Ask ten web designers what a small business website costs and you’ll get ten different answers, most of them followed by “it depends.” That’s useless when you’re trying to budget. So here is the honest version, with real 2026 numbers.
And to be clear: we’re not pulling these numbers from a blog roundup. We build and price small business websites every week, then run them long after launch. If you want to see what that looks like on a real job, here’s a recent project broken down start to finish.
The short answer
A small business website in 2026 runs anywhere from $0 to $10,000+ to build, plus $15 to $300 a month to keep it running. The range is that wide because “website” covers everything from a free DIY page to a custom online store. Where you land comes down to who builds it and what it has to do.
The four ways to get a website, and what each really costs
Do it yourself (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy): $0 to $40 a month. Cheap and fast, but you are the designer, the copywriter, and the tech support. Most owners start here and quietly give up when it looks like a template and never shows up on Google.
A freelancer: $500 to $3,000 one time. Quality swings wildly. Some are great. Many disappear after they cash the check, and you own a site you can’t update.
A full agency: $5,000 to $25,000+. Real strategy and design, but priced for companies with a marketing budget, not a plumber or a dental office.
A small studio with flat pricing: a few hundred up front plus a low monthly. The middle path – custom work without the agency invoice. (That’s the lane we built Dragan Holdings for.)
What actually drives the price
- Number of pages. A 5-page site costs less than a 20-page one.
- Custom design vs a template. Built from scratch costs more and looks like you, not everyone else.
- Selling online. A store with checkout and products adds real work.
- Copywriting. Someone has to write the words. If it’s you, that’s free but slow.
- Integrations. Booking, forms, a CRM, missed-call text-back – each one adds setup.
The cost everyone forgets: keeping it alive
The build is a one-time number. The website is forever. Hosting, security, backups, plugin updates, and the small fixes that break at the worst time all cost money every month. A “$500 website” with no plan behind it becomes a broken, hacked, or offline website within a year. Budget for the monthly, not just the build.
What we charge, printed right here
We don’t do “request a quote.” Our website pricing is flat and public:
- Essentials – $599 setup + $45/month. A custom, mobile-fast site up to 7 pages, with hosting, backups, and updates included.
- Commerce – $999 setup + $65/month. Everything in Essentials plus a working online store.
The monthly covers the stuff that keeps it alive, so you never get a surprise renewal bill. See the full breakdown on our Websites page.
What you should get for the money
Whoever you hire, at any price, insist on: a site that loads fast and works on a phone, that you actually own, that shows up when people search for what you do, and that a real person will fix when it breaks. If a quote doesn’t include those, it isn’t cheaper – it’s unfinished.
The bottom line
A good small business website is not a $50 expense and it’s not a $25,000 one. For most owners it’s a few hundred dollars to start and a small predictable monthly after that. The trick is knowing what’s included so you’re not paying twice.
Want to see what yours would look like before you spend anything? We’ll build you a free preview – a real site, on a real link, that you only pay for if you love it.