# Website development in Bulgaria: costs, timelines, site or store Website development in Bulgaria: agency, freelancer, builder or platform, every line of the bill, timelines, legal must-haves and when you need a store. Source: https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/website-creation-business · CloudCart · 2026-11-06 In short: website development for a business in Bulgaria goes one of four ways: a web agency, a freelancer, a website builder or an ecommerce platform. Agencies and freelancers charge a one-off fee by quote plus maintenance; builders and platforms charge a monthly plan. If the site will sell, choose a platform: a CloudCart store starts at €14/month, with hosting, SSL and a 0% transaction fee. This guide is from the CloudCart team, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform, for foreign founders, expats and local companies selling in or from Bulgaria. CloudCart prices are from the [pricing page](https://cloudcart.com/en/pricing), excluding VAT. We don't quote agency prices, because there is no official source for them; you get the lines every quote is made of instead. ## What kind of website you need: brochure site, company site, landing page or online store The type of website follows from what a visitor should do on it: call you, send an inquiry, or order and pay. That answer drives the cost and the timeline, so settle it before the first quote. | Type of website | What the visitor does | Typical pages | Who it suits | | Brochure site | Finds your phone number and address | Home, services, about, contact | A tradesperson, a clinic, a consultant | | Company website | Reads about your services and sends an inquiry | Services, projects, blog, team, careers, contact | A company with several services or B2B clients | | Landing page | Signs up or buys one thing | One long page with a form or a button | A campaign, an event, a product launch | | Online store | Picks a product, pays and receives a parcel | Catalog, cart, checkout, shipping, customer account | Anyone selling goods or services at a clear price | According to [Eurostat (2025 data)](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/isoc_ciweb/default/table?lang=en), 49.7% of Bulgarian enterprises with 10 or more employees have a website, against 79.0% across the EU. Only 15.8% of Bulgarian enterprises let customers order, reserve or book through their website, against 22.5% in the EU. Half of the market has no website, and most sites take no orders: an opening for a business that builds its site now. ## Website development: agency, freelancer, builder or platform An agency or a freelancer builds a custom site: you pay once for design and development, then separately for hosting and maintenance. A website builder or an ecommerce platform is software you rent: you pay monthly, and technical maintenance is part of the plan. | | Web agency | Freelancer | Website builder | Ecommerce platform | | Who builds the site | A team: designer, developer, copywriter | One person | You, from templates | You or a specialist, with a ready-made theme and an admin | | How you pay | One-off fee by quote, plus maintenance | One-off fee by quote, plus maintenance | Monthly subscription | Monthly or annual plan | | Who maintains it | The agency, under a maintenance contract | The freelancer, when available | The builder's provider | The platform: hosting, SSL, updates, backups | | Selling online | Extra development | Extra development | Often limited | Cart, payments, couriers and invoices from day one | | Strength | Unique design and complex features | Flexibility and direct contact | A fast start for a brochure site | Sales without your own technical team | | Risk | High upfront cost, dependence on the agency | One person: illness, holidays, a new job | Hard to move once the business grows | Design stays within the theme, unless you build a custom storefront | Agency directories and review sites show who builds websites in Bulgaria; the decision itself is in the contract. A custom site often runs on open-source software, for example WooCommerce for a store, and then hosting, updates and security are your job or your developer's. Before you sign, make sure you keep access to the server, the domain and the code. If you have already decided to sell, the steps are in the guide on [how to start an online store in 9 steps](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/how-to-create-online-store). Working with a Bulgarian agency from abroad: ask for the quote and the contract in English, with prices stated in euros and marked with or without VAT. Bulgaria has used the euro since Jan 1, 2026, so a quote in leva is a sign of an outdated template. ## Website cost: what the bill is made of The cost of a website is the sum of one-off costs (design, development, copy, photos) and recurring costs (domain, hosting, SSL, maintenance, subscription). Compare quotes on the total over 24 months: a low upfront price with expensive monthly maintenance ends up costing more than the reverse. | Line on the bill | Agency or freelancer | Website builder | CloudCart | | Domain | Annual fee at the registrar | Annual fee, sometimes through the builder | Your own domain, or a new one bought from the admin | | Hosting | A separate contract with a hosting company | Included in the subscription | Included: hosting, CDN and Cloudflare protection | | SSL certificate | Set up and renewed by the developer | Usually included | Let's Encrypt, issued and renewed automatically | | Design | One-off, by number of screens | A ready-made template | Ready-made themes on every plan, or a custom storefront on Nitrogen | | Development and features | One-off, by feature | Whatever the builder allows | Cart, payments, couriers, invoices, blog and SEO included | | Copy and photos | Extra, or your own | Your own | Your own, with help from AURA for descriptions and SEO | | Maintenance | Monthly contract or by the hour | Included | Updates, backups and security are part of the plan | | Monthly subscription | None, unless billed separately | Yes | €14, €33, €83 or €249/month billed annually, excluding VAT | | Percentage of sales | Depends on the payment provider | On some builders | 0% transaction fee on every plan | CloudCart plans are Baby Pack (€14/month, up to 100 products), Starter Pack (€33, up to 2,000 products), CC Pro (€83, up to 7,500 products) and CC Master (€249, unlimited products). These are annual-billing prices excluding VAT; billed