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How much does a small business website cost in 2026?
· 7 min read
On this page
- How much does each kind of website cost?
- What does a website cost per month, line by line?
- What does each option cost over three years?
- Which website costs catch people out?
- What can you get for free?
- What should you ask before you pay anyone for a website?
- Is a website worth the cost for a trade business?
- Questions
- Sources
About $18 to $40 a month if you build it yourself on a builder like Wix or Squarespace, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars upfront with a freelancer, and from around $2,000 with an agency, plus about $20 a year for a domain. Done-for-you plans like ours start at $29 a month. Prices checked October 2026.
We sell websites to trade pros, so weigh this page with that in mind. Every price below comes from the provider's own page or a named marketplace, with the date we checked it, and we show the cheaper options next to ours. If you'd rather plug in your own numbers, the website cost calculator does the math.
How much does each kind of website cost?
It depends mostly on who does the work: you, a freelancer, an agency, or a done-for-you service. Builders are the cheapest in cash, freelancers and agencies charge a build fee up front, and done-for-you plans spread the cost into a monthly fee.
Prices checked Oct 17–19, 2026, on each company's own pages. They change often, and Wix says its prices vary by location, so check before you sign up.
| Option | Up front | Ongoing | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself on a builder | No build fee, but your time | Wix $17.77 to $39.77 a month (yearly, as shown to us). Squarespace Basic $19 a month yearly or $25 monthly. Durable Launch $22 yearly or $25 monthly | Each builder's pricing page |
| Freelance web designer | Median $15 to $30 an hour; $20 to $50+ for sites on a CMS like WordPress. About 10 hours for a small project, several dozen for a big one | Hosting or a builder plan, plus edits by the hour or a care plan | Upwork's rates from its own contracts (worldwide) |
| Web design agency | Typically $2,000 to $100,000 by scope; most projects reviewed on Clutch cost under $10,000 | US agencies bill $100 to $149 an hour for changes | Clutch's 2026 pricing guide |
| makeasite.co (done for you) | No setup fee. You see a free preview first | Starter $29 a month or $290 a year; Pro $79 a month or $790 a year. Hosting and edits included | Our own pricing |
For a typical trade site of a few pages (home, services, the towns you cover, reviews, a quote form), that puts a freelancer somewhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and an agency higher. If you're weighing those two, web designer vs agency goes deeper. If you're leaning toward doing it yourself, Wix vs Squarespace vs GoDaddy compares the builders.
What does a website cost per month, line by line?
A small trade site has four or five real costs, and most of them are small. Here's each one, what it costs, and whether you need it.
| Line item | What it costs | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name (yourbusiness.com) | $20 a year for a .com at Squarespace after any free first year. Registrars that sell at cost, like Cloudflare, add no markup to the registry's price | Yes, registered in your own name |
| Builder plan or hosting | About $18 to $40 a month on builders' yearly plans (see above) | Yes, unless a monthly plan already includes it |
| HTTPS certificate (the padlock) | Free certificates exist: Let's Encrypt gives them to anyone who owns a domain | Yes, but it shouldn't be an extra fee |
| Business email (you@yourbusiness.com) | Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user a month (Google showed us an intro price of $4.90 for the first 12 months) | Nice to have. Customers will still email your Gmail |
| Edits and upkeep | Your time on a builder, or $100 to $149 an hour at a US agency, or a care plan (one agency's small study found a median of $89 a month) | Yes. Someone has to update hours, photos and services |
| Google Business Profile | Free | Yes. It's separate from your website, and the two should match |
Add those up and a do-it-yourself site is roughly a builder plan plus a domain, about $20 to $40 a month in cash. A hired site is the build fee spread over however long you keep it, plus hosting and edits. Photos, a logo and paid ads are separate from all of these.
What does each option cost over three years?
Compare three-year totals, not first-month prices, because build fees, first-year discounts and hourly edits all hide in the first number. Here's what our calculator shows with its default settings.
| Option | Cash over 3 years | Your hours over 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself on a builder | $670 to $940 | 46 to 56 |
| Freelancer building on a builder plan | $1,200 to $3,800 | 4 to 8 |
| Web design agency | $4,500 to $14,000 | 6 to 12 |
| makeasite.co Starter | $900 to $1,100 | 1 to 2 |
These ranges use the sourced prices above plus some of our own guesses: how many hours a DIY build and upkeep take, and how many edit hours a month you'd buy. Your numbers will differ. Change any of them in the website cost calculator, and set what an hour of your time is worth with the hourly rate calculator.
Building it yourself is the cheapest in cash, and if you enjoy that kind of thing and your evenings are free, it's a fine choice. The calculator just makes the hours visible.
Which website costs catch people out?
The ones that show up in year two, or when you try to leave. Watch for these:
- First-year discounts. Wix says its sale prices apply to the first year only, and the plan renews at the regular yearly rate.
