How much does a 3D website cost? What actually drives the price of a Three.js site

You’ve seen a site where a product turns as you scroll, or the background is a scene you can move through, and now you want one. The first question is always the same: what does it cost?

The honest answer is that “a 3D website” covers everything from one spinning object in a hero to something closer to a small game. Those jobs differ by a lot. This guide explains what moves the price, so you can scope a 3D site that does its job without paying for effects nobody notices.

A 3D website is two projects

Every 3D website is a normal website (pages, text, navigation, forms, SEO, a CMS) with a 3D layer on top. You pay for both.

The normal part costs what any good site costs. We covered that in how much a website costs in India. The 3D layer is extra, and its price depends on the six things below.

The six things that set the price

1. Scope: how much 3D, and where

This is the biggest factor. Roughly four levels:

Level	What it is	Typical use
Hero object	One 3D object or scene in the first screen that reacts to scroll or the cursor	A brand mark, a product, an abstract form
Scroll story	A scene that changes as the visitor scrolls through a section: parts assemble, a camera moves, a product turns	Explaining how something works
Product viewer	A model the visitor can turn, zoom and switch (colours, parts, options)	Products where shape and finish matter
Interactive scene	A space or world the visitor explores, with several objects and states	Launches, exhibitions, campaigns

Each step up adds design time, build time and testing time. A hero object is a contained job; an interactive scene can take as long as the rest of the site put together.

2. Models and assets

Where the 3D content comes from often decides the budget more than the code does.

• Built in code. Abstract shapes, lines, particles, simple geometric parts. Cheap to make and very light to load.
• Reused models. CAD files from your engineers or models from a supplier. These usually need cleaning up and simplifying before they work on the web, but that’s cheaper than starting from nothing.
• Modelled from scratch. A detailed product, a building or a character made by a 3D artist. This is specialist work, priced separately, and it grows with detail and the number of objects.
• Animated models. Anything that moves on its own beyond turning (a character, a machine running) adds another layer of work.

If you’re getting quotes, ask each studio where the models come from and whether modelling is included. It’s the most common gap between two quotes that look similar.

3. Interaction

A scene that reacts to scroll is simpler than one the visitor controls. Each kind of interaction adds work: dragging to rotate, clicking parts, switching colours or materials, moving between views, connecting the scene to a cart or a form. The more states the scene can be in, the more there is to design and test.

4. Performance and fallbacks

This is the part cheap quotes leave out, and it’s the part that decides whether the site works.

A 3D scene that looks great on a designer’s laptop can take many seconds to appear on a mid-range phone on mobile data. Doing it properly means:

• Loading the page first and the 3D after, so visitors can read and act straight away.
• Skipping the 3D on devices and connections that can’t afford it.
• Pausing the scene when it’s off screen.
• A finished static version for slow phones, people who turn motion off, and search engines.

That static version isn’t a placeholder. It has to look designed, because for some of your visitors it is the site. We go through the technique in 3D websites that still load fast.

5. The rest of the site

A one-page launch site with a 3D hero is a smaller job than a 20-page company site that also has a product viewer. The page count, the CMS, languages, forms and integrations all add to the total in the same way they would on any website.

6. Looking after it

3D scenes depend on browsers and graphics drivers that keep changing. Plan for someone to check the site after major browser updates and fix anything that breaks. A care plan covers this; ours starts at ₹6,000 a month and includes monitoring and a monthly measured report.

What our 3D websites cost

Our 3D and WebGL websites start at ₹1,50,000. That starting price covers a site with one Three.js scene or scroll story, built so the page stays fast, with fallbacks for slower phones and reduced motion.

The price goes up with more scenes, models that need to be made, deeper interaction and more pages. For clients outside India we quote in USD, EUR or AED for the same scope.

We don’t quote from a call. We write a short spec first: what the scene shows, where it sits, what the visitor can do, where the models come from and the performance budget it has to meet. The price is fixed against that spec, so it doesn’t creep.

How to scope a 3D site without wasting money

Start from the job the 3D does. Write one sentence: “The 3D helps visitors understand ___.” If you can’t fill the blank, you probably need great photography, not WebGL.

Put 3D where it explains, not everywhere. One strong scene in the right place beats five weak ones. Visitors notice the first scene; they scroll past the fourth.

Use what you already have. CAD files, manufacturing files and supplier models can all cut modelling costs. Ask your engineering team before you commission new models.

Agree a performance budget up front. For example: the page is usable in under two seconds on a mid-range phone, and the 3D never blocks reading or tapping. Put it in the spec so it’s measured, not hoped for.

See it on a phone before you sign off. Ask for a live link during the build and open it on an ordinary Android phone on mobile data, not just a fast laptop. We share a live build link every week for this reason.

Questions to ask any 3D studio

1. Are models included, and where do they come from?
2. What happens on a slow phone, or when someone turns motion off?
3. What does the page measure on a mid-range phone? Can you show a live site you’ve built and its numbers?
4. Is the text real HTML that search engines can read, or is it inside the 3D canvas?
5. What’s fixed in the price, and what counts as a change?
6. Who looks after the scene after launch?

A studio that does this well will have clear answers. If the answer to question 2 is a blank screen or a loading spinner, keep looking.

Is it worth it?

For the right product or story, yes. A scene that shows how something is built, how parts fit, or what a space feels like can explain in seconds what paragraphs can’t. For a business that mainly needs enquiries, a fast, clear standard site usually does more per rupee, and you can add a 3D section later.

If you’re weighing it up, send us what you have in mind and we’ll tell you honestly whether 3D is worth it for your site, and what it would take. You can see what we’ve built on our work page. If you’re in Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, our pages for Chennai, Bengaluru and Vellore cover how we work with local clients.