What does a small business website actually cost in 2026?
There are four price bands, and the gap between them has almost nothing to do with how good the site looks. It comes down to three things: who writes the words, who owns the domain, and what you pay every month after launch. Here is the honest version — including where my own prices sit.
The four price bands
Most small businesses land in one of these. Which one is yours depends on whether your content is ready, how many features you need, and how much of your own time you're willing to spend.
Do it yourself
A free or cheap builder plan. The cash cost is low and the time cost is high.
- 10–30 hours of your own time
- Often someone else's address or branding
- You're the developer and the support desk
One-page starter
A real hand-coded site — the price holds because you've already done the writing.
- You supply all text and photos
- One page, up to three if simple
- Domain and hosting in your name
- No copywriting, no custom features
Custom build
Where most service businesses actually land. Written for you, built by hand.
- Copy written with you, photos organised
- 5–8 pages, search basics included
- Hand-coded features, no plugin wall
- Approved in writing before work starts
Agency or marketing firm
A team, an account manager, and usually a retainer on top of the build.
- Good for bigger budgets and brands
- Often a monthly retainer afterwards
- Slow for a one-line change
Notice what's missing from every band: the word "hourly." If a quote arrives as an hourly rate with no ceiling, you're the one carrying the risk of a job that runs long. Ask for a flat number and get it in writing before anyone starts.
What actually moves a quote up or down
Two websites can look identical and cost five times different amounts. The difference is almost never the design. It's the work you can't see:
- Whether your content exists. The single biggest factor. Finished words and usable photos means the build is the whole job. If the text has to be researched, written, edited and approved, that's a second job — and it's usually the slow part.
- Number of pages. One page, or five to eight with real content behind each. Every page is writing, layout, testing and search work.
- Custom features. A contact form is standard. Online booking, a shop, a member area, a price calculator, or a quote form that routes differently by job type is code that has to be written and tested.
- Migration. Moving off a builder you want to leave, or off a developer who vanished, means rebuilding the site and keeping your search rankings alive with redirects.
- Photography. Stock or phone photos cost nothing. A local photographer costs money — and for a restaurant, salon or contractor it's usually the highest-return spend on the whole project.
- Ongoing care. If you want someone else to keep it updated, backed up and online, that's a monthly line item. It should be optional and priced in plain sight.
The costs people forget to budget
The build price isn't the whole bill. These are the ones that surprise people in year two:
| Cost | Typical amount | How to avoid overpaying |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | $10–$20 a year | Register it yourself, in your own name, with a registrar you choose. Never let it sit on someone else's account. |
| Hosting | $0–$30 a month | A brochure or service site doesn't need paid hosting. Free static hosting is genuinely enough, with no upsell. |
| SSL certificate | $0 | Should be free and automatic. If anyone charges a small site for "an SSL certificate", ask why. |
| $0–$7 a month | You can keep your existing email and just point the domain at it. A matching address looks better but is optional. | |
| Content updates | $0–$100 a month | Decide up front who changes the hours, the prices and the photos. If it isn't you, budget for it. |
| Your own time | 10–30 hours on a DIY build | Honest and usually underestimated. If your hour is worth $40, a "free" site costs $400–$1,200 in time. |
Do the three-year version of the maths. A $9-a-month subscription with an app or two is about $470 over three years — and at the end you still don't own the site. A one-time build plus a $15 domain renewal can come in under that, and when you stop paying, the site keeps working.
There's an interactive version of that calculation on this site, using your own numbers: the true-cost calculator. It takes about a minute and it doesn't ask for your email.
Is a cheap one-page website real?
It can be, and it's worth understanding why the conditions matter. A one-page site for a business that already has its text written and a folder of decent photos is a few hours of focused work: layout, mobile tuning, a contact form, DNS, launch. That is a real $150 job — my starter price.
Take away the finished content and the same "one page" becomes: work out what to say, write it, get it approved, find or shoot photos, resize them, write it again. Now it's a week of part-time work, and nobody can do that for $100 without losing money — or cutting corners you'll find later.
So the honest rule is this: $150 if you bring the words and the pictures and one simple page is enough. Anything bigger gets quoted as its own job, with one flat number you approve before work starts. Both are written out in full on the website page, including exactly what the $150 version doesn't include.
Red flags worth walking away from
- They own your domain. Ask "who's the registrant?" If the answer isn't your business, you're renting your address on the internet.
- No exit. "We can export it for a fee" isn't an exit. Ask what you'd hand a new developer if you left tomorrow.
- Hourly with no ceiling. You want a flat number, in writing, first.
- "Free website" with a mandatory monthly. Nothing is free. Find out what the monthly buys and whether you can ever stop paying it.
- No maintenance answer. If they can't tell you what happens when the form stops working six months after launch, you bought a launch, not a website.
Five questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Who will own the domain and the hosting account? The answer should be "you", with your own login.
- What exactly is included in this price, and what costs more? A good answer names the exclusions before you ask.
- What happens when something breaks in six months? Is there a plan, a price and a phone number?
- What do I pay every month or year after launch? Get the number, not "it depends."
- Can I see a site you built that's still live? Then open it on your phone and time how long it takes to load.
Those same five questions are in a fill-in-on-your-phone form on the free website checklist.
What I charge, so you have a real number to compare against
This is my site, so you should get my actual figures rather than a vague industry guide.
The honest bit
I'm not the cheapest option in every category. A free builder is cheaper in cash terms if you already have your content and plenty of spare hours — and sometimes it really is the right tool for you. What I'm offering instead is a one-time price, a domain you own, hand-written code with no plugin bills, and a phone number that gets answered by the person who built the thing.
If you want that comparison done properly with your own numbers, use the builder-vs-developer page. It has the calculator, a category-by-category table, and a list of the situations where a builder wins.
And if you'd rather see the work before you talk to anyone, the example apps page has five working business tools you can use right now — booking, invoicing, a photo gallery, review requests and a before/after slider — all built by hand, no templates.
Questions people ask about website costs
Straight answers, including the ones that aren't good for business.
How much does a small business website cost in 2026?
Four bands are common: a DIY builder for roughly $200–$600 in the first year plus your own hours, a one-page site for around $150 if you supply all the text and photos, a professional multi-page site for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and an agency build for several thousand and up. The biggest single driver is whether your words and pictures already exist.
Is a cheap one-page website real?
Yes, with conditions. It's real when you supply all the text and photos ready to publish, need only one simple page, and don't need copywriting, custom features or a shop. Anyone promising a full custom site for $100 is making the money back somewhere else — usually the domain, the hosting or a subscription.
What costs keep coming after the site is built?
The domain renewal (about $10–$15 a year), any paid hosting, optional maintenance, and content updates. A static business site on free static hosting with the domain in your own name can legitimately run at about $15 a year.
Why won't you publish a fixed price for a custom site?
Because no two custom jobs are the same size, and a published number either overcharges the small one or underquotes the big one. What you get instead is a flat number for your job, in writing, before I start — and you approve it. Nothing is charged until you say go.
Do I have to pay up front?
No. You pay on completion, when you've seen it live and you're happy with it. Quotes, calls and advice are free.
What if I only need one small change later?
On the $29 care plan two content changes a month are included. Off the plan, small edits are quoted before I touch anything — and you're always free to make them yourself, because the files are yours.
Want a number for your site instead of a general guide?
Tell me what you sell and whether you have your text and photos. You'll get one flat figure in writing, with everything included and everything excluded listed out. No deposit, no pressure.