How much does a website cost in 2026?

Asking “how much does a website cost?” is a bit like asking “how much does a car cost?”. The answer is the same in both cases, and just as unsatisfying. It depends. A small city car and an off-roader are both cars, but they're built for very different jobs. Websites are no different. So here we go through what the price is made of and how to think about the budget when you're a sole trader or a small company. We'll also explain why we only give a fair estimate after a short conversation.

Six things that set the price

Before you start doing sums in your head, it helps to know what the price is actually made of. Almost every estimate turns on the same six things, which is exactly why two sites that look alike from the outside can be completely different jobs underneath.

The biggest jump in price almost always comes from scope. Between a calm presentation site and a web shop with a catalogue, a cart and payments, the difference is measured in days of work, not hours. Features come right after scope. A single contact form is a detail. A booking system with a calendar, confirmations and cancellation rules is a different story altogether. We broke down the price of a shop separately in how much a web shop costs.

Three typical levels

To make it more tangible, here is what projects usually look like by complexity. Bear in mind these are levels of scope, not prices. Which one is right for you depends on your goal. The competitor across the road is no yardstick here.

Most sole traders and small companies do perfectly well starting at the first or second level. The third only makes sense once the site has to sell or take bookings on its own. As long as it only presents your business, you can do without that level. And the nice part is that you aren't paying for things you don't need yet.

Instead of asking “what's the cheapest option?”, ask “what does this site need to bring me?”. If it brings in enquiries, it pays for itself.

How to think about the budget

A website is easier to plan if you see it as a sales tool rather than a cost. Set the goal first, for example more enquiries, bookings or sales, and only then shape the scope around it. And it's better to start with a smaller, well-made site that works than with a big one that never sees the light of day.

Instead of starting from an amount, turn the question on its head and ask yourself how many new enquiries or bookings a month the site has to bring in to pay for itself. Say you run a car repair garage. If just a few new customers a month cover what you put in within a reasonable time, the decision suddenly gets a lot simpler. That number guides a budget far better than a hunch about what it all “ought” to cost.

Once you know that, you can put the budget together in three steps.

1. Set the goal. What does the site have to achieve in the first six months? More calls, a full calendar, the first online orders?
2. Cut the scope down to that goal. Anything that doesn't serve it goes on the “later” list. Keep the “right now” list short.
3. Leave a little room to build on. A site lives and changes, so a sensible plan allows for small edits and for growth during the year.

Watch out for hidden costs

The build price isn't the whole story. When you're looking only at a quote for design and development, it's easy to forget the items that come with it. The domain and hosting are paid every year, some ready-made add-ons carry their own licences, and over the year the odd small edit adds up. None of that is large on its own. But it can be an unpleasant surprise if you only budgeted for a single one-off figure.

That's why our proposals always clearly separate what you pay once and what you pay every year. So no unexpected invoice lands a couple of months later, and you know exactly what to expect in the first year and in every year after it.

Advice for small businesses

Start simple. A clean, fast presentation site with clear contact details is often all you need at the beginning, and you can build on it once the business grows. One good page that opens quickly, looks right on a phone and says plainly what you do and how to reach you is worth more than five subpages nobody reads.

If you're still weighing up whether you need a website at all, we wrote about that honestly in does a small business need a website?. To see how long all this realistically takes, have a look at how long a website takes to build. And for the full picture of what we offer, there's the services overview.