For most small UK businesses, a proper website costs between £650 and £2,500 in 2026. DIY builders are cheaper but cost you time; big agencies charge £5,000+. What you pay depends on pages, design, content, and whether it's actually built to be found on Google. The expensive mistakes are usually the "cheap" ones — sites you don't own and can't leave.
'How much does a website cost?' is the question I get asked more than any other. The honest answer — it depends — is also the most annoying one, so let me actually tell you what it depends on, with real UK prices and no ranges wide enough to hide a sales pitch.
The short answer: real 2026 prices
| Option | Typical cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| DIY (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy) | £10–30/month + your time | Testing an idea, a hobby, very tight budget |
| A freelancer | £500–£2,500 one-off | Small businesses wanting something custom |
| A small studio (like WOPP) | £650–£3,000 | Local businesses that want it done properly |
| A larger agency | £5,000–£15,000+ | Bigger budgets, brand-level work |
| E-commerce / custom build | £1,200–£10,000+ | Online shops, bookings, web apps |
For most small businesses around Wrexham and North Wales, a good site lands between £650 and £2,500. If someone quotes £8,000 for a five-page site for a plumber, that's your cue to ask exactly what you're paying for — and to get a second quote.
What actually changes the price
A website isn't one thing, so 'a website' doesn't have one price. Here's what moves the number:
- How many pages. A five-page site is a different job from a thirty-page one.
- Template vs custom design. Starting from a template is faster and cheaper. A design built from scratch around your brand costs more — and isn't always worth it for a small business.
- Who writes the words. Good content takes time. Write it yourself and you save money; have it written properly and you pay for it (usually worth it).
- What it has to do. A brochure site is simple. Add payments, bookings, logins or a product catalogue and you're into real development.
- Whether SEO is built in. A site set up to be found on Google — fast, structured properly, with the right pages — takes more work than one that's just 'made and handed over'.
The costs nobody mentions
The build price is only part of it. Before you say yes to anything, ask about:
- Domain — about £10–15 a year.
- Hosting — from a few pounds a month to £30+, sometimes included for the first year.
- Maintenance — updates, backups, security, small changes. Either you learn to do it, or you pay someone.
And then there's the trap I see most often: the '£99 website'. It looks like a bargain until you read the small print — you're tied into £40–60 a month forever, you can't move the site elsewhere, and if you stop paying, it vanishes, because you never actually owned it. Cheap upfront, expensive (and stuck) for years.
A quick rule: if you can't take your website, your domain and your content and walk away, you don't own a website — you're renting one.
When cheap is fine, and when it isn't
I'm not going to tell you everyone needs to spend thousands. If you're testing an idea or running a hobby, a £15-a-month builder you set up yourself is perfectly sensible. Spend the money when the website is actually bringing you customers — because then a slow, hard-to-find, amateur-looking site isn't saving you money, it's quietly costing you the customers who clicked away.
That's the real false economy: a £300 site nobody finds is more expensive than a £900 one that brings you two jobs a month.
Red flags when you're getting quotes
After years of cleaning up other people's work, here's my checklist. Walk away if:
- You won't own the site, domain and content outright.
- You're locked into monthly payments with no way out.
- The quote is vague, with no breakdown of what you're getting.
- There's no mention of mobile, speed or getting found on Google.
- They can't show you real sites they've actually built.
How I do it (since you'll ask)
For the record: at WOPP I quote a fixed price up front, you own everything, and there's no lock-in — websites start from £650. I'd rather you understand exactly what you're paying for, which is the whole reason I wrote this.
If you want a straight, no-pressure quote for your business, tell me what you need and I'll give you an honest number.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cheap website worth it?
Sometimes. A £15-a-month builder is fine for testing an idea or a hobby. But if your website needs to bring in customers, a cheap or DIY site that loads slowly and doesn't show up on Google usually costs you more in lost work than you saved on the build.
Do I have to pay monthly for a website?
No — and be wary of anyone who says you must. You'll always have small running costs (a domain is about £10–15 a year, hosting a few pounds a month), but you shouldn't be locked into a big monthly fee just to keep your site online. At WOPP you pay once and own everything.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
A typical small business site takes around 1–3 weeks once we have your content and the go-ahead. Bigger sites and online shops take longer. The slowest part is usually gathering text, photos and approvals — not the building itself.
Can I build my own business website?
Yes — with a builder like Wix or Squarespace, and for a simple site on a tight budget that's a fair choice. The trade-offs are your time, and that DIY sites are often slower and weaker on SEO. If the website matters to your income, it's usually worth getting it done properly.