TL;DR
- A small business website usually costs £300–£3,000 from a freelancer or £2,000–£7,000 from an agency (Bark, checked October 2026).
- A DIY website builder costs about £10–£40 a month, but the planning, copy and SEO are down to you.
- Budget for running costs too: a domain at £8–£20 a year and hosting at £20–£300+ a year (Startups, 2026).
- The price moves with the number of pages, who writes the copy, quote or booking forms, integrations and online payments.
- With us, a 5-page site is £400 and an online shop starts at £1,500, each with a full list of what’s included.
How much does a website cost in the UK? For a small business, usually between £300 and £7,000 to build. A freelancer typically charges £300–£1,000 for a basic site and £1,000–£3,000 for a fuller small business site, while an agency typically charges £2,000–£7,000, according to Bark’s UK web design price guide (checked October 2026). A DIY builder costs about £10–£40 a month instead. With us, a 5-page site costs £400.
This guide covers the whole UK market, not only us. You’ll find the typical price for each route, our own packages as a worked example, two trade examples, the running costs people forget, and what to look out for in a very cheap quote. Every market figure links to its source and shows its year.
How much a website costs in the UK, by route
#There are four ways to get a website built, plus e-commerce, which costs more on every route. The table shows typical UK prices from two published price guides.
Typical UK website costs by route (market ranges, not quotes)
DIY website builder
- Typical price
- £10–£40 a month for builders like Wix or Squarespace. Plans range from £1.99 to £259 a month
- Ongoing cost
- The subscription, for as long as the site is live
- Suits
- Starting out on a tight budget, with time to do it yourself
Freelancer
- Typical price
- Basic site £300–£1,000. Small business site £1,000–£3,000. Hourly rates of £25–£50
- Ongoing cost
- Hosting, plus changes charged by the hour
- Suits
- A simple brochure site, if you find someone reliable
Small agency
- Typical price
- Small business site £2,000–£7,000. Hourly rates of £50–£150
- Ongoing cost
- A care plan or hourly support
- Suits
- Businesses that want design, copy help and SEO from one place
Larger agency
- Typical price
- Custom sites £10,000–£30,000+. Hourly rates of £75–£200+
- Ongoing cost
- A support retainer
- Suits
- Bigger firms with complex systems or several teams to please
E-commerce
- Typical price
- £2,000–£5,000 from a freelancer. £5,000–£15,000 from an agency
- Ongoing cost
- Platform fees and payment processing on every sale
- Suits
- Selling products online
- Source
- Bark (Oct 2026)
| Route | Typical price | Ongoing cost | Suits | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | £10–£40 a month for builders like Wix or Squarespace. Plans range from £1.99 to £259 a month | The subscription, for as long as the site is live | Starting out on a tight budget, with time to do it yourself | Bark (Oct 2026); Startups (2026) |
| Freelancer | Basic site £300–£1,000. Small business site £1,000–£3,000. Hourly rates of £25–£50 | Hosting, plus changes charged by the hour | A simple brochure site, if you find someone reliable | Bark (Oct 2026); Startups (2026) |
| Small agency | Small business site £2,000–£7,000. Hourly rates of £50–£150 | A care plan or hourly support | Businesses that want design, copy help and SEO from one place | Bark (Oct 2026); Startups (2026) |
| Larger agency | Custom sites £10,000–£30,000+. Hourly rates of £75–£200+ | A support retainer | Bigger firms with complex systems or several teams to please | Bark (Oct 2026); Startups (2026) |
| E-commerce | £2,000–£5,000 from a freelancer. £5,000–£15,000 from an agency | Platform fees and payment processing on every sale | Selling products online | Bark (Oct 2026) |
Ranges, not quotes
These are typical prices from published UK guides. The same five pages can cost a few hundred pounds or a few thousand, depending on who writes the copy, how much is designed from scratch and what support comes afterwards. Compare what’s included, not only the headline price.
What a website costs with us, as a worked example
#We publish fixed prices, so you can see where a small UK agency sits in that market. Each package has a written list of what’s included, and payment is half upfront and half on launch.
Starter, £400
Up to 5 pages, mobile-first design, an enquiry form with spam protection, page titles and a sitemap, and GA4 and Search Console set up. Usually live in around 2 weeks.
Business, £750
Up to 10 pages, help writing your core page copy, speed optimisation, a blog, a reviews section and 30 days of support after launch.
