What WordPress work costs in India
From the published bands: a tuned business site runs ₹72,000 to ₹2,90,000, a customized build ₹95,000 to ₹3,90,000, WooCommerce stores ₹1,60,000 to ₹8,50,000, custom plugin work ₹2,50,000+. Full context: the WordPress cost guide. Quotes far below these buy the failures described in the platform comparison.
Theme-farm vs real WordPress developer
The market splits hard. A real WordPress developer talks about: which plugins they avoid and why, how they handle updates safely, performance work (caching, image pipelines, Core Web Vitals), security hardening, and when WordPress is the wrong tool. A theme-farm installer talks about themes and prices. One question separates them: "what do you do about WordPress maintenance after launch?" Real answer: a care plan with defined contents.
The vetting questions for WordPress specifically
- Which plugins do you refuse to use, and why? (Tests judgment, not just installation.)
- How do you test updates before they hit production? (Staging discipline.)
- What breaks most often on WordPress sites you have built? (Honest answers name real failure modes.)
- Page builder or native blocks? (Lock-in awareness.)
- Can I see the admin of a site you maintain? (Real developers show clean, organized dashboards.)
The contract, WordPress edition
- Plugin and theme licenses purchased in your name.
- No nulled/premium-theme piracy (a real legal and security risk many Indian projects still carry).
- Staging environment included.
- Post-launch: care plan contents and price stated, with the exit clause visible.
Or skip the build entirely
If the site generates leads, run the cost calculator for your configuration, then compare: building right once with a WordPress specialist versus paying twice for a cheap build plus a rebuild. The numbers usually decide themselves.