How Much Does a Website Really Cost for UK Small Business in 2026? (Part 1 of 2)
- SusiQ
- Dec 31, 2025
- 16 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
The short answer
Most UK small businesses can expect to pay between £1,500 and £6,000 for a professionally designed website, though prices range from a few hundred pounds to £100,000+ depending on complexity and quality. But here's the thing: asking "how much?" without understanding what you're paying for is like buying a house based on price alone.
This two-part guide helps you understand what drives website costs (Part 1), then shows you how to evaluate options and phase your investment smartly (Part 2 - coming soon).
What Is This Blog About?
If you've ever opened three different quotes and wondered whether you're looking at completely different products, join the club.
One designer quotes £500. Another agency says £15,000. Your mate's cousin reckons they can "sort you out" for a few hundred. Meanwhile, AI tools promise you can build the whole thing yourself in an afternoon.
Well, asking "how much does a website cost in the UK?" is like asking "how much does a house cost?" It depends on what you're building, who's doing the work, and what you actually need it to do.
This blog won't tell you what to spend. Instead, it'll help you understand what you're paying for, what drives those wildly different prices, and why some websites cost twenty times more than others in the UK market.
Because I've spent quite a bit of time researching this topic (a subject close to my heart, of course!), and trust me, the stories I've heard (and experienced firsthand) make you wince. This subject turned out to be too big for just one blog, so I've split it into two parts. This first part focuses on understanding what website costs actually represent. Part 2 (coming next) shows you how to evaluate your options, ask the right questions, and phase your investment intelligently.
We'll also be covering spin-off topics in the coming weeks, including E-E-A-T (the trust signals search engines look for), the Discovery process, and why phased development beats the "all at once" approach (so worth subscribing to Web Wise!! All the good stuff in here, I promise - subscribe here →).
How much does a website cost in the UK for most small businesses?
So, as mentioned above, the typical range sits between £1,500 and £6,000 for professional work. But that's just the middle ground, and it doesn't tell you much on its own.
You can spend as little as a few hundred pounds on a DIY platform, or north of £100,000 on a fully bespoke agency build. The range is massive because websites themselves are so varied.
The question that actually matters isn't "how much does it cost?" It's "what am I getting for that money, and will it actually help my business grow?"
Price confusion exists for a simple reason: websites aren't one thing. They can be all sorts.
A rushed DIY job using a generic template. An AI-generated placeholder that technically exists but does nothing useful. A professional clarity-led design built to actually convert visitors. Custom-coded technical work for complex requirements. Or even a beautiful digital brochure that looks gorgeous but achieves precisely nothing.
Different purposes. Different prices. And most importantly, completely different results.
The house analogy (sticking with that for now)
Consider this…..You wouldn't buy a house based on price alone, would you?
A £200,000 house in one area might be newly built and move-in ready. In another area, it might need complete renovation. Location matters. Condition matters. Size matters.
Quality of build matters tremendously.
Websites work exactly the same way.
The price tells you very little on its own. What you're actually trying to figure out is:
Complexity - How many pages? What functionality? A simple brochure site or a full ecommerce platform handling hundreds of products?
Quality - Strategically planned or just template-applied? Professional build or DIY trial-and-error?
What's included - Strategy? Copywriting? SEO (which helps you appear in Google)? Hosting? Ongoing support? Or just design files and a wave goodbye?
Expertise - Are you working with someone who genuinely understands clarity, conversion, and search visibility? Or someone who knows how to make things look nice but hasn't got a clue about the rest?
Long-term value - Will this grow with your business? Or will you be rebuilding everything in 18 months when you've outgrown it?
A £500 website and a £5,000 website might both give you five pages online. What those pages actually do for your business? That's where the difference lives.
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The real question isn’t “how much does it cost?”
It’s:
What is this website meant to do for my business?
• Who is it for, and what decision should it help them make?
Will it still make sense in two years?
Two websites can cost very different amounts and still fail for the same reason - because nobody stopped to define what success actually looked like.
