WEBSITE COST GUIDE · 2026
How much does a website cost for a small business?
What a website really costs in 2026 — built yourself, with an AI builder, on WordPress, by a freelancer or by an agency — plus what it costs to keep running, the costs people miss, and what a trade business actually needs. Every figure sourced.
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The short answer
A small business website costs anywhere from nothing up front to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on who builds it. Building it yourself on a website builder costs your time plus a plan — Squarespace runs $19 to $99 a month on annual billing. A freelancer charges about $6,760 for a basic site (FreshBooks). Most agency projects reviewed on Clutch cost under $10,000, though the average agency project is $38,105 (Clutch, September 2026).
WordPress itself is free, but running it isn't: about $111 a year at the bare minimum (a domain and shared hosting, with you doing the updates), and about $735–$4,095 a year once managed hosting and someone to keep it updated are in (WPBeginner; Codeable, March 2026).
For most small businesses — a plumber, a salon, a cleaner, a bakery — the website needs to do a few jobs well: say what you do and where, show proof, and make it easy to call or book. That's a builder-sized job, not an agency-sized one, and an AI builder does it fastest: describe the business and see the finished site before you pay anything.
COSTS · SEPTEMBER 2026
What a small business website costs, by route
US prices, read off each publisher's page in September 2026. Full source list at the foot of the page.
| The route | What it costs · source |
|---|---|
| Build it yourself on a website builder | Your time up front, then the plan: Squarespace runs $19–$99 a month on annual billing ($25–$139 month to month) — about $228–$1,188 a year · Squarespace |
| An AI website builder | Minutes up front: you describe the business and the builder writes and designs the site. Zarla is free to build and preview, and you pay a monthly plan when you publish — current prices are on the pricing page |
| Self-run WordPress | Free software, then about $111 a year at the bare minimum (a domain and shared hosting, with you doing the updates), and about $735–$4,095 a year once managed hosting and someone to keep it updated are in · WPBeginner, Codeable |
| A freelancer | About $75 an hour; a basic site averages about $6,760 in FreshBooks' breakdown (design and build $5,000, plus setup, content, training and first-year maintenance), then about $500–$1,000 a year to maintain · FreshBooks |
| A web design agency | Agencies listed on Clutch typically charge $100–$149 an hour; most projects reviewed on Clutch cost under $10,000, while the average is $38,105 because large custom builds pull it up · Clutch |
Yearly totals are our arithmetic on the published monthly prices (× 12). Ranges are typical, not quotes — scope, pages and features move every one of them.
Look before you spend
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Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line in about 30 seconds. Build, edit and preview free; you pay only when you publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
WORDPRESS
What a WordPress site costs to keep running
WordPress is free software; the site isn't. These are the running costs a WordPress site has every year, before any premium theme, paid plugins or developer work.
| What you pay for | What it costs · source |
|---|---|
| Domain name | about $14.99 a year · WPBeginner |
| Shared hosting (the cheapest kind) | from about $7.99 a month · WPBeginner |
| Managed WordPress hosting (faster, looked after) | $30–$100 a month · Codeable |
| Someone to keep it updated and secure | $30–$50 a month for cheap plans; Codeable's basic plan is $240 a month · Codeable |
| Bare minimum, you do the updates | about $111 a year (domain + shared hosting) |
| Looked after by someone else | about $735–$4,095 a year (domain + managed hosting + a maintenance plan) |
The two totals are our arithmetic on the rows above: published monthly prices × 12, plus the domain.
BUDGETING
How to budget for a small business website
Five questions that decide which route — and which number — is yours.
Write down what the site has to do
Say what you do and where, show proof, take calls, quote requests or bookings. If that's the list, you need a small site done well, not a big one.
Decide who does the work
Your evenings, an AI builder, a freelancer or an agency. The more of the work you hand over, the higher the price — and the longer until it's live.
Count the yearly cost, not just the launch
Plan fees, hosting, the domain, and whoever keeps it updated. Year two is where WordPress and custom builds surprise people.
Budget for the words and photos
Copy and real photos of your work matter more than the design. If someone else writes them, they're a line item.
Ask who can change it later
If a new phone number or price means a developer's invoice, that's a running cost. Pick a setup you can edit yourself.
Which route is right for you
Build it yourself on a website builder if you enjoy design and have a few evenings. It's the cheapest route in money and the most expensive in time: the builder gives you a template; the words, photos and layout are yours to do.
Use an AI website builder if you want the site live this week and would rather edit than start from a blank page. The builder writes and designs the first version from a description of the business; you change what's wrong.
Keep or choose WordPress if someone on your team already runs it, you publish a lot of articles, or you need a specific plugin nothing else offers. It's powerful and flexible — and it's the route with the most running costs and upkeep.
