Ask five web designers what a website costs and you’ll get five answers, four of which start with “well, it depends”. Then you’ll get five quotes between £900 and £14,000 for what looks, on paper, like the same job.
That’s not a conspiracy. It’s a genuinely wide-open question. But “it depends” is a useless answer to a business owner trying to work out whether to spend, so here are actual numbers, what sits inside each of them, and the handful of things that really move the price.
I build websites for small and medium businesses, and I publish what I charge, so it would be odd of me to go coy now.
The short answer
For an established small or medium business in the UK, in 2026:
| What you’re buying | Realistic range | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Template site, DIY-ish, you write the words | £0–£1,500 | Pre-revenue, or a business that needs a placeholder this month |
| Professionally built small site (5–10 pages), designed to your brand, written properly | £2,500–£6,000 | Most established SMEs. This is where the majority of good local work lands |
| Larger site with several service pages, custom design, proper SEO groundwork, copywriting included | £6,000–£12,000 | Businesses selling multiple services, or in a competitive market where the site has to actually win work |
| E-commerce, booking systems, integrations, membership areas | £10,000+ | Anything where the website is the operation |
If you’ve been quoted under £1,000 for a business-critical site, something is being left out. Usually the words, the search work, or the person who’ll answer the phone in eighteen months.
If you’ve been quoted £15,000 for a brochure site with eight pages, ask what specifically justifies it. There may be a very good answer. Make them give it to you.
The five things that actually move the price
Everything else is noise.
1. Who writes the words. This is the biggest single variable and the one most quotes are vague about. Writing eight pages of good, search-aware, persuasive copy is a serious piece of work — it is routinely a third of the cost of a site. Many quotes assume you’ll supply the text. Then the project stalls for four months, because you’re running a business and page five of your website is nobody’s priority. Copywriting →
2. How many pages you genuinely need. Not how many you want — how many things you sell. Every service you offer should have a page of its own, because a page can only be understood as one thing. Six services described in a paragraph on your homepage is six things nothing can confirm you do. So a five-page site is cheap partly because it’s quietly limiting what you can ever be found for.
3. Whether design is being done, or chosen. A theme configured neatly is a real, legitimate, cost-effective option. A site designed to your brand — your colours, your type, your photography, your layout logic — costs more and looks like you rather than like everyone else who bought the same theme. Both are defensible. Know which one you’re paying for.
4. Whether search is built in or bolted on. Structure, page titles, headings, speed, the way services are split, and the questions you answer — these get decided while the site is being built, or they get expensively retrofitted afterwards. Retrofitting is always dearer. SEO services →
5. Photography. Stock imagery is free-ish and says nothing about you. A day with a photographer shooting your team, your premises and your actual work is typically £400–£900 and does more for trust than another £2,000 of design.
What “cheap” usually costs later
I’m not going to tell you never to buy a budget website. Sometimes it’s exactly right. But be clear about what typically gets left out at the bottom of the market, because these are the bills that arrive later:
- You own nothing. The site sits on a proprietary builder you can’t export. Leaving means starting again.
- No search foundation. It looks fine and is invisible. Fixing it costs more than doing it right did.
- One page for everything. You can never rank for the six things you sell.
- No support. Something breaks in month nine, the person has moved on, and you’re paying someone else to understand a stranger’s work.
The honest test: if this website went down on a Monday morning, what would it cost your business? If the answer is “nothing much”, buy cheaply and don’t feel bad about it. If the answer is “a week of enquiries”, it’s not really a website cost, it’s a business cost.
How I do it, and what it costs
I work in dedicated days at £350 a day — published on the site, because you shouldn’t have to sit through a meeting to find out what something costs.
A typical small business website — strategy, structure, design, copy, build, search groundwork — is a six-to-ten-day piece of work, so £2,100–£3,500. A larger multi-service site with fuller copywriting and photography direction runs to twelve to twenty days.
What’s different isn’t the number, it’s who’s doing it. It’s me, from the plan through to the words through to the build. No account manager relaying your feedback to a designer you’ve never met, and no fifth handover where the point of the thing gets lost.
And because I do the rest of the mix too, the site gets built to be marketed — the structure suits the SEO plan, the copy suits the email programme, the pages suit the ads. That joining-up is normally where money leaks out of a marketing budget. Web design services →
Six questions to ask before you accept any web quote
Take these to whoever is quoting, including me.
- Is copywriting included, or am I writing it? If it’s me, when is it due and what happens if it’s late?
- Who owns the site and the hosting when we’re done? Can I take it elsewhere?
- How many pages, and does each service I sell get one?
- What search work is included in the build? Be specific.
- What happens after launch? What’s covered, what’s charged, and by whom?
- Can I speak to a client you built for two years ago? Not last month — two years ago. That’s the one that tells you something.
Common questions
How much does a website cost for a small business in the UK?
For an established small business in 2026, a professionally built site typically costs between £2,500 and £6,000. Simple template sites can be done for under £1,500, while larger multi-service or e-commerce sites usually run from £6,000 to £12,000 or more. The biggest variables are who writes the copy, how many service pages you need, and whether search optimisation is built in from the start.
Why do web design quotes vary so much?
Because “a website” isn’t one product. The three biggest variables are whether copywriting is included, how many service pages you need, and whether search optimisation is built in or left out. Two quotes for “an eight-page site” can differ by £5,000 and both be honest — the difference is what’s inside them. Put the six questions above to each quote and they usually become comparable.
Is it cheaper to use a freelancer or an agency for web design?
A freelancer or independent consultant is usually 30–50% cheaper than an agency for the same site, because there’s no account management layer and no junior handover. An agency makes more sense when you need several specialists working at once, or continuity across a large team. For most small businesses, one experienced person is both cheaper and faster.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
Four to eight weeks is normal for a small site, and the delay is almost never the build. It’s the content — waiting for text, photos and sign-off. If copywriting is included in the project, sites tend to land at the front of that range rather than the back.
Should I pay monthly for a website or buy it outright?
Monthly plans are easier on cash flow but you usually don’t own the site, and over three to four years you’ll typically pay more than you would have outright. If you go monthly, check exactly what happens if you leave — specifically whether you can take the site with you.
Before you spend anything
Tell me what you’ve been quoted and what’s in it. I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s fair, whether it’s missing something that’ll cost you later, and whether you actually need a new site at all — quite often the existing one needs a fortnight of work rather than replacing.
Thirty minutes, no pitch, and I’ll say so if the answer isn’t me.
