Private or international school website cost in Atlanta: local agencies vs Kolonell (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

In Atlanta, a private or international school website from a local agency costs, as a 2026 ballpark, between 12 000 and 50 000 USD, and specialised school web platforms add an annual licence on top of their setup fee. Kolonell builds admissions pages, programme pages by division and the inquiry and tour booking path for a fixed 2 900, 4 900 or 8 900 USD, with a bilingual FR/EN site included in Premium. What decides the choice is the 3-year cost and the calendar: a site that goes live before the autumn open houses serves the next intake, while one that ships in spring misses it.

What do Atlanta agencies, school platforms and Kolonell charge?

These are prudent ballparks, not official figures. They draw on public rate cards of Atlanta agencies, minimum project sizes on Clutch.co profiles (commonly 10 000 USD and up), hourly rates published by local studios (often 100 to 175 USD), freelance rates on Upwork, and the public pricing pages of school website platforms, which usually combine setup and a yearly subscription.

School platforms bring ready-made calendars and close links to their own admissions and parent tools; that is a genuine strength if the school already runs on their ecosystem. Kolonell works the other way: it builds a fast public site and links or embeds the admissions software you already use. Payment is by bank transfer or Wise, 50 % at kickoff and 50 % at delivery; a project manager works on Eastern time, with Google Meet calls at a time that suits the admissions team and a written update every week. The team is in Senegal (GMT), four to five hours ahead of Atlanta. See our international website offer.

What should a 3-year comparison include for a school?

Schools update their sites constantly: tuition, calendars, staff, news. Maintenance is set to the same assumption on both sides, since Kolonell maintenance after the support period is quoted on request; the platform licence is an assumption to replace with the vendor's written figure.

Premium includes 6 months of support, so maintenance starts in month 7. The figures organise the comparison and do not predict your invoice.

What does an Atlanta private or international school site need?

Atlanta's independent and international schools sit in Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Decatur, Alpharetta, Marietta and the wider metro. Many recruit families relocating with corporate headquarters, the airport hub and the universities, some of them from abroad. Parents compare several schools in an evening on their phone. The site should give them:

• Programmes by division: early years, lower, middle and upper school, with the curriculum stated precisely (IB, AP, language immersion, accreditation bodies), never more than the school actually holds.
• Tuition and financial aid: a clear page with the fee structure and a link to the official pages of Georgia's state programmes, such as tax credit scholarships, rather than a paraphrase of eligibility.
• Tour and open house booking through the scheduler or admissions platform the school already uses.
• An inquiry form sent to the admissions office, kept short.
• A relocation page for international families: school calendar, uniforms, transport, the language support offered.
• French or bilingual content for French programme schools: the FR/EN version is included in Premium; other languages are supplied by the school or quoted separately.

Compliance, factually. COPPA, enforced by the FTC and updated in 2025, applies to online services directed at children under 13 that collect personal information, so admissions forms should be addressed to parents. Photos of students need the parents' media consent. ADA Title III covers private schools, with an exemption for entities controlled by religious organisations, and WCAG 2.1 AA is the usual technical reference. FERPA mainly concerns schools that receive US Department of Education funds; ask counsel whether it applies to yours. This is not legal advice.

What does each Kolonell tier include for a school?

A parent portal, an online application with document upload or a custom intranet is a custom application, quoted on request. Links to the portal the school already uses are included. Ongoing search work is quoted on request.

Which questions should a head of school ask before signing?

• Will the site be live before our first open house? Ask for a dated schedule.
• Who writes the admissions and programme copy? If the answer is the school, count the staff hours.
• What does the yearly licence cost in year two and three, and can we export the content if we leave?
• Is the domain registered in the school's name?
• How are student photos and consent handled?
• Which accessibility level is tested, and how?

Mini case study

Illustrative example. Claire M., director of admissions at a 420-student bilingual school in Sandy Springs, needs a new site before the October open houses. An Atlanta agency quotes 38 000 USD with a campus shoot, delivered in 16 weeks, which lands after the open house season. Kolonell proposes Premium at 8 900 USD with the FR/EN site and a written schedule of 5 weeks; the school books a photographer for 2 500 USD.

Build and photos: 38 000 USD against 11 400 USD, a 26 600 USD gap. With tuition around 24 000 USD a year, one additional enrolled family over the next intake would cover the Kolonell build more than twice. That is an assumption, not a promise, and the school still needs its admissions team to follow up every inquiry.

FAQ

How much does a private school website cost in Atlanta in 2026?

As a ballpark, 12 000 to 50 000 USD with an Atlanta agency and 3 000 to 12 000 USD with a freelancer, while school platforms add a yearly licence. Kolonell charges a fixed 2 900, 4 900 or 8 900 USD.

Can Kolonell connect the site to our admissions software?

Yes, by linking or embedding your existing inquiry, tour booking or application tool, from Starter at 2 900 USD. A custom online application is quoted on request.

Can the site be in English and French?

Yes, the bilingual FR/EN site is included in Premium at 8 900 USD. Spanish, German or Mandarin pages are supplied by the school or quoted separately.

Who takes the campus photos?

The school, with its own images or a local photographer, often 1 500 to 3 500 USD for a day based on published rates. Kolonell does not shoot on site; a local agency can, which is a real advantage.

How is the project paid?

By bank transfer or Wise, 50 % at kickoff and 50 % at delivery. On Premium, that means two payments of 4 450 USD.

Let's scope your project. Send us your divisions, your admissions calendar and the software you use, and we reply with a fixed-price tier and a 3 to 4 week timeline. Request your free quote or see the international offer.