Why do website costs vary so wildly in the UK market?
Because you're not paying for pages alone. You're paying for thinking.
The visible design you see on screen? Often the smallest part of the work. What you're really investing in is strategy, structure, messaging, and technical setup. The stuff that makes a website actually useful. And often more useful than ‘how many pages’. It’s less about the number of pages and more about what’s on them.
Think about it. Anyone can throw up some pages and call it a website. But will it help your customers understand what you do? Guide them towards a decision? Will Google (or ChatGPT) be able to find it? Will it still work properly in two years?
That's where cost comes in. Cheap websites give you pages. Valuable websites give you a tool that works for your business every single day (and is not judged by size!).
Understanding website cost UK small business realities: what's really happening
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• 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK
• 99.9% are SMEs
• 5.4 million are micro businesses (under 10 employees)
• Around 27% still don’t have a website at all
• Many of the remaining 73% have sites that don’t actively support growth
Let's get some context first. According to government data, there were 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK at the start of 2025, with 99.9% of them being SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Of those, a staggering 5.4 million were micro businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
Yet despite this, around 27% of UK small businesses still don't have a website at all. And of those that do, while 74% report having one, many struggle with sites that don't actually help their business grow.
The Federation of Small Businesses reports that 85% of SMEs faced rising costs in 2025 (and 2026), with many seeing net revenue falls. When money's tight, website spending gets scrutinised hard. But here's the catch: a website that doesn't work costs you far more in lost business than it saves in upfront spending.
A quick reality check from the field
When working in a large company (and project managing a website build with external suppliers) I was once quoted nearly £100,000 for a website project. Yes, one hundred thousand pounds. For a website!
Ended up doing it myself for about £3,000 plus my time over three months. Easy? Absolutely not. But it taught me exactly what goes into a website, what's genuinely necessary, and what's... negotiable, shall we say. This was quite a while ago but the lesson stayed with me to the point that I found my calling as a Webstie Designer (and, no, I don’t charge £100,000 for a site!).
Flip side? I recently worked with a customer who'd paid £25,000 for a five-page brochure site. Beautiful design. Absolutely gorgeous. Not a single call to action anywhere. No clarity on what visitors should do next. Five grand per page for something that looked great but did nothing. I ended up revamping the pages to ‘make it function’ and cement a great customer experience. This while the virtual design paint was still drying.
Then there's the "mate did it" situation. You know the one. Good product, clear enough messaging, but completely clueless about the rest. No mobile optimisation. No search engine setup. A digital leaflet, not a working website. I’ve managed a LOT of those.
These aren't rare stories, by the way. They're common. And they all come down to one thing: not understanding what you're actually paying for when you commission a website.
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Expensive doesn’t mean effective
Cheap doesn’t mean simple• Beautiful doesn’t mean useful
And “five pages” tells you almost nothing
Every painful website story I hear comes back to the same issue:the thinking didn’t happen early enough.
So what are you really paying for when you buy a website?
Let's strip this back to basics. A website isn't just the thing you see on the screen. It's a layered system, and every single layer costs time, skill, or both.
Layer 1: Strategy and structure (the invisible foundation)
This is where most cheap websites completely fall apart.
Before a single pixel gets designed, someone needs to figure out who this website is for, what it needs to say, how information should be organised, and what action you want visitors to take.
This is the thinking work. The stuff that separates a website that converts visitors into customers from one that just sits there looking pretty while doing nothing useful.
Professional designers call this Discovery. It's the strategy phase where you figure out what your website is actually supposed to do. It's the most important bit, and it's the bit most DIY options skip entirely.
I’ve written a whole blog about the Discovery process and why it matters, because honestly, this is where the magic happens (read here → ).
Cost driver: Whether anyone's actually thinking strategically about your business, or just slapping a template on and hoping for the best.
Layer 2: Design (the visible expression)
This is the bit everyone notices first (and, in my experience, the bit that everyone has the biggest opinion on). Colours, fonts, layout, images, the overall "vibe" of the thing.
