Does the page count set the price?
It does not. Page count is the most discussed and least significant item. What gets designed and coded is not a page but a template: once an article layout is written, five articles or five hundred cost the same.
So the right question when taking quotes is: how many distinct templates will be designed? A quote that cannot answer that has not thought about scope yet.
What really inflates it?
Four things: whether the design comes from a bought theme or from nothing, whether a second language is added, whether you will manage the content yourself, and how many connections leave the site.
The most underestimated is the second language. It is assumed to be translation and therefore cheap; in fact, unless URL structure, search metadata and content management are built for it at the start, the work gets done twice.
Who writes the content?
This is where these projects most often slip. The build finishes, the site is ready, and everyone waits for the text — because nobody agreed at the start who would write it.
If copy and images are ready on your side, the schedule shortens and the price drops. If they have to be written, it is a separate line and it belongs in the agreement at the outset; surfacing later, it breaks both budget and timeline.
How do you compare two quotes?
Putting the figures side by side misleads, because they rarely cover the same work. Before comparing, write down each quote’s answer to five questions: how many templates, whose design, how many languages, is there an admin panel, which integrations are included.
And one question at the end: what happens after launch? How long are defects fixed at no charge, who makes updates, and whose server does the site live on.