There's no single average cost of website design for a small business, because there are three different ways to get a website, and each one costs something different:
- Build it yourself with a website builder: from about $18 to $30 a month on a basic plan billed yearly, plus your own time.
- Hire a freelancer: usually billed by the hour or by the project. The median pay for web developers and digital designers in the US was $47.85 an hour in 2025, so the total depends on how many hours your site takes.
- Work with a studio that builds and looks after it: I charge $2,500 for the build plus $100 a month, or $250 a month for 18 months, then $100 a month.
The number that matters is the total over the next few years. There's a calculator for that further down.
The short answer
| Path | What you pay upfront | What you pay every month | Who does the work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website builder | Little or nothing | The plan, from about $18 to $30 billed yearly | You |
| Freelancer | Their quote for the build | Care, if they offer it | Them, then you or them |
| Studio with care (mine) | $2,500, or $0 on the monthly plan | $100, or $250 for 18 months | Me |
Path 1: build it yourself with a website builder
Builders like Squarespace and Wix let you pick a template, add your text and photos, and publish without writing code. As listed on Squarespace's pricing page and Wix's plans page in October 2026, billed yearly:
- Squarespace: Basic $19 a month, Core $29, Plus $49 and Advanced $99. Billed monthly, the same plans cost $25 to $139. Annual plans include one free year of domain registration.
- Wix: Light $17.77 a month, Core $29.77, Business $39.77 and Business Elite $159.77, for yearly subscriptions paid upfront.
On top of the plan, expect to pay for:
- The domain after the first year, when the free year runs out.
- Apps and extras, like booking tools, email marketing or a professional email address.
- Your time. Learning the builder, writing every page, finding photos and fixing things when they break. If your time is worth something to your business, count it.
A builder is a good choice when your budget is tight, you enjoy this kind of work and you have the hours. It's a poor choice if you'll keep putting it off.
Path 2: hire a freelancer
Freelancers charge in one of three ways: by the hour, a fixed price for the project, or a monthly fee that bundles the build and the upkeep. For a sense of scale, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the 2025 median pay for web developers and digital designers at $99,520 a year, or $47.85 an hour. That figure is for employees, since freelancers set their own rates, but it tells you what an hour of this work is worth in the job market.
What makes a quote go up:
- More pages, and pages with unique layouts.
- Writing the text for you instead of using yours.
- Features: online booking, payments, an online store, a second language.
- Custom design instead of an adapted template.
- Ongoing care, if they keep the site updated and secure after launch.
Before you compare quotes, read what each one includes. A cheap quote that leaves out hosting, the domain or any help after launch isn't cheaper. Hiring a web designer has its own guide, with the questions to ask.
Path 3: a studio that builds it and looks after it
This is what I do. My prices are fixed:
- Pay upfront: $2,500 for the build, then $100 a month for care. The lowest total cost.
- Pay monthly: $250 a month for 18 months, which covers the build and care, then $100 a month. Nothing big to pay at the start.
Both include up to five pages, design for phones and computers, two rounds of design changes, hosting, an editor for your text, a contact form, a privacy policy, analytics, and 30 minutes of small updates every month. Extras have fixed prices too: an extra page is $300, copywriting $750, a second language $500, a simple logo $400 and a local SEO starter $500. The full list is on my services page.
The costs after launch
The build is a one-time cost. These keep coming:
| Cost | What it is | Typical arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | The server that keeps your site online | Included in builder plans and in my care plan |
| Domain | yourbusiness.com, renewed every year | Free the first year on many builders, then yearly |
| Updates and security | Keeping software current and the site safe | You (builder) or the care plan |
| Content changes | New hours, prices, photos, services | You, or included in a care plan up to a limit |
If you build it yourself, these are mostly your time. If someone else built it, ask who handles them and what it costs before you sign.
A few more costs show up later and surprise people:
- A professional email address on your domain is usually a separate monthly subscription per person, from an email provider.
- Booking and scheduling tools often charge their own monthly fee on top of the website.
- Online payments come with a processing fee on every transaction, charged by the payment provider.