monthly, Baby Pack is €19. There is no contract, and you can stop a plan from the admin. The full comparison of 227 features is on the [pricing page](https://cloudcart.com/en/pricing), and a month-by-month budget for a store, with courier and payment fees, is in [what an online store costs in Bulgaria](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/online-store-cost-bulgaria). > A store for €1 €1/month for the first 3 months on every plan Before you sign a website quote, you can compare it with a working store that already takes orders, for €3 in total. No code needed, for new stores through Dec 31, 2026. Create a store for €1 → ### What to ask for in every quote - A line-by-line breakdown. Design, development, copy, domain, hosting and maintenance, each with its own amount, with or without VAT. - Who owns the domain, the code and the access. The domain should be registered to your company, and the admin login should be yours. - What maintenance covers. Updates, backups, content changes and the response time when the site goes down. - Rounds of revisions. How many are included and what an extra one costs. - How you get the site back. What you receive when the contract ends, and in what format. ## How long website development takes The timeline of a website depends mostly on when the copy and photos are ready. In CloudCart, a store with a ready-made theme goes live in less than a day and works on a cloudcart.net address from day one, until you connect your own domain. - Goal and measure. One sentence on what the visitor should do (call, inquire, order) and how you will count it. - Structure. A list of pages and the menu. A brochure site has 4 to 5 pages; a store has categories and products. - Domain. A short name that is easy to spell over the phone, registered to the company. Pointing the domain and the certificate are covered in the article on domains, SSL and security . - Copy and photos. Services and products with prices, real photos, and answers to the questions customers ask on the phone. - Design. A theme or a custom design with your logo, colors and font, checked on a phone first. - The legal information. Your company details, a privacy policy, a cookie banner and, for a store, terms and conditions. - SEO basics. A title and meta description on every page, a sitemap and a connection to Google Search Console. - Testing. Every form, button and link on a phone and a computer, page speed and, if you sell, a test order. - Launch and measure. Analytics and a weekly look at inquiries and orders. The mobile version decides rankings: [Google indexes and ranks sites by their mobile version](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing). Approve the design on your own phone. The checks one by one are in the article on [the mobile version of an online store](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/mobile-version-online-store). ## AI website builder: what AI does and what stays with you An AI website builder is a builder that assembles the structure, copy and images of a site from a written description. It gives you a first version of the menu, headings and descriptions in minutes. The facts about your business remain your job: prices, delivery times, terms, photos of the real products and your company details. Two checks before you publish a site written by AI: - Every number and every promise. AI invents plausible delivery times, guarantees and reviews. Keep only what you actually offer. - Who owns the site. Check that you can export the content and products if you switch tools. In CloudCart, AI works on the real store. With the AURA app, you write product descriptions and SEO copy and translate products. With an AI assistant (Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or VS Code), you create a PAT token in the admin and write in plain English what you want: the assistant adds products, changes prices and organizes the store step by step. > Store with an AI assistant One sentence instead of dozens of clicks Add a key from Admin → "PAT tokens" to your AI assistant and describe the change. The assistant makes it in the store and shows you the result. How the AI assistant connects → ## Website maintenance: what it covers and who does it Website maintenance is the ongoing work that keeps a site online, fast and secure: software updates, certificate renewals, backups, protection against attacks and content changes. Without it, plugins on a custom site stop working and the site becomes vulnerable. ### What website maintenance includes - Updates. Of the software, the theme, the plugins and the server's PHP version, if the site runs on open-source software. - SSL certificate. Let's Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days by default, according to Let's Encrypt, and must be renewed on time, or the browser shows a warning. - Backups. A daily copy, and at least one test restore, so you know the copy works. - Security. DDoS protection, two-factor login and staff permissions. With an agency or a freelancer, maintenance is a separate contract. Ask for a list of tasks, a response time for outages and the backup frequency in writing. On a platform, the technical side is included. In CloudCart, hosting scales with traffic, the certificate renews automatically before it expires, the whole store is backed up every day, and when you move your domain's DNS management to Cloudflare from the admin, attacks are blocked before they reach the store. The details are on the page about [hosting, domains and SSL](https://cloudcart.com/en/domain). The content stays with you. ## What a business website in Bulgaria must show by law Every business website in Bulgaria shows the details required by [Art. 4 of the Electronic Commerce Act (in Bulgarian)](https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135530547): the company name, registered office and address of management, phone and email, the entry in the Commercial Register or another public register, and a note if the company is registered for VAT. When the site shows prices, they must be clear and state whether they include taxes, fees and delivery costs. The act has been in force since Dec 24, 2006. The same EU-wide list, in English, is on Your Europe's page on [setting up a business website](https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/growing/digitalising/setting-up-business-website/index_en.htm). - A "Contact" or "About" page with the Art. 4 details, reachable from every page, usually from the