How Much Does a Website Cost?

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💡Key takeaways

While it’s possible to build a website at no cost, free website builders have limited features, no custom domains, and show ads.
Website builders can cost from £1.99 to £259 per month.
WordPress costs from £36+ per year.
Hiring a web designer can cost from £4,000+ upfront.
Maintenance costs include domain name, hosting, apps/plugins, themes, security, SEO and images.
Some cost-cutting tips include using a CMS, picking scalable plans and using free SEO tools.

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Featured: Hostinger - best for AI

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Wix - best overall website builder

4.9

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Shopify - best for expanding shops

4.2

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Wondering how to build a business website? Based on our research, you can set up a professional-looking website with a website builder subscription for as little as £1.99 per month.

Or, if you want something truly unique and made to your exact specifications, you could hire a web designer – costing you anything from hundreds to thousands of pounds in upfront costs – or use a CMS like WordPress for anything from £36 to £1,250 per year.

These prices, however, are just estimates. The process of building a website is ripe with hidden and additional costs that I’ll break down and discuss in this article.

This article will cover:

How much does a website cost?
Can I create a website for free?
Website builders: from £1.99 per month
WordPress: from £36+ per year
Hiring a web designer: from £4,000+ upfront
How much does it cost to maintain a website?
What are some ways to save on website costs?
Verdict: should I use a website builder or a web designer?

The cost of building a website will depend on how you create it, whether that’s using a website builder, WordPress, or hiring a website designer. It can cost anywhere from £1.99 per month to over £4,000 upfront. Plus, there are additional hosting costs to consider, such as purchasing a domain name and plugins.

Here’s a look at the typical costs involved with building a website:

Comparing costs for building a website

Website builder – from £1.99 per month
WordPress – from £36-£1,000 per year
Hiring a web designer – typically over £4,000 upfront

Can I create a website for free?

Yes, you can – but I don’t recommend this option for small businesses looking to scale online. Plenty of website builders, such as Wix or GoDaddy, offer free plans, but these plans come with significant drawbacks.

Although you would cut back on costs, free website builders are very limited in terms of the features you can use, and often splash ads across your site. You also can’t customise your domain name, which isn’t ideal as it can make your business look amateur and unprofessional.

Wix banner ad shown at the top of a free Wix website

My free test website with Wix had a large ad banner at the top of the page. Source: Startups.co.uk

Using a free plan to test out a website builder before committing to a premium plan is fine, but it’s worth spending a little extra to unlock advanced features and remove ads.

Website builders: from £1.99 per month

Website builder plans can range from £1.99 to £259 per month. This is because most providers have scaled pre-packaged options to suit various budgets, ranging from a basic, easy-to-use website builder, to advanced ecommerce plans for growing online stores.

Most website builders advertise their plans on an annual subscription basis, so you’ll pay for a year in full when you sign up. You can also choose to pay monthly, but this will cost you more in the long run. For example, when looking at Wix’s cheapest plan, the annual price would drive my monthly cost down to £9 per month. However, if I paid month-by-month, Wix’s cheapest plan would cost me £11.50 per month.

I’ve tested and reviewed the best website builders on the market, and you can get a quick summary of our top five and their prices in the table below:

Swipe right to see more


Wix	Squarespace	GoDaddy	Shopify	Hostinger
Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.9	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.6	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.2	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.2	Overall Score Based on our in-depth research and user testing 4.3
Price £9-£119 per month £8.10-£107.10 with code “TAKE10”	Price £12-£79 per month, billed annually Use code “SU10” to receive a 10% discount on all Squarespace plans	Price £7.99-£13.99 per month, billed annually (first term discounts available)	Price £19-£259 per month, billed annually Currently £1 per month for the first three months	Price £2.99-£3.49 per month (48-month subscription) Up to 81% discounted with code “STARTUPS”
Free trial or plan Free plan	Free trial or plan 14-day free trial	Free trial or plan Free plan	Free trial or plan 3-day free trial	Free trial or plan 7-day free trial
Number of templates 900+ templates	Number of templates 150+ templates	Number of templates 200+ templates	Number of templates 200+ templates	Number of templates 150+ templates

From our extensive research, Squarespace and GoDaddy are the best value builders. Their plans are very affordable without sacrificing the number or quality of features on offer. That said, all of our top builders are cheaper alternatives than using WordPress or hiring a web designer.

squarespace test website with an element displaying bookable services

To sell products or services with Squarespace, I needed to upgrade to at least the Business plan for £17 per month (billed annually). Source: Startups.co.uk

Should I use a website builder?