- The free domain. Squarespace's free first-year domain renews at $20 a year. Fine, as long as you expect it.
- Edits by the hour. A cheap build can get expensive if every change to your hours or services is billed at $100 an hour or more.
- A domain in someone else's name. ICANN says the registered domain holder is the one responsible for the registration. If your designer registered it under their name, you may have to ask them for it when you leave.
- Minimum terms and cancellation fees. Some contracts lock you in for a set term or charge a fee to leave. Read the contract before you sign, not after.
- Your own time. Learning a builder, writing the pages and keeping them current all take hours you could bill to customers.
A cheap site that doesn't get calls is still expensive. Whatever you pay, make sure the site has your phone number as a tap-to-call button, your services, the towns you cover and a quote form. The full list is in what a trade website should have.
What can you get for free?
More than most people expect. Set these up whatever else you decide:
- Your Google Business Profile. Google says creating one is free, and it's how you show up on Maps. Use our Google Business Profile checklist.
- Reviews. Asking happy customers costs nothing. Review request texts you can copy.
- HTTPS. Let's Encrypt certificates are free.
- Photos. Your phone and your best recent jobs beat stock photos.
A profile alone has limits, though. The trade-offs are in Facebook or Google profile vs a website.
What should you ask before you pay anyone for a website?
Ask every provider the same questions, so you can compare quotes like for like. Copy this list into your notes or an email:
Is a website worth the cost for a trade business?
Do the math with your own numbers: compare a year of the site with what one booked job is worth to you. No website guarantees calls, but it's where people decide after they find you on Google, see your truck or get your name from a neighbor. If you already pay for leads, the lead fee calculator shows a year of those fees next to it, and the missed-call calculator shows what unanswered calls cost. The bigger question of whether you need one at all is in does my business need a website?
Questions trade pros ask
How much does a small business website cost per month?
On a do-it-yourself builder, about $18 to $40 a month on yearly billing: Wix showed us $17.77 to $39.77, and Squarespace Basic is $19 billed yearly or $25 month to month. Add a domain after any free first year. Our done-for-you Starter plan is $29 a month. A hired designer usually means a build fee, then hosting and a care plan or hourly edits on top.
How much does it cost to maintain a website?
If you do it yourself, it's mostly your time, plus the plan and the domain. If you pay someone, Clutch lists US agency rates of $100 to $149 an hour for changes, and an agency's own study of providers that publish US prices found a median WordPress care plan of $89 a month. That study had only 3 providers in that group, so treat it as a rough guide.
Do I need to pay for hosting separately?
Not on a website builder or a done-for-you plan, where hosting is part of the monthly price. You usually pay for hosting separately when a freelancer builds on WordPress or a custom setup. Ask who pays for it and whose name the account is in.
Should I pay extra for an SSL certificate?
Usually not. The certificate is what makes your site load over HTTPS with the padlock, and Let's Encrypt gives them out for free to anyone who owns a domain. If a quote lists a yearly SSL fee, ask whether a free certificate would do the same job.
Is a free website good enough for a contractor?
Start with the free Google Business Profile, which Google says costs nothing to create. A free builder plan can work as a test, but before you print the address on your truck, check that it lets you use your own domain and that you can move it later.
Sources
- Wix Plans (wix.com) Light $17.77/mo, Core $29.77, Business $39.77 as displayed to us; yearly billing; prices vary by location. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Premium Plan Sale FAQs (Wix Help Center) Sale price is for the first year only; renewals at the regular yearly rate. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Squarespace Pricing Basic $25/mo monthly or $19/mo yearly. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Squarespace domains FAQ (last updated Oct 6, 2026) .com $20/yr; free first-year domain renews at $20. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Durable pricing Launch $25/mo monthly, $22/mo yearly. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Web Designers on Upwork Cost $15–$30/hr (Upwork) Median hourly rates from historical contracts worldwide; CMS designs $20–50+/hr; about 10 hours to several dozen. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Web Design Company Pricing Guide 2026 (Clutch, updated Sep 21, 2026) Typical range $2,000 to $100,000 by scope; most projects reviewed on Clutch under $10,000; US agencies $100–$149/hr. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Web design prices study 2026 (99creatix, an agency; PDF) Vendor-published, small samples (WordPress care plan median $89/mo, 3 providers). Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Google Workspace pricing Business Starter $7 per user per month; an introductory $4.90 was shown to us for new customers' first 12 months. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
- Cloudflare Registrar Registration and renewal at the price registries and ICANN charge, no markup. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
- About Let's Encrypt Free HTTPS certificates for anyone who owns a domain. Checked Oct 19, 2026.
- Google Business Profile "Creating a Business Profile and listing your business on Google is free." Checked Oct 19, 2026.
- Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities (ICANN) Checked Oct 17, 2026.
- makeasite.co pricing and terms Starter $29/mo or $290/yr; Pro $79/mo or $790/yr; no setup fee. Checked Oct 19, 2026.