How much does a website cost for a small business?

A small-business website costs from a few dollars a month if you build it yourself, about £1,000–£3,000 ($1,500–$5,000 in the US) from a freelancer, £2,000–£7,000 ($3,000–$10,000) from an agency, or £19–£300 a month from a pay-monthly service. We opened every source below on 3 October 2026.

Those ranges are wide because they buy different things. The rest of this guide shows what each route includes, what it costs over three years, and when the cheapest option is the right one.

What does each route cost?

There are four ways to get a small-business website: build it yourself, hire a freelancer, hire an agency, or pay a website service by the month. Every price below is in the currency and tax basis the source shows. We converted nothing.

DIY website builder: from $19 a year to €17 a month

One plan per provider that suits a small business site:

• Carrd Pro Standard: $19 a year.
• Hostinger Premium: $2.99 a month if you prepay 48 months ($143.52), then $10.99 a month.
• WordPress.com Personal: US$4 a month billed yearly, or US$9 billed monthly, excluding taxes.
• Webador Pro (UK): £4.25 a month for the first year, then £8.50, excluding VAT, paid yearly.
• IONOS AI Website Builder Starter: $6 a month for the first year, then $14.
• Strikingly Limited: $8 a month, billed yearly.
• Framer Basic: $10 a month on yearly billing.
• Webflow Basic: $15 a month, billed yearly, plus tax.
• Squarespace Basic: €12 a month billed yearly, or €17 billed monthly (the euro price shown in the Netherlands).

The plan is the small part of the cost. You write the text, choose the photos, build the pages and keep them up to date, so the real price is measured in your evenings.

Freelancer: about £1,000–£3,000 or $1,500–$5,000

Freelancers quote per project, so these are the ranges marketplaces and price guides publish for a small-business site:

• UK: £1,000–£3,000 (Bark), £1,500–£3,000 for a five-page brochure site (Whito), £500–£5,000 for 5–15 pages (ExpertSure).
• US: $1,500–$5,000 (Bark), $1,500–$8,000 for a custom site (GruffyGoat), $500–$5,000 (WebyKing). On Codeable, a marketplace of WordPress developers, a website project starts at $2,500, estimated at $80–$120 an hour.
• Ireland: €800–€3,000 (Create108). Bark's Irish price data for web designers runs from €385 (great value) to €1,500 (premium), with €600 as the average.

A freelance quote usually covers design and build. Hosting, updates and later changes are agreed separately, or not at all.

Agency: about £2,000–£7,000 or $3,000–$10,000

Agencies publish the same kind of ranges, and a few publish a fixed starting price:

• UK: £2,000–£7,000 (Bark), £3,000–£5,000 for the five-page brochure site that costs £1,500–£3,000 from a freelancer (Whito), and £3,000–£30,000 or more for a full design and build (ExpertSure).
• US: $3,000–$10,000 (Bark), $3,000–$25,000 (WebyKing), $6,000–$20,000 at a boutique agency of 1–10 people (Pitchsite) and $6,000–$35,000 or more (GruffyGoat). Two US firms publish a fixed price: from $2,000 for up to five pages, and $3,500 for a professional five-page build.
• Ireland: €2,500–€6,000 for a small-business site and €5,000–€10,000 for a strategic one (Create108).

Agency work billed by the hour runs at $100–$250 an hour, according to Pitchsite. Web shops and custom features sit well above these ranges: Bark lists £5,000–£15,000 for an agency-built UK web shop.

Pay-monthly website service: £19 to $599 a month

A pay-monthly service designs, hosts and updates the site for one monthly fee. Across the eleven providers we checked:

• UK, four providers: £19 to £300 a month; setup fees from nothing to £399; minimum terms from none to 24 months.
• US, five providers: $39 to $599 a month; setup fees from nothing to $2,500; minimum terms from none to 12 months where the page states one.
• Ireland, two providers: €49 to €139 a month plus VAT, both on 12-month terms; one drops to €30 a month after the first year.

The monthly fee is only comparable once you know four things: the setup fee, the minimum term, how many changes a month are included, and what you keep when you leave.

What does a website cost over three years?

Over three years, running costs decide more than the build price. This model uses euro prices, from Irish sources where they exist, so every route sits in one currency next to ChatBuild's own price.

The assumptions, the same for every route:

• A five-page site for a service business, without a web shop.
• Prices as published on 3 October 2026, with no price rises.
• The domain, copywriting and photography are left out.
• Paid changes after launch are left out of the freelancer and agency routes, because they are billed per job. The pay-monthly routes include a set number of changes.

