Guide · Buying software

24 questions to ask a web agency before you sign

The most important questions to ask a web agency cover four things: what the price includes, who owns the site and the accounts, how the work is done, and what it costs to run the site afterwards. A good answer is specific, written down and has a name or a number attached. Here are 24 questions in four groups, a table of good and weak answers, and a calculation showing why the answers matter more than the quoted price.

12 min read · Updated 1 October 2026

A marketing lead has had three meetings with three web agencies in one week. All three said yes to everything: yes, the site will be fast, yes, you can edit it yourselves, yes, SEO is included. The proposals come in at DKK 28,000, 45,000 and 62,000, and none of them explains why they differ so much. This is where the right questions make the difference. They force the agencies to put numbers and names on what they promise, and suddenly the proposals can be compared.

The questions below are split into four groups: price, ownership, process and running the site after launch. Copy them into an email, send them before the meeting and ask for written answers. After that you will find a table showing what a good and a weak answer typically sound like.

Which questions should you ask a web agency about price?

Is the price fixed, or is it an estimate in hours?
Exactly which pages, features and integrations are included in the price?
What is excluded: copy, images, translation, moving old content, redirects?
What happens to the price if we change or add something along the way?
What is the payment schedule, and is it tied to deliveries we can see?
What is the total over three years including hosting, running costs and updates?

Question six is the most important in the group. Many proposals look cheap because they only show the build price. Once hosting, plugin licences and hours for updates are added, the order of the three proposals can flip completely. Our guide to website maintenance costs shows the typical monthly levels, so you can judge whether the agency’s figures are realistic.

Who owns the website? Questions about ownership and accounts

Who owns the code, the design and the content once the project is paid for?
In whose name will the domain be registered?
Who owns the hosting account, and can we have administrator access?
Who owns Google Analytics, Search Console and any ad accounts?
Do you build on a system with licences, and who pays for them going forward?
What do we receive, and in which format, if we want to change agency?

Ownership sounds like a formality until you want to change supplier and discover the domain is in the agency’s name. The good answer is simple: domain, hosting and analytics accounts are created in your name, and you own the code once it is paid for. We build everything from scratch, and the client owns both code and data. Read more in who owns the code, which includes an exit checklist.

How does the agency work? Questions about process and team

Who will design and develop our site, and can we meet them?
Do you design from scratch, or do you use a ready-made template?
What does the process look like from start to launch, and how long does each phase take?
How often do we see something working, and how do we give feedback?
How many revision rounds are included in the price?
What do you need from us, and how much of our time does the project require?

The last question is often forgotten, and it is frequently your own time that delays a project. Copy, images and approvals have to come from somewhere. A good agency tells you in advance what they need and when. Our clients follow their project in a client panel, where tasks, deliveries and decisions sit in one place, so nobody has to dig through emails.

What happens after launch? Questions about support, SEO and updates

What do running costs come to per month, and exactly what does the price cover?
Who updates the system and any plugins, and how often?
What is your response time when the site is down or something breaks?
How do you take backups, and how quickly can the site be restored?
How do you move existing content and redirects so we keep our Google rankings?
What is the notice period, and is there a minimum term?

Question five is crucial if you already have a site that brings in traffic. A new website without a redirect plan can cost rankings that take months to win back. The choice of platform also affects running costs. In Next.js vs WordPress we compare what the two require in updates and maintenance over time.

What does a good answer from a web agency look like?

Typical good and weak answers to the questions that cost the most when the answer is unclear.

Question	A good answer sounds like	A weak answer sounds like
Is the price fixed?	“Yes, DKK 36,000 for the 24 features in the appendix. Changes are priced before we start them.”	“We expect about 30 hours, but it depends.”
What is excluded?	A specific list: copy, photos, translation.	“We will work that out as we go.”
Who owns the domain?	“You do. We register it in your name, or you give us access.”	“We take care of all that so you do not have to think about it.”
Who builds the site?	Named people you meet before the start.	“Our team.”
What do running costs come to?	A monthly price with contents listed: hosting, updates, backups, support.	“We invoice updates as needed.”
What about redirects?	A redirect map from old to new addresses before launch.	“Google will find the new pages on its own.”
What if we stop?	Notice, any fee and handover items are in the terms.	“None of our clients has ever done that.”

The pattern is clear: a good answer has a number, a name or a list. A weak answer asks you to trust the agency. Trust matters in any working relationship, and it becomes far easier to give once the most important things are in writing. Use the table as a checklist when you read the written answers, and put a mark next to every answer that lacks a number or a name.

The agency with vague answers

Says yes to everything in the first meeting
Shows only the build price
Creates accounts in its own name
Answers verbally

The agency with specific answers

Asks questions back and suggests cutting scope
Shows the price over three years
Registers everything in your name
Answers in writing with numbers and names

The same questions, two kinds of agency.

