How much should a small business website cost in 2026?
Short answer: it depends on the route, and every route has a real price band. DIY builders run about $15–$50 a month on their published plans. A freelancer typically charges $500–$5,000 to build a small-business site. Agencies start around $5,000 and run past $30,000. And whichever route you pick, there's an ongoing cost most quotes leave out. The numbers, with sources, below.
The four routes, priced
| Route | Typical cost | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, etc.) | ~$15–$50/month on published plans | Your evenings. You design it, write it, and fix it. |
| Freelancer | $500–$5,000 one-time | Quality varies wildly, and maintenance after launch is usually extra or absent. |
| Agency | $5,000–$30,000+ one-time | You're also paying for meetings, project managers, and revision rounds. |
| Managed subscription | commonly $50–$300/month | The ownership terms. Some subscriptions hold your site hostage; see below. |
Those bands come from published 2026 pricing guides (GoDaddy's cost guide and Mark Brinker's long-running annual pricing survey), which agree far more than they disagree.
The ongoing costs quotes leave out
A one-time build is never one-time. Hosting, the domain, SSL, software updates, security patches, backups, and content edits keep costing money after launch. WebFX's maintenance pricing guide puts routine small-business website maintenance at roughly $35–$500 a month depending on what's included. When you compare a one-time quote against a monthly plan, add that line back in; otherwise you're comparing a car's sticker price against another car's lease with gas and insurance included.
Is a $100-a-month website legit, or a scam?
It's a real model with a real failure mode. The legitimate version bundles design, hosting, security, backups, and edits into one flat fee, which is exactly what our $100/month plan does. The scam version locks you in: you stop paying and your site, sometimes your domain, disappears. The difference isn't the price. It's the exit terms, in writing. Ours: your domain and content stay yours, and the only exit fee is $400 if you cancel within the first 6 months. After that, there's no fee. If a monthly provider won't put its exit terms in writing, walk.
So what should you actually pay?
For an owner-run business that needs a professional site with the phone number, services, and hours right, and someone to call when it breaks, the honest math over five years:
- Agency build: $5,000–$30,000 up front, plus maintenance at $35–$500/month. Five-year total: $7,100+ at the very cheapest.
- Our plan: $100/month, nothing upfront, build included. Five-year total: $6,000, with a person to call the whole time.
If you love building things yourself and have the evenings free, a DIY builder is genuinely cheaper. If you don't, pay for the version where the work is included and the exit is published.
What the build looked like for owners we worked with
Three recent sites, so "build included" means something concrete:
- GLS Gate: Sunhee Hong wanted to keep the hosting she already had, so we built inside it. She got five concepts, they picked one at noon, and the site was ready that afternoon with all the old pages still there.
- Anew "U": Michelle Martell's image consultancy site was rebuilt and moved off Replit, with every page kept at the same address.
- Sultana's Crochet: a full rebuild for Sultana Muzikir, who has crocheted for 45 years, including moving her shop and her domain.
Related: Pay-monthly vs. one-time: do you own your site? · Why is my website not showing up on Google?
Sources: pricing bands: GoDaddy website cost guide, Mark Brinker's annual website pricing survey, Jim.com small business website costs; maintenance costs: WebFX website maintenance pricing.
Want to see your new website before you pay anything? We send free concepts in 3 business days. If you like one, it's $100 a month from launch, build included.