The three-year totals:

• DIY builder (Squarespace Basic): €432 on yearly billing, €612 on monthly billing, plus your own hours.
• Freelancer: €800–€3,000 to build, plus €100–€500 a year for hosting, is €1,100–€4,500.
• Agency-built small-business site: €2,500–€6,000 plus the same hosting is €2,800–€7,500.
• Irish pay-monthly service: from €1,548 (€69 a month for a year, then €30, excl. VAT) to €5,004 (€139 a month plus VAT for 36 months).
• ChatBuild Web Starter: €79 a month excl. VAT. First month free — payment starts when you go live, or after 30 days. That makes €869 in year one and €2,765 over three years on monthly billing, both excl. VAT.

What the model shows: ChatBuild's Starter plan costs more over three years than a DIY plan or the cheapest Irish pay-monthly plan. It lands inside the freelancer range and just below the low end of the agency range. The difference is in what the monthly price covers: hosting, five changes a month and someone who makes them.

If a freelance-built site also needs paid upkeep, the UK guide figure of £50–£200 a month for hosting and maintenance (ExpertSure) adds £1,800–£7,200 over three years.

How do UK, US and Irish prices differ?

The routes rank the same way in all three markets, but the numbers and the small print differ.

• UK. An agency costs about twice what a freelancer does for the same work: Whito puts the same five-page brochure site at £1,500–£3,000 from a freelancer and £3,000–£5,000 from an agency. UK pay-monthly services start lowest of the three markets, at £19 a month. Most UK pages we read quote prices without VAT, and two pay-monthly pages don't say, so ask before you compare.
• US. Two of the five US pay-monthly services we checked charge a setup fee, up to $2,500 before the first month. Builder prices exclude sales tax, which is added at checkout.
• Ireland. Pay-monthly plans run on 12-month terms in both cases we found, and prices are quoted plus VAT. Ireland's Local Enterprise Offices run a Trading Online Voucher scheme; check the current amount and rules with your local office before you budget.

ChatBuild's prices are in euros only, excl. VAT.

What does a website redesign cost?

A redesign of a small UK business site costs £500–£2,000 from a freelancer and £2,000–£8,000 from a boutique agency, according to Design Orbits' 2026 price table. Fulminous, updated on 1 October 2026, puts a redesign of up to 10 pages at £3,000–£8,000.

What moves the price is how much changes. New colours and fonts on the same pages are cheap. A new page structure, rewritten copy and redirects that keep your search traffic are where the money goes. On a pay-monthly service, part of this may already be in the fee: one US provider includes a design refresh every three years, and ChatBuild's Exclusive plan includes a quarterly design refresh. If you are unsure whether you need a redesign at all, read should you rebuild your website or fix what you have.

What does website maintenance cost each month?

ExpertSure's UK guide budgets £50–£300 a month for hosting, backups, security patches and edits to your content. Its table splits that by route: £50–£200 for a freelance-built site, £100–£500 for an agency-built one. Whito puts ongoing hosting, maintenance and updates at £500–£2,000 a year.

In the US, WordPress care plans cost $39–$99 per site a month at GoWP and $89–$359 a month at WP Buffs. Both cover updates and monitoring; the more expensive plans add edits.

On a pay-monthly service, maintenance is part of the fee. The question there is how many changes are included, and how fast they are made. Who does what after launch, and what goes wrong when nobody does: who maintains your website.

When is a DIY builder, a freelancer or an agency the better choice?

Every route wins somewhere, and ChatBuild is neither the cheapest nor the most flexible option.

A DIY builder is the better choice when:

• you have more time than budget, and you like doing it yourself;
• the site is one page, a portfolio or a link-in-bio;
• you want to change anything yourself, the moment you think of it.

A freelancer or an agency is the better choice when:

• you need a brand built from scratch, or research and strategy before design;
• the site needs custom features or integrations, such as booking tied to your own software;
• you need a large web shop now (ChatBuild Shop is coming soon, with a waitlist);
• you want the site's code handed over when the work is done;
• you want to sit across the table from the people building it.

A website team for a monthly price fits when you want no upfront bill, expect small changes every month and would rather not make them yourself. That is the case for most solo businesses and many small companies, and it is what ChatBuild sells.

Whichever route you pick, compare quotes against one written list of pages, features and monthly changes. How to brief a website shows how to write that list.

What does ChatBuild cost?

ChatBuild Web is a website team for a monthly price: €79 (Starter), €129 (Pro) or €199 (Exclusive) a month excl. VAT, with no build fee and no minimum term. First month free — payment starts when you go live, or after 30 days. On yearly billing you pay €852, €1,392 or €2,148 a year excl. VAT, 10% less than twelve monthly payments.

• Starter: up to 5 pages, 1 language, 5 changes a month, made within 2 working days.
• Pro: up to 15 pages, 3 languages, 15 changes a month, made the next working day.
• Exclusive: unlimited pages, languages and changes under fair use, made the same working day.

Hosting, SSL and changes by chat are part of every plan. Telling ChatBuild about your business takes about an hour of your time, and the free month is for building and refining the site before you pay. How it works walks through the steps.

On top of the plan comes the domain, a separate yearly cost, bought or connected at go-live. Connecting a domain you already own costs nothing at ChatBuild; you keep paying your current registrar.

