How much does a website cost in the UK? A guide for small businesses
Published 17 October 2026
A professionally built small business website in the UK usually costs between about £1,000 and £5,000 as a one-off, and £500 to £2,000 a year to keep running. Prices vary a lot from one supplier to the next, so treat every figure below as a range and get at least two written quotes.
The numbers here come from price guides published by UK web designers and hosting companies (listed at the end). They are sellers' own figures, not an official survey, and we have rounded them. Your quote will depend on the number of pages, the amount of writing and any extras such as online booking or payments.
What you pay to get a website built
| Route | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace and similar) | Roughly £150 to £500 a year | A template you set up yourself. Cheapest in cash, most expensive in your time. |
| Template or simple brochure site from a freelancer | Roughly £500 to £1,500 | Three to five pages on a ready-made theme, with your logo and text added. |
| Custom site from a freelancer | Roughly £1,000 to £5,000 | A design made for you, more pages, some help with copy. |
| Web design agency | Roughly £2,500 to £15,000 and up | A bigger team, custom design, strategy, and usually a project manager. |
Different guides draw these lines in different places. One UK agency puts a basic three to five page brochure site at £1,000 to £1,500, another gives £1,000 to £5,000 for a freelancer and £2,500 to £15,000 and up for an agency. Both agree that the build is only part of the bill.
What you pay every year to keep it running
The build price is a one-off. These costs come back every month or every year:
| Cost | Typical UK range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | About £10 a year for a .co.uk | Introductory offers of £1 or so usually rise to about £10 at renewal. |
| Hosting | £10 to £40 a month for most small business sites | Shared hosting runs from £2 to £25 a month and managed WordPress from £7 to £120 or more. Check the renewal price, not the first-year offer. |
| Maintenance (updates, backups, security) | £30 to £100 a month | Optional, but someone has to do it. Some hosts include part of it. |
| SEO | £300 to £1,000 or more a month from an agency | Quoted by one UK agency as a typical retainer. Not every business needs one. |
All of these are usually quoted before VAT. If you are VAT-registered you can normally reclaim it, but check with your accountant.
Add it up and a small site with a domain, decent hosting and some upkeep can come to £500 to £2,000 a year on top of the build, before any SEO spend.
What drives the price up or down
- Number of pages. Five pages and fifty pages are different jobs.
- Who writes the text. Many quotes assume you supply the words and photos. Writing for you adds cost.
- Custom design versus a theme. A theme is quicker and cheaper. Custom design costs more and is rarely necessary for a small service business.
- Functions. Booking, payments, client login and shops all add work.
- Ongoing support. A cheap build with no support can cost more later.
What makes sense for a micro-business
This is our view, not a rule.
- If you already have a WordPress site that works, don't rebuild it. Most of the money is better spent on making the existing pages easier to find and clearer to read. A redesign is a big spend for a problem that is often about page titles and text.
- If you are starting from nothing, a simple site on a good theme is enough. A freelancer or small studio working on WordPress, with five to ten clear pages, is usually the sensible middle. Ask who owns the site and the domain, and make sure both are in your name.
- Budget for the running costs from day one. Hosting, a domain and updates are not optional, and a site left unmaintained becomes a security risk.
- Be wary of very low and very high quotes. A few hundred pounds for "a full website with SEO" often means a template with little else. A five-figure quote for a five-page brochure site needs a clear explanation.
- Get the same things quoted each time. Ask for the number of pages, who writes the text, what hosting is included, and what a change costs after launch.
Where WdBasic fits
WdBasic does not build websites. If you already have a WordPress site, we connect to it, audit it for free and then send specific changes each week (page titles, descriptions, FAQs, articles and technical fixes) that you approve before anything is published. It costs £99 a month plus VAT, with no contract, and founding clients pay £79 a month for the first three months. We can't promise any position on Google. You can read how the service works on our WordPress SEO service page.
Sources
Figures in this guide are drawn from these UK price guides, checked in October 2026. They change often, so check the current page.