Web design in Malta costs from about EUR 600 plus VAT for a five-page site from a freelancer to EUR 7,000 or more for a strategy-led build from an agency, with do-it-yourself builders starting at EUR 11 a month. Which one is right depends on what the site has to do: show that you exist, bring in enquiries or take payments.
We build conversion-first websites from Malta, so we have a stake in the answer. This guide sets out the prices Maltese providers publish, the local rules a business website has to follow, how .mt domains work, where grants stand in October 2026 and the questions to ask before you sign anything. It also says when a cheaper option than ours is the better choice.
What a website costs in Malta in 2026
Most Maltese web agencies do not publish prices. We checked the sites of seven providers that rank for web design searches on 3 October 2026, and five showed no prices on the pages we looked at. The figures that are published come mainly from freelancers, small studios and subscription providers:
- Brochure or small business site. Published starting prices run from EUR 600 to about EUR 2,400, usually before VAT.
- Online shop. Published starting prices run from EUR 1,200 to EUR 4,000.
- Custom design. One provider lists EUR 5,000 and up.
- Website as a subscription. EUR 69 to EUR 79 a month with hosting and maintenance included, in one case with a set-up fee and a 12-month minimum.
Larger agencies rarely publish a price list. Our own website projects start from EUR 7,000 because they include strategy, conversion-focused design, tracking and SEO set-up. That sits at the upper end of the local market, and for many small businesses it is more than they need.
Then there are the running costs:
- Hosting. Published Maltese plans run from EUR 125 to EUR 275 a year before VAT.
- Maintenance. One provider publishes EUR 70 a month.
- Domain. A .mt or .com.mt name costs EUR 20 for the first year and EUR 10 a year after that when registered directly with NIC (Malta), VAT included.
- VAT. Malta's standard rate is 18%, and most local price lists are quoted before it.
Builder, freelancer or agency
Website builders
Builders suit a new business that needs something live this week. On 3 October 2026, Squarespace showed visitors in Malta plans from EUR 11 a month billed annually, and Shopify's Basic plan was EUR 22 a month billed yearly. You get templates, hosting and security in one subscription.
The cost is flexibility later. Wix's help centre says a Wix site has to run on Wix's servers, and Squarespace's export leaves out store pages, product blocks and style settings. Your content remains yours, but moving platform means rebuilding the site.
Freelancers and small studios
A freelancer or small studio is usually the best value when you know what you want: a clean site of five to twenty pages on WordPress, your own content and a contact form. Ask who hosts it, who updates it and what happens if that person is unavailable.
Agencies
An agency makes sense when the website is a sales channel. If bookings, leads or orders depend on it, most of the work is deciding on positioning, page structure, copy, tracking and search visibility, and the design follows from those decisions. That is the work behind our web design, landing pages and CRO service, and it is why agency builds cost more.
Maltese rules your website has to follow
Five areas catch businesses out. This is a summary and should not be taken as legal advice.
- Company details. Article 6 of the Companies Act requires a company's website to show its name, the kind of company it is, its registered office and its registration number.
- Trader information. The Electronic Commerce Act requires a business offering services online to give its name, geographic address, email address, registration number and VAT number, and to state clearly whether prices include tax and delivery.
- Cookie consent. The data protection commissioner's guidance on cookies says consent needs a clear affirmative action. Pre-ticked boxes and scrolling do not count, and a banner that blocks the site until visitors accept everything does not produce valid consent.
- Selling to consumers. The Consumer Rights Regulations give buyers 14 days to withdraw from an online purchase and require the order button to make the obligation to pay explicit. A 2026 amendment adds a clearly labelled function on the site for withdrawing from a contract.
- Accessibility. The European Accessibility Act has applied in Malta since 28 June 2025 through local regulations. They cover e-commerce services sold to consumers and exempt microenterprises that provide services, meaning fewer than ten staff and turnover or a balance sheet of no more than EUR 2 million.
.mt or .com
The .mt registry is run by NIC (Malta). Since 1 December 2017 anyone can register a name directly under .mt, and the registry's policy does not require the holder to be established in Malta. A .mt or .com.mt signals a Maltese business to local customers, while a .com suits a business selling abroad. Our guide to SEO in Malta covers how Google treats the two.
Whichever you choose, register the domain in your business's name. The registry's policy says the holder must be the legal entity that will use the domain. If your designer registers it for you, check that your business is listed as the holder and that you hold the logins.
Can a grant pay for your website?
