Website cost calculator · Free tool
How much should a website for your trade business cost?
A free calculator from makeasite.co, where we build websites for local trade pros. It compares four ways to get a site: build it yourself, hire a freelancer, hire an agency, or pay for a done-for-you plan. It counts the cash and the hours you'd put in, over one to three years.
What each option costs over 3 years
| Option | Cash you pay | Your hours | Total, counting your time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builderYou build and update it yourself on Wix, Squarespace, Durable or similar. | $670 to $940 | 46 to 56 | $3,000 to $3,700 |
| Freelancer + builderA freelancer builds it on a builder plan you pay for. Edits are billed by the hour. | $1,200 to $3,800 | 4 to 8 | $1,400 to $4,200 |
| Web design agencyCustom design and more pages. Edits are billed at agency rates. | $4,500 to $14,000 | 6 to 12 | $4,800 to $14,000 |
| Done-for-you plan (makeasite.co Starter)We write, build, host and edit a one-page site for $29/month or $290/year. | $900 to $1,100 | 1 to 2 | $950 to $1,200 |
Ranges, rounded. The low end uses every low number, the high end every high number. Prices are the providers' published prices as of Oct 2026 and can change.
How this works
For each option, the calculator adds up what you pay and the hours you put in, over the number of months you picked:
The done-for-you row uses our own Starter price: $29 a month, or $290 a year, which works out to about $24 a month. There's no setup fee, no long-term contract, and edits are included. Yearly plans are paid up front, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on your first year, and the founding price is locked for our first 25 Starter and Pro customers (terms). You register the domain in your own name, so we count it every year.
Over 3 years with your time at $50 an hour, a DIY builder costs about $670 to $940 in cash. Add 46 to 56 hours of your time, which is $2,300 to $2,800, and the total is about $3,000 to $3,700. Our Starter plan is about $900 to $1,100 in cash and an hour or two of your time.
The assumptions, said out loud
- Sourced: builder plan prices (Wix, Squarespace, Durable pricing pages), freelancer rates and hours (Upwork), agency fees and hourly rates (Clutch), and our own prices.
- Our guesses, and you can change them: how long a DIY build and upkeep take, how many edit hours a month you'd need, and your own time for the hired options (4 to 8 hours with a freelancer, 6 to 12 with an agency, 1 to 2 with us).
- Not included: paid ads, photography, a logo, an online store, or the cost of a site that doesn't get calls. A cheap site that nobody finds is still expensive.
- The cheapest cash option is DIY. If you like building things on a computer and your evenings are free, that's a fine choice. This calculator just makes the hours visible.
What should a trade business website have, whatever it costs?
- Your phone number as a tap-to-call button, at the top of every page.
- The services you do and the towns you cover, written out in plain words.
- Real photos of your work, not stock photos.
- A short quote form for people who won't call.
- The same name, phone and hours as your Google Business Profile.
- A domain in your own name, so you can leave any provider and keep your address.
Before you sign anything, ask who owns the domain and the site, what it costs to leave, and whether there's a minimum term. Some providers keep the domain or require a 12-month minimum term.
Whatever you choose, put the site's link on your Google Business Profile, your truck and your invoices. A site helps most when people can find it.
Sources (checked Oct 17, 2026)
- Wix plans (Light $17.77/mo billed yearly; prices vary by location): wix.com/plans
- Squarespace pricing (Basic $25/mo monthly, $19/mo yearly): squarespace.com/pricing
- Durable pricing (Launch $25/mo monthly, $22/mo yearly): durable.com/pricing
- Upwork, "Web designers cost" (median $15 to $30/hr; CMS design $20 to $50+/hr; 10 hours to several dozen): upwork.com
- Clutch, "Web Design Company Pricing Guide 2026" (updated Sep 21, 2026): clutch.co
- makeasite.co pricing (Starter $29/mo or $290/yr, no setup fee, no long-term contract, founding price lock for the first 25 Starter and Pro customers, 30-day money-back guarantee on a first yearly plan; domain usually about $10 to $20 a year): makeasite.co and terms
Questions people ask
How much does a small business website cost?
It depends mostly on who does the work. Builder plans from Wix, Squarespace and Durable run roughly $18 to $25 a month on their entry plans. A freelancer adds a one-time build fee, and Clutch says most agency web design projects reviewed on its site cost under $10,000. The cheapest option in cash is usually building it yourself. Whether it's cheapest overall depends on what your time is worth.
Is it cheaper to build my own website?
In cash, usually yes. A DIY builder plan is the smallest monthly bill. But you also pay in hours: learning the builder, writing the pages and keeping them updated. If you'd otherwise bill those hours to customers, DIY can cost more than paying someone. The calculator counts your hours at the rate you enter, so you can see where that line is for you.
How much do freelance web designers charge?
Upwork's cost guide lists median rates of $15 to $30 an hour for web designers on its platform, and $20 to $50+ an hour for designs built on a CMS like WordPress. It says small projects can take around 10 hours and large custom ones several dozen. Ask for a fixed quote that says how many rounds of changes are included.
What does a web design agency charge?
Clutch's 2026 pricing guide says agencies typically charge $2,000 to $100,000 depending on scope, that most projects reviewed on its site cost under $10,000, and that US agencies on its site usually bill $100 to $149 an hour.
When is a done-for-you plan not the right choice?
If you want a big custom site, an online store or full design control, an agency or a builder you run yourself will fit better. A done-for-you plan like ours is built for a trade business that needs a fast, clear site that gets calls, and doesn't want to manage it.