What does a website audit cost in South Africa?

What do South African providers actually charge?

Several of the larger agencies do not publish prices at all and quote on request. That is not a criticism, but it does mean you cannot compare until you have had a call.

Why is the range so wide?

Because “audit” describes two different products that share a name.

At the lower end you are buying a tool report with some interpretation on top. A crawler finds the technical problems, a person writes a summary, you get a document. That is genuinely useful and for many small businesses it is all that is needed.

At the higher end you are buying senior time. Somebody studies your competitors, reads your content, sits in a workshop with you and produces a roadmap. That is a different job and it costs what it costs.

Neither is dishonest. The problem is that they are both called an audit, so a business owner comparing R1,400 against R14,000 is not comparing like with like and usually has no way to tell.

Are the free audits worth anything?

Yes, as a first look. Several South African agencies give one away to open a sales conversation, and the findings in them are usually real. I give one away too, and I would rather you ran it than paid me before you needed to.

What a free audit will not give you is a price against each fix, an honest note on which ones you could handle yourself, or anything that took a person longer than a few minutes. It is a marketing asset. That is not a criticism as long as everybody is clear about it.

How do I tell whether a quote is fair?

Three questions, and the answers tell you more than the price does.

How many checks, and can I see the list before I pay?

A provider who will not show you the list is asking you to buy something you cannot see. Mine is published in full, every check named, at what each package includes. If a competitor will not do the same, ask why.

How much is done by a person?

This is the real difference between R1,400 and R7,600. Ask specifically what a human does that a tool cannot. Submitting a test enquiry through your form. Asking an AI assistant to recommend a business like yours and screenshotting the result. Counting a competitor’s reviews. If the answer is vague, you are buying a tool report at a consulting price.

Does the report price each fix?

A report that ends with “book a call to discuss” has moved the hard part to after you have paid. A report that puts a number against every finding, and says honestly which ones you could do yourself, lets you decide without another conversation. Ask to see a sample page before you buy.

Does the price include the fixes?

Almost never. Assume it does not unless it says so plainly. An audit tells you what is wrong; implementation is quoted separately, either by the same provider or by your own developer.

Ask before you buy. A cheap audit followed by an open-ended fix quote is a common and unpleasant surprise, and it is the main reason a low headline price is not always the cheaper option.

What do I charge, and why

The Security Check-Up is R1,950, The Vitals is R2,800 and the Full Body Scan is R7,600. Those are the full amounts payable. I am not a registered VAT vendor, so nothing is added to them, and the price does not change with the size of your site.

They sit at or below the going rate deliberately. I am one person with no office and no account management layer, so my costs are lower and I would rather pass that on than match a price I do not have to.

Every finding carries a fixed price to fix it and an honest note on whether you could do it yourself. And if a paid audit does not find at least five specific, fixable issues worth acting on, I refund the fee in full.