How much does a small business website cost?

Anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands, which isn't a useful answer. The useful answer is what moves the price, what a typical small business site costs to build and to run, and where you can save without ending up with something you'll replace next year.

The short answer

A simple custom website for a small business, with up to five pages, a contact form and the basic search setup, typically comes to $1,500 to $4,500 with our rates and takes about 2 to 3 weeks. A bigger site, with 11 pages, online booking and a blog, is closer to $4,000 to $11,250 over 3 to 9 weeks. Redesigning a site you already have is usually $1,250 to $4,250.

Those numbers come straight from the rate card our planner uses ($36 to $52 an hour), including time for design, testing and launch. Other studios and freelancers will quote differently, but the things that move the price are the same everywhere.

Right now we're running a launch offer: 50% off for our first 5 clients, for a limited time. The ranges above are the regular prices; the planner shows both.

What actually drives the price

A website is priced by the work in it, and most of that work is decided by a handful of choices.

• Number of pages. Each page needs layout, content fitting and testing on phones. Five pages is a common starting point; every few extra pages add a little.
• Features. A contact form is small. Online booking, payments, a members area or a product catalogue are each a project of their own inside the website.
• Design. A good template adapted to your brand is quicker than a fully custom design. Both can look professional; custom costs more because someone designs every screen.
• Content. If your text and photos are ready, the build is faster. If someone has to write, source or rework them, that time is part of the price.
• Connections to other tools. Linking the site to your booking system, CRM, newsletter or accounting software adds work, especially if those tools are old or unusual.
• How fast you need it. A deadline next week means other work gets moved, and some studios charge for that.

The costs after launch

The build is a one-off; running the site isn't. For a simple small business site, plan for roughly $5 to $25 a month for hosting, the domain and any services it uses. An online store runs higher, around $30 to $120 a month, because of payment processing, product images and extra services.

Budget for these too, even if they're small:

• Domain name, renewed every year.
• Hosting, which is often free or cheap for a small site and grows with traffic.
• Email on your own domain, if you want addresses like hello@yourbusiness.com.
• Updates and fixes. Software ages. A small monthly support plan, or an hour now and then, keeps the site secure and working.
• Paid tools the site depends on, like a booking service or a newsletter platform.

Why quotes vary so much

Two quotes for "a website" can differ by ten times, and both can be fair. One might be a template with your logo dropped in; the other might include copywriting, custom design, booking and a year of support. Before comparing numbers, compare what's in them: the pages, the features, who writes the content, what happens after launch, and who owns the site at the end.

A very low quote is worth a second look. Ask what's excluded, whether you'll own the site and its code, and what it costs to change something later.

How to keep the first version affordable

• Start with what earns money. Launch with the pages and features customers need to find you and contact or book you. Add the rest once the site is working for you.
• Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. The planner lets you mark each feature, and shows a first-version price with only the must-haves.
• Get your content ready. Text for each page and a few good photos save more money than almost anything else.
• Choose a simpler design if a fully custom look isn't what wins you customers. It's still built for you, just a more straightforward layout.
• Reuse what you have. An existing logo, colours and domain all shorten the work.

A quick example

A hair salon wants its services and prices, a photo gallery, a contact form and online booking, with customer reviews and appointment reminders as extras for later. That's a small site with one real feature, the booking system. With everything included, our planner's salon example comes to $4,000 to $11,250 over 3 to 9 weeks. Leaving the extras for a second version brings the first one down to $3,000 to $8,750. You can open the example in the planner and change anything to match your own business.