How much does a website cost in 2026?
For a small business: roughly $200–600 a year doing it yourself, $2,000–6,000 with a freelancer, or $5,000–20,000 with an agency, for a 5–8 page site. Here's what moves those numbers.
The three ways to buy a website
Do it yourself
Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or similar: $16–50 a month for the plan, a domain, and your time (budget 20–40 hours for a first site). Cheapest in cash, most expensive in evenings, and the result depends entirely on your eye.
Freelancer
One experienced person: $1,500–3,500 for design and setup, plus $120–300 per extra page and $300–1,500 per feature (booking, store, forms). Typical total $2,000–6,000. Three to six weeks. You talk to the person who does the work.
Agency
A team with a project manager, designer and developer: $4,000–12,000 for design and setup, $300–800 per page, $800–10,000 per feature. Typical total $5,000–20,000 and up. Six to twelve weeks. Worth it when brand work, many pages or custom software are involved.
What makes the price go up
- Pages: each service or location page is written, designed and optimised.
- Features: booking, online store, client login and ordering each add setup and monthly plans.
- Content: copywriting and photography are the most skipped and most valuable items.
- Custom design versus a tuned template.
- Migration: moving an old site's pages and keeping its Google rankings takes care.
What's usually a waste
- Animation-heavy home pages that slow the site down.
- Paying for "SEO packages" without a Google Business Profile and real service pages first.
- Stock photos of handshakes. One real photo of you beats ten.
Running costs people forget
Hosting or platform plan ($200–500 a year), domain ($10–20), email ($72–150 per mailbox), booking or store plans ($0–600), and maintenance. Ask every quote: "what will this cost me per year after launch?"
How to compare quotes
- Same scope on paper: pages, features, content, who supplies photos and text.
- Who owns the site and the domain afterwards (you should).
- What's included after launch, and the hourly rate for changes.
- Three examples of their work in your trade, live, on a phone.
Ranges are US market estimates, Oct 2026, from published platform pricing and typical freelancer and agency quotes. Not a quote.