How much does a website cost in the UK in 2026?

A small business website in the UK can cost anything from a few pounds a month to many thousands. The price depends far less on “a website” and far more on who builds it, how many pages it needs and what it has to do: take bookings, sell products, show a menu, or simply help people call you.

As a rough guide, most small businesses fall into one of three routes:

• Do it yourself with a website builder: low monthly fees, but your time is the real cost.
• A freelancer or small studio: a one-off fee, usually from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds.
• An agency: typically several thousand pounds and up, with a bigger team and process.

These are typical market ranges, not fixed rules. Prices vary with location, experience and how much is included, so always compare what you get, not just the headline number.

Builders such as Wix, Squarespace and Shopify let you build a site yourself from a template. You pay a monthly or annual subscription, and plans with a custom domain, no adverts and online booking or selling cost more than the basic tier.

DIY can be a sensible start if you have more time than budget and only need a few simple pages. The hidden costs are:

• Your time. Writing, choosing photos, laying out pages and learning the tool often takes days, not hours.
• Paid add-ons. Booking, shops, email and extra features are often charged separately.
• Results. A template doesn’t plan your pages around how customers decide. Many DIY sites look fine but don’t turn visitors into calls or bookings.

If you go this way, keep it simple: a clear headline, your phone number at the top, prices or a menu, real photos and a map. Our guide to Wix vs a custom website covers the trade-offs in more detail.

A freelancer or small studio designs and builds the site for you. Prices for a small business site typically run from a few hundred pounds for a simple brochure site to a few thousand for something with bookings, online ordering, multiple locations or custom features.

This is where most local businesses get the best value: a real person who learns about your business, plans the pages, writes or tidies the words and sets things up properly for Google.

My own prices are fixed and published, with no VAT added:

• Starter, £495: up to 5 pages, mobile-first design, WhatsApp, call and contact buttons, Google setup.
• Business, £995: up to 10 pages with booking, menu or ordering, local SEO and copywriting.
• Pro, from £1,995: bigger sites, custom features, online shops or multiple locations.

You can see what’s included on the website design page, and real examples in my web projects.

Agencies usually start in the thousands and go well beyond that for larger projects. You’re paying for a team: project managers, designers, developers, copywriters and testers, plus a structured process with workshops and sign-offs.

That makes sense for larger companies, complex integrations or big e-commerce stores. For a salon, café, garage or trades business, it’s often more than you need. Ask any agency exactly who will work on your project and what is included in the fee.

Whoever you choose, these are the things that move the cost up or down:

• Number of pages. Five pages is very different from thirty.
• Features. Online booking, ordering, shops, member areas and integrations all add work.
• Content. If you need the words written and photos taken, budget for it.
• Design. A template is quicker; a custom design built around your brand takes longer.
• Redesign vs new build. A website redesign (from £695 with me) also needs redirects and care to keep your Google rankings.
• Single pages. If you only need one focused page for an advert or launch, a landing page from £395 may be all you need.

The build is only part of the cost. Plan for these every year:

• Domain name: usually a small yearly fee for a .co.uk or .com.
• Hosting: from free or very cheap on modern platforms to a monthly fee, depending on the site.
• Email: a professional address (like you@yourbusiness.co.uk) through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is charged per user.
• Updates and support: changes to prices, menus, photos and opening hours. Some people do this themselves; others pay for a monthly plan or ad-hoc updates.
• Paid tools: booking systems, online ordering or shop platforms often have their own subscriptions.

Ask for these costs in writing before you start, so there are no surprises a year later.

Two quotes for “a five-page website” can be hundreds of pounds apart, and the difference is rarely the number of pages. It’s usually in the parts you can’t see on day one:

• Planning. Does someone work out what your customers need to see first, or do they just fill a template?
• Words. Clear, specific copy that answers customer questions sells far better than generic text.
• Setup for Google. Page titles, local business details, a sitemap and Search Console make the difference between a site that’s found and one that isn’t.
• Speed and mobile. Compressed images and tested mobile layouts keep visitors from leaving.
• Support. Who fixes things when something breaks, and how quickly?

A cheap site that brings no enquiries is the most expensive option of all. A good question to ask any designer is: “What will this website help my customers do, and how will we know it’s working?”

The quickest way to a reliable price is to be clear about what the website needs to do. Before you ask for quotes, write down:

• What you want visitors to do: call, book, order, visit or email.
• Roughly how many pages you need.
• Any features: booking, menus, ordering, a shop, a blog.
• What you already have: logo, photos, text, domain.
• Two or three websites you like, and why.

If you’d like a fixed price, start a project brief. It takes a few minutes, and I’ll reply with honest advice and a quote, usually within one working day.