If you've recently asked for quotes for a small business website in the UK, you've probably had numbers ranging from £200 to £20,000 for what sounds like the same brief. Here's a straight-talking guide to what website pricing actually looks like in 2026 — and where the genuine value is.
The four main options
Still weighing up whether you even need a website alongside your existing Facebook page? Start with our honest take on Facebook page vs website first — the rest of this guide assumes you've decided you want one.
Roughly speaking, you have four routes to a small business website:
Roughly speaking, you have four routes to a small business website:
- DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify) — you do the work
- Freelancer — usually WordPress, sometimes Webflow
- Traditional agency — WordPress or custom, fixed-price project
- Subscription / managed — fixed monthly fee, fully managed
The four options, side by side
Prices move around, but the shape of each option does not. This is what a 5-10 page small business website realistically costs in the UK in 2026.
| Option | Upfront | Ongoing | Time from you | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | £0 | £15-£40/mo | High - it's your evenings | Testing an idea |
| Freelancer | £800-£3,000 | £0-£50/mo | Medium | One-off build, you handle upkeep |
| Agency | £4,000-£20,000+ | £100-£500/mo | Low | Larger budgets and complex builds |
| Managed subscription | £0 | £80-£200/mo | Very low | Small businesses wanting it handled |
A one-off build with A9 starts at £1,200; the managed plan starts at £80/mo with nothing upfront.
DIY builder: £15-£40/mo + your time
Wix or Squarespace cost roughly £15-£40/mo. Sounds cheap. But the real cost is the 20-60 hours you spend learning the tool, fighting the templates and producing something that probably looks generic and scores poorly on mobile.
Realistic 3-year total cost: £500-£1,500 + significant time. Outcome: a competent-looking but slow, hard-to-rank website you maintain yourself.
Realistic 3-year total cost: £500-£1,500 + significant time. Outcome: a competent-looking but slow, hard-to-rank website you maintain yourself.
Freelancer: £800-£3,000 one-off
UK freelance web designers typically charge £800-£3,000 for a small business WordPress site. The good ones are excellent value. The bad ones disappear as soon as something breaks, leaving you with a half-finished WordPress install and £80/hour ongoing maintenance bills.
Realistic 3-year cost (build + hosting + plugins + maintenance): £1,800-£5,000. Outcome: highly variable. You're buying the freelancer, not the platform.
Realistic 3-year cost (build + hosting + plugins + maintenance): £1,800-£5,000. Outcome: highly variable. You're buying the freelancer, not the platform.
Agency: £4,000-£20,000+
UK web agencies typically charge £4k-£20k+ for a small business website, often with significant ongoing fees. The best agencies are genuinely excellent. The worst sell you a £15k WordPress site that performs no better than a £1k freelance one.
Realistic 3-year cost: £6,000-£30,000. Outcome: usually a polished website but with significant agency overhead built into the price.
Realistic 3-year cost: £6,000-£30,000. Outcome: usually a polished website but with significant agency overhead built into the price.
Subscription / managed: £80-£200/mo, no upfront
The newest model — and our model. A fixed monthly fee covers design, development, hosting, domain, custom email, ongoing edits and full management. No upfront cost, no surprise bills, no per-hour maintenance fees.
Our pricing: from £80/mo, £0 upfront, 12-month minimum. 3-year cost: £4,320 with everything included. For a hand-coded site that scores 95+ on mobile and is fully managed, that's exceptional value compared to any of the alternatives — see our web design service for what's actually included, and our managed hosting for what happens after launch.
Our pricing: from £80/mo, £0 upfront, 12-month minimum. 3-year cost: £4,320 with everything included. For a hand-coded site that scores 95+ on mobile and is fully managed, that's exceptional value compared to any of the alternatives — see our web design service for what's actually included, and our managed hosting for what happens after launch.
What you should actually pay attention to
Sticker price is the wrong question. The right ones:
- What's the total cost over 3 years, including hosting, plugins, edits and breakage?
- Will the site actually rank? (Demand a real Lighthouse mobile score > 90.)
- What happens if I want a copy change next month? Is that included or £80/hr?
- What happens if my designer/agency goes out of business?
- Do I own the site? Can I take it elsewhere if I'm unhappy?
Our honest recommendation
For most UK small businesses, the subscription model genuinely is the best value — provided the company building your site actually hand-codes it (rather than slapping a WordPress theme together) and actually answers the phone when you need them. We're biased, obviously. But the maths is the maths.
Ready for a practical next step?
Straight pricing, no contracts, and a real person building your site. Have a look at how we work. Free, no-pressure chat — usually within a day.
Part of our buying a website guides.
Written by Adam, A9 Web Design
Adam builds hand-coded websites for small businesses across Cambridgeshire and looks after their hosting, SEO and advertising day to day. Everything here comes from work on real client sites — no theory, no filler.