For a typical small-business website in October 2026, probably not. The scheme most people remember, Digitalise your Micro Business, covered 50% of costs up to EUR 10,000 and is now marked closed after a final cut-off on 30 September 2025.
The Digitalise your SME scheme is open until 31 December 2026, subject to funds. Its guidance notes set a minimum grant of EUR 25,000, at 50% of eligible costs in Malta and 60% in Gozo, and they exclude fees for design, marketing and consultancy. Work may only start after the grant is awarded. In practice that points to larger investments in software and systems far more than to a brochure site.
Schemes change often, so check the current guidance notes or ask the Measures and Support Division before you plan a build around funding.
What a good Maltese website gets right
Almost every established Maltese business already has a website. Eurostat's 2025 survey puts the figure at 82% of enterprises with ten or more staff, so the question is what yours does better.
- Both screen sizes. StatCounter's figures for Malta in September 2026 split web traffic almost evenly: about 51% desktop and 47% mobile. Google indexes the mobile version of a site, so the phone layout is the one that ranks.
- Speed. Google's Core Web Vitals targets are a largest contentful paint within 2.5 seconds, an interaction delay under 200 milliseconds and a layout shift score under 0.1. Ask for these numbers on a finished site before you accept it.
- Clear prices and delivery terms. Eurostat data shows 71% of people in Malta bought something online in 2025, and in 2023 some 83% of Maltese online shoppers had bought from sellers abroad, against 40% across the EU. A local shop is compared with foreign sites on every visit.
- Something to measure. A site that cannot report enquiries, bookings or sales cannot be improved. Analytics, consent and conversion tracking belong in the build.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Who owns the domain, the design and the code? The Copyright Act vests copyright in the author first, so ownership of commissioned work should be written into the contract.
- What is included? Page count, copywriting, images, SEO set-up, tracking and training.
- What will it cost each year? Hosting, maintenance, licences and the domain.
- Can we edit it ourselves? Ask whether training is part of the price.
- How will we know it works? Which enquiries, bookings or sales will be tracked, and how consent is handled.
- Can we see live sites you built? Preferably with a client you can call.
- What happens if we part ways? Handover of files and logins, export options and notice periods.
For a wider view of choosing a supplier in a small market, see our guide to digital marketing agencies in Malta.
Which option fits
- You are testing a new idea. Use a builder and spend the money on the product.
- You need a credible local presence. A freelancer or small studio at published local prices will do the job. Budget for running costs as well as the build.
- The website is how you sell. Choose a team that starts with positioning, conversion and tracking, and judge them on the enquiries or sales the site produces.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a website cost in Malta?
Published prices from Maltese providers start at about EUR 600 plus VAT for a small brochure site and EUR 1,200 plus VAT for a basic online shop, with subscription websites from about EUR 69 a month. Agency builds that include strategy, copywriting, tracking and SEO cost more: our own projects start from EUR 7,000. Budget for hosting, maintenance and the domain on top.
Is a .mt domain better than a .com for a Maltese business?
A .mt or .com.mt domain suits a business selling mainly to people in Malta, and a .com suits one serving clients abroad. Anyone can register a .mt name: NIC (Malta) charges EUR 20 for the first year and EUR 10 a year after that. Whichever you choose, register it in your business's own name.
Are there grants for websites in Malta?
Not for a typical small website in October 2026. The Digitalise your Micro Business scheme, which covered 50% of costs up to EUR 10,000, closed after its last cut-off on 30 September 2025. The Digitalise your SME scheme is open, but its minimum grant is EUR 25,000 and it excludes design and marketing fees, so confirm eligibility with the Measures and Support Division before you plan around funding.
What must a Maltese business website show by law?
A Maltese company's website must show the company's name, the kind of company, its registered office and its registration number. A business offering services online must also give a geographic address, an email address and its VAT number, and say clearly whether prices include tax and delivery. Sites that use non-essential cookies need consent, and online shops must follow consumer rules such as the 14-day right to withdraw.
How long does it take to build a website in Malta?
Maltese providers advertise small template-based sites in one to four weeks. A strategy-led build with custom design, copywriting and tracking usually takes several weeks from kickoff to launch, depending on the size of the site and how ready your content is. A grant adds time, because work can only start once the grant has been awarded.
Start from what the site has to do
Decide what the website is for before you compare quotes. A EUR 900 site and a EUR 9,000 site are different products, and the cheaper one is often the right choice. If your site needs to bring in bookings, leads or orders, book a discovery call and we will tell you plainly what level of build you need.
