Spanish agencies do not hide prices due to complexity, but to maintain bargaining power. What the LSSI mandates and what our price tiers are, with VAT included.
Almost no Spanish agency publishes its prices because the price gives away the method: who does the work, how many weeks it takes, and what the profit margin is. Publishing it forces you to defend it in every call and to finalize the scope before making a sale. At Aura Design, we publish price tiers with VAT included, a fixed price per phase, and a list of what is excluded.
Prices aren't hidden due to complexity; they are hidden for leverage
The industry's official argument is that every project is different, and therefore, there is no set rate. That is only half true. One project is different from another just as one renovation is different from another, yet architects publish fees per square meter without the profession collapsing.
What changes when prices are published isn't accuracy: it is your position in the negotiation. Without a public figure, the first number is set by the client when they state their budget, and the studio adjusts accordingly. With a public figure, the anchor is yours, and you must stand by it in front of someone who has already read it.
There is a second, less comfortable reason. A published price is a commitment to a specific scope. If you write "corporate website from €9,000," you have to specify how many templates are included, who writes the copy, and what happens if the client requests a seventh round of revisions. Publishing prices requires a methodology. Many agencies do not publish them because they have no established method.
The industry standard: "Every project is unique; send us a brief and we will prepare a tailored proposal for you." The budget is calibrated based on what you seem able to pay, and the scope is defined after signing, when you have no way out.
Our criteria: Public tiers with VAT already included, a fixed price per phase agreed upon before starting, and an explicit list of what is not included. The scope is finalized before signing, not after.
What Spanish law already mandates (and almost no one follows)
Here is the detail missing from all the Spanish pages currently ranking for "web design prices": if a website mentions prices, the law requires it to state whether or not they include taxes.
It is useful to distinguish between two regulations that are constantly confused. The consolidated text for consumers and users requires "the final total price, including taxes" in any commercial offer (art. 20.1.c, RDL 1/2007), but it only protects those acting outside of their business activities. If you are a freelancer or SME hiring a website for your business, you are not a consumer for the purposes of that law. The obligation that does apply to any studio with a website is the LSSI: if you provide prices, clarify the tax.
Therefore, the standard practice—stating "from €1,200" without further detail—is not just a commercial style. It is, at the very least, incomplete information according to art. 10.1.f.
What ranking pages publish, and what they keep quiet
On August 27, 2026, we reviewed the Spanish pages that appear at the top for web design price searches. The most transparent one provides these ranges: €800–€1,400 for a one-pager, €1,200–€1,800 for a small website, €1,800–€2,500 for a medium one, over €2,500 for a large one, and €2,500–€3,800 for a small online store (pacoruben.com, accessed 08-27-2026). At no point does the article indicate whether these figures include VAT.
It should be stated clearly: these tiers are market rates, not an offer from Aura. Everything below €3,000 is an industry rate, not a gateway to our studio.
And that silence regarding taxes is not minor. On €1,400, 21% is €294 that appears on the invoice but not in the headline.
| What the industry publishes | What is missing for it to be useful |
|---|---|
| "From €800" | Whether it includes VAT or not |
| "Small website: €1,200–€1,800" | Number of pages, who writes the copy, number of rounds |
| "Maintenance included" | How many months and exactly what it covers |
| "Delivery in 4 weeks" | Which milestone starts the countdown |
| "Fixed price" | What is charged if you change the scope halfway |
Publishing a range without conditions is not transparency: it is marketing in the guise of a price.
These are our rates
We work with a fixed price per phase, agreed upon before starting. No surprise hours. And the tiers are published with VAT already included:
- Brand website (showcase or corporate): from €3,000
- Website with interactive experiences and automations: from €4,500
- Complete branding + proprietary CRM + AI + sales funnels, nurturing, and automations: from €9,000
The industry advertises excluding VAT and the invoice arrives 21% higher; we state the final number. No surprise hours and no surprise VAT. Our floor is €3,000: below that figure is the market, not Aura. We accept a limited number of projects per year, which is why sometimes the honest answer is that we are not a fit.
Brand and web projects are delivered in 6 to 12 weeks. Digital products are worked on in 8-week phases. After launch, 30 days of support are included. Code, source files, and documentation are handed over: the transition is part of the project, not an extra. The first call lasts 30 minutes and is free of charge. We respond in less than 24 working hours.
What we do not yet publish with a figure is the actual distribution of our own projects. We will publish it when it is measured, not before:
| Item | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Listen and Define | — | — |
| Map and Design | — | — |
| Build | — | — |
| Launch and Support | — | — |
— = data being measured; we will publish it once we have our own sample.