It's important because first impressions absolutely matter. But design without purpose? That's just decoration.
Good design supports clarity. It guides the eye, makes information easy to find, and removes friction from the customer journey. It's not about being flashy for the sake of it. It's about being effective.
Cost driver: Template versus custom work, number of unique layouts, level of polish, and critically, whether it's designed for conversion or just designed to look nice.
Layer 3: Development and technical build
Once the strategy and design are sorted, someone has to actually build the thing and make it work.
This includes all the behind-the-scenes setup that most people never see: hosting, security (SSL certificates that encrypt data), mobile responsiveness, page speed optimisation, form functionality, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation - Google search) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation, which helps you appear in AI-powered search like ChatGPT) foundations, accessibility compliance, and making sure it all works smoothly across different devices and browsers. Phew!!
Good development is completely invisible. You don't notice it until something breaks, and then suddenly it's the only thing you notice.
Cost driver: Custom code versus platform-based build, complexity of features, technical quality standards, and whether it's properly built for search visibility or just... built.
Layer 4: Content and messaging
A website without words is just an empty shell. Pretty, maybe. Useful? Not remotely.
Someone has to write the copy. And writing for websites isn't the same as writing anything else. It needs to be clear and concise, structured for skimming (because that's what people do), optimised for search engines, and written for real humans who are trying to make a decision.
This is where most small business owners freeze completely. Copywriting is genuinely hard when it's your own business. You're too close to it. You know too much. You struggle to explain simply what you do because it all feels obvious to you.
Cost driver: Whether professional copy is included in the package, or whether you're expected to provide it yourself and just hope for the best.
Layer 5: Ongoing maintenance and support
Websites aren't static things you build once and forget about. They need hosting, security updates, backups, and occasional tweaks to pages and overall content as your business evolves or technology changes.
Budget £100–£300 per month (or £500–£2,000 per year) for proper ongoing care. Cheaper options exist, sure, but you often get exactly what you pay for in terms of speed, security, and actual support when something goes wrong. Content management is also an expert skill you may wish to outsource for peace of mind.
Cost driver: Whether this is included in your package as standard which is rarely the case. You have to factor this in to the ongoing monthly costs.
The real UK market: what different price points actually buy you
Let's look at what's actually happening in the UK market for website costs in 2026, just an honest breakdown of what you get at different investment levels.
The DIY route (£200–£1,500 plus your time)
There are a lot of platforms like Shopify, Squarespace, or WordPress.com let you build something yourself using templates and drag-and-drop tools. Monthly costs typically run £10–£50 depending on which features you need (e.g. taking payments, booking systems).
What you're really getting: A functioning website-shaped object that exists online. Templates to choose from. Basic features. A significant learning curve. And a lot of trial and error.
What you're NOT getting: Strategic thinking about what your site needs to achieve. Professional design tailored to your business. Quality copywriting that converts. Proper SEO setup that actually works. Or much control over how the site performs long-term.
The hidden cost: your time
If a DIY or AI-built site takes you 40 hours to produce and still needs rebuilding later, that time hasn’t vanished. It’s time not spent serving customers, improving your offer, or growing the business.
When people say “I saved money building it myself,” they’re usually not counting the most expensive resource they have.
Reality check: Remember that 27% of UK small businesses still don't have a website? DIY overwhelm is often why. And most businesses outgrow these platforms within 18 months and end up paying to rebuild properly. That's paying twice for one working website.
The AI trap (£200–£1,000)
AI tools promise to build you a complete website in minutes using artificial intelligence. Sounds brilliant, doesn't it?
What you actually get: Speed, certainly. A website-shaped object that technically exists. Generic template-driven content with zero strategic thinking behind it.
What you don't get: Clarity. Genuine expertise. Or anything that actually helps your business grow. AI-generated sites are terrible for SEO and AEO.
Why? Because Google and AI search engines now prioritise something called E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. We'll cover E-E-A-T properly in an upcoming blog, but the short version is this: AI-generated sites have none of those trust signals. You're paying for something that search engines and real humans will largely ignore.
