How Much Does a Website Cost for a Small Business in 2026?
Published price ranges for DIY builders, freelancers and agencies, the ongoing costs nobody mentions, and what actually moves the price.
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Ask five web designers what a small business website costs and you will get five answers between a few hundred dollars and tens of thousands. Most of that spread comes from comparing different things: a template you fill in yourself, a freelancer’s custom site and an agency build with copywriting, SEO and ongoing care are not the same product.
Here is what published sources say each option costs in 2026, what the ongoing costs look like, and what actually drives the price.
What it costs, by who builds it
| Who builds it | Published range | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| You, on a website builder | Free to about $700 up front, plus a monthly plan | UENI; Levitate |
| A freelancer | About $500 to $5,000 | Levitate; Blacksmith Agency |
| A small agency, small business site | About $3,000 to $15,000 | UENI ($3,000 to $10,000); WebFX ($6,000 to $12,000); Levitate ($5,000 to $15,000) |
| A large agency or a complex build | $15,000 to $100,000 and up | Levitate ($15,000 to $60,000+ for feature-rich sites); Blacksmith Agency ($50,000 to $100,000+) |
Two more data points: Shopify, citing a 2026 GoodFirms survey, reports that 63% of agencies quoted between $1,000 and $15,000. Wix, quoting Forbes Advisor, reports an average of $2,000 to $9,000 for a typical small business site from an agency or professional designer.
Sources: UENI, Levitate, WebFX, Blacksmith Agency, Shopify, Wix. Most of these sources sell websites, so treat them as market estimates, not neutral benchmarks.
The ongoing costs
The build is not the only cost. Every site also needs:
- Hosting: about $10 to $200 a month, according to WebFX. Shared hosting starts around $5 to $25 a month, per UENI.
- A domain: roughly $10 to $60 a year.
- An SSL certificate: often included with hosting; otherwise up to a few hundred dollars a year.
- Maintenance: Blacksmith Agency puts it at about $50 a month for small sites and $100 to $250 for mid-sized ones. Levitate puts agency maintenance retainers at $100 to $1,000 a month.
What drives the price
- Number of pages. A service business that wants to rank needs a page for each service and often for each main town. Ten pages and forty pages are different projects.
- Custom design or a template. A template is cheaper up front. A custom design is built around your business and usually loads faster.
- Who writes the copy. Writing every page well is real work. Some quotes include it; many do not.
- Features. Online booking, quote calculators, project galleries, financing tools and ecommerce each add cost.
- SEO setup. Page structure, titles, schema markup and speed work at launch decide whether the site can rank at all.
- Ongoing care. Updates, backups, security and edits after launch.
How to compare quotes
- Ask what is included, page by page. A low quote with no copywriting or SEO setup is not cheaper if you have to pay for those later.
- Ask who owns the site and the domain. You should.
- Ask how long it takes. Most of our sites launch in two to six weeks.
- Ask what happens after launch. Who fixes things, and what does it cost?
- Ask to see live sites they built for businesses like yours.
What we charge
We quote every project after looking at your business, your current site and what the new one needs to do, so the price matches the work. Start with the free growth plan, or see our web design and website redesign services.
