European web agency
Web development agency in Europe that builds in code
Sites in Next.js for companies that sell in more than one country: light pages, a version per market, and the EU rules handled before launch.
One agency for a site that sells in several countries
A web development agency in Europe has to build for more than one market at once: several languages, prices in euros and often pounds or francs, the GDPR and cookie consent, the European Accessibility Act, and buyers on every kind of phone. We are that kind of agency, based in Ghent, Belgium, where a company site in two or three languages is the normal case rather than the exception.
This page is written for a company outside Belgium weighing an agency abroad. It compares what web development costs in the markets you probably know, lists the EU rules a site has to meet in 2026, shows how we keep your visitors' data in the EU, and explains how a project with a team in another country runs and where it usually goes wrong.
What web development costs in each market
Few agencies publish prices. The bands agencies list on review platforms and the rates freelancers report in surveys are the closest thing to a public price list: If your company is based in Brussels, our page on a marketing agency in Brussels covers working in French, Dutch and English.
| Market | Senior freelancer per hour | Agency per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 65 to 120 euros for an IT consultant | about half of web development agencies list 50 to 99 dollars |
| United Kingdom | 78 to 125 dollars | 50 to 99 dollars for web design agencies |
| United States | 95 to 150 dollars | 100 to 149 dollars for web development agencies |
| Poland | 40 to 85 dollars across Eastern Europe | 50 to 99 dollars for web development agencies |
Senior freelancers ask 80 to 125 dollars an hour in the Netherlands and 85 to 140 in Germany, and the median UK contract web developer bills 475 pounds a day. A Belgian business site with a page per service typically costs 2,000 to 6,000 euros. Read it this way: a Belgian agency, with design, build, testing and a project lead in one price, usually charges per hour what one senior freelancer charges alone in Amsterdam, Berlin or London. For the detail per market, see web developer hourly rates and what a digital agency costs; to see where your own site lands with us, use the website cost calculator. US buyers can read outsourcing to Europe from the US, British buyers website design cost in the UK, and exporters website for an export business.
Which kind of agency fits your project
| You need | Freelancer | Agency in your city | Agency abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| A one-off brochure site | good | good | good |
| Three or more languages with SEO per market | rarely | sometimes | good |
| A workshop at your table every month | depends | best | possible, by train or a short flight |
| Design, build and testing in one fixed price | rarely | good | good |
| EU rules handled for you | depends | good | good |
If you sell in one country and want someone at your table every week, an agency in your own city is the honest answer. An offshore team wins only on price per hour, and leaves the EU rules for you to check. A European agency abroad wins where the site has to work in several languages and markets at once, or where nobody near you builds this way. Not sure whether you need an agency at all? Freelancer or agency sets out the trade-off.
The EU rules your website has to meet in 2026
| Rule | What it asks of a site | In force since |
|---|---|---|
| GDPR | a legal basis for each piece of personal data, a privacy policy, a processing agreement with every supplier | 25 May 2018 |
| Cookie consent | consent before any cookie the site does not strictly need; see whether you need a cookie banner | enforced |
| European Accessibility Act | many shops and consumer services usable with a keyboard, a screen reader and enough contrast | 28 June 2025 |
| Withdrawal button | online contracts with consumers get a clear button to withdraw | 19 June 2026 |
| AI Act transparency | a chatbot says it is a machine; AI-generated content is labelled | 2 August 2026 |
| VAT on sales to consumers | above 10,000 euros a year of cross-border sales, the VAT of the buyer's country, declared through the One-Stop Shop | 1 July 2021 |
We build these into a site from the first page rather than patching them in before launch. The accessibility guide explains the EAA for online sellers, the EU AI Act checker tells you which duties apply to an AI feature, and our news page tracks the new EU rules for 2027. Selling from a Belgian entity? The legal notices Belgium asks of every business site are on our page about web design in Ghent.