Best for: Absolutely nothing if you want a business that actually grows.
Professional small business website (£1,500–£6,000)
This is where professional web design actually starts. You're working with someone who genuinely understands websites, asks the right questions, and builds something tailored to your specific needs.
What you should be getting: Strategic discovery (working out what your website actually needs to do). Clarity-led design that supports your business goals. Professional build quality. Proper SEO and AEO setup. Mobile-first development that works beautifully on phones. And ideally, copywriting support so you're not left staring at a blank page wondering what to write.
What separates good from mediocre at this level: Whether it includes genuine Discovery (proper strategy work, not just a quick chat). Professional copywriting or at least proper guidance. Solid search optimisation built in from the start. And crucially, what's actually included as standard versus what costs extra.
Best for: Most UK small businesses. Service providers, consultants, local businesses, basically anyone who needs a professional online presence that actually converts visitors into customers rather than just existing.
Questions to ask at this level: What's included in the price? Who writes the copy? Is hosting included or a separate cost? What happens if I need changes after launch? How exactly is this optimised for search (so how will I find customers/sales/enquiries?)?
Ecommerce websites (£4,000–£15,000+)
Here's where things get genuinely more complex, and rightly so. Ecommerce isn't just "a normal website with a shop added on." It's a completely different beast.
Building an ecommerce site means you're building a shop that operates 24/7 without you being there. That includes product catalogue management (potentially hundreds or thousands of items), shopping cart functionality that actually works, payment gateway integration (Stripe, PayPal, and so on), customer account areas, order management systems, shipping calculation and options, stock management, automated order confirmation emails, VAT and tax calculations, returns and refunds systems, and robust security compliance because you're handling people's payment details.
It's an entirely different level of work and ongoing complexity compared to a (service) brochure site.
What drives the cost: Number of products you're selling. Complexity of payment and shipping options. Whether you're integrating with existing systems. Level of customisation needed. And whether you need (what are considered as) advanced features like subscriptions, wholesale pricing, or multi-currency support.
Best for: Product-based businesses, retailers moving online, subscription services, anyone selling physical or digital products at any kind of scale.
Large agency or bespoke build (£10,000–£100,000+)
High-end, fully custom work. This is often for larger businesses, complex platforms, or organisations with very specific technical requirements that can't be met any other way.
What you get: Everything. Extensive strategy work. Full branding if needed. Completely custom design built from scratch. Advanced functionality. Weeks of testing. Full project management. Multiple rounds of revisions. The works (Ideally).
What you don't get: Speed or simplicity. Projects like this take months and require serious internal resources from your side too. You'll be in meetings. Lots of meetings.
Best for: Established businesses with genuinely complex needs. Large ecommerce requiring custom integrations with warehouse systems or CRMs. Brands needing something completely unique that doesn't exist anywhere else.
Watch out for: Whether you actually need all of it. That £25,000 five-page brochure site with no calls to action I mentioned earlier? Not rare. But it's a complete waste of money. If the strategic thinking isn't there, the price tag means absolutely nothing.
What this first part has given you
A clear understanding of what website costs actually represent in the UK market, why prices vary so wildly (and why that's not actually random), what you're really paying for at each layer of the website, real market pricing at different investment levels, and context for why some websites cost twenty times more than others.
Hopefully, you're already now thinking less about "how much should I spend?" and more about "what do I actually need, and what's that worth to my business?"
Coming up in Part 2 of our blog series
Now you understand what drives website costs, Part 2 shows you how to evaluate your options intelligently.
We'll cover the phase-based development approach (the smart way to build without breaking the bank), the six questions that reveal genuine value before you spend a penny, how to spot the difference between expensive excellence and expensive mistakes, and why you absolutely don't need everything on day one.
👉 Read Part 2: How to Choose and Phase Your Website Investment - link to be added as soon as published - eta end Jan 2026)
And if you'd like help figuring out what's right for your business right now I offer several free services including a Quick Guidance Call. . It's the easiest way to get clarity without any pressure. 15-minutes well spent can be booked here →.
