copywriter, photographer and IT support. Most salon owners don't have the evenings. |
| Freelancer | About $1,500-$5,000 | Hosting, plus changes billed by the hour | Quality varies a lot, and changes wait until they have time. |
| Agency | About $5,000-$15,000+ | Hosting and a care plan, often monthly | Polished, but priced for businesses with a marketing budget. |
These are ballpark figures for a small salon site in 2026, based on typical New Zealand quotes and published plan prices. Treat them as a starting point for budgeting, not a quote. Prices vary with scope, and the lowest number on a quote is rarely the total you'll pay.
What matters more than any headline price is what's missing from it. That's usually where the real cost of a salon website sits.
The three usual routes, honestly
Build it yourself
Website builders have come a long way, and some salon owners make lovely sites with them. The cost that never shows up on the plan is your time. A decent salon site takes 20-40 hours the first time: choosing a template, writing every service description, sizing photos, setting up booking, and working out why the mobile layout has broken. After that, every price change, new staff member and holiday closure is another evening job.
Choose this if you enjoy it, have the time, and are confident with photos and writing.
A freelancer
A good freelancer can give you something that looks professional for a reasonable one-off price. Ask what happens after launch. Many salon sites are left untouched for years because every small change becomes a quote, an email thread and a wait. Before you commit, check who controls the domain, the hosting login and the content.
Choose this if you find someone with real salon work in their portfolio and a clear plan for updates.
An agency
Agencies bring strategy, photography, copywriting and design under one roof. For multi-location salons and larger brands, that can be worth it. For a two-to-six chair salon it's usually more than you need, and the monthly care plan can end up costing more than the site itself.
Choose this if you're a larger salon or group with a marketing budget and specific brand goals.
The costs people forget
Whichever route you choose, these are the lines that turn a "cheap" website into an expensive one. Go through each before comparing quotes:
| Cost | One-off or ongoing | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name (.co.nz or .nz) | Yearly, usually around $25-$45 | It's registered in your business name and you can get the login. |
| Hosting and security certificate | Monthly or yearly | Included or extra? Who fixes it if the site goes down on a Saturday? |
| Online booking system | Monthly, often per staff member | Does the price rise every time you hire? Can clients book on your own site, or are they sent somewhere else? |
| Payment processing | A percentage of each card payment | The card rate, plus any extra platform fees, and whether they apply to cash and EFTPOS too. |
| New-client or marketplace fees | Per booking | Some platforms charge more when a new client finds you through them. Find out when that applies. |
| Photography | One-off, then as your work changes | Your own before-and-after work sells better than stock photos. Who takes them, and how do they get on the site? |
| Words (copywriting) | One-off | Service descriptions, about page, policies. Someone has to write them. |
| Updates | Ongoing | New prices, new staff, holiday hours. Included, hourly, or your job? |
| Google visibility (local SEO) | Setup, then ongoing | Is the site built to show up for "hair salon [your suburb]"? Is that included, or sold separately later? |
| Your time | Ongoing | An hour on the website is an hour not in the chair. Price it at what you'd earn cutting hair. |
Work out the real 3-year total
Salon websites usually last three to five years before a refresh, so compare the total over three years, not the price on the first invoice. Fill this in for every option you're considering:
3-year website cost worksheet
1. Build / setup cost: $____
2. Monthly website or hosting cost × 36: $____
3. Domain per year × 3: $____
4. Booking software per month × 36 (× number of staff, if it's charged per person): $____
5. Extra fees on payments or new clients (estimate from last year's bookings): $____
6. Paid changes and updates over 3 years: $____
7. Your own hours × your hourly rate: $____
Three-year total = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7
For comparison, here's the same sum for Lustre, since we'd rather show our numbers than hint at them. On the monthly plan: $39.95 × 36 = $1,438.20, plus a managed domain at $39.95 a year, for $1,558.05 over three years incl GST. On the annual launch special, it's $439 a year with the domain included, or $1,317 over three years. There's no build fee, and design, hosting, booking, updates and local SEO are included. The only variable cost is optional: a 0.5% Lustre Payments fee on money you take through Lustre, plus Stripe's card rate. EFTPOS, cash and bank transfer cost nothing extra.
10 questions to ask before you pay anyone
Ask every provider these, including us. The answers will tell you more than the portfolio.
- Who owns the domain name? It should be registered to your business, whatever happens.
- If I leave, what do I take with me? Your domain, your photos, your words, and your client list.
- Can I export my client list? Names, contact details, visit history. If you can't get it out, it isn't really yours.
- Does the price go up when I hire someone? Per-staff pricing can quietly double your bill as you grow.
- Where do clients actually book? On your website, under your name, or on a page somewhere else that lists other salons too?
- What does it cost to change a price or add a stylist? And how long does it take?
- Which fees apply to each booking or payment? Get them in writing, including when they don't apply.
- How does it load on a phone over 4G? Test it yourself in the car park, not on office Wi-Fi.
- How will it show up on Google for my suburb? Ask what's actually done, not just "SEO included".
- What will it cost in total over three years? Use the worksheet above.
What a salon website actually needs
Don't pay for what you won't use. A salon site that earns its keep needs these, and not much else:
- A "Book" button at the top of every page, working perfectly on a phone
- Your services with prices (or "from" prices) and how long each takes
- Photos of your own work, ideally before and after
- Your address, a map, opening hours and a tap-to-call number
- Your team, and what each person is known for
- Your deposit and cancellation policy, visible before clients pay (see our salon deposit policy guide)
- The technical basics Google needs to show you for local searches
Nice extras include a gift voucher page, a product shop, a blog and multiple languages. They're all worth having if you'll use them, and a waste if you won't.
Want to know how your current site measures up? Our free salon website check runs through the essentials in about 20 seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Does a salon need a website if it has Instagram?
Instagram is great for showing your work, but it doesn't rank in Google for "hair salon [suburb]", it can't show a clear price list, and it can't take a paid booking in a few taps. A website does all three, and it belongs to you rather than to an app.
How much is a .co.nz domain?
Usually around $25-$45 a year depending on the registrar. Make sure it's registered in your business's name, not your web designer's.
How long does a salon website take to build?
A DIY site usually takes a few weeks of evenings. Freelancers and agencies typically take two to eight weeks, depending on how quickly you supply photos and words. Lustre sites are designed and live within 24 hours of your order.
Is a cheap website a false economy?
Not necessarily. Cheap and simple is fine, but cheap and hard to update isn't. A site with wrong prices and last year's hours costs you bookings every week.
A done-for-you salon website, one clear price
Lustre designs, builds and runs your salon website: chic editorial design, online booking with deposits, your own domain, local SEO and updates. $39.95 a month incl GST for the whole salon, however many stylists, live within 24 hours.
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