Pros

Builders cater to lots of businesses and industries – it’s a convenient and quick way to get online, especially for small businesses
A website builder is the cheapest way to create a site, and you don’t need to pay for everything separately like you would with WordPress
Website builder plans make it easy to scale your business because you can upgrade your plan to unlock better features
You don’t need any coding knowledge or prior building experience since builders are beginner-friendly

Cons

You need time to play around with the website builder since you’ll need to get to grips with the interface and editor to create a site from scratch
Not ideal for complex businesses that need advanced technical functionality – you’ll have more freedom and control if you use WordPress
You have to commit to a long-term subscription to save money – paying monthly is more expensive

WordPress: from £36+ per year

An alternative to using a website builder is to use WordPress. WordPress is cheaper than hiring a website designer but gives you more control than a website builder.

WordPress is a free open-source CMS (content management system). When trying WordPress myself, I found it easy enough to create a decent website without having to learn code, but it was less beginner-friendly than using a website builder.

With WordPress, there are thousands of themes and plugins for extra functionality, depending on the needs of your business and the size of your budget. But that’s the primary drawback to using WordPress – the add-ons can bump your monthly costs up quickly.

Four plugins in WordPress' plugin library, displayed under a "Popular plugins" category

I could browse popular and featured plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory. Source: Startups.co.uk

As with a website designer, you’ll have to pay for your own hosting and domain name. These are the only guaranteed monthly costs; the rest (such as ecommerce and social media integrations) are optional.

That’s why it’s difficult for me to estimate the cost of using WordPress, as it’ll vary from business to business. However, on average, you can expect to pay anywhere from £36 to £1,250 per year depending on your hosting provider, apps, and template.

Should I build a website with WordPress?

Pros

WordPress is a great option if you don’t have the budget for a web designer or agency – you can choose to spend as much or as little as you want
If you have the time and ability, you can develop an advanced and unique website – because of this, WordPress is ideal for creatives and experienced builders

Cons

WordPress requires a certain skill level to use – a website builder is a better option for total novices
WordPress has no built-in features, meaning you’ll need to research, download, and pay for extra functionality
There are a lot of additional costs to consider, such as security, hosting, domain names, and support – all of this is usually included with a website builder

Hiring a web designer: from £4,000+ upfront

Hiring a web designer can be a great option for businesses that have expansive budgets and are looking for a bespoke website.

Web design agencies typically charge you on an hourly basis. Chameleon Studios, a Cambridge-based marketing agency, gave us insight into a rough price list for web design depending on the type of agency you use:

Offshore company – £10-£25 per hour
Freelance web designer – £25-£50 per hour
Small web agency – £50-£75 per hour
Large web agency – £75-£150 per hour

Based on these insights, and a presumption that your small business website could take around 12 weeks to build (based on an agency working seven hours a day on the project), you’re looking at a total price of £4,200 to £63,000 for the development of your business site.

MadeByShape web design agency website without information about the company displayed on the page

Most web design agencies, such as MadeByShape in Manchester, request project information before a set price can be shared. Source: Startups.co.uk

Of course, there are a lot of hypotheticals here, and several variables I haven’t factored into the estimates – namely, the size and complexity of the website you’re trying to build. The more pages and functionality your website requires, the longer it will take to build and the more it will cost. Plus, using a web designer to create your site only covers just that: the creation of your site. You’ll still need to pay for the additional running costs (which I’ll go into more detail about later).

Our guide to finding a web designer includes more tips for locating the perfect web design agency to create your small business site.

Should I hire a web designer?