footer. Bulgarian companies are identified by a UIC (unified identification code, the company number in the Commercial Register). - A privacy policy , if you have an inquiry form, a newsletter sign-up or customer accounts. - A cookie banner , if you use Google Analytics, ad pixels or a chat widget. Those scripts must load only after consent. How to set that up is explained in the article on GDPR and cookies . - Terms and conditions , if you sell online. ## When your website should be an online store A website should be an online store when you sell something at a clear price and customers ask about availability, price and delivery by phone or message. Five signs you need a store, beyond a brochure site: - You take orders on Facebook, Instagram or by phone and copy them into a spreadsheet by hand. - Customers reorder the same products and want to see what is in stock. - You ship with a courier and fill in shipping labels one by one. - You issue documents for every sale in a separate program. - You want ads with measurable sales , beyond clicks. A store also brings new obligations. Under [Art. 52m of Ordinance N-18 (in Bulgarian)](https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135540645), Bulgaria's rules for recording and reporting sales, a merchant selling through an online store submits the store's details to the NRA (Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency) with a qualified electronic signature before the first sale, whether the domain is owned or rented. The rule has applied since Dec 29, 2018. Customers have 14 days to withdraw from a purchase without giving a reason, counted from delivery for goods, as [Your Europe explains for the whole EU](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/returns/index_en.htm); in Bulgaria the rule is Art. 50 of the Consumer Protection Act, in its current form since Jul 25, 2014. The registration, the documents and the monthly XML file are covered in the article on [Ordinance N-18 for online stores](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/n18-online-store-nap). In CloudCart, invoices and the NRA file are generated from orders, as shown on the page about [invoices and Ordinance N-18](https://cloudcart.com/en/invoices). Company set-up is in the guide on [registering a company for an online store](https://cloudcart.com/en/blog/company-registration-online-store). If you offer both services and products, you don't need two websites. A CloudCart store has static pages, FAQ pages, landing pages built with a visual page builder (5 on Baby Pack, up to 250 on CC Master) and a blog on every plan. The company website and the store share one address, one menu and one SEO setup. > 0% transaction fee 0% transaction fee on every plan Once the website starts selling, the platform takes no percentage of your orders. You pay the plan; the payment methods and couriers you choose have their own rates. What a 0% transaction fee means → ## A website with an online store on CloudCart: what is included With CloudCart, you get a website with a store that we maintain. The content and products are yours. - Design. Ready-made themes on every plan, with an editor for colors, fonts and the homepage. For a fully custom design, the storefront is built on Nitrogen, our headless technology, while the catalog and orders stay in the same admin. More on the page about storefront design . - Domain and security. You connect your own domain under Settings → Domains, and the Let's Encrypt certificate is issued and renewed automatically. - SEO. Meta data, 301 redirects, a dynamic sitemap, robots.txt and llms.txt. How to use them is in the article on SEO for an online store . - Sales. A one-page checkout, CloudCart Pay for cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay with a 0% fee through Dec 31, 2026, cash on delivery (COD), and built-in Bulgarian couriers such as Econt, Speedy and BOX NOW, with delivery to an address, a courier office or a parcel locker. - Selling across the EU. GLS covers Europe and DPD Bulgaria ships directly to Romania. For Romania and Greece, Multistore gives each market its own store with local couriers, payments, currency and prices. - Support. Help Center, email and AURA 24/7 on every plan; CC Pro and above add phone support and a dedicated account manager. If you already have a website or a store on another system, products and orders are moved across and old addresses are redirected, so you keep your Google rankings. The options are on the [migration page](https://cloudcart.com/en/migration). ## Frequently asked questions **How much does website development cost in Bulgaria?** A custom website from an agency or a freelancer is priced by quote and depends on the number of pages, the features and whether you supply the copy. Add the domain, hosting and maintenance on top. A CloudCart store is €14/month billed annually (excluding VAT), with hosting, SSL and platform maintenance, and new stores pay €1/month for the first 3 months. **How long does it take to build a website?** Content takes the longest: copy, photos and prices. A custom site goes through design, development and revisions, while a store with a ready-made theme on a platform goes live in less than a day. Prepare the content before you choose who builds the site, and the timeline gets much shorter. **Can I hire a Bulgarian web agency if I don't speak Bulgarian?** Yes, if the agency or freelancer works in English. Ask for the quote and contract in English, with a line-by-line breakdown in euros, and make sure the domain and admin access are registered to your company. Your customers in Bulgaria will still expect the site itself in Bulgarian. **What must a company website in Bulgaria display?** Under Art. 4 of the Electronic Commerce Act: the company name, registered office and address, phone and email, the public register entry and a note on VAT registration. Prices must be clear and say whether they include taxes and fees. If you use forms or analytics, add a privacy policy and a cookie banner. **Does my website need to be registered with the NRA?** A brochure site is not registered. If you sell goods or services through the site, Art. 52m of Ordinance N-18 requires you to submit the online store's details to the NRA before the first sale, whether the domain is yours or rented. Changes are reported within 7 days. Not sure which kind of website fits your business? Write to us at [support@cloudcart.com](https://cloudcart.commailto:support@cloudcart.com).