How much does a website cost in the UK?
Honest, up-to-date price ranges for 2026 — what you should expect to pay a freelancer, a small studio or an agency, what drives the price up, and the ongoing costs nobody mentions until the invoice lands.
The short answer
Most UK small business websites cost between £500 and £2,500 when built by a freelancer or a small studio, and between £3,000 and £10,000 at an agency. A simple one-page site for a sole trader can be done well for a few hundred pounds. An online shop with payments and stock usually starts around £1,300 and climbs from there.
The gap between those numbers is rarely about quality. It is about overheads, page count and how much bespoke work is involved.
UK website costs by project type
| Project type | Freelance | Agency | Bright Web Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter / one-page siteSole traders, tradespeople and new businesses that need a credible online presence and a contact form. | £300 – £800 | £1,500 – £3,000 | from £399 |
| Small business site (5–10 pages)Established local businesses with several services, a gallery, reviews and local SEO needs. | £800 – £2,500 | £3,000 – £8,000 | from £799 |
| Booking or enquiry-led siteSalons, clinics, trades and consultants who need appointments booked online, not by phone tag. | £1,200 – £3,500 | £5,000 – £12,000 | from £999 |
| Online shop (e-commerce)Shops selling products online, with payments, delivery options and stock management. | £1,500 – £6,000 | £8,000 – £30,000+ | from £1,299 |
Ranges are typical UK prices for 2026 and assume you supply your own wording and photos.
What actually drives the price
Number of pages
A three-page site is far quicker to design, write and test than a fifteen-page one. Pages are the single biggest driver of cost.
Custom design vs template
A tidy, well-chosen template costs less and often performs just as well. Fully bespoke design is where agency invoices grow fastest.
Functionality
Contact forms are cheap. Online payments, bookings, logins, stock and integrations each add build and testing time.
Content and photography
If you supply wording and photos you save money. Copywriting and a photo shoot can add £300 – £1,500.
SEO groundwork
Fast loading, sensible page titles, a sitemap and a Google Business Profile should be part of the build — not a costly add-on.
Who builds it
A freelancer or small studio has far lower overheads than a city-centre agency, and you deal with the person doing the work.
Ongoing costs to budget for
Domain name — £8 – £20 per year
The address people type, e.g. yourbusiness.co.uk.
Hosting — £5 – £25 per month
Where the website lives. Small sites need very little.
SSL certificate — Usually free
The padlock in the browser. Included with good hosting.
Business email — £4 – £10 per user per month
you@yourbusiness.co.uk instead of a Gmail address.
Care plan (optional) — £20 – £75 per month
Updates, backups, small content changes and support.
Why we publish our prices
Most web design quotes start with a discovery call and end with a number you could not have guessed. We think that wastes everyone's time. Our packages start at £399 and every quote lists exactly what is included, what it costs and when it is due — before any work begins. If your project needs something outside a package, we say so up front rather than adding it to the final invoice.
You can see what that buys in practice on our portfolio and case studies, where each project lists its package, price and timeline.
Questions people ask about website costs
- How much does a small business website cost in the UK?
- Most UK small business websites cost between £500 and £2,500 when built by a freelancer or small studio. Agencies typically start around £3,000 and rise quickly. Our small business package starts at £799.
- Why are agency quotes so much higher?
- Agencies carry offices, account managers, project managers and sales teams, and that overhead sits inside the quote. For a local business site you rarely need that layer.
- Is a cheap website a false economy?
- It can be, if it is slow, not mobile-friendly, or you cannot get hold of anyone afterwards. Affordable is fine; unsupported is not. Ask what happens after launch before you pay.
- What are the ongoing costs of a website?
- Budget roughly £100 – £350 a year for a domain, hosting and email on a small site. A care plan for updates and changes is optional on top of that.
- How long does a website take to build?
- One to two weeks for a starter site, three to four weeks for a larger site or online shop, mostly depending on how quickly the content is ready.
Want a fixed price for your site?
Tell us what you need and we will send a clear, itemised quote — usually within 24 hours, with no obligation and no sales pressure.
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