How much does a small business website cost in 2026? Quotes range from "nothing" to "£30,000" for what looks, on the surface, like the same thing. This guide breaks down what actually drives the price difference — so you can make an informed decision rather than just picking the cheapest or most convincing option.
The Five Main Routes and What They Actually Cost
1. Free Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, Weebly)
Monthly cost: £13–£35/month (£156–£420/year)
The advertised price for Wix or Squarespace plans starts at around £10–13/month for a basic plan that removes ads. But to use your own domain, remove branding, and access proper e-commerce or booking features, you're typically on a mid-tier plan at £18–25/month. For trade businesses specifically, see our full breakdown: Wix vs a built-for-you free website for trades →
The hidden costs:
- Your domain: ~£10–15/year separately (usually)
- Premium apps and integrations: Booking systems, email marketing tools, and form builders often cost extra — £5–30/month each
- Your time: Most small business owners spend 10–40 hours building their first site. At any realistic hourly rate, this is significant
- The SEO ceiling: Wix has improved, but platform-built sites typically underperform custom-built sites on Google — especially in competitive local markets
Total realistic year-one cost: £300–£700, plus ongoing monthly fees forever. You don't own the site — if you stop paying, it disappears.
2. A Freelance Web Designer
Project cost: £500–£3,000
A local freelancer typically charges £500–£1,500 for a small business website (5–10 pages), rising to £2,000–£3,000 for more complex sites with custom features. Offshore freelancers can quote significantly less, but communication overhead and quality inconsistency are real risks.
What you get:
- A custom design (usually built on WordPress)
- Your content implemented professionally
- Basic on-page SEO setup
- Ownership of the site files
What you don't always get:
- Ongoing maintenance — WordPress updates, plugin updates, and security patches cost extra (£25–100/month on a care plan)
- Hosting — you'll pay £5–25/month separately
- Content — most freelancers don't write copy; you provide it or pay extra
- Future changes — once the project ends, changes are billed hourly (typically £40–80/hour)
Total realistic year-one cost: £800–£4,000, with ongoing costs of £50–150/month for hosting and maintenance.
3. A Web Design Agency
Project cost: £2,000–£15,000+
Agencies charge more because they have project managers, designers, developers, and account managers all involved in your project. That overhead produces more consistent results — but you're paying for it. Entry-level agency sites start around £2,000–3,000 for a five-page brochure site. Mid-tier projects with custom functionality land at £5,000–10,000.
For most small service businesses — a plumber, a hair salon, a restaurant — agency pricing is difficult to justify unless you're a fairly substantial local business with revenue to match. The SEO benefit rarely pays back the additional cost compared to a competent freelancer.
Total realistic year-one cost: £3,000–£20,000, with ongoing retainer fees if you want continued SEO or content work.
4. WordPress (DIY)
Setup cost: £50–200 + your time
WordPress itself is free. A domain costs ~£10–15/year. Hosting costs £5–20/month. A decent premium theme costs £40–100 once. So the hard costs are minimal — but the time investment is real. Learning WordPress, installing and configuring plugins, and building a site that actually looks professional typically takes 20–60 hours for a first-timer.
DIY WordPress makes sense if you're comfortable with technology, have the time, and plan to manage the site yourself long-term. It gives you maximum flexibility and genuine ownership. But if you're a tradesperson, restaurateur, or service professional who wants a website rather than wants to build websites, the time cost often isn't worth the financial saving.
Total realistic year-one cost: £200–£400 in money, plus 30–80 hours of your time.
5. A Free Built-for-You Website
Build cost: £0
This is the option most small service businesses don't know exists. Some providers — including us — build websites for free for specific trade types, with no invoice, no upsell, and no catch. The site is yours, the files are yours, and you host it yourself (typically £5–10/month for hosting and a domain).
The honest explanation for why this exists: we build these as a genuine service, publish real content about the process, and earn from the occasional business owner who wants us to manage their hosting or handle a future project. Most clients take the free site and that's fine — we'd rather help 100 local businesses get online than gate it behind a price most of them can't justify.
Total realistic year-one cost: £60–120 for hosting and domain. Nothing else.
What Actually Drives the Cost Up
Within each route, certain features dramatically increase cost:
- E-commerce: Selling products online adds £500–5,000+ depending on catalogue size and custom features
- Booking systems: Custom-built booking with calendar sync, payments, and reminders is expensive. Third-party tools (Calendly, Acuity, Fresha) are much cheaper — £10–50/month
- Content creation: Copywriting adds £100–500 per page from a professional. It's often the highest-ROI investment you can make, but few small businesses budget for it.
- Photography: Stock photography is free or cheap. Professional product or location photography is £300–1,500. For trades and restaurants, real photos convert dramatically better than stock.
- SEO: Basic on-page optimisation is included in most builds. Ongoing SEO (link building, content strategy, technical work) costs £300–2,000/month from a competent agency.
- Maintenance: WordPress sites need updates, backups, and security monitoring. Budget £25–100/month or DIY it.
What's the Right Choice for a Small Service Business?
For most sole traders and small service businesses — plumbers, electricians, hair salons, mechanics, restaurants, personal trainers — the honest recommendation is:
- Get a free built-for-you site first. If you qualify, it's the highest-value starting point. You spend nothing on the build, you own the files, and you can move it to any host.
- Or use a competent local freelancer if you want a more custom design and have £800–1,500 to spend on the build.
- Avoid committing to expensive monthly platform subscriptions (Wix, Squarespace) for basic brochure sites. You're paying forever for something you'll never own.
- Invest in your Google Business Profile and reviews regardless of what you spend on the website. These are free and often deliver more local visibility than the website itself.
A £0 website that loads fast, ranks locally, and has a clear call to action will outperform a £3,000 website that isn't optimised — every time. Spend money on what creates leverage, not what looks impressive in a proposal.
The True Cost of Not Having a Website
This question is rarely asked but often more relevant. If your trade is one where customers search Google before booking — and for most service businesses, it is — then not appearing in those searches has a real cost: the jobs going to competitors who do appear.
A plumber who doesn't show up for "plumber [your town]" misses the emergencies, the boiler services, the bathroom refits that are going to someone else every week. Even a conservative estimate of one missed job per week at £200 average value is £10,400/year in lost revenue. Against that, a £0 website looks like an extremely easy decision.
Get Your Free Website
We build free websites for 50+ trade types — electricians, plumbers, mechanics, hair salons, restaurants, photographers, accountants, yoga instructors, and more. No invoice, no monthly fee, no catch. You own the files. You host it yourself.