How much does a small business website cost in 2026? Three routes, priced from the source

A small business website costs $17 to $29 a month if you build it yourself on Squarespace, Wix or Shopify, most often $1,500 to $5,000 if a freelancer builds it on one of them, and $1,000 to $20,000 from an agency, rising to $50,000 for a shop or a custom booking system. On top of the build you pay every month: the plan or hosting, the domain, email, booking and upkeep.

In GoodFirms’ survey of more than 300 web development firms in 31 countries, run in April and May 2026, 60% quote $1,000 to $3,000 for a basic website and 54% quote $5,000 to $20,000 for a mid-sized business site (GoodFirms, web development cost survey).

I build websites, online booking and Wallet loyalty cards for local service businesses, and I run this site myself. Every price below is a US list price before tax, checked at its source on 15 October 2026.

How much does a website for a small business cost?

It depends on who builds it. Three routes:

1. Do it yourself on a builder. Nothing up front except your time. On annual billing, Squarespace Basic is $19 a month and Core $29, Wix Light is $17 and Core $29, and Shopify Basic is $29. Paying month to month costs more: Squarespace Basic is $25 and Shopify Basic $39.
2. A freelancer on a builder. The most common price for a low-code or no-code build in the GoodFirms survey is $1,500 to $5,000. Clutch puts designers who build on Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow and Shopify at $25 to $49 an hour. You still pay the builder plan.
3. An agency or custom build. GoodFirms’ most common ranges: $1,000 to $3,000 for a basic website, $5,000 to $20,000 for a mid-sized business site, $5,000 to $50,000 for ecommerce and $20,000 to $50,000 for a custom web application. Hourly rates in the US and UK sit at $50 to $100 in that survey. Clutch puts US agencies at $100 to $149 an hour and UK agencies at $50 to $99, and says most web design projects reviewed on its site cost under $10,000.

Tick what your business needs and switch routes. The preview builds the site for a made-up London dog groomer, and every quote line links to its source.

How much does a small business website cost per month?

About $37 to $53 a month on a builder once you add email, a domain and booking, before card fees. These are the lines people forget:

• The plan or the hosting. $17 to $29 a month on a builder. A custom site needs hosting, for example Vercel Pro at $20 a month, which is what this site runs on, and a database, for example Supabase Pro from $25 a month, once it stores bookings or orders.
• The domain. A .com is $11.08 a year at Porkbun. Squarespace and Wix include the first year free on annual plans, then it renews at their standard rate.
• Email at your domain. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per person a month on an annual plan. Squarespace includes the first year on Core and above.
• Booking. Squarespace uses Acuity Scheduling: Starter is $16 a month billed yearly, $20 monthly. Wix includes booking from Core.
• Card fees. 2.9% + 30¢ per online card sale with Squarespace Payments on Basic and Core, Wix Payments, Shopify Payments on Basic and Stripe. Squarespace Basic adds a 2% fee on online store sales.
• Maintenance. GoodFirms says to plan for 15% to 20% of the build cost each year. Retainers run $500 to $1,500 a month at 30% of firms and $1,500 to $3,000 at 28%, and the two-year cost of a professionally built site typically runs 150% to 200% of the build.
• A Wallet loyalty card. Issuing Apple Wallet passes needs the Apple Developer Program, $99 a year.

Example: Wix Core with booking, one email address and a .com is about $37 a month after year one, plus card fees.

What does a small business website actually need?

Fewer pages than you think, and five things:

• Fast on a phone. Google’s Core Web Vitals set the bar: the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to a tap within 200 milliseconds, and the layout does not jump (a layout shift score of 0.1 or less), for 75% of visits.
• Booking that takes two taps. Pick a time, confirm, get an email.
• A Google Business Profile. It is free, it puts you on Search and Maps, and it carries your Google reviews. Point its website and booking links at your booking page.
• Prices, hours, address and a phone number you can tap.
• A reason to come back. A stamp card in the customer’s phone works well for repeat visits. I wrote up how Apple and Google Wallet stamp cards work.

Which route should you pick?

• Do it yourself if you have one location, simple services and some evenings.
• A freelancer on a builder if you want it done properly and still be able to change your prices yourself afterwards.
• An agency or custom build if your booking has rules a builder cannot follow, you want a loyalty card in Apple and Google Wallet, staff need their own view of the day, or you want customers and bookings in your own database.

That last route is my work. For a car care business I built booking in any phone browser, a staff view to run the day and a Wallet stamp card per car, where bigger jobs earn more stamps. For a dog club, every dog has its own member card and owners book stays and day care online. Neither needs an app.

What should you check before you pay?

1. The domain is registered in your business’s name, in your account.
2. You own every account: the builder or hosting, the Google Business Profile, analytics and email.
3. The quote says what it leaves out. GoodFirms names the four items most often missing from first quotes: content, SEO setup, third-party licences and post-launch maintenance.
4. Running costs are written down, line by line, per month.
5. Who fixes it when it breaks, how fast, and at what rate.
6. You can export your pages, customers and bookings if you leave.
7. Booking and payment fees per transaction are on paper.
8. You tested it on your own phone before signing off.

How do I fix my website? A quick security and speed check

When a small business site needs fixing, start with these checks. Each one takes minutes.

1. Speed. Run your home page and booking page through PageSpeed Insights on mobile and look at the three Core Web Vitals above.
2. HTTPS and security headers. Run the two commands below the list.
3. Book yourself. Make a real booking and send the contact form from your phone, then check the emails arrive, for you and for the customer.
4. Two-step sign-in on the builder, the domain registrar, email and the Google Business Profile.
5. Updates. On WordPress, update plugins and themes and delete the ones you do not use.
6. Backups you have restored once.
7. Customer data. Check who can read your bookings. Open your site, view the page source and search for secret: no secret key belongs there. If your site keeps data in Supabase, work through my Supabase security checklist, the same checks I run when I fix database security on live apps.

The commands for step 2, from any Mac or Linux terminal, with example.com replaced by your domain:

# does plain http send visitors to https?
curl -sI http://example.com | grep -i -E "^http|^location"

# which security headers does the site send?
curl -sI https://example.com | grep -i -E "strict-transport-security|content-security-policy|x-content-type-options|x-frame-options|referrer-policy"

The first command should show a redirect to an https:// address. In the second, strict-transport-security keeps browsers on HTTPS, and content-security-policy limits which scripts can run on your pages.

Questions people ask

How much does a small business website cost in 2026?

$17 to $29 a month on a builder if you build it yourself, most often $1,500 to $5,000 for a freelancer on a builder, and $1,000 to $20,000 from an agency, up to $50,000 for ecommerce or a custom web application.

How much does a small business website cost per month?

About $37 to $53 on a builder with email, a domain and booking, plus card fees. A custom site adds hosting, a database and maintenance at 15% to 20% of the build each year.

Is Wix or Squarespace cheaper for a small business?

For a plain site, Wix Light is $17 a month and Squarespace Basic $19, both billed yearly. With booking, Wix Core is $29 with booking included, while Squarespace Basic plus Acuity Starter is $35.

What is the cheapest way to get a small business website?

Wix has a free plan with Wix branding and its own web address. The cheapest plan on your own domain is Wix Light at $17 a month, billed yearly.

How much does it cost to fix a website?

By the hour. Clutch puts builder specialists at $25 to $49 an hour, and GoodFirms puts US and UK firms at $50 to $100.

Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?

The profile is free and gets you found on Maps. A website is where people book, see your prices and add your loyalty card, Most local businesses need both.

If you need online booking, a Wallet stamp card or a site fixed for your business, see booking and Wallet loyalty cards or write to m@tawfik.tv.