How much does a small business website cost in 2026?

TL;DR — the five price tiers

Tier	Cost	Best for
DIY (Wix / Squarespace / GoDaddy)	$16–$40/mo	Solo operators, hobbyists, side projects
Freelancer (Fiverr / Upwork)	$500–$3,000	Templated builds with light customization
Small studio (BurnsBuilt-class)	$500–$10,000	Custom code, SEO that ranks, real local businesses
Mid-tier agency	$10,000–$50,000	Multi-stakeholder companies, branded campaigns
Enterprise / boutique agency	$50,000+	Companies with $5M+ revenue and ad budgets to match

The single most important question isn't "how much" — it's "how much custom work do I need?" A 5-page brochure site for a contractor and a 130-page hyper-local SEO site for a regional landscaping company are both "small business websites," but they cost a 10x difference because one is a template and the other is a campaign.

Tier 1 — DIY platforms ($16–$40/month)

The cheapest legitimate option. Squarespace Personal runs $16/month, Wix Light runs $17/month, GoDaddy Premium $25/month. All include hosting, SSL, drag-and-drop editing, and a couple hundred templates.

What you actually get:

• 5–10 pages from a template that thousands of other businesses also use
• Mobile-responsive (the template handles it)
• Basic SEO fields (title, description, alt text)
• A contact form that emails the inbox tied to the account
• Their hosting infrastructure shared across their entire customer base

What you don't get:

• Custom code or anything the platform doesn't natively support
• Real local SEO. Templates rank poorly because they share boilerplate HTML, slow render times, and weak schema markup with every other site on the platform.
• Speed. A typical Wix site scores 30–50 on Google Lighthouse mobile performance. Custom-coded sites score 90+.
• Easy migration. Try moving a 3-year-old Wix site to a new platform — it's a rebuild, not an export.

When DIY makes sense: you have time, you like design work, you need under 5 simple pages, and you're not depending on Google traffic to drive revenue. A retired tutor offering tutoring on weekends. A wedding photographer with all bookings via Instagram. A craft Etsy store linking back home.

When DIY costs more than it saves: any business where Google search is a meaningful lead source. The $400/year you save on the platform you'll lose 10x over in leads that never find you.

Tier 2 — Freelancers ($500–$3,000)

Upwork, Fiverr, and direct freelance hires. The quality range is enormous — a $500 freelancer might deliver a perfectly fine 8-page site, or a $3,000 freelancer might disappear with your deposit.

What this typically delivers:

• WordPress with a paid theme (Elementor, Divi, Astra Pro), or a Squarespace template skin job
• 5–20 pages with copy you usually provide
• One revision round, then either work-for-hire add-ons or radio silence
• Content management you can update through WordPress admin

The risk: freelancers often disappear after delivery. Maintenance, security updates, plugin compatibility, broken contact forms — all become your problem. Migration from offshore-built WordPress is also painful because the underlying code is rarely well-documented.

When this makes sense: a defined, scoped project where you don't need ongoing partnership and you have someone vetted (referral or proven portfolio). A landing page for a one-time event. A simple migration off Wix to WordPress. A specific feature add-on.

Tier 3 — Small studio ($500–$10,000+)

This is where most small businesses should look. Studios like BurnsBuilt, two-to-five-person shops, and indie web developers who run their own businesses. The price range is wide because the work range is wide.

What's typical at each price point:

$500–$1,000 setup (entry tier)

• 5–8 pages of custom-coded site (no template)
• Mobile-first design
• Real on-page SEO — schema markup, sitemap, structured data
• Contact form with email notifications
• Hosting and SSL included via the studio's infrastructure
• Ongoing maintenance retainer ($25–$50/month) for security, updates, small content changes

$1,000–$5,000 setup (standard / pro)

• 10–25 pages with custom design
• Hyper-local SEO — service-by-city landing pages
• GA4 conversion tracking
• Lead automation (instant SMS to your phone, automated follow-up email sequences)
• Performance monitoring

$5,000–$10,000+ setup (custom)

• 50+ pages, scoped by need
• Server-side conversion tracking (Meta CAPI) recovering iOS-blocked ad signal
• Custom integrations (CRM, scheduling, payment processing)
• Larger SEO matrices (industry × city pairings)
• White-glove project management

Real example: BurnsBuilt built Bearcat Turf — a 136-page custom Astro site with 44 hyper-local SEO landing pages and server-side Meta CAPI conversion tracking. Total project cost was $9,500. Equivalent agency quote would have been $40,000–$80,000.