And these two numbers, which are the ones that truly demonstrate whether a fixed price is legitimate:
Writing the marker instead of a number is exactly the point of this article. It is easy to put a round figure that no one will verify. We prefer the visible gap.
What a published price forces us to do
Publishing tiers has internal consequences, and that is the part the industry avoids. It requires finalizing the scope before signing, saying no when the project does not fit the tier, and putting payment terms in writing.
In Spain, those terms have a legal ceiling. Between companies, the agreed-upon payment period cannot exceed 60 calendar days (art. 4, Law 3/2004), and the statutory interest on late payments in commercial transactions for the second half of 2026 is 10.40%.
The published price disciplines the studio, not the client.
- The figure explicitly states "plus VAT" or "VAT included"
- The tier is accompanied by a scope: number of templates, rounds, and who writes the copy
- The deadline states which milestone triggers the countdown
- The contract names the code, source files, and documentation in the transfer
- Payment terms respect the 60-day maximum of Law 3/2004
- There is a list of what is not included, written before signing
Regulatory figures verified on August 27, 2026: general VAT rate (21%), art. 10.1.f of the LSSI, art. 20.1.c of RDL 1/2007, art. 4 of Law 3/2004, and commercial late payment interest for the second half of 2026 (10.40%). Late payment interest is reviewed every six months.
Publishing prices doesn't make us cheaper: it makes us harder to hire by mistake. Tell us what you are working on, and we will tell you in 30 minutes whether your project fits into a tier or not. Does this way of working suit you?
Frequently asked questions
Do your prices include VAT?
Yes: the tiers you see already include the 21% general rate, so the published figure is the final figure. If you are a freelancer or a business, you can deduct that VAT later; if you are comparing with a quote advertised without taxes, add 21% to it before looking at the two numbers together.
Why does an agency refuse to give me a range over the phone?
Because the range commits them, and the information they don't yet have about your budget gives them leverage. It is a legitimate stance, but it is worth noting: if no one gives you an order of magnitude in the first call, your own answer will set the figure.
Doesn't a published price mean the studio works like an assembly line?
It means the method is written down, not that the work is standardized. We work in six movements and agree on what winning looks like before moving a single pixel; what is repeated is the process, not the result.
What happens if the scope changes halfway through the project?
A new phase with its own price is agreed upon before proceeding, and you decide if you want to include it. We do not issue extra hours without prior agreement, and if the change does not improve the project, we will tell you.
What if my budget is under €2,000?
We will tell you in the first 30-minute call and not waste three weeks on a proposal. Below that figure, there is a market and there are studios that work in that range; we do not. We accept a limited number of projects per year, and forcing a project that doesn't fit harms both parties.
Keep reading
- How much does a website cost in Spain in 2026: breakdown by line item, including VAT and 3-year cost
- Do website prices include VAT? How to read a quote as a freelancer or SME
- Why one agency asks for €1,200 and another for €12,000 for the same website
- How to audit a web proposal: 14 signs you are being sold snake oil
- Web Price Observatory Spain 2026 (n, date, method)
Transparency note. Some of our own data in this guide is still being measured on real projects, with a single method. We will publish it with its sample size and date range once the sample is large enough; until then, every figure you see carries its source and date of consultation.
Sources
- https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2002-13758 — Law 34/2002 (LSSI-CE), art. 10.1.f: obligation to inform about the price, indicating whether or not it includes taxes. Consolidated text updated on 01-23-2025.
- https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/static_files/Sede/Tema/IVA/IVA_reperc/Tipos_IVA_2026_26_02_2026.pdf — Tax Agency, 2026 VAT rates table: general rate 21% (art. 90.One Law 37/1992).
- https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2007-20555 — RDL 1/2007 (TRLGDCU), art. 20.1.c: final total price including taxes in commercial offers; art. 3: definition of consumer, which excludes those acting in their business activity.
- https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2004-21830 — Law 3/2004 on late payments, art. 4: agreed-upon payment period not exceeding 60 calendar days; art. 7: late payment interest = ECB rate + 8 points.
- https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-14327 — Resolution of 06-30-2026 from the General Secretariat of the Treasury (BOE 07-01-2026): statutory commercial late payment interest for the second half of 2026, 10.40%.
- https://pacoruben.com/precios-diseno-web/ — Verified example of a Spanish page that does publish ranges (€800–€1,400 one-pager, €1,200–€1,800 small web, €2,500–€3,800 small shop) and does not indicate at any point if those figures include VAT.
Want to see this thinking applied to a real project?