What a small business website costs in the UK (2026)

A website for a small UK business can cost anything from £15 a month and your evenings to several thousand pounds up front.

The spread is wide because "a website" covers very different things: a one-page card on a builder, a five-page site from a freelancer, or a custom build from an agency with ongoing support. The right question is not "what does a website cost" but "what do I actually need, and who is going to do the work?"

Web design agencies

Most UK agencies quote a build fee for a small business site, then charge for hosting and changes on top.

For a straightforward five-page site — home, services, about, contact and a few service pages — expect roughly £2,000–£6,000 up front. Larger agencies, e-commerce or custom features push that higher. Hosting, SSL and small text changes might be bundled for a year; anything structural usually means a new invoice. Timelines are often several weeks to a few months, depending on how busy they are and how quickly you supply photos and feedback.

Freelancers

A freelancer sits between an agency and doing it yourself — cheaper to hire, but you still pay a build fee.

A competent freelancer might charge £800–£2,500 for the same kind of small business site. You are paying for one person's time rather than an office and account managers. The trade-off: when they are busy, you wait; when you need a change six months later, you may pay again unless that was agreed upfront.

Wix, Squarespace and similar tools look cheap on paper — the subscription is rarely the expensive part.

Business plans on the main DIY builders typically run £15–£35 a month in the UK. The domain is another £10–15 a year if you buy it through them. What the price list does not show is your time: choosing a template, writing every page, sourcing photos, and learning enough of the editor to make it look like a real business rather than an obvious template. Plenty of people pay for years and never launch.

Some providers wrap design, build, hosting and support into one monthly fee instead of a large upfront bill.

Wonderful Web works this way: £50 per month, no build fee, and you pay nothing until the site is live. Other companies advertise similar monthly figures — often £30–£100 a month — but read the terms: many run 12–36 month minimums, charge setup fees, or take payment before you have seen a finished site. The monthly number only means something alongside minimum term, upfront cost and who actually builds it.

Your domain name

A .co.uk or .com domain is usually £10–15 a year, paid to the registrar. Whoever builds your site should register it in your name, not theirs — that is your address on the internet if you ever move providers.

Your time

If you build it yourself, count the evenings. If you hire someone, count the back-and-forth: photos, feedback, proofreading. A cheap subscription with forty hours of your time is not cheap.

Ongoing changes

Prices change, jobs get photographed, opening hours shift. Either you can update the site yourself, or every change is a ticket to someone who invoices for it.

£50 per month is less than most agency builds and less than your time is worth if DIY has been sitting half-finished for a year.

I design, build and look after your website. You pay £50 a month. No big upfront build fee. Cancel anytime. That is £600 a year if you stay a full year — set against a one-off build that can run to several thousand. The trade-off is spelled out in the terms: the website itself is part of the plan rather than something you buy outright, which is what makes the price possible. Your domain stays yours either way.