How much does a website cost for a small business?
An honest guide to UK website prices in 2026: what you’ll pay with a website builder, a freelancer, a local studio or an agency, what pushes the price up, and the running costs nobody mentions until later.
Most UK small businesses pay somewhere between £500 and £5,000 for a professionally built website, plus around £100 to £500 a year to keep it running. A simple four-page site sits at the lower end. A site with booking, lots of service pages or online shop features sits higher. My websites start from £995, with a fixed written quote before any work begins.
Website costs at a glance
| Option | Typical cost | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace) | Around £10 to £35 a month | A template you build yourself. Quick to start, but limited for SEO and hard to move away from. | Hobby businesses and very simple sites on a tight budget |
| Freelancer | Roughly £500 to £3,000 | A designed site, but quality varies a lot. Check who owns the domain and hosting. | Small sites where you’ve seen good previous work |
| Local studio (like me) | Roughly £1,000 to £5,000 | A designed, SEO-ready site from one person you can actually reach, usually with ongoing support. | Established local businesses that rely on enquiries |
| Agency | £5,000 to £20,000+ | A team, project management and bigger strategy. You pay for the overheads too. | Larger firms with complex needs and bigger budgets |
These are typical UK market ranges, not fixed prices. Quotes vary because the work varies, which is what the next section is about.
What affects the price of a website?
Number of pages and how much content
A four-page brochure site is far less work than a 15-page site with a page for every service and area you cover. That said, page count is a guide, not the whole story.
What the site needs to do
Online booking, quote forms, payments, membership areas and connections to other software all add time. A five-page clinic site with booking can involve more work than a ten-page brochure site.
Template or bespoke design
A proven layout adapted to your brand costs less than a design built from scratch around your business. Both can look professional; bespoke gives you more control over how customers move through the site.
SEO and local SEO
A site that looks good but never shows up on Google isn’t doing its job. Local keyword research, location pages, schema markup and Google Business Profile work take time, and cheap quotes usually leave them out. More about local SEO
Copywriting and photography
If you write your own content and supply photos, the price stays lower. Professional copy and photography cost more, but often make the biggest difference to how many visitors get in touch.
What my websites cost
I publish my starting prices so you know where you stand before we talk.
Every package is built on WordPress, and you own the finished site outright. After a short discovery call you get a fixed written quote, and that’s the price. Compare website packages in full
The running costs after launch
The build is a one-off cost, but every website has a few ongoing ones. Here’s what to budget for.
| Cost | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name (.co.uk) | Around £10 to £20 a year | Make sure it’s registered in your name |
| Hosting | Around £5 to £30 a month | Cheap hosting is usually slower hosting |
| Business email | From around £5 per person a month | Optional, but looks more professional than a Gmail address |
| Premium plugin licences | Varies by project | Quoted upfront if your site needs them |
| Website care (optional) | £39 or £69 a month with me | Covers hosting, updates, backups and security monitoring |
If you look after the site yourself, expect roughly £100 to £500 a year. If you’d rather not think about it, Website Care from £39 a month includes managed hosting, software updates, backups, and security and uptime monitoring. Website Care Plus at £69 a month adds up to 30 minutes of content edits each month, priority support and a quarterly performance review. You can cancel either at any time.
Cheap websites: what to watch out for
There’s nothing wrong with a small budget, and plenty of businesses start with a simple site. The problems come from the small print.
- You don’t own it. Some “£0 upfront” deals rent you a website for a monthly fee. Stop paying and the site disappears, sometimes along with your domain name.
- Long minimum terms. Monthly website rental often comes with 12 to 24 month contracts that cost more over time than buying a site outright.
- No SEO. A cheap site that nobody finds is the most expensive kind. Ask exactly what’s included for Google.
- Locked into one platform. If your site can only live on one company’s system, moving later means starting again.
- Nobody to call. Ask who updates the site, who fixes it when something breaks and how quickly they respond.
Affordable is fine. Just make sure the price includes the things that make a website work for your business.
Website builder or web designer: which costs less?
Over the first year, a website builder is almost always cheaper. Over three years, the gap is smaller than most people expect, and the comparison isn’t only about money.
Example over three years
Website builder at around £20 a month: about £720, plus the hours you spend building, updating and fixing it yourself.
My Essential website with Website Care: £995 plus £39 a month, about £2,400. That buys a professionally designed site with SEO foundations, managed hosting, updates, backups and someone to call.
My Essential website, self-managed: £995 plus hosting and a domain, roughly £1,200 to £2,000, and you still own the site outright.
If your website is a business card, a builder may be all you need. If your phone ringing depends on people finding you on Google, the extra spend usually pays for itself with a handful of new customers.
How to get an accurate quote
Any designer can give a more precise price if you come with:
- A rough list of the pages you need, such as Home, About, each service and Contact
- Anything the site needs to do, such as bookings, quote requests or payments
- Two or three websites you like, and what you like about them
- Whether you’ll provide the text and photos, or need help with them
- A budget range. It isn’t a trap; it helps a designer recommend the right option
Not sure where to start? A free website review looks at your current site and tells you what’s worth fixing, what to rebuild and roughly what it would cost. No hard sell.
Website cost questions
Can I get a decent website for under £500?
It’s possible with a website builder if you’re happy to build it yourself, or with a very simple template site. Below £500, design, SEO and support are usually the first things to go, so check exactly what’s included.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Because they often aren’t quoting for the same thing. One quote might include local SEO, copywriting and three months of support; another might be a template with your logo on it. Compare what’s included, not just the total.
Is hosting included in the price?
Not with me. Hosting is separate so you own it. You can host the site yourself, or choose Website Care from £39 a month and I’ll manage it for you.
Do I own my website when it’s finished?
With me, yes, outright: the design, the content and the domain. Always ask this question, because with some providers the answer is no.
How much does it cost to add things later?
That depends on what you add, and I’ll quote it upfront. Because every site is built on WordPress, new pages, services or booking can be added later without starting again.
How long does a website take to build?
Most of my sites are live in three to four weeks from kick-off.
Want an exact price for your website?
Tell me a little about your business and I’ll recommend the right option, with a fixed written quote.
No hard sell · Fixed written quote · Full ownership