How Much Does a Website Cost for a Small Business in the UK?
Short answer: anywhere from £0 to £5,000+.
Unhelpful answer, I know. But here’s the bit that actually matters: the number people quote you is almost never the number you end up paying.
Let me explain why, because this is where most small business owners get caught out.
The advice you’ve probably already heard
If you’ve searched this before, you’ve hit one of these takes:
- “Just use Wix or Squarespace, it’s basically free.”
- “A website should cost a few hundred quid, don’t get ripped off.”
- “You get what you pay for — spend £3,000+ or don’t bother.”
All three sound sensible. None of them tell you the thing that actually decides what you should pay.
What actually determines the price
Here’s the honest breakdown of where UK small business website pricing sits right now:
- DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy): £0–£20/month. Cheap, but you’re the one building it, and “free” website builders still charge monthly once you want a real domain or to remove their branding.
- Freelancer one-off builds: typically £500–£3,000 upfront, sometimes more for anything custom. You get a proper site, but you’re paying the whole thing before it’s even live — and usually before you know if it actually brings in work.
- Agency builds: £3,000–£10,000+, often bundled with a retainer you didn’t fully clock when you signed.
- Subscription-based builds (less common, but growing): no upfront fee, a monthly plan instead — usually £100–£200/month, which includes the build itself plus ongoing upkeep.
The number that actually matters isn’t the sticker price. It’s what happens after you’ve paid it.
Here’s the part nobody explains properly
A £500 freelancer build and a £3,000 agency build can look nearly identical the day they launch. The difference shows up six months later.
Cheap builds often come with zero ongoing support — the freelancer’s moved on to the next client, and your site sits there, unchanged, slowly falling behind as your competitors update theirs. Expensive agency builds often come with a retainer you didn’t budget for, tacked on after the “final payment” you thought was the end of it.
Neither model actually answers the real question: who’s keeping this thing working once it’s live?
That’s the bit worth asking about before you ask “how much,” because a website that nobody maintains is a sunk cost, not an asset.
What this actually costs with us
No setup fee. No upfront project cost to find before anything even starts.
£149/month, or £99/month if you pay for a quarter (3 months) upfront. That covers the build itself — not a separate line item — plus ongoing site updates and management of your Google Business Profile, so neither one goes stale the month after launch.
Compare that to the freelancer/agency route above: most of them want £500–£3,000+ before you’ve even seen if the site does anything for you. Here, there’s nothing to find upfront. If it’s not working for you, you’re not out thousands of pounds finding that out.
So what should you actually do with this
If you’re happy building it yourself and keeping it updated yourself — a DIY builder is genuinely fine, and cheap.
If you want it built properly and kept working, without a big number to find first — that’s the gap a subscription model like this one is built for.
Either way: ask what happens after launch, not just what the launch itself costs. That question tells you more than the quote does.
Quick answers to what people ask me next
Is a £99/month website actually any good, or is it a stripped-down version? Depends entirely on who’s behind it. What matters isn’t the number — it’s whether the ongoing plan includes real updates and management, or just hosting with your name on it.
Why don’t you charge a setup fee like everyone else? Because most small business owners don’t have £1,000+ sitting around to find before they’ve seen a single result. Removing that barrier means you can start without the biggest risk being upfront.
What happens if I stop paying? With a subscription model, that varies by provider — worth asking directly before signing up. Here, the site stays yours; you’d just be back to updating it and your Google listing yourself.
Is cheaper always worse? Not necessarily — but cheap-and-unmaintained is worse than mid-priced-and-looked-after, every time. Price isn’t the signal to watch. Ongoing support is.
Not sure what you’re actually paying for right now, or whether your current site’s doing its job? I’ll take a free look at your website and Google Business Profile and tell you straight what’s working and what isn’t — no pitch, no obligation.