Quick Takeaway
A website can cost anything from a small monthly subscription to many thousands of dollars. Do it yourself on a builder such as WordPress.com or Shopify and you mainly pay a monthly plan. Hire a freelancer or agency and the price is roughly the hours the project needs multiplied by their hourly rate, plus yearly costs for the domain, hosting and maintenance.
Key takeaways
- There are three ways to get a website: build it yourself on a website builder, hire a freelancer, or hire an agency. Each trades money for time and expertise.
- Builder plans are priced per month: WordPress.com has a free plan and paid plans from US$4 a month billed yearly; Shopify starts at US$19 a month billed yearly (both checked October 2026).
- A custom website's price is hours × hourly rate. The scope (number of pages, features, content and integrations) drives the hours.
- Budget for yearly costs too: domain renewal, hosting, app or plugin subscriptions, updates, security and content.
- The cheapest quote is often the most expensive over three years if the site is slow, hard to update or invisible in search.
“How much does a website cost?” is one of the first questions every business owner asks, and the honest answer is “it depends”. That isn’t very useful on its own, so this guide shows what it depends on, with real prices from the official pricing pages of popular website builders and a simple way to estimate a custom build. Prices were checked in October 2026.
We build business websites, online stores and web apps at WikiAI, so we also cover the costs that rarely appear on a first quote. If you already know you want a custom site, our web development service page explains how we scope one.
- Website cost
- The total cost of a website is the one-time cost to design and build it plus the recurring cost to keep it online, secure and up to date: domain, hosting, software subscriptions, maintenance and content.
What are the three ways to get a website?
| Option | What you pay for | Best for | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website builder (do it yourself) | A monthly or yearly plan, plus your own time | New businesses, simple sites, tight budgets | You do the design, writing and setup; limits on custom features |
| Freelancer | Their hours or a fixed project fee | Small sites with a clear brief | Quality and availability depend on one person |
| Agency | A project fee covering design, development, SEO and project management | Sites that must generate leads or sales, custom features, integrations | Higher upfront cost; check what is included after launch |
How much do website builders cost?
Builders charge a subscription. Here is what the official pricing pages showed in US dollars when we checked in October 2026:
| Builder | Plans and price per month | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com | Free; Personal US$4; Premium US$8; Business US$25; Commerce US$45 (billed yearly) | The free plan has no expiry date; paid plans add a custom domain, more storage and plugins on higher tiers |
| Shopify | Basic US$19; Grow US$49; Advanced US$299 (billed yearly); Plus from US$2,300 | Built for online stores; monthly billing costs more than yearly |
| Squarespace | Basic, Core and Advanced plans | Prices vary by region and billing period; see its pricing page for your currency |
Prices change
Builders update prices and plan names regularly and show local currencies. Always check the live pricing page on the day you buy, and compare the monthly price with the yearly price, which is usually lower per month.
A builder is the cheapest way to start, but remember the hidden cost: your own time. Writing the pages, choosing images, setting up forms and learning the editor can easily take several working days.
How do you estimate the cost of a custom website?
For a freelancer or agency, the price is mostly the number of hours the project needs multiplied by the hourly rate. Some quote a fixed fee, but that fee is still based on an estimate of hours.
Step 1: List the pages
Home, about, each service or product category, contact, blog, legal pages. More unique pages means more design and writing time.
Step 2: List the features
Contact forms, booking, online payments, a store, a member area, multiple languages, a blog, search, integrations with your CRM or email tool.
Step 3: Decide who writes the content
Copywriting, photos and product descriptions take real time. If the agency writes them, the hours go up; if you supply them late, the project slows down.
Step 4: Multiply by the rate
Hours × hourly rate gives the build cost. For example, a project scoped at 40 hours at US$50 an hour is US$2,000; the same hours at US$100 an hour is US$4,000.
Step 5: Add the yearly running costs
Domain, hosting, software subscriptions and maintenance, covered below.
What is a fair hourly rate? It varies widely by country and experience. As one reference point, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of US$92,650 for web developers in May 2025, and a median of US$47.85 an hour for web developers and digital designers combined. Freelancers and agencies charge more than a salary because their rate also covers taxes, software, sales time and gaps between projects.
What makes a website more expensive?
- Custom design instead of a ready-made template.
- E-commerce: product setup, payments, shipping and tax rules.
- Integrations: CRM, booking systems, email marketing, inventory or accounting software.
- Custom functionality such as client portals, calculators or dashboards, which turns a website into a web application.
- Content creation: copywriting, photography and video.
- Migration: moving content from an old site and protecting its search rankings (see our website redesign SEO checklist).
- Accessibility and performance work to make the site usable for everyone and fast on phones.
What are the ongoing yearly costs of a website?
| Cost | What it covers | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your web address (for example yourbusiness.com) | Yearly renewal with your registrar |
| Hosting or builder plan | Keeping the site online and fast | Monthly or yearly |
| Apps, plugins and themes | Paid features such as booking, forms, SEO or store add-ons | Monthly or yearly per app |
| Business email | Mailboxes on your own domain | Per user, monthly or yearly |
| Maintenance | Updates, backups, security fixes and small changes | Your time, or a monthly support plan |
| Content and SEO | New pages, blog posts and search optimization | Your time, or an ongoing service |
The cheapest site can cost the most
A low-cost site that loads slowly, can’t be updated without the original developer, or never appears in Google often has to be rebuilt within a year or two. When you compare quotes, compare the three-year total, not just the launch price.
How can you lower the cost without hurting results?
- Start smaller. Launch with the pages that bring enquiries (home, services, contact) and add more later.
- Prepare your content first. Text, logo and photos ready before the project starts saves paid hours.
- Use one clear goal per page so design time goes into what converts. Our landing page conversion checklist shows what matters.
- Choose tools your team can update so small edits don’t need a developer.
- Build SEO in from day one instead of fixing it after launch; Google’s own SEO Starter Guide lists the basics.
What should a website quote include?
- The list of pages and features, in writing.
- Who writes the content and supplies the images.
- The number of design revision rounds.
- Mobile, accessibility and speed testing before launch.
- Basic SEO setup: titles, descriptions, sitemap, analytics and Search Console.
- Who owns the domain, hosting account and website files (it should be you).
- What happens after launch: support period, maintenance plan and their price.
- A timeline with milestones and payment stages.
Want a written estimate for your project? Tell us what you need on our contact page and we’ll send a scoped proposal with a timeline. You can also see examples of client sites on our work page.
How much does a small business website cost?
On a website builder, mainly the monthly plan: WordPress.com starts free and Shopify at US$19 a month billed yearly (October 2026). A custom site from a freelancer or agency costs the hours it needs multiplied by their hourly rate, plus yearly running costs.
Is it cheaper to build a website myself?
In money, yes: you pay only the builder plan and domain. In time, it usually isn’t: writing, design and setup take days, and mistakes in speed or SEO can cost you visitors later.
Why do agencies cost more than freelancers?
Agencies usually include several skills in one project (design, development, copywriting, SEO and project management) and can keep supporting the site if one person is unavailable. Compare what each quote includes, not only the total.
How much does website maintenance cost?
It depends on how often the site changes and how much software it runs on. Budget for updates, backups and security every month, either your own time or a support plan from your developer.
How long does it take to build a website?
A simple builder site can launch in days if the content is ready. A custom business site or online store takes longer, and a web application longer still. Ask for a written timeline with milestones.