Hosting in the EU, measured without cookies
The panel below shows how this very site is built: a static page from CloudFront, fonts and images from our own domain, and our own analytics, contact form and tools on AWS in Stockholm. No third party sees your visitors, and analytics run without cookies, so measuring needs no consent banner. Client sites get the same setup unless they need a service outside it, such as a booking engine or a payment provider. For a buyer in the UK or the US selling into the EU, that means your European visitors' data never has to leave the EU.
What this site loads, and where each part comes from
What vbsmarketing.eu loads, and from where
- The pageA static file, served by CloudFront from the edge closest to youNo server to hack
- FontsFrom our own domain, not from a font serviceNo third party
- ImagesFrom our own domain, as WebP in the size your screen needsNo third party
- AnalyticsOur own function on AWS in Stockholm, without cookiesEU, no cookie banner
- Contact formOur own form function on AWS in StockholmEU
- Free toolsOur own function on AWS in StockholmEU
We build client sites the same way, unless a client needs a service outside it.
What a site built in code gives a company abroad
- Light pages on every networkVilla Lidia's home page went from 8.4 MB to 1.4 MB with the same photos, so guests planning a trip to Italy load it on a weak connection.
- A version per marketK&A Law, a law firm, runs its site in Dutch, French, English and Turkish, each version with its own pages and addresses.
- Bookings in your own calendarVilla Lidia shows its availability on its own site and takes requests directly, without a booking platform in between.
- Forms that arriveOur own form service handles the contact forms of eleven client domains, with spam filtering, on AWS in the EU.
Hours, languages and travel
Belgium shares its clock with Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm, and is one hour ahead of London and Lisbon. We work in English and Dutch, write copy in Dutch, French and English, and work with native readers for German and other languages. From London, Ghent is under three hours by train with one change in Brussels; how to reach us from other cities is on our page about nearshore software development.
One domain with a folder per language, or a domain per country? For most companies selling one offer in several markets, folders on one strong domain win; our page on multilingual website development sets out the options and the hreflang rules that tie the versions together.
What to put in your brief
- The markets and languages, in order of importance, and whether prices differ per country.
- What a visitor must be able to do: request a quote, book, buy, download, log in.
- The systems the site has to talk to: CRM, booking engine, payment provider, accounting.
- Who writes and approves copy in each language.
- Your deadline and the reason for it, such as a trade fair or a launch.
Our website brief template holds these questions with room for your answers; it is what we ask in a first call. With those answers we split the site into parts (pages, languages, features, copy, migration) and give a fixed price per part.
Six questions to ask any agency abroad
- Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code? All three should be in your name.
- Who writes the copy in each language? If it is a translation of your English, expect it to read like one.
- What happens to your current addresses? Every old page needs a redirect, or you lose what Google already gives you.
- Where does visitor data go? Ask for the list of third parties the site loads.
- When do you see the site? A test link from the first weeks beats a reveal at the end.
- What does year two cost? Hosting, licences, updates and changes, in writing.
What buyers abroad ask us first
- Do you work for companies outside Belgium?
- Yes. Villa Lidia in Italy is a website client, and calls, documents and invoices in English are normal for us. Most of our clients are Belgian companies that sell in several languages.
- How do invoices and VAT work across the border?
- We invoice in euros. A business client in another EU country with a valid VAT number is invoiced without Belgian VAT under the reverse charge; the Belgian side of that is explained on our page about web design in Ghent. Your accountant confirms your side.
- Can you work with our in-house designers or developers?
- Yes. We build from your designs, or design and hand over the code to your team, with documentation and a repository in your name.
Website design
How VBS builds a site for a company across Europe
We design and build websites and webshops for several markets, and make each version findable through SEO. For Business Centrum we built a site in four languages that went from 220 to 10,200 Google impressions a day in five weeks; for Villa Lidia in Umbria a site in English and Dutch for guests from across Europe. You get a written scope, a fixed price per part, a test link early and everything in your name. Book a call and tell us where you sell.
A website for your market, or several?
Tell us where you sell and in which languages. We reply with what we would build first.
Rather get in touch right away?