Growth, £1,200
Up to 15 pages, a quote or booking form with photo upload, local SEO setup with 10 citations, and Enquiry Bot setup with the first month included.
E-commerce, from £1,500
An online shop with up to 50 products, online payments and delivery rules. The final price is confirmed once we’ve scoped the shop.
Trades Starter Kit, £950
A Business website and Enquiry Bot setup together, for tradespeople who want to catch enquiries while they’re on a job.
See every package side by side
Our website packages page lists every inclusion, the timelines and what isn’t covered, so you can compare it line by line with any other quote.
What drives the price of a website
#Five things move a website quote more than anything else. If two quotes are far apart, it’s usually because they’ve assumed different answers to these.
The number of pages
Each page needs planning, design and content. A 5-page site and a 15-page site are different jobs, and a page for each service you offer is what helps you rank for that service.
Who writes the copy
If you supply the words, the price drops. If the designer writes or rewrites them, expect to pay for that time. Copy is the part most cheap quotes leave out.
Quote and booking forms
A basic enquiry form is standard. A quote form that asks for the job type and postcode, takes photo uploads or books a slot in a calendar takes more building and testing.
Integrations
Connecting the site to a booking system, a CRM, Google Sheets or a payment provider adds work, and sometimes a monthly fee from the third party.
Selling online
E-commerce means products, stock, payments, delivery rules and legal pages. It costs more on every route, as the table above shows.
The platform matters too. WordPress, Shopify and website builders each carry their own running costs, and our guide on the best website platform for a small business compares them.
A plumber’s website vs a roofer’s website
#Two typical trade sites show how the drivers above add up. Both are for trades that travel to the customer. For more on what a trade site needs, see our page on websites for plumbers.
A plumber’s 5-page site compared with a roofer’s site with a photo-upload quote form
Pages
- Plumber: 5-page site
- Home, boiler repairs, leaks and emergencies, bathrooms, contact and areas covered
- Roofer: quote form with photo upload
- Home, roof repairs, new roofs, flat roofs, guttering, a gallery of finished jobs, areas covered and contact, up to 15 in all
What makes it work
- Plumber: 5-page site
- Tap-to-call on every page and a short enquiry form, so an emergency job comes straight through
- Roofer: quote form with photo upload
- A quote form where the customer uploads photos of the damage, so the roofer can price many jobs before visiting
Copy
- Plumber: 5-page site
- The plumber supplies the words; we shape them into the design
- Roofer: quote form with photo upload
- Help writing the core page copy is included
Package that fits
- Plumber: 5-page site
- Starter, £400
- Roofer: quote form with photo upload
- Growth, £1,200
Typical timeline
- Plumber: 5-page site
- Around 2 weeks
- Roofer: quote form with photo upload
- 4–6 weeks
| Detail | Plumber: 5-page site | Roofer: quote form with photo upload |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | Home, boiler repairs, leaks and emergencies, bathrooms, contact and areas covered | Home, roof repairs, new roofs, flat roofs, guttering, a gallery of finished jobs, areas covered and contact, up to 15 in all |
| What makes it work | Tap-to-call on every page and a short enquiry form, so an emergency job comes straight through | A quote form where the customer uploads photos of the damage, so the roofer can price many jobs before visiting |
| Copy | The plumber supplies the words; we shape them into the design | Help writing the core page copy is included |
| Package that fits | Starter, £400 | Growth, £1,200 |
| Typical timeline | Around 2 weeks | 4–6 weeks |
The roofer pays more because of the extra pages, the copywriting and the photo-upload quote form, which needs building and testing on real phones. If a quote doesn’t say which of these it includes, ask before you compare prices.
Ongoing website costs to budget for
#The build is a one-off. A website also has running costs, and some quotes leave them out to look cheaper. These are typical UK figures, with what each one costs with us.