Hire a freelancer if you want a person to hand the job to and have a few thousand dollars. Ask who hosts it, who updates it and what a change costs after launch.
Hire an agency if the site is central to a larger business — many locations, custom booking or ordering systems, a brand program. For a one-location service business, it's usually more website than the job needs.
What a website costs for a trade or local service business
A plumber, electrician, landscaper or cleaner needs a site that does five things: names each service and each town you work in, shows reviews and photos of real jobs, puts your phone number one tap away, takes a quote request or a booking, and connects to your Google Business Profile. None of that needs a custom build.
The yardstick is what a customer costs you otherwise. In plumbing, one lead from search ads costs about $129 (US average · LocaliQ 2025 benchmark). In electrical, one lead from search ads costs about $94 (US average · LocaliQ 2025 benchmark). In landscaping, one lead from search ads costs about $118 (US average · LocaliQ 2025 benchmark). Every inquiry your website brings in is one you didn't have to buy.
See what a site for your trade looks like: plumbers, electricians, landscapers, roofers and cleaners. Still setting your prices? Start with how much to charge for house cleaning or how much to charge for pressure washing.
The costs people forget
- The domain renewal. About $15 a year for a .com (WPBeginner), and first-year deals often renew higher.
- Hosting after the intro price. Cheap hosting is often an introductory rate; check the renewal price before you sign up for three years.
- Words and photos. FreshBooks puts content creation at $500 to $5,000 when someone else writes it.
- Changes after launch. A new service, a new price or a new town — who makes the change, and what does it cost?
- Upkeep. WordPress needs updates and backups; paying someone runs from $30 to $240 a month or more (Codeable, March 2026).
- Email at your own domain. A business address like you@yourbusiness.com is usually a separate subscription.
Website costs: common questions
For a one-location service business, a website-builder plan (Squarespace runs $19 to $99 a month on annual billing) or a freelancer build (about $6,760 for a basic site in FreshBooks' breakdown) covers what the site needs. Most agency projects reviewed on Clutch cost under $10,000; the average is $38,105 because large custom builds pull it up.
On a website builder, the plan is the monthly cost — Squarespace runs $19 to $99 a month billed annually. A WordPress site costs about $8 a month for basic shared hosting, or $30 to $100 for managed hosting, plus $30 to $240 a month if you pay someone to maintain it (WPBeginner; Codeable).
The software is free; running a website on it isn't. WordPress itself is free, but running it isn't: about $111 a year at the bare minimum (a domain and shared hosting, with you doing the updates), and about $735–$4,095 a year once managed hosting and someone to keep it updated are in (WPBeginner; Codeable, March 2026).
A freelancer charges about $75 an hour, and a basic small-business site averages about $6,760 in FreshBooks' breakdown. Agencies listed on Clutch typically charge $100 to $149 an hour, and most projects reviewed there cost under $10,000 (Clutch, September 2026).
You're paying for a team — a strategist, a designer, a developer, a project manager — and for custom work built for you from scratch. That's worth it for a complex site; for a small service business, most of that work goes into things the site doesn't need.
The same as any small business site — the job is a few pages done well: services, towns, reviews, photos, a quote form and a phone number. The useful comparison is lead cost: in plumbing, one lead from search ads costs about $129 (US average · LocaliQ 2025 benchmark), so every inquiry the site brings in is one you didn't have to buy.
You can build one free on several builders, usually on the builder's own web address with its branding. With Zarla, building, editing and previewing the whole site is free; to publish it on your own domain you'll need Premium.
Zarla is free to build and preview — the AI writes and designs the site from one description, and you can edit it as much as you like. You pay when you publish; the current plans are on the pricing page, and they include hosting, the security certificate, the SEO setup, forms, bookings and invoicing.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures, typical rather than a rule — the scope of your site moves every one of them. Yearly totals are our arithmetic on the published monthly prices. Related: WordPress alternative for small business and Zarla's free AI website builder.
- Clutch — Web Design Company Pricing Guide 2026 — dated September 2026, read September 2026
- FreshBooks — How Much Do Web Designers Charge? A Pricing Guide — dated August 2026, read September 2026
- Squarespace — Pricing (US) — no date on the page, read September 2026
- WPBeginner — How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website? — dated September 2025, read September 2026
- Codeable — WordPress Maintenance Pricing for 2026 — dated March 2026, read September 2026
- LocaliQ — 2025 Search Ad Benchmarks for Home Services — the cost of a lead from search ads, by trade
See what your website would look like — free
Describe your business in one line and Zarla builds the whole site: pages, words, photos and the Google setup. Free to build and preview; you pay only when you publish.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.