Which questions about legal requirements, speed and accessibility belong on the list?

How do you make sure the site meets the Accessibility Act if it applies to us? Ask for WCAG 2.1 AA as the target.
How does the cookie banner handle consent, so rejecting is as easy as accepting?
Will you process personal data for us, and do you have a data processing agreement ready?
Where are the site and the data hosted, and is it in the EU?
Which Core Web Vitals values do you aim for, and how do you measure them?
How do you test the site on mobile, and on which devices?

The Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025 to webshops and other consumer services, among others, while micro-enterprises are exempt from the service requirements. We have a guide to the Accessibility Act for websites and one on cookie banner rules. For speed, the good thresholds for Core Web Vitals are an LCP of at most 2.5 seconds, INP of at most 200 ms and CLS of at most 0.1; see more in website speed.

How do you use the questions in practice?

Pick 12–15 questions

Take the ones that fit your project. Price and ownership always belong.

Send them with the brief

Every agency gets the same list and the same deadline for written answers.

Review the answers in the meeting

Spend the meeting on answers that lack a number, a name or a list.

Calculate three years ahead

Add up build price, running costs and expected changes for each agency.

From list to decision in two weeks.

A worked example shows why step four matters. A consultancy with 15 employees needs a 12-page site. Agency X bids DKK 28,000, agency Y DKK 45,000. The answers reveal that X does not include copy (DKK 8,000 with a copywriter), that hosting costs DKK 450 a month on X’s account, and that updates are billed at roughly six hours a year at DKK 1,100. Over three years X comes to about DKK 72,000. Y costs DKK 700 a month with updates included and lands at about DKK 70,200.

How do we answer these questions ourselves?

It is fair to expect an agency that writes a guide like this to answer its own questions. Here are our short answers. The price is fixed, and you get it in writing within 24 hours. A website with us starts at DKK 18,000 for 12 features and 1 integration, plus DKK 600 a month. The monthly price covers hosting, maintenance, updates, support, security and backups. You own the code and data. The plan can be cancelled with 30 days’ notice, and cancelling within the first 15 months carries a one-off fee stated in the proposal.

Design and development happen in one senior team, so the people you meet are the people who build. If you are earlier in the process and need to find candidates, start with how to choose a software company. If you already have proposals on the table, read red flags in a software quote. And if you want to ask us the questions directly, write to us here or look at pricing first.

Questions about choosing a web agency

How many meetings should we have with a web agency before choosing?

Two is typically enough. The first meeting is about your goals and seeing whether the agency asks good questions. The second is a walkthrough of the proposal, where you go through the questions and get anything unclear written in. If you need a third meeting just to understand what you are buying, the proposal is probably too vague. Make sure at least one person from your side attends both, so you remember the same answers.

Should we send the questions to the agency in advance?

Yes. When the agency has the questions in advance, you get considered answers and the meeting can be spent on follow-up. Ask for the answers in writing, ideally as part of the proposal. That makes it easy to compare agencies side by side and gives you something to refer to later. An agency that answers clearly in writing usually communicates clearly once the project is running too, and that is one of the best indicators you can get.

What should we ask when we call a reference?

Ask about three things: whether price and timeline held, how the agency handled changes and problems, and what working together has been like since launch. Also ask whether the reference would choose the agency again and what they would do differently. Keep the call short, ten minutes is enough. The most valuable part is often a single concrete story about a difficulty, because it shows how the agency behaves when something goes sideways.

Is it fine to ask how big the agency is?

Yes, and it is relevant. Ask how many people work in design and development, how many projects they run at once, and who covers when your regular developer is on holiday. A small team can be an advantage, because you speak directly to the people who build. What matters is that more than one person knows your solution. Also ask how long the agency has maintained the oldest solutions it has built.

What if the agency will not answer in writing?

Then write up the meeting yourself with the answers and send it to the agency, noting that you assume it is correct. If no corrections come back, you have a written basis. If the agency is reluctant to confirm anything about ownership, running costs or termination, that is an answer in itself. Those are the points that cost the most when they are unclear, and a serious agency already has them in its standard terms.

What does a website cost at a web agency?

A standard website at a Danish agency typically costs DKK 15,000–40,000, while large or bespoke builds sit at DKK 50,000–200,000 or more. Agency hourly rates are typically DKK 1,100–1,300. Hosting, running costs and updates come on top every year. With us, a website starts at DKK 18,000 plus DKK 600 a month for hosting, maintenance, updates, support, security and backups, and you get the price in writing within 24 hours.

Want us to build it for you?

You get a fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.

Ask us the questions and get written answers