Ask ten web designers what a small business website costs and you will get ten different answers. That is not because anyone is hiding something. A “website” can mean a one-page site you build on a Sunday afternoon or a 40-page project with booking, payments and custom design.
This guide breaks the question into parts you can actually compare: who builds the site, what is included, and what you keep paying after launch. Where we mention market prices that we cannot back with a source yet, we mark them clearly. Where we mention our own prices, they are the real ones from our pricing page.
The short answer
There are four common ways to get a small business website. Each one has a different cost structure, so the right comparison is not “cheapest” but “what do I get for the money, and what does it cost me in time”.
| Option | How you pay |
|---|---|
| DIY website builder | Monthly or yearly plan |
| Freelancer | One-time project fee |
| Small agency or studio | One-time fee, optional monthly plan |
| Full-service agency | Larger project fee, often a retainer |
We left price ranges out on purpose. Published surveys on web design pricing vary a lot by country and year, and we would rather not print a number we can’t support.
Option 1: Build it yourself
Website builders such as Wix, Squarespace and similar tools let you pick a template, drag in text and photos, and publish without writing code.
What you pay for: a monthly or yearly plan, a domain name, and often extras such as premium templates, booking apps or a business email. Plan prices change often, so check the current pricing page of each builder before you compare.
What it costs you in time: this is the part people underestimate. You will write every headline, choose every photo, figure out how to show up on Google and fix things when they break. If you bill your own time at a professional rate, a “cheap” site can get expensive.
When it makes sense: you are just starting, you need something online this week, and you enjoy doing it yourself. It is also fine as a placeholder while you save for a proper build.
Watch out for: slow loading on phones, templates that look like thousands of other sites, and the fact that moving away from a builder later usually means rebuilding from scratch.
Option 2: Hire a freelancer
A good freelancer can deliver excellent work. The challenge is that “freelancer” covers everyone from a student on a marketplace to a senior designer with fifteen years of experience. Prices follow the same spread.
Before you hire, ask:
- Who writes the text? Many freelancers design and build, but expect you to supply every word.
- Who owns the domain and hosting account? It should be you, in your name, with your login.
- What happens after launch? If the freelancer moves on, who updates the site or fixes a broken form?
- Can I see sites you built, on my phone? Open them on mobile data, not office Wi-Fi. If they are slow for you, they will be slow for your customers.
When it makes sense: you have a clear brief, you can write your own copy, and you found someone with a portfolio in your industry.
Option 3: A small agency or studio
This is where we sit, so read this section knowing that. Small agencies usually sell fixed packages: a set number of pages, copywriting, basic SEO and a launch date. You trade some flexibility for a predictable price and someone accountable for the whole result.
Here is what our packages cost today, straight from our pricing data:
- Starter, from $720 (CA$960 in Canada): up to 5 pages plus a blog, copywriting, a basic Google Business Profile setup, live in 7 days.
- Growth, from $1,440 (CA$1,920): 10 to 15 pages, on-page SEO, schema markup, 3 blog posts and a full Google Business Profile.
- Local SEO, from $350 a month (CA$450): content, profile posts, review requests, links and a monthly report.
- Care, $49 a month (CA$65): hosting, updates and small edits.
“From” means the price covers the most common scope. If you need more pages or a feature such as online booking, the written proposal says so before you pay anything. See the full breakdown on our pricing page and what goes into a build on our website design service page.
When it makes sense: you want the site to bring in calls and leads, you do not have time to manage the project, and you want one team handling the site, the copy and the local SEO basics.
Option 4: A full-service agency
Larger agencies run discovery workshops, custom design systems, user research and integrations with your other software. Their teams include strategists, designers, developers and project managers, and the price reflects that.
When it makes sense: you have several locations, complex integrations, or a brand that needs a fully custom design. For a typical local service business, this level of process is usually more than the job requires.
What actually changes the price
No matter who builds your site, the same factors move the number up or down:
- Number of pages. A page per service and per city you serve helps on Google, but each page needs its own text, layout and review.
- Copywriting. Writing good, specific text takes time. Some quotes include it, many don’t.
- Features. Online booking, payments, client portals, multilingual versions and calculators all add work.
- Integrations. Connecting your site to a CRM, scheduling tool or field service software takes setup and testing.
- Photos and branding. Real photos of your team and your work beat stock images, but someone has to take them. A new logo is a separate project.
- Speed and SEO groundwork. Clean code, compressed images, titles, descriptions and schema markup are invisible to visitors but matter to Google.
- Deadline. A rush job usually costs more, unless speed is built into how the team works.
The yearly costs people forget
The build is a one-time cost. These keep coming:
- Domain name: a yearly renewal. Price depends on the extension and registrar.
- Hosting: included in builder plans; separate if your site is built by a freelancer or agency. Ours is part of the Care plan.
- Business email: if you want an address like [email protected], providers such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 charge per user.
- Maintenance: software updates, security fixes, broken link checks and small text changes.
- Ongoing SEO: optional, but showing up for competitive local searches usually takes steady work after launch.
A simple way to compare offers is to add up the first year: the build fee plus twelve months of anything recurring. With us, for example, that is the Starter fee of $720 plus twelve payments of $49 if you choose the Care plan.
Red flags in a cheap quote
A low price is not a problem by itself. These are:
- The domain is registered in the designer’s name, not yours.
- You never get admin access or a copy of your files.
- The contract locks you into a long monthly plan with a cancellation fee.
- The quote does not mention mobile speed, page titles or Google at all.
- There is no written list of pages and features, only a total.
- The portfolio has no live links, or the live sites load slowly on a phone.
How to set your budget
Start from the job the website needs to do, not from a number. If your business lives on phone calls from people searching “near me”, the site has to load fast, show your number on every screen and appear for the right local searches. That narrows the options quickly.
Then answer three questions:
- How many services and service areas do I need to cover? That sets the page count.
- Who will write the text? If the answer is “not me”, make sure the quote includes copywriting.
- What will I pay every month after launch? Add it to the build fee before you compare.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly is included, page by page?
- Who writes the copy, and how many rounds of edits do I get?
- When will the site be live, and what do you need from me before you start?
- Will I own the domain, the hosting account and the files?
- What is the mobile PageSpeed score of sites you launched recently?
- What does it cost to make small changes after launch?
If a provider answers all six clearly and in writing, you can compare quotes on equal terms.
Get a second opinion on your current site
Not sure whether you need a new website or just a few fixes? Request a free website audit. Within 48 hours you get a 5-minute video showing how your current site performs on a phone, how it shows up on Google, and what we would fix first. No obligation, and you can use the advice with anyone.