“How much does a website cost?” is one of the most-searched questions in UK small business, and one of the hardest to answer honestly, because the range is enormous. The good news is that once you understand the four routes to getting a site, the pricing stops feeling like guesswork. Here is how it breaks down in 2026.
The four routes, and what each costs
1. Do it yourself on a website builder
Roughly £10–£30 a month. Template builders are cheap and let you get something online quickly. The catch is your time, and the result. You are the designer, the copywriter and the support team, and most self-built sites look self-built. Fine to test an idea; limiting once your business depends on the site.
2. Hire a freelancer
Roughly £500–£2,500. A good freelancer offers real value and a personal relationship. Quality varies widely, timelines can slip if they are busy, and support after launch is not guaranteed. Always check recent work, and confirm you will own the site and domain at the end.
3. Use an agency
Roughly £1,500–£6,000, and often more. Agencies deliver a polished result and a proper process, but you are paying for their overheads, and a small business can end up being the smallest account on the books. Watch for hourly billing, which makes the final cost hard to predict.
4. A done-for-you studio
A fixed price, agreed up front. This route gives you an agency-standard site with someone doing the work for you, without the open-ended billing. It is the model we use, and our price is one number you agree before we start, not a moving target.
Ask any provider three questions: Who writes the content? Do I own the site and domain at the end? Is the price fixed or hourly? The answers tell you more about what you are really buying than the headline number does.
The costs nobody mentions
The build price is only part of the picture. Whatever route you take, budget for these:
- Domain name: around £10–£20 a year for a .co.uk or .com.
- Hosting: anywhere from a few pounds a month to more for busier sites. Some done-for-you packages include it.
- Maintenance and updates: the one people forget. Software needs updating, content changes, things occasionally break. Ask whether that is included or billed separately.
- Content and photography: if you are writing the words and taking the pictures yourself, that is your time. If not, it is a line in the quote.
What you should get for your money in 2026
Prices have held fairly steady, but expectations have risen. A website that just displays your phone number is no longer enough. In 2026 a small-business site earning its keep should include, as standard:
- A proper multi-page structure, not a single scrolling page.
- Copy written for your business and your customers, not filler text.
- Local-search setup from day one, so you actually get found. (See our guide on what to expect locally.)
- A fast, mobile-first design, because most visitors are on a phone.
- Something that captures enquiries after hours, rather than losing them.
That last point is where most sites still fall short. A plain contact form only works if the visitor is willing to fill it in and wait. An AI assistant that answers questions instantly and captures the lead does far more with the same traffic, which is why we build one into every site.
The cheapest website is rarely the best value. The best value is the site that pays for itself in enquiries.
Where we sit
We deliberately built our offer to sit in the sweet spot: a premium, done-for-you, multi-page website with an AI assistant included, for a fixed founding-client price of £495 (standard £995). You get the agency-standard result and the done-for-you convenience, without the agency price tag or the hourly clock running. You can see the range of designs and exactly how it works.
In short
- DIY builder: £10–£30/month, but it costs you time and usually looks it.
- Freelancer: £500–£2,500, variable quality and support.
- Agency: £1,500–£6,000+, polished but pricey and often hourly.
- Done-for-you: a fixed price for an agency-standard result, our founding price is £495.
- Don’t forget: domain, hosting and maintenance are ongoing, and content is either your time or a line in the quote.