Typical UK running costs for a small business website
Domain name
- Typical UK price
- £8–£20+ a year (Startups, 2026)
- With us
- Charged at cost
Hosting
- Typical UK price
- £20–£300+ a year (Startups, 2026)
- With us
- Included in a Care plan, £25 a month, with SSL, backups, updates and 30 minutes of edits
Updates and small changes
- Typical UK price
- Usually hourly, at the rates in the table above
- With us
- Care+ at £45 a month adds 1 hour of edits and a monthly health report
Plugins and platform fees
- Typical UK price
- £0–£100+ a month for apps and plugins (Startups, 2026)
- With us
- Paid separately, and we tell you about them before we start
SEO
- Typical UK price
- £150–£1,200+ a month (Startups, 2026)
- With us
- Optional, from £199 a month, monthly rolling
| Cost | Typical UK price | With us |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | £8–£20+ a year (Startups, 2026) | Charged at cost |
| Hosting | £20–£300+ a year (Startups, 2026) | Included in a Care plan, £25 a month, with SSL, backups, updates and 30 minutes of edits |
| Updates and small changes | Usually hourly, at the rates in the table above | Care+ at £45 a month adds 1 hour of edits and a monthly health report |
| Plugins and platform fees | £0–£100+ a month for apps and plugins (Startups, 2026) | Paid separately, and we tell you about them before we start |
| SEO | £150–£1,200+ a month (Startups, 2026) | Optional, from £199 a month, monthly rolling |
SEO is the running cost with the widest range. Our guide to how much SEO costs in the UK breaks it down by pricing model and explains what a monthly budget actually buys.
Red flags in very cheap website quotes
#A low price isn’t a problem on its own. These are the signs that a cheap quote will cost you more later:
- The domain will be registered in the designer’s name, not yours.
- You won’t get your own login to the hosting or the website’s admin area.
- There’s a monthly fee with a long minimum term, and the site goes if you stop paying.
- The quote doesn’t list the pages, or says “unlimited pages” with no mention of who writes them.
- Nothing about how it works on a phone, page speed, or page titles and a sitemap.
- It’s a template with your logo dropped in, used for dozens of other businesses.
- No written list of what’s included, so every change becomes an extra.
- It doesn’t say whether VAT is included.
Already have a site and wondering whether to start again? Read about our website redesign services, which keep your existing URLs and rankings in mind, or ask for a free website check first.
Do website prices include VAT?
#Not always, so check before you compare. A VAT-registered business adds VAT at the standard rate of 20%, which turns a £3,000 quote into £3,600. We’re not VAT-registered, so no VAT is added to any of our prices.
How much does a 5-page website cost in the UK?
From a freelancer, a basic site typically costs £300–£1,000 and a fuller small business site £1,000–£3,000, according to Bark’s UK price guide (checked October 2026). Agencies typically charge £2,000–£7,000. Our Starter package covers up to 5 pages for £400, with an enquiry form, page titles, a sitemap and GA4 set up.
How much does it cost to maintain a website in the UK?
Budget for a domain at £8–£20 a year and hosting at £20–£300+ a year, according to Startups (2026), plus any plugin or platform fees. If you want someone else to handle updates and small edits, our Care plan costs £25 a month and includes hosting, SSL, backups, updates and 30 minutes of edits.
Should I use a freelancer or an agency?
A good freelancer suits a simple site on a tight budget, especially if you’re writing the copy yourself. An agency suits you if you want design, copy help, SEO and support from one place, with cover when someone is off. Whichever you choose, get a written list of what’s included before you pay.
Are website builders worth it for small businesses?
They can be, if you have the time. Builders like Wix and Squarespace cost about £10–£40 a month (Bark, October 2026), which is £360–£1,440 over three years. The planning, copy, SEO and speed work are down to you, so be honest about whether you’ll have the time.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
Around 2 weeks for a simple 5-page site with us, 3–4 weeks for a 10-page site and 4–6 weeks for a larger site with a quote or booking form. Content is what usually holds things up, so have your copy, photos and logo ready before you start.
Who owns the website when it’s finished?
Check the contract before you pay anything. The domain should be registered in your name, you should have your own logins to the hosting and the website’s admin area, and you should be able to get a copy of the files or code. If a monthly fee is the only way to keep the site, you’re renting it.
Do website prices include VAT?
Not always. VAT-registered businesses add VAT at the standard rate of 20%, so check whether a quote is shown with or without it before you compare. We’re not VAT-registered, so no VAT is added to our prices.
Want a fixed price for your website?
Tell us what you do and the pages you need. We’ll tell you which package fits and what it costs before any work starts. Websites from £400.
Sources
Freelancer, agency, e-commerce and website builder prices — Bark
How much does web design cost in the UK? (price list undated; checked October 2026)
Website builder plans, hourly rates, domain, hosting, plugin and SEO costs — Startups.co.uk
How much does a website cost? Updated 23 March 2026
Standard VAT rate — GOV.UK
VAT rates
- #website-cost
- #web-design-prices
- #small-business-website
- #freelancer-vs-agency
- #website-running-costs
- #vat
