How Much Does a Small Website Cost? What You Actually Pay

The answer to "how much does a small website cost" runs from free, if you use a website builder's free plan, to a monthly subscription if you build it yourself on a paid plan. Hiring someone for custom web design costs more, because you're paying for a skilled person's hours.

What you pay depends on three things: who builds it, which plan you pick, and how you're billed. Your total also includes the pieces people forget, like hosting, email and add-ons.

One thing never costs money. Getting your site into Google's regular search results is free.

How much does a small website cost if you build it yourself?

If you build a small website yourself, the cost is mostly a builder plan, and some builders have a free tier. Three well-known builders, Squarespace, WordPress.com and Wix, all publish their plans, so you can check current website pricing before you commit.

A builder bundles a lot into one bill. The plan usually covers hosting, a set of design templates, an editor for your content and basic support if something breaks. That's why a website on a platform like these is often the lowest-cost way to get a business online.

Here's what the free options actually give you:

• WordPress.com has a free plan, but your site lives on a WordPress.com subdomain instead of your own domain.
• Wix also has a free plan, and it doesn't include a custom domain either.
• Squarespace has no free plan, but it does offer a free trial with no credit card required, so you can test your site before you pay.

Can a plumber or a salon run on a free subdomain? Technically, yes. But a web address with someone else's brand in it makes your website look temporary, and it's harder for customers to remember.

The real price of doing it yourself is time. You'll pick a design, write the content, add photos and set up a contact form. Plan your website's pages first: a home page, a services page, an about page and a contact page cover the basics for many local businesses.

What changes the price of a website builder plan?

The biggest swing in a builder's price is the plan level and whether you pay monthly or yearly. Each step up adds features, and paying monthly costs more than paying for the year up front on both Squarespace and WordPress.com.

A few details are worth knowing before you pick:

• Store fees. Squarespace's Basic plan charges a transaction fee on online store sales, and its higher plans don't.
• The free domain is for year one. Squarespace's annual plans, WordPress.com's annual and longer plans, and Wix's annual paid plans include a free custom domain for the first year. After that, you're paying the renewal.
• Wix prices depend on where you are. Wix says its prices vary by location, and the prices it shows are for yearly subscriptions paid in full up front.
• Design limits. Lower tiers can limit custom fonts, custom code and some design tools. Check what each plan lets you change before you start your site.

When the free domain year runs out, you can keep renewing through your builder or move it. Cloudflare Registrar sells domains at the registry's price with no markup, which some owners prefer.

How much does web design cost if you hire someone?

Hiring someone to create a small business website costs more than doing it yourself, and the honest answer is that there's no reliable public price list. Freelancers and agencies all quote differently, and their services vary a lot.

Most web design services fall into two camps. Some start from a template and adjust it to fit your business, and others create a custom website design from scratch. Custom work takes more hours, so the website cost goes up.

So what drives the number?

• How many pages the site needs
• Whether you're writing the content and supplying the photos, or they are
• Moving content over from an old website
• Booking, forms, online payments or a store
• Basic SEO setup, like page titles and descriptions
• Ongoing support, updates and hosting after launch

A roofer who needs five clear pages and a contact form is a very different job from a restaurant that wants online ordering.

Before you sign, ask any web design company to spell out:

1. What's included in the website design, including basic SEO, and how many rounds of changes you get
2. Who owns the website, the domain and the content after launch
3. Which platform they use, and whether you can move the site later
4. What their hosting and support services cover each month
5. What changes cost after the site goes live

A cheap launch with pricey updates can add up to more over a year than a fair all-in deal. Some web designers make small content edits as part of support after launch, and some charge for every one.

Is there a monthly fee to have a website? Hosting costs and hidden costs

Yes, almost every website has some ongoing charge, even a small one. The main ones are hosting, your domain renewal and the time or help it takes to keep the site current.

Here's the usual setup:

If you go the self-hosted route, shared hosting is usually the cheapest kind, since your website sits on a server with many others. That's fine for a small business site with a few pages. Hosting costs climb as your website gets more traffic and stores more content.

Watch for these hidden costs of running a website:

• Second-year prices. Intro deals on hosting and domains can go up later. Read the renewal terms, not just the first bill.
• SSL certificate. This is what puts the lock in the browser bar. Most builders and many hosts include an SSL certificate free, but some charge extra.
• Email. An email address on your own domain is often a separate charge.
• Add-ons. Booking tools, forms, store features and premium plugins can each add a monthly fee.
• Updates. Someone has to keep the site's content, photos and hours current. If that isn't you, it's a web service you pay for.

Add those up for a full year before you choose. That number tells you more than the advertised monthly price.

Do you have to pay to show up on Google?

No. You don't pay to show up in Google's organic results. Google says it never accepts money to include or rank sites in its search results, and appearing there costs nothing.

Google also says that if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the SEO work yourself. Clear content about your services and the towns you serve is a good place to begin. And advertising with Google won't change where your site shows up in the regular results.

Your website and your Google Business Profile work together. Keep your name, address and phone number the same on both, and add your site link to the profile.

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

That line is from Google's own page on hiring an SEO. If someone selling you a website promises top SEO rankings, treat it as a red flag.

What about a free website from Google? Google used to let businesses build a simple free site from their Business Profile, but those sites were turned off in March 2024. Your Business Profile itself is still there. It just isn't a website.

Frequently asked questions

Is a free website plan good enough for a business?

A free plan works for testing an idea, but it won't use your own domain on WordPress.com or Wix. For a real business website, a paid plan with your own domain looks more trustworthy.

How much does a small business website cost per month?

It depends on how you build it. A builder plan rolls hosting and support for your website into one bill, while a hired designer often charges for hosting and support services on top. Your domain has its own renewal, often once a year.

Is it cheaper to pay monthly or yearly?

Yearly. Squarespace and WordPress.com both charge more per month when you pay month to month.

If you're on a tight budget, start with a builder's trial or a basic paid plan, get your own domain, and write plain pages about what you do and where you do it. You can always upgrade your website later.

If you'd rather not build it yourself, Review Monster builds small business websites for local businesses, set up to work alongside your Google reviews. Take a look at reviewmonster.com whenever you're ready.

Sources

• Squarespace Website Plans & Pricing — Squarespace (official pricing page)
• WordPress.com Plans and Pricing — WordPress.com (Automattic, official pricing page)
• Wix Pricing Plans — Wix (official pricing page)
• Cloudflare Registrar — Cloudflare Docs
• Web Developers and Digital Designers — Occupational Outlook Handbook — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Do you need an SEO? — Google Search Central
• Websites Created With Google Business Profiles To Shut Down In March — Search Engine Journal, Kristi Hines