How Much Does a Website Cost in the UK? A Breakdown for Small Businesses

Ask five web designers what a website costs and you may get five very different answers. That is not because anyone is being unreasonable: "a website" can mean a five-page brochure site built on a template or a custom online shop connected to stock and accounts systems. This guide breaks the cost into parts so you can see what you are paying for and compare quotes on equal terms.

The three ways to get a website

Route	What you pay	Suits
DIY website builder	A monthly or annual subscription, plus your time	Simple sites, tight budgets, owners who enjoy doing it themselves
Freelance web designer	A project fee, sometimes plus monthly support	Small businesses wanting a professional site without agency overheads
Web design agency	A larger project fee and usually a support contract	Complex sites, integrations, larger budgets, a team for strategy, design and development

Prices within each route vary widely with experience, location and scope. The best way to understand your own cost is to know what drives it and get several quotes against the same brief.

What drives the cost

• Number and type of pages: a handful of pages costs less than dozens of service and location pages.
• Template or custom design: adapting a good template is quicker than designing from scratch.
• Features: online booking, shop, membership areas, multilingual content and integrations with other systems all add work.
• Content: who writes the text and supplies photos. Copywriting and photography are often quoted separately.
• SEO setup: basic structure, titles and redirects from an old site.
• Revisions and project management: how many rounds of changes are included.

One-off costs and running costs

One-off	Ongoing
Design and build	Domain name renewal (yearly)
Copywriting and photography	Hosting or builder subscription
Logo or branding, if needed	Maintenance, updates and backups
Moving content from an old site	Paid plugins, apps or themes
Setup of email, analytics and Search Console	Email accounts, payment processing fees for shops

Running costs are where budgets are most often underestimated. Ask every supplier for a yearly total of ongoing costs, not just the build price. Our guide to website maintenance explains what ongoing care involves.

What a small site budget usually includes

To show how the parts add up, here are the lines you would expect in a quote for an imaginary five-page site for a local therapist, built by a freelancer. Check that each line appears in the quotes you receive, or that you know who covers it.

• Design and build on an existing theme
• Copywriting for five pages (or written by the owner)
• Online booking integration
• Domain, hosting and maintenance for the first year
• Half a day of photography

How to compare quotes fairly

1. Write a one-page brief: pages, features, examples you like, who supplies content, deadline.
2. Send the same brief to at least three suppliers.
3. Ask what is included: revisions, content, SEO basics, training, launch support.
4. Ask about ownership: you should own the domain, the content and ideally the site itself, with admin access.
5. Ask for yearly running costs in writing.
6. Look at sites they have built and ask those clients about the experience.

Where not to save money

• A site that works well on phones
• Clear service pages and contact options
• Security updates and backups
• Redirects from your old site's pages, so you keep any search visibility you have

Choosing who to work with? See what a web designer does and how to choose one.