The verdict in three sentences
For a B2B company in Montréal, a bilingual English and French website typically costs CAD 20,000 to 45,000 in 2026, depending on page count and how much technical content needs translating. Under Quebec's Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96, French cannot be treated as an afterthought: plan content parity, French contracts and French downloads from day one. Budget 8 to 14 weeks, and insist on clean hreflang tags so Google serves the right version in Quebec, Ontario and the US.
What a bilingual B2B website costs in Montréal
Two scopes cover most mid-sized B2B firms: a 25-page corporate site, and a 60-page site with a resource center, spec sheets and case studies. The ranges below are a 2026 market ballpark for established agencies and studios, excluding hosting and sales tax.
| Line item | 25-page site | 60-page site with resources |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and UX | CAD 3,000 to 6,000 | CAD 5,000 to 8,000 |
| Visual design for both languages | CAD 4,000 to 6,000 | CAD 5,000 to 7,000 |
| Development and bilingual CMS | CAD 8,000 to 12,000 | CAD 11,000 to 15,000 |
| English to French translation (CAD 0.20 to 0.30 per word) | CAD 2,400 to 3,600 (12,000 words) | CAD 6,000 to 9,000 (30,000 words) |
| SEO, hreflang, redirect mapping | CAD 1,500 to 2,500 | CAD 2,000 to 3,500 |
| QA in both languages and launch | CAD 1,500 to 2,500 | CAD 2,000 to 2,500 |
| Indicative total | CAD 20,400 to 32,600 | CAD 31,000 to 45,000 |
Word count drives the bill more than page count. Ask every bidder to quote against the same source word count, otherwise you are comparing different projects.
Bill 96 and the French-first requirements that shape the scope
Bill 96, adopted in 2022, strengthened the Charter of the French Language. For a business operating in Quebec, the practical reading is simple: commercial information on your website must be available in French, and the French version should not be less complete or less accessible than the English one. Penalties and detailed rules are set by the Charter and enforced by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF); check the OQLF's current guidance and your counsel rather than relying on a summary.
| Requirement | What it means for the website | Typical scope impact |
|---|---|---|
| French commercial content | Every product, service and pricing page exists in French | Full translation, no English-only sections |
| Equal prominence | Language switcher visible, French version at least as complete | Design and QA effort on both versions |
| Contracts and terms of sale | French terms, order forms and quote requests | Legal review, CAD 1,500 to 4,000 (estimate) |
| Downloads | French versions of spec sheets, brochures and manuals | Often the biggest hidden translation cost |
| Trademarks and product names | Specific rules apply; follow OQLF guidance | Copy review on product pages |
| Privacy (Quebec Law 25) | Bilingual consent banner and privacy policy | CAD 800 to 2,000 for setup (estimate) |
| Hreflang | en-CA, fr-CA and x-default, reciprocal on every page | Prevents duplicate content between versions |
A frequent mistake is launching in English first and promising French "later". If your firm sells into Quebec, that sequencing creates a compliance gap and usually costs more, because pages get rewritten twice.
Choosing a provider
A large Montréal agency brings strong bilingual copywriting and procurement-ready process, at the top of the range. A boutique studio with an in-house translator often hits the middle of the range with good quality control. A freelancer plus an independent translator costs less but leaves coordination with you. A nearshore option is also viable: Kolonell's prices for a Growth site (8 to 12 pages, built-in blog, 14 to 21 business days) are EUR 1,830 to 3,050 (FCFA 1,200,000 to 2,000,000), plus EUR 110 (FCFA 75,000) per additional language, with translation handled by your own certified Quebec translator.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Daniel, VP Marketing at an industrial automation distributor in Montréal with 70 employees. His new site has 45 pages and 20,000 words of English source text, translated into French at CAD 0.25 per word: CAD 5,000. Design, development, SEO and QA come to CAD 30,000, plus CAD 2,500 for legal review of French terms of sale. Total: CAD 37,500.
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Conservative assumption: a complete French version and bilingual quote form add 3 qualified requests per month from Quebec manufacturers, one of which converts every two months at an average gross margin of CAD 12,000. That is roughly CAD 6,000 of margin per month, so the project pays back in about 6 months (37,500 / 6,000 = 6.25).
FAQ
Can we use machine translation for the French version?
You can use it as a first draft, but a qualified Quebec translator should post-edit everything, especially technical and legal pages. Post-edited machine translation typically saves 30 to 40 percent versus full human translation, as a 2026 estimate.
Should we use fr-FR or fr-CA hreflang?
Use fr-CA for content written for Quebec, and add fr only if you also target France or Belgium with the same pages. Most Montréal B2B sites need two hreflang values plus x-default.
How long does a bilingual build take?
Plan 8 weeks for a 25-page site and up to 14 weeks for a 60-page site with downloads. Translation and legal review usually add 2 to 3 weeks if they start after design rather than in parallel.
Do downloadable PDFs really need French versions?
If they carry commercial information for Quebec customers, plan for it. Spec sheets often hold 30 to 50 percent of a B2B site's total words, so count them early in the budget.
What does ongoing bilingual maintenance cost?
Expect CAD 300 to 1,200 per month in the market, depending on update frequency and translation volume. Every new page or blog post must be budgeted twice, once per language.
Let's scope your project. Send us your page count, word volume and target markets, and we will price a bilingual build with hreflang and a French-first content plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
