How much does a website cost in the UK?
A small business website costs about £100 to £350 a year if you build it yourself on a website builder, to a few thousand pounds if a freelancer or an agency builds it, plus running costs every year after that. Before you choose, check what it costs in year two, and who owns it.
We checked every price below on 18 October 2026. Most guides on this subject are written by companies that sell websites (so is this one), so we say where each number comes from.
Checked 18 Oct 2026
Build it yourself
Website builders charge by the month. Squarespace starts at £12 a month billed annually (£144 a year), and its Plus plan is £29 a month (£348 a year). Billed monthly, the same two plans are £16 and £36 (Squarespace pricing). GoDaddy's builder starts at £7.49 a month billed annually, but the page advertises a first-year discount and doesn't show the renewal price (GoDaddy).
Watch the extras:
- Bookings. On Squarespace, online booking is a separate product, Acuity Scheduling, from £11 a month billed annually (Squarespace Scheduling).
- Card payments. On Squarespace's Basic and Core plans, card payments cost 2.0% + £0.25 each (less on the higher plans), and the Basic plan adds a 2% fee on online store sales.
- The free domain lasts one year, and only on annual plans. After that you pay the normal renewal price.
It costs the least in money and the most in your time. You do the writing, the photos and every update.
Pay a freelancer
UK guides put a small business site from a freelancer at £500 to £3,000 (Red Eagle Tech, an agency, updated May 2026) or £800 to £3,000 (Duport, which sells low-cost sites, updated June 2026). Bark, a marketplace for hiring freelancers, quotes £1,000 to £3,000.
Pay an agency
Duport puts agency builds at £2,500 to £10,000. Red Eagle Tech says £2,000 to £6,000 for a regional agency and £5,000 to £15,000 or more in London.
What you pay every year
Whichever route you choose, these costs come back every year:
| Cost | Typical price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| .co.uk domain | About £10 a year after the first year | IONOS £1 then £10 (ex VAT); Namecheap £9.98 |
| Hosting (if you're not on a builder) | £6 to £7 a month after the intro offer | IONOS Standard £3 a month for six months, then £6 (ex VAT); 123 Reg £83.88 a year |
| Updates and upkeep | £600 a year for a basic site, up to £50 to £300 a month on a maintenance plan | GoDaddy's 2026 guide; Red Eagle Tech |
Year one is not year two
Introductory prices make the first year look cheap:
- 123 Reg's hosting pack costs £23.88 for the first year, then renews at £83.88 (123 Reg).
- An IONOS .co.uk domain is £1 for the first year, then £10 (IONOS).
- If a domain lapses, getting it back costs more. IONOS lists a £90 restore fee.
When you compare quotes, ask for the year-two price as well as the first.
Pay monthly websites
Some companies build the site for little or nothing up front and charge monthly instead. DotGO lists £45 a month (£60 with a shop), and Hollis Web £55 to £105 a month. Before you sign, ask how long the contract runs and what you keep if you stop paying.
Who owns your website?
Few price guides mention this, and it matters more than the price. Before you pay anyone, check:
- The domain is registered in your business's name, with an email address you control.
- You have your own admin login for the website, the domain and the hosting.
- The contract says what happens if you stop paying: whether you keep the site and its content, or only the domain.
- You keep copies of your photos and text.
A note on VAT
Some prices above are shown without VAT (marked "ex VAT"), and several pages don't say either way. If your business isn't VAT registered, add the standard rate of 20% (GOV.UK) to any ex-VAT price.
Common questions
How much should a small business website cost in the UK?
Most UK guides put a small site from a freelancer at £500 to £3,000, and from an agency at £2,000 or more, before running costs. Building it yourself costs about £100 to £350 a year on a website builder.
What is the cheapest website builder in the UK?
Of the builders we checked, GoDaddy had the lowest advertised price at £7.49 a month billed annually, but its page shows a first-year discount and no renewal price. Squarespace's Basic plan is £12 a month billed annually. Wix showed its prices in US dollars when we checked from the UK.
Where we help
We design and set up websites for small businesses across the UK. We can host and run the whole site for you, or look after the one you already have, even if we didn't build it.
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