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What a website actually costs in the UK
Anything from nothing to tens of thousands. Here's where the money actually goes, so you know what you should be paying before you talk to anyone. Including me.
The real price ranges
A web design agency
A regional agency usually charges £3,000 to £8,000 for a small business site with its own design. Bigger sites, and anything with a shop, can run from £10,000 into the tens of thousands. For that you get a team: someone on design, someone building it, and someone managing the project.
A freelancer
One person building your site. Most quote between £500 and £3,000 for a small business site, depending on the number of pages and how experienced they are. A good freelancer can be every bit as good as an agency. You're paying for one person's time rather than a team's.
A website builder you use yourself
Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and the like. Nothing up front, then a monthly fee. To use your own web address, expect roughly £9 to £30 a month on a yearly plan. Watch the renewal price: some builders charge less in the first year and a lot more after that.
Me
£50 for one page, £100 for three, £200 for five. You see the exact price before you commit, and you pay after you've seen the finished site. There's no monthly fee to me.
The costs people don't see coming
- Monthly fees that never stop. A builder plan, hosting, or an agency "care plan". Agency care plans often run £100 to £500 a month. Over a few years that can cost more than the site did.
- Your web address. Something like yourname.co.uk costs about £10 to £15 a year. Some builders include one free for the first year, then start charging for it.
- Paying every time you change a word. If someone else holds the keys, every new price or phone number is a job. Freelancers often charge around £30 to £60 an hour for small updates.
- "Free" website builders. Free plans put the builder's name in your web address and their adverts on your pages. To use your own web address you have to move to a paid plan.
What pushes the price up
Nearly always the same five things.
- More pages. Each one needs writing, laying out and checking on phones.
- Bookings. Letting customers pick a time means connecting a calendar.
- Payments. Taking cards on the site means setting up a payment provider and testing it properly.
- Logins. Anything people sign in to needs accounts, passwords and security. That's a big jump in work.
- A shop. A handful of products is manageable. Hundreds of products, stock levels and delivery options is a different job altogether.
On my price list, booking is £30 and a payment button is £40. I don't build logins or big shops. If you need those, an agency or a shop platform is the right call.
Side by side
| Who builds it | Up front | Every month | Who owns it | How long it takes | When you want a change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An agency | £3,000 to £8,000 for a small site | Hosting and care plans, anywhere from £20 to £500 | Usually you, but check the contract | Usually weeks, sometimes months | Through their care plan, or billed per job |
| A freelancer | £500 to £3,000 | Hosting, often £5 to £30 | Usually you, once it's paid | Days to weeks | Billed by the hour, often £30 to £60 |
| A website builder | Nothing | About £9 to £30 to use your own web address | Your words and photos, yes. The site lives on their platform and can't easily be moved. | As long as it takes you | You do it yourself, at no extra cost |
| Quick Site Builds | £50 to £200, plus any extras, paid after you've seen it | Nothing to me. Your web address is about £10 to £15 a year. | You, once it's paid. You get the files and the login. | 24 or 48 hours from when you send your words and photos | Do it yourself with the admin panel (£50), or send me a list, from £20 |
When someone else is the better choice
Use a website builder if you've got more time than budget, you're happy learning a new tool, and you like tinkering. You'll pay every month, but you can change anything at any hour without asking anyone.
Use an agency if you need a big site, logins for customers or staff, or a shop with hundreds of products. That's real work for a team, and it's worth paying for properly.
Use a freelancer if you want one person you can work with for years, and your site needs more than eight pages or something unusual.
Use me if you're a small business that needs a proper site quickly, with up to eight pages, and you don't want a monthly bill.
What I charge
- Just you — £50You are the business. A plumber, a tutor, a photographer. One page that tells people what you do and how to reach you.
- Starting out — £100A small shop, salon or cafe getting online properly. Three pages, a contact form, and one round of changes after you've seen it.
- Established — £200You're already trading and need the site to take bookings or payments. Five pages, two rounds of changes.
Every extra has one price, whichever you pick. You see the exact total before you commit, and you pay nothing until you've seen the finished site. If you don't want it, you owe me nothing. Want to see the standard of work first? Here are some sites I've built.
Questions about cost
How much should a small business website cost in the UK?
Most small UK businesses pay somewhere between £500 and £8,000 to have a site built, plus about £10 to £15 a year for the web address. Where you land depends on who builds it and how much the site has to do. Bookings, payments, logins and shops all push the price up.
Is a cheap website a false economy?
It can be, if it's slow, broken on phones, or locked into a platform you can't leave. Price on its own isn't the test. Ask who owns it when it's done, what it costs every month, and what happens when you want a word changed. With me you see the finished site before you pay, so you can judge it for yourself.
Are there monthly fees with your sites?
Not to me. Hosting, the computer your site lives on, is free: I put it on Cloudflare at no cost to you. The only running cost is your web address, about £10 to £15 a year, which you buy in your own name.
Why isn't a free website builder actually free?
Free plans put the builder's name in your web address and their adverts on your pages. Most businesses move to a paid plan to get rid of both, which means a monthly fee for as long as the site is up.
Will I own my website?
With me, yes. Once it's paid for you get all the files and the login for where it lives, and you can take it anywhere. With anyone else, check before you start. On most website builders, the site can't be moved off their platform.
Where these numbers come from: the agency and freelancer ranges are from ExpertSure's UK website cost guide. Builder prices are from Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy. Prices change, so check theirs before you buy.
Let's get you online by tomorrow.
£50, £100 or £200. You see your exact price before you commit to anything.