What decides the price
Every website quote comes down to four things:
- Who does the work. You, a freelancer, or a team.
- Who writes the words and supplies the photos. This is the part most owners underestimate. Without clear words and real photos, a site is just a template.
- What happens after someone fills out the form. Does the message reach your phone? Does the visitor get a confirmation? Does anyone follow up?
- Who keeps it running. Updates, fixes and changes after launch.
The number of pages matters less than you'd think. A five-page site that makes the next step obvious will do more for you than a 25-page site nobody can find their way around.
The three ways to get a website
| Route | Up front | After launch | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself (Wix, Squarespace) | $0, plus your time | About $16 to $39 a month on most small business plans, billed yearly | You have more time than budget and simple needs |
| Hire a freelancer | About $1,500 to $3,500 | Hosting, plus updates, often $50 to $200 a month if someone else makes the changes | You have the words and photos ready and need it done well |
| Hire an agency or studio | About $3,000 to $10,000 | A care or support plan, hosting, and any marketing | The site has to bring in work, not just exist |
Plan prices are from Website Builder Expert (Wix, updated September 15, 2026) and Beancount (Squarespace, September 17, 2026). The freelancer, agency and update ranges are from UENI's 2026 website cost guide (updated September 22, 2026). Prices change, so check the current numbers before you decide.
When it costs more
Expect a higher price when the site needs to:
- Sell products online, with payments, shipping and inventory.
- Take bookings that sync with your calendar.
- Do something custom, like a quote calculator or a customer login.
- Cover several locations or languages, or dozens of service pages.
- Replace an older site without losing the pages people already find on Google.
The costs people forget
- Your domain name. Usually $10 to $50 a year.
- Hosting. Website builders include it. A custom site on shared hosting is usually $5 to $25 a month.
- Renewal prices. Intro hosting deals often renew higher. One example in UENI's guide: a $3.99 a month intro rate that renews at $9.99 a month.
- Your time. Writing, gathering photos and going back and forth on changes adds up, especially when you build it yourself.
- Changes after launch. New services, new hours, new photos. Know who makes them and what they cost before you sign.
What a website costs with us
We build packages around where your business is and what it needs, and you get a clear price in writing before anything starts. For reference, our Startup Package includes a beginner website and starts at $799. A custom website, our Standard Web Package, starts at $2,500: $1,250 to start and $1,250 at launch. Or $0 down at $297 a month for 12 months, then $149 a month.
That covers up to eight pages, a design built for phones first, a clear way for people to reach you, an instant confirmation to the visitor and an alert to you, one round of revisions, launch, and 30 days of fixes. A website you buy outright, including on the $0-down payment plan, is yours once it's paid in full. Sites on a monthly plan run on our platform while you're subscribed. If you stop the $0-down payment plan early, the rest of the $2,500 is due before we hand everything over.
Need more than a website, like reviews, social media or follow-up? Build your own package and we'll send you a written price within one business day.
Five questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Who owns the site, the domain and the content if we stop working together? Get the answer in writing.
- What will I pay in year one and year two, all in? Include hosting, the domain, updates and any tools.
- Who writes the words and supplies the photos? If it's you, ask for help with what goes on each page.
- What happens when someone fills out the form? Where does it go, how fast do you see it, and does the visitor get a confirmation?
- How many rounds of changes are included, and what does a change cost after launch?
Cheap or expensive is the wrong question
A website that looks fine but hides your phone number, or sends form messages to an inbox nobody checks, costs more than it saves. Before you compare quotes, find out what your current site and Google listing are actually doing for you.
That's what our free business checkup is for. Type in your business name and city, and in about two minutes you'll see how your Google listing, your reviews and your website check out, with the top things to fix. Run the free checkup.
Sources
- UENI, How much does a website cost in 2026?, updated September 22, 2026
- Website Builder Expert, Wix Pricing 2026, updated September 15, 2026
- Beancount, Squarespace's new pricing, September 17, 2026
- Supreme Team Media, Packages