When small-studio makes sense: any small business where Google traffic, local SEO, or a polished brand impression actually drives revenue. Most contractors, professional services, restaurants, retail, and service businesses fit here.

Tier 4 — Mid-tier agency ($10,000–$50,000)

Larger DFW agencies like Thrive Agency, Sumy Designs, or any "full-service" digital marketing firm. The price reflects overhead more than craftsmanship — you're paying for a sales rep, account manager, project manager, designer, developer, copywriter, and QA across the same project the studio delivered with two people.

What you actually get:

• 20–60 pages with branded design (often custom illustrated)
• Multi-channel coordination (paid ads, SEO, social, email)
• Quarterly strategy reviews
• Process — kickoff meetings, weekly stand-ups, formal change-orders
• Long contracts (typically 6–12 month minimums)

The reality: for a small business under $5M revenue, the marginal value of agency overhead vs. studio is hard to justify. The actual code work is comparable; you're paying for the process layer. If your team needs that process structure (e.g. you have a marketing committee or multiple stakeholder approvals), the overhead is worth it. If decisions go through one or two people, it's pure cost.

Tier 5 — Enterprise / boutique ($50,000+)

R/GA, Huge, Instrument, or boutique brand-led agencies. Custom illustration, motion design, brand systems, multi-stakeholder workshops. Typical timelines: 4–6 months.

When this makes sense: companies with $5M+ revenue, sophisticated brand requirements, large ad budgets that justify agency-level creative work, or specific business needs (HIPAA-compliant healthcare, financial services with regulatory complexity, e-commerce at scale). Not most small businesses.

The hidden costs nobody talks about

Whatever tier you pick, plan for these on top of the build:

Cost	Range	Notes
Domain registration	$12–$20/year	Annually. Don't let it lapse.
Email hosting (if not Google Workspace)	$6/user/mo	Or Microsoft 365 at similar pricing
SSL certificate	Free	Let's Encrypt is standard via Cloudflare/Netlify
Premium plugins (WordPress)	$50–$300/year each	4–8 plugins is typical
Stock photos / paid imagery	$10–$200	Depending on quality and quantity
Content writing	$500–$3,000	If the studio doesn't include it
Maintenance / hosting	$25–$200/mo	Always ongoing
Payment processing	2.9% + $0.30	Stripe / PayPal standard for online payments

What I'd recommend by business stage

Pre-revenue / side hustle: Squarespace ($16/mo). Spend the time doing the work, not building infrastructure for traffic you don't have yet.

$50K–$500K annual revenue: Small studio at $500–$2,000 setup + $25–$75/mo maintenance. Real custom code, real SEO, real lead capture. This is where 80% of small businesses should land.

$500K–$5M annual revenue: Custom-tier studio work ($3,000–$10,000) with hyper-local SEO matrices, Meta CAPI tracking, and lead automation. The marginal $5K beyond a basic site pays back in 6–12 months for any business with significant Google ad spend or local SEO competition.

$5M+ annual revenue: Mid-tier agency or specialized studio for branding-intensive work. Or skip the redesign entirely and invest in performance marketing — your existing site is rarely the bottleneck.

Frequently asked

What's the cheapest legitimate option for a small business website?

Squarespace Personal at $16/month or Wix Light at $17/month are the cheapest legitimate options. Below that, you're looking at free Wix or Google Sites, which work for hobbyists but signal "not a real business" to potential customers and rank poorly in local search.

Why do agency websites cost $15,000–$50,000+?

Agency overhead. A typical agency project runs through a sales rep, account manager, project manager, designer, developer, and QA — six people billing $150–$300/hour. The actual code work is often 20–30% of the total cost; the rest is process. Custom websites from a small studio can deliver comparable quality at $3,000–$10,000 because there's no middle layer.

Are there hidden costs I should plan for?

Domain registration ($12–$20/year), email hosting if not using Google Workspace ($6/user/month), SSL certificate (free via Let's Encrypt or hosting), premium plugins on WordPress ($50–$300/year each), stock photos ($10–$200), and content writing if you're not doing it yourself ($500–$3,000+ for a full site). Maintenance/hosting on top: $25–$200/month depending on tier.

When does it make sense to DIY vs. hire?

DIY makes sense if you have time, like the design work, and need under 5 simple pages. Hire when your time is worth more than $50/hour, you need real local SEO that ranks (templates rank poorly), or you need integrations beyond the platform's native features. Most small business owners discover DIY costs them more in lost time and lost