Pros

If you need your website to have complex functionalities and a specific design, it can be worth investing the money in a designer
Hiring someone else to do the work frees up your time to work on other business matters
Using a web designer is a good choice for large online stores that have unique requirements

Cons

Bespoke website design is the priciest way to create a small business site – I wouldn’t recommend this option for the budget-conscious
If you rush to choose a designer and they’re the wrong fit you might end up paying more down the line to fix prior mistakes
You’ll need to invest the time to research agencies and designers to find the perfect fit for your business
Despite the large upfront cost, you’ll still need to pay the usual website running costs

Top tip 💰

If you have a creative eye, I recommend working with a website designer after you have selected your website colour scheme and theme. Preselecting a theme will dramatically speed up ideation time for the designer, which will also save you money.

How much does it cost to maintain a website?

The cost of setting up a website can seem quite low. However, it’s important to remember that the cost of operating your website is a whole other matter. Once your site starts picking up more traffic, you’ll require more resources to keep it running.

That’s why, besides the primary costs involved with using a website builder, building with WordPress, or hiring a web designer, there are some additional price tags to consider. In most instances, a website builder will bundle these costs into your subscription.

Domain name	A custom domain will make your site appear more professional and build brand awareness.	£8-20+ per year
Hosting	If you don’t use a website builder, you’ll need to pay for web hosting separately to ensure your site can go live.	£20-£300+ per year
Apps and plugins	You might need to install extra functionality from a third-party app or plugin, such as Mailchimp.	£0-£100+ per month
Themes	Some website templates come with a one-time price tag to use, but you can get a lot of themes for free, depending on the builder.	£0-£400+ upfront
Security	It’s important to keep your website safe from harm and your data protected with SSL certificates, fraud detection, and other security measures.	£0-£1,000+ per year
SEO	If you need a helping hand to optimise your website, you might want to hire an SEO specialist.	£150-£1,200+ per month
Images	You need eye-catching visuals on your site and access to royalty-free images or stock libraries often requires a subscription.	£20-£150+ per month

Top tip 💰

Watch out for the cost of domain name renewal, especially if you opt for a website builder. Most major website builders, including Wix, include a free domain name for the first year which then automatically renews 30 days before the expiry date for an added fee. For instance, a .co.uk domain with Wix costs £10.39 for one year. With Shopify, though, you’ll need to pay for your domain name separately from the start of your subscription, as it’s not included in your plan.

What are some ways to save on website costs?

It’s possible to build a world-class website for less than £500. If you’re working to a strict budget, here are five easy ways to keep your costs down during development:

DIY it by using a CMS like WordPress, or learning some HTML skills, so you can make basic updates to your website without needing a developer
Shop around for affordable service providers for hosting, domain registration, and building services
Know your must-have features and functionalities, and search for the plan that offers them all at the best price
Plan for the future. It can be very costly to migrate a website. Look for a provider with scalable plans and a clear path to upgrade
Use free SEO and marketing tools like Google Trends to avoid forking out hundreds for technical consultants

Verdict: should I use a website builder or a web designer?

Cost is naturally an important consideration for small businesses looking to create a website. From my testing, using a website builder is a quick, easy, and affordable way to get your small business site up and running. Plus, you can start with a basic, cheap plan and then scale up if you need to.

Using a web designer will guarantee a bespoke website – the equivalent of paying for a tailored suit instead of buying off the rack. You’ll pay more, but you’ll end up with something crafted to your exact specifications. WordPress is the best of both worlds. If you want more control and don’t mind paying for extra functionality, it could be the right choice for you.

Who do we recommend a website builder for?

If you largely operate offline — for example, you run a restaurant or cafe — or you’re running your website as a side hustle, for example dropshipping, then we think you should use a website builder. It’s an easy, low-cost way to build your internet profile without requiring tonnes of effort and long-term maintenance.

Who do we recommend a website designer for?

Businesses based entirely online, for example those selling courses or running a full-time ecommerce site, should consider bringing a website designer on board. For these firms, your website is your sole revenue stream, and using a third-party expert will guarantee you get a premium, professional website to maximise profits.

Our guide to the best website builders for small businesses may help you to choose between DIY or designer. Whatever you decide, make sure to consider your budget, business needs, and what you want out of your website.

This article was first published in 2019 and has been updated regularly to reflect the most accurate results from our website builder testing. The latest update was in January 2025.

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