Guide
How much does a small business website cost?
Prices for a small business website in 2026 run from about $200 a year to well over $10,000. That range is so wide it is useless, so here is what each option actually costs, what you get, and what it totals over three years — which is the number that matters, because a website is not a one-year purchase.
The short answer
A do-it-yourself builder costs $16–$49 a month and your own weekends. A freelancer costs $500–$3,000 once. A fixed-price studio costs roughly $750–$2,500 once. A full agency costs $4,000–$6,000 to start and often more.
For most local service businesses — a plumber, a salon, a dentist — the honest answer is that somewhere between $750 and $3,000 buys everything you actually need, and spending more buys things you will not use.
To price your own site by page count and features, use the website cost calculator.
What each option really costs
DIY builders. Wix runs $17–$159 a month and Squarespace $16–$99, both billed annually. The subscription is the small cost; the large one is the twenty to forty hours you spend building it, and the fact that it stops existing the month you stop paying.
Freelancers. $500–$3,000 depending on where they are and how good they are. The work is often excellent. The risk is availability — a freelancer who changes career leaves you with a site nobody can edit.
Fixed-price studios. $750–$2,500 for a done-for-you site with published pricing. You know the number before you talk to anyone, which is the main advantage.
Agencies. US agencies typically start small business projects at $4,000–$6,000, and hourly rates run $100–$200. You get strategy, custom design and project management. For a business trying to get the phone to ring, most of that is overhead.
The three-year total is the real number
A subscription looks cheap monthly and stops looking cheap around month twenty-six. Here is the same decision viewed over three years:
| Option | 3-year total | Who builds it | Do you own it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Core | ~$1,044 | You | No |
| Wix Business | ~$1,404 | You | No |
| Fixed-price site | $750 once | They do | Yes |
| Freelancer | $500–$3,000 once | They do | Usually |
| Agency | $4,000–$6,000+ | They do | Yes |
A $750 one-time site is cheaper over three years than either major DIY builder, and you do not spend the weekends.
How much does a website cost per month or per year?
Per month: a website builder costs about $16–$49 a month for a business plan. Hosting for a site someone built for you runs from nothing (included) to about $50 a month. A maintenance plan, where someone makes your changes, is typically $50–$150 a month from a freelancer and more from an agency.
Per year: the domain is roughly $10–$25. Add hosting and any plan above. A small business site with no monthly plan costs about $20–$300 a year to keep running; with a builder subscription it is about $200–$600.
The one-time cost is separate: from $0 on a builder (plus your time) to $750–$3,000 from a studio or freelancer.
What actually drives the price
Page count. Five pages is the normal small business site. Every service and every area you cover adds pages, and pages are most of the labour.
Who writes the words. Copy is the slowest part of any build. Sites where the owner supplies the content are meaningfully cheaper than ones where the studio writes it.
Custom design versus a template. Genuinely custom design is where agency money goes. For a local business it rarely changes whether the phone rings.
Ongoing changes. A site nobody updates decays. Either you learn to edit it or you pay someone monthly — decide which before you buy, not after.
What you should not pay for
Guaranteed Google rankings. Nobody can guarantee this. Anyone who does is either lying or about to do something that gets you penalised.
A site you do not own. If you cannot take the files and the domain elsewhere, you are renting. Ask this question before you pay, and get the answer in writing.
Features for a business you do not run. Online stores, booking engines and membership areas all cost real money to build and maintain. A plumber needs a phone number, not a shopping cart.