How much does a website cost in the UK?

For a small business, a professional website usually costs between £900 and £5,000 to build, plus an ongoing plan to keep it hosted, secure, and maintained. Where you fall in that range comes down to who builds it and how much the site has to do.

A DIY builder is the cheapest way to get online, typically £240 to £360 a year once you add a domain and a business email. You do all the work, and the result tends to look like the template it came from. It can be a fine starting point if your time is genuinely free and your needs are simple.

The hidden cost is your hours. Most owners underestimate how long it takes to make a builder site look credible, and how much ongoing fiddling it needs.

A UK freelance web designer typically charges from around £900 for a simple site, up to £4,500 or so for something with booking, payments, or an online shop. You get a real person, a custom design, and someone who handles the technical side. For most small businesses this is the sweet spot, and it is where my own packages sit.

A UK agency typically charges £2,500 to £10,000 for a standard small business website, and London agencies often charge more for the same specification. You get a larger team, but you also pay for their overheads, and you may not deal with the person actually building your site.

Whatever route you choose, budget for the ongoing basics: a domain (under £20 a year), hosting, an SSL certificate, and updates or maintenance. Many providers, myself included, bundle these into one simple plan. Mine start at £75 a month, or £750 a year with two months free. Always ask what the total looks like in year two, not just the build cost.

I keep it simple with fixed prices and no hidden extras: Starter from £900, Growth from £1,750, and Premium from £4,500, each including design, build, testing, and launch. You deal with me from the first call to the live site, and you get a price on the call, not a vague estimate weeks later.