There are many reasons why you might want to build a one page website:

In many cases, a single page website can serve as your entire website - and from a user experience standpoint, this makes perfect sense.

There is no need for several pages (home, about, services, contact) when all the content fits nicely into an easy-to-scroll page.

In this guide, we will start by inspiring you with the most beautiful one-page websites built by some of the world’s most talented designers.

Then, to help you decide on how to build your own one pager, we will quickly discuss the important elements to consider when choosing between doing-it-yourself (DIY) or hiring a professional.

Let’s get started.

Stunning One Page Website Examples

Sheerlink

Designer: Gotcha | Built with: Custom


Banyak Surf Adventure

Designer: In-house | Built with: Wix

Raleigh Centros

Designer: Clicky | Built with: WordPress

Hypnax

Designer: n/a | Built with: Custom

CleanShot

Designer: MakeTheWeb | Built with: Custom

Upstate Laundromat

Designer: Knapsack | Built with: Squarespace

Wandure

Designer: In house | Built with: PageCloud

Type + Pixel

Designer: In house | Built with: WordPress

Bek Stone

Designer: Zak Johnson | Built with: Custom

Heippa

Designer: In house | Built with: Pagecloud

94 Photography

Designer: Cleverbird Creative | Built with: Custom

Looking for even more inspiration? Check-out One Page Love that showcases thousands of the most beautiful one page websites on the Web.

As you can see by the stunning examples above, there are many ways to build a website. While some of the sites here were built using DIY tools like Pagecloud, Wix, and Squarespace, others use custom frameworks, content management systems (CMS) and code to get the site published.

So which approach is best? DIY or Custom Code?

This is what we will look at next.


DIY vs Custom Coded Websites

Let’s start by defining “DIY” and “custom coded” websites:

“DIY websites”: can be built and managed by someone without design or technical coding knowledge.

“Custom coded websites”: are built by professional designers and developers and limit what can be modified by the end user. These tools are often referred to as content management systems (CMS).

To make an informed decision between the two options above, it’s important to understand:

  • How websites are built and hosted
  • The different types of templates
  • How much websites cost to build and manage

How websites are built and hosted

DIY

The easiest way to build a website (especially a one page website) is using a website builder such as PageCloud, Wix, or Squarespace.

Although website builders vary dramatically in terms of features, customizations, and overall experience, they make it much easier to set up a functional website.

There is no need to worry about hosting, content delivery networks, SSL certificates, backups, and all the other time consuming tasks associated with building a site from scratch. Site builders offer fully managed services that included all these elements within your subscription.

Website builders also offer WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interfaces so that non-technical individuals can build and manage their site without requiring professional assistance. Here is an example:

Over the past few years, a growing number of creative agencies have started using websites builders to improve their efficiency, reduce their costs, and give additional control to their customers.

Are you a creative professional? Sign up and become a Pagecloud Pro today.

Custom coded websites

There are multiple steps involved in building a custom coded website regardless of how many pages it has. 

Here is a simplified version of what this process looks like:

  • A creative professional will design the website and interactive elements using tools such as Photoshop and Sketch.
  • Once the design is completed, the design is added to Invision where it can be approved and important style elements are transferred to the development team.
  • Before converting the design into code (implementation), hosting and other functional elements are set up for the site.
  • Website is built by a developer using a variety of coding languages, frameworks, templates, plugins, libraries, etc.
  • Final review and testing by the designer and developer to ensure everything looks right and works as expected.

Although this is a long and expensive process, it gives professionals unlimited flexibility when building a website. Essentially, if you’re willing to pay, almost anything can be done with code.

Note: Depending on what type of CMS is used (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or Custom), site owners may or may not be able to edit their website. In many cases, site owners are limited to modifying text and replacing content such as images and videos. Here is an example:

One of the key benefits of using a CMS is how their templates give you the ability to modify multiple pages at once or to quickly switch between compatible templates. However, this is not as useful when it comes to smaller websites with less pages.

Different types of templates

Templates, also known as themes, are offered by every website building platform.

These pre-designed layouts allow designers and non-designers to quickly create something beautiful without having to do everything from scratch.

Note:

  • For the most part, templates can‘t be transferred between different tools.
  • Templates can’t provide functionality that isn’t supported by the platform it’s built on.
  • You need to choose the platform you want to use before you select a template.

Here are several one page template examples based on the most popular website building platforms.

Queue

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Pagecloud

Money App

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Wix

Papier

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Pagecloud

Miller

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Squarespace

Oslo

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Pagecloud

Webinar Landing Page

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Wix

Skye

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Squarespace

Paradigm Shift

Type: Custom code | Price: FREE | Built with: Custom HTML5

Caliris

Type: Custom code | Price: $39 | Built with: WordPress

Fitzgerald

Type: DIY | Price: FREE | Built with: Pagecloud

Tune

Type: Custom code | Price: $49 | Built with: WordPress


How much websites cost to build and manage

Accurately estimating the cost of a website is challenging, even when it’s only got one page.

The best way to do this is by separating your fixed and one-time costs.

Fixed costs

To keep your website running smoothly, you will have to cover certain fixed costs: your domain name, hosting, SSL certificate, CDN, backups, and more.

For a one page website, expect to pay about $5 - $10 per month if you’re hosting your site yourself and $10 - $20 per month if you’re using a fully managed website builder.

Fixed costs will increase slightly as you scale your website. However, fixed costs are typically very low regardless of how you build your site.

One-time costs

Some website building platforms offer premium templates that you can purchase for a one-time fee. Typically, these will range from a few dollars up to a few hundred dollars.

Truth is, the real cost of a website comes from the professional services you pay to get your site designed and or developed.

These fees will vary dramatically based on where you live and who you hire to work on your site.

It’s much less expensive to have a site built in India than in the US.

For this example, we will use the average cost of a one page website built in the US:

With a website builder: $100 - $1,000
Custom coded website: $500 - $5,000

As you can see, it’s much more expensive to build a custom site because of all the required steps mentioned above.

You might also like: How much do websites cost? [Explained with 10+ website examples]

Summary

As simple as one page websites may appear, there are many things you need to consider before making the decision of how to build one.

To keep things as straight to the point as possible:

  • If you want a super custom website design, you have a sufficient budget, and you don’t need as much control over your site, hire an agency.
  • If you want to keep costs down and have control over your website, use a website builder.

You can try the Pagecloud website builder and publish your one page website for free!

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Web Design

Website Builder