Leaving takes one e-mail to hi@chatbuild.com. A monthly plan ends at the end of the paid month; a yearly plan needs that e-mail at least 14 days before it renews. If you leave after paying at least once, you get your texts, images and videos within 14 days, plus the transfer code of every domain whose invoices are paid. You don't get the site's code or a working copy of it.

No build fee, no hourly rate — changes made for you

That is how ChatBuild differs from a web agency on price. An agency usually bills the build once and each later change by the job or by the hour. ChatBuild charges no build fee and no hourly rate, and makes the changes in your plan for you. We don't express the difference as a multiple: as the ranges above show, agency prices vary too much for one number to hold. Against DIY builders and other pay-monthly services the comparison does not apply, and several of them cost less.

How we collected these prices

• On 3 October 2026 we opened 35 public pages and recorded 39 prices: 9 DIY builder plans, 9 freelancer ranges, 10 agency prices and 11 pay-monthly services. Eight more prices for redesigns, maintenance and hosting are used as reference.
• Builders and pay-monthly services: the list price on the provider's own price page, from the entry plan to the top plan, with setup fees and minimum terms where the page states them.
• Freelancers and agencies mostly quote per project, so we used published ranges: Bark's price guides for the UK, US and Ireland, Codeable's pricing, the cost guides of Create108, ExpertSure, GruffyGoat, Pitchsite, WebyKing and Whito, and two US firms that publish a fixed build price.
• Prices stay in the source's currency and tax basis. An introductory price is listed with its renewal price.
• We did not scrape search engines, use prices hidden behind a quote form, or name individual freelancers.
• ChatBuild sells a website team for a monthly price, so we are a party to this comparison. Our own prices are in their own section and in none of the ranges.
• We check every price again each quarter. The next check is due in January 2027.

Update log

• 3 October 2026: first edition, with 39 prices collected and checked that day.

The next step is yours: write down the pages you need and the changes you expect each month, then price each route against that list. If a website team for a monthly price fits, see how ChatBuild Web works.

Sources

• Bark: web designer prices, UK · Bark
• Bark: web designer prices, US · Bark
• Bark: web designer prices, Ireland · Bark
• Website design costs UK 2026 · Whito
• How much does a website cost UK 2026? · ExpertSure
• Website cost Ireland 2026 · Create108
• Website design cost: 2026 prices · WebyKing
• Small business website costs 2026 · GruffyGoat
• Web design pricing guide 2026 · Pitchsite
• Codeable pricing · Codeable
• Monthly website plans and 5-page builds · Northwoods Web Designs
• Monthly website packages and lump-sum build · Digibot
• Pay monthly website plans · SiteMonth
• Web design subscription plans · PayPerMonthWebsites
• Monthly web design subscription pricing · Eversite
• Pay monthly websites · Mojo
• Pay monthly website plans · Yopp
• Pay monthly website packages · Promoworx
• Website design subscription · Site Commander Studio
• Pay monthly web design · Best Web Design
• Pay monthly websites · Meath Web Design
• Carrd Pro plans · Carrd
• WordPress.com pricing · WordPress.com
• Hostinger website builder plans · Hostinger
• IONOS website builder plans · IONOS
• Webador plans and pricing (UK) · Webador
• Strikingly pricing · Strikingly
• Framer pricing · Framer
• Webflow plans and pricing · Webflow
• Squarespace pricing · Squarespace
• Website redesign cost UK 2026 · Design Orbits
• Website redesign cost in the UK 2026 · Fulminous
• GoWP pricing · GoWP
• WordPress care plans · WP Buffs
• Trading Online Voucher Scheme · Local Enterprise Office

Frequently asked

Is $1,500 enough for a small business website?

It is the bottom of the professional freelance range. Bark lists $1,500–$5,000 for a freelance-built small-business site in the US, and GruffyGoat $1,500–$8,000. At that price, expect an adapted template rather than a custom design, and ask in writing what hosting, updates and later changes will cost.

Why do quotes for the same small website differ so much?

Because they rarely describe the same work. One quote includes copywriting, photos, hosting and a year of changes; another covers design and build only. Whito estimates that extras such as copywriting, photography and SEO add 30 to 50% to a UK quote. Compare quotes against one written list of pages, features and monthly changes.

Is a pay-monthly website cheaper than paying once?

In year one, almost always; over three years, it depends on the running costs of the one-off route. In our euro model, a freelance build plus hosting came to €1,100–€4,500 over three years and Irish pay-monthly plans to €1,548–€5,004, before any paid changes on the freelance side. Check the minimum term before you sign.

Do these website prices include VAT?

Mostly not. UK and Irish service pages in our sample quote prices without VAT or plus VAT, US builder plans add sales tax at checkout, and a few pages don't say, so ask. ChatBuild's prices are excl. VAT, and the amount with VAT is shown before you pay.