A small business website usually costs anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a do-it-yourself builder to $1,000 to $5,000 for a simple professionally built site, and more for larger sites and online stores. On top of that, plan for ongoing costs every month or year: hosting, your domain, updates and any marketing. The build price gets the attention, but the ongoing costs decide what the site really costs you over three years.
Typical price ranges by type of site
Prices vary a lot by who builds it, where they are and what's included. These are the ranges you'll commonly see quoted in the US. Treat them as a starting point, not a rule.
- Do it yourself on a website builder: from free to a few hundred dollars a year for the plan, plus your own time. The time is the real cost.
- One-page site built for you: often a few hundred dollars up to about $1,500. Good for a new business, a single service or a simple "here's who we are and how to reach us" site.
- Small business site of about 3 to 10 pages: commonly $1,500 to $5,000 from a freelancer or small agency. Larger agencies often charge $5,000 to $15,000 or more for a similar page count, usually with more planning and strategy included.
- Online store: often starts around $3,000 to $5,000 for a small catalog and can run well past $10,000 once you add lots of products, custom shipping rules or connections to inventory and accounting software.
- Custom features such as booking systems, member areas, quote calculators or connections to other software: priced on top, often by the hour.
If a quote is far below these ranges, find out what's missing. If it's far above, ask what you're getting for the difference. Sometimes it's worth it.
What pushes the price up
Two sites with the same number of pages can have very different prices. The usual reasons:
- Content. Someone has to write the words. If you write them, the price drops, but the project usually takes longer. If the designer writes them, expect to pay for it.
- Photos. Real photos of your work, team and location build more trust than stock images. A photographer is an extra cost, but often a good one.
- Number of page types. Ten pages built from the same layout cost less than five pages that each need a different design.
- Features. Online booking, payments, forms with file uploads, a blog, multiple languages or a customer login all add time.
- Online stores. Every product needs photos, descriptions, prices and options. Shipping, taxes and payment setup take real work to get right.
- Moving an old site. Carrying over old pages, setting up redirects and keeping your Google rankings adds time. Our guide on redesigning without losing rankings covers why that's worth paying for.
Ongoing costs: hosting, domain, maintenance and marketing
This is the part people forget to budget for. A website keeps costing money after launch, whoever builds it.
- Domain name: usually somewhere around $10 to $25 a year for a .com. Watch for cheap first years that renew at a higher price.
- Hosting: from a few dollars a month for basic shared hosting to $30 or more a month for faster managed hosting. Builder plans include hosting in the monthly fee.
- Updates and security: software, plugins and themes need regular updates, and someone needs to check backups. You can do it yourself or pay for a maintenance plan, often $25 to $150 a month for a small site, and more if it includes regular content work.
- Paid add-ons: premium themes, plugins or apps for things like booking, forms or backups often carry yearly or monthly fees.
- Email: business email is usually a separate monthly cost per user.
- Marketing: a website on its own rarely brings in steady work. Search, ads, email or social media are separate budgets, and often the bigger ones.
When you compare quotes, add up the build price plus three years of ongoing costs. That number is the honest comparison.
Monthly plans vs paying up front
More designers now offer a monthly plan instead of a big build fee. You pay a set amount each month, and the designer builds, hosts and updates the site.
Monthly plans are good if you'd rather not spend a few thousand dollars at once, or you know you won't keep the site updated yourself. The tradeoffs: over a few years you often pay more than you would up front, there may be a minimum term, and the site is often rented rather than owned. If you stop paying, find out what happens to the site, your content and your domain.
Paying up front usually costs less over the long run, and you own the site. You'll still need hosting and some kind of maintenance, so it's not a one-time cost either.
Neither one is the right answer for everyone. It's a cash flow choice, not a quality choice.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra? Ask for it in writing.
- Who writes the content and who supplies the photos?
- Whose name is the domain registered in? It should be yours.
- What are the ongoing costs after launch, per month or per year?
- How many rounds of changes are included during the build?
- How are changes handled after launch, and what do they cost?
- If I leave, do I keep the site, or just the content?
- How long will it take, and what do you need from me and when?
Our prices, as one example
Here's how we price websites at theNetStuff, as of November 2026, so you have one real set of numbers to compare against. Other providers will be higher or lower.
- Pay monthly: $0 to build. One page is $50 a month and you can cancel anytime. Up to 5 pages is $100 a month with a 12-month minimum, then month to month. Hosting, security and unlimited content updates are included, and we make the updates.
- Pay up front: one page from $500 plus $15 a month for management, or up to 5 pages from $1,500 plus $25 a month. Management includes hosting and unlimited content updates. You own the site.
- We build, you manage: from $800, then hosting and technical maintenance from $15 a month and your domain at $20 a year. You make your own changes, and we're there when you need a hand.
- Online stores: quoted, because they vary too much to price blind.
Bigger sites and complex requirements are quoted, because they vary too much to price blind. Our pricing page has the details and add-ons.
Common questions
Is a $500 website a good idea? It can be, for a one-page site that just needs to look professional and get people to call. Ask what's included, and make sure the domain is in your name.
Can I build it myself to save money? Yes, and many owners do. Be honest about your time. Ten evenings of fiddling with a builder isn't free, and a DIY site still needs updates.
How long does it take? A one-page site can be live in days. A 5 to 10 page site usually takes a few weeks. The most common delay is waiting on content and photos from the owner.
The short version
- Simple professional sites commonly run $1,000 to $5,000. Stores and custom features cost more.
- Content, photos, features and online stores drive the price more than page count.
- Budget for hosting, domain, updates and marketing every year, not just the build.
- Monthly plans spread the cost but often cost more over time. Ask who owns the site.
- Compare quotes on three-year cost and what's included in writing.