What should a small business website cost to build?
A simple five page site usually costs £1,500 to £3,000 from a freelancer and £3,000 to £5,000 from a small agency. Here is what pushes a quote up or down, and how to tell a fair one from a bad one.
20 October 2026
The short answer
Building it yourself on a website builder costs £100 to £350 a year in plan, domain and email, plus your own time. A freelancer usually charges £1,500 to £3,000 for a five page brochure site, less for a very simple one built from a template, and a small agency £3,000 to £5,000 for the same. A bigger site you edit yourself, an online shop or anything people sign in to costs more, from around £2,000 to well past £20,000.
Those are ranges from UK price guides, not rules. Two quotes for the same site can be thousands apart and both be fair, because they are often not quoting for the same thing.
Typical prices by kind of site
One off build prices, from UK price guides updated in 2026. Running costs come on top, and are covered below.
| Kind of site | Freelancer | Agency | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brochure site | £500 to £3,000 | £3,000 to £5,000 | Three to ten pages saying who you are, what you do and how to get in touch |
| Larger site you edit | £2,000 to £5,000 | £5,000 to £15,000 | Ten to twenty pages or more, with news or articles you add yourself |
| Online shop | £3,000 to £10,000 | £5,000 to £35,000 | Products, a checkout, payments and order emails |
| Custom application | £10,000 and up | £10,000 to £50,000 and up | Accounts, bookings, dashboards or anything built around how your business works |
What actually moves the price
Kinds of page, more than number of pages. Ten service pages that share one layout cost little more than three. A home page, a services page, a booking page and a news section are four different designs, and each one is real work.
Who writes the words. Many quotes assume you supply the text and photos. If you want them written for you, ask, because it is often the biggest thing left out.
A template or a design of your own. A good template with your colours and logo is quicker and cheaper. A design made for your business costs more, and is worth it when looking different matters to you.
What it has to do. Every feature beyond pages adds work: bookings, payments, a members area, a link to your accounts or stock system. Ask for each one to be priced on its own line, so you can see what you are paying for.
Speed and accessibility. A site that loads quickly on a phone and works for people using a screen reader takes more care. It should be standard, but it is not always included, so ask.
The cost after launch
The build is a one off. Running the site is not.
- Hosting: usually £8 to £30 a month for a small site. We wrote a whole article on what hosting should cost.
- Your domain: around £10 to £15 a year.
- Looking after it: updates, backups and small changes. Freelance care plans commonly run £50 to £150 a month. A simple site built well needs far less looking after than one built on a pile of plugins.
Get a rough figure for your site
Two questions, and we will show the range UK price guides give for a site like yours.
£100 to £350 a year
A website builder plan, your domain and email. The real cost is your own time to build and keep it up to date.
Ranges from UK price guides, before VAT. A guide, not a quote.
How to compare quotes
Put these questions to everyone who quotes. The answers tell you more than the price does.
- Who owns the domain, the site and the code when it is finished? It should be you, in writing.
- What is included, line by line? Pages, writing, photos, features, and how many rounds of changes.
- What does it cost each month afterwards, and is that required? Some cheap builds are paid back through hosting you cannot leave.
- Can I edit it myself, and how? Ask to see the editor before you agree.
- What happens if I want to move it elsewhere? A fair answer is that they will help you.
How we price it
We look at what your site needs first, then come back with what we would build, a price and a timescale. The domain and the code are yours, and we build sites so they cost very little to host. If a website builder would serve you better than paying us, we will tell you that instead.
Where these figures come from
- Freelancer, agency, shop and application ranges, and care plan costs: ExpertSure's UK website cost guide, prices verified August 2026.
- Brochure site and larger site ranges, and running costs: Whito's UK website design cost research, Q1 2026.
- Website builder and shop plan prices: a large website builder's UK price page, checked 19 October 2026.
Want a straight price?
Tell us what your business does and what the site needs to do. We will tell you what it should cost, whoever you choose to build it.
hello@moonlathetechnologies.com