Like this blog? Subscribe to Web Wise for regular insights: simple, practical website tips you can actually use delivered with clarity and a touch of humour!! Certainly aimed at making you think before you act! Subscribe to Web Wise here →
TL;DR
Website costs for UK small businesses range from a few hundred pounds (DIY) to £100,000+ (bespoke agency builds), with most professional sites sitting between £1,500–£6,000. You're not paying for pages alone, you're paying for strategy, quality, expertise, and long-term value across five distinct layers: strategy and structure, design, technical development, content and messaging, and ongoing maintenance. Understanding what drives these costs helps you evaluate quotes intelligently. Part 2 of this guide covers how to choose wisely and phase your investment smartly.
FAQs
What is the average website cost for a small business in the UK?
Most small businesses pay between £1,500 and £6,000 for professionally designed sites with strategy, design, development, and SEO. Budget DIY options start lower but often cost more long-term through lost business and eventual rebuilds.
Why do website prices vary so much?
Because websites aren't one thing. You're paying for different levels of strategy, design quality, technical expertise, content creation, and ongoing support. A £500 DIY site and a £5,000 professional site might both have five pages, but what they do for your business is completely different.
Can I build a website myself for free?
Technically yes using platforms like Wix or Squarespace, but you'll invest significant time, produce mediocre results, and miss crucial elements like proper SEO setup. Your time is valuable. Spending 40 hours on DIY costs you in lost business revenue.
Are AI-generated websites good for small businesses?
No. They lack strategic thinking, genuine expertise, and E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) that modern search engines require, making them poor for visibility and conversion.
What's the difference between a cheap website and a professional one?
Cheap websites give you pages without strategy, poor search visibility, and no conversion focus. Professional websites include Discovery (strategy), clarity-led design, proper technical build, SEO optimisation, and structure that grows with your business.
How much does an ecommerce website cost? Ecommerce sites typically start at £4,000–£6,000 for basic setups and can exceed £15,000+ for complex shops. The cost reflects payment processing, inventory management, customer accounts, shipping calculation, and security requirements. It's genuinely more complex than a brochure site.
What is SEO and why does it matter for website cost?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the practice of making your website easy for search engines like Google to find, understand, and rank. Proper SEO setup is part of professional website builds but often missing from DIY or cheap options, which is why those sites don't appear in search results.
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It's how Google and AI search engines evaluate content quality. Websites built with genuine expertise and strategic thinking rank better than generic or AI-generated ones. We'll cover this properly in an upcoming blog.
Glossary
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
Optimising your website to appear in AI-powered search results like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and other answer engines, not just traditional Google results.
Discovery
The strategy phase before design where you figure out what your website is actually supposed to do, who it's for, and how it supports your business goals. The foundation of every successful website.
DIY Website Builder
Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com that let you build a website yourself using templates and drag-and-drop tools.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's framework for evaluating content quality and determining search rankings. Critical for modern SEO and AEO.
Ecommerce Website
A website that includes online shopping functionality, allowing customers to browse products, add items to a cart, and complete purchases online.
Hosting
The service that stores your website files and makes them accessible online. Costs typically range from £5–£30+ per month depending on quality and features.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
The practice of making your website easy for search engines like Google to find, understand, and rank in search results. Includes technical setup, content strategy, and ongoing optimisation.
SSL Certificate
Security feature that encrypts data between your website and visitors. Essential for trust, legal compliance, and search rankings. You'll see this as the padlock icon in the browser address bar.
About the Writer
Susi is the creative brain behind Web Wise and the small business web designer at Kingstown Web Studio who loves turning real-world lessons into clear, useful stories. With 30+ years in marketing and a talent for explaining things in plain English, she writes the kind of blogs she wishes someone had given her earlier: practical, honest and a little bit cheeky. When she’s not building websites, she’s sharing the ideas, insights and lightbulb moments that help small businesses show up with confidence.
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