- Paid apps and plugins for reviews, chat, pop-ups or newsletters add up one small subscription at a time.
- Photos. A photographer for an afternoon can do more for your site than any template.
None of these are reasons to skip a feature. Just ask what each one costs every month before you add it.
Compare the total over three years
Pick a builder plan, add your own hours and what your time is worth, and type in any freelancer quote you've received. The totals update as you type.
| Option | Total over 3 years |
|---|---|
| You build it (Squarespace Core)Plan only. Add your hours below to count your time. Plus domain renewal after year one. | $1,044 |
| A freelancer (your quote)Type the quote you received below. | — |
| DaiCanDev, pay upfront$2,500 + $100/month care. | $6,100 |
| DaiCanDev, pay monthly$250/month for 18 months, then $100/month. | $6,300 |
Builder prices from their pricing pages (October 2026), billed yearly. Taxes and extras not included.
A few things the calculator leaves out on purpose: taxes, the domain renewal after the free year, paid apps, and the hours you'd spend keeping a builder site up to date. If those apply to you, they make the do-it-yourself total higher.
What moves the price the most
- How many pages you need. Five pages cover most small businesses. Each extra page with its own layout adds design and build time.
- Who writes the text. Writing is often the slowest part. Paying someone to write it costs more upfront and usually shortens the project.
- Booking, payments and online stores. These connect your site to other services, like online ordering for a restaurant, and need more setup and testing.
- More than one language. Every page, button and email has to exist twice.
- Who keeps it running. A site without a care plan is cheaper until something breaks, which is what website maintenance prevents.
Is $1,500 a good price for a website?
It can be. The number alone doesn't tell you. A $1,500 quote is a good price if it includes the things you'd otherwise pay for later, and a poor one if it doesn't. Check whether it covers:
- the number of pages you need, designed for phones
- the text, or at least help shaping yours
- hosting and the domain for the first year, in your name
- a way to edit your own text
- basic setup for Google: titles, a sitemap, Search Console
- help after launch, and what that help costs
A $1,500 site with no hosting, no editor and no help after launch can cost more over three years than a $2,500 site that includes all of it. That's why the calculator above compares totals over three years.
How to compare two quotes
- Put them side by side, line by line. Pages, revisions, text, hosting, domain, editor, Google setup, care.
- Fill the gaps with real numbers. If one quote leaves out hosting, add what hosting costs. If it leaves out care, add your hours or a care plan.
- Compare the total over three years. A small business site usually stays up for years, so three is a fair window.
- Ask what happens if you leave. Can you take the site? Is the domain yours? What does leaving cost?
- Pick the one you'd trust to answer the phone in a year. The cheapest quote is the most expensive one if nobody answers when something breaks.
When paying more is worth it, and when it isn't
Paying more is worth it when your time is better spent on the business, when you'd never write the text yourself, or when the site has to take bookings, orders or payments that cost you money if they break.
It isn't worth it when you're still testing the idea, when a one-page site is enough to get started, or when you enjoy building and have the evenings to do it. A website builder is a perfectly good first website. You can move to something else when the business needs more, and if you're replacing a site you already have, here's what a redesign costs.
Questions people ask about website costs
Is a website a one-time cost? The build is. Hosting, the domain, updates and changes keep costing something every year, either in money or in your time.
Do I need to pay for hosting? Yes, someone does. Website builders include it in the plan. When a designer builds your site, ask whether hosting is in the price or billed separately. In my plans it's part of the monthly care.
Can I pay for a website monthly? Some designers offer it. Mine is $250 a month for 18 months, which covers the build and care, then $100 a month. Read the minimum term before you sign.
Does a website in English and Spanish cost more? Usually, because every page, button and email exists twice. A second language is a $500 add-on in my plans, for up to five pages.
Why my prices are fixed
Fixed prices make it easy to compare. You know the build cost, the monthly cost and what's included before we start, and anything extra has a price on the services page instead of a surprise on an invoice. To see what that looks like finished, here is an ordering site I built for a kitchen in Lakeland.
If you're still deciding, start with what a small business website needs and how long it takes to build one.
