Ask for three quotes for a brochure site in Morocco and you will get 4,000 MAD, 18,000 MAD and 45,000 MAD. None of those suppliers is lying — they are simply not selling the same product. Here is how to read the gap.
3,000–8,000 MAD: the template site
At this level you are buying a $50 WordPress or Wix theme with your text and photos dropped in. It is viable if you only need an online presence to look credible, and nothing more.
The limits are real: poor mobile performance because commercial themes ship enormous amounts of unused code, no SEO work beyond a default plugin, and a structure built around the theme rather than your business.
10,000–25,000 MAD: the professional site
This bracket fits most Moroccan SMEs. You get bespoke design aligned to your identity, a page structure built around your services and keywords, serious technical optimisation and a deliberate conversion path.
- Desktop and mobile designs specific to your brand
- 5–12 pages structured around your customers' search intent
- Technical SEO: speed, meta tags, structured data, sitemap
- Forms, WhatsApp and conversion tracking installed
- Handover training and documentation
25,000–60,000 MAD: e-commerce and custom
The moment there is a catalogue, online payment, stock management or specific business logic, you change category. Development becomes the bulk of the budget, and price is driven mainly by feature count and integrations.
The costs quotes forget
The build price is not the total cost. Always plan for:
- Domain name: 100–400 MAD per year.
- Hosting: 500–3,000 MAD per year depending on traffic and site type.
- Maintenance and updates: 300–1,500 MAD per month. An un-updated WordPress eventually gets hacked; that is not hypothetical.
- Content: copywriting, photography and video. The most underestimated line, and the one that delays projects most.
Questions to ask before signing
- 1Will I own the domain, the hosting and the code?
- 2Is the site designed bespoke or built on a purchased theme?
- 3What mobile performance scores are you targeting, and will you guarantee them?
- 4Who writes the content, and is it included?
- 5What happens if I want to edit a page myself in six months?