How much does a small-business website cost in 2026?

"How much does a website cost?" is the question I'm asked more than any other — and the honest answer is the one nobody likes: it depends. But that's a cop-out unless I tell you what it depends on. So here's the real breakdown, with no sales fog.

The short version

For a small business in 2026, a professional, bespoke website typically lands somewhere between £2,000 and £9,000, depending on how many pages you need and whether it's a brochure site or something that actually does things (sells products, takes bookings, logs people in). Web applications and mobile apps cost more because they're a different kind of build entirely.

That's the range for custom work — designed and coded for your business specifically. Template builders (Wix, Squarespace) are cheaper up front but cost you in monthly fees, ceilings on what's possible, and a site that looks like everyone else's.

What actually drives the price

Five things move the number more than anything else:

1. Number of pages and custom design. A five-page brochure site is a fraction of a fifteen-page branded build with bespoke graphics. More pages, more design, more cost — but also more room to rank and convert.
2. Functionality. A static "here's who we are" site is the cheap end. Add e-commerce, customer logins, dashboards, or booking systems and you're paying for software, not just pages.
3. Integrations. Payment processors, CRMs, email tools, and third-party APIs each add scope. "Just connect it to my mailing list" is rarely just.
4. Platform. Web only is one thing. Web plus native iOS and Android apps is a different budget entirely.
5. Content. If you supply the words and images, that's cheaper. If you need copywriting and photography produced, that's extra — but often worth it.

What you should not be paying for

• Ongoing licence fees for basic features. On a custom build, your hosting costs are close to nothing at small-business scale, and you own everything.
• "SEO packages" that are just hope. Foundational technical SEO should be built into the site, not sold as a mysterious monthly add-on.
• Lock-in. You should walk away owning your code, your domain, and your accounts. If a quote doesn't include handover, ask why.

How I price it

Every project I take on is fixed-price: one number, agreed in writing after a short discovery call, before any work begins. No hourly meters ticking, no "it grew in scope" surprises. You can see my starting points on the pricing page — they're real, not "from £1" bait.

The reason I can quote sharper than an agency is simple: no office, no project managers, no juniors learning on your budget — and AI-assisted coding that ships several times faster, savings I split with you. You work directly with the person writing the code.

The honest bottom line

A cheap website that doesn't bring you customers is expensive. A well-built one that does is the best marketing money you'll spend. Work out what you need the site to achieve first — leads, sales, bookings, credibility — and the right budget follows from that, not the other way around.

If you want a straight answer for your project, tell me what you're building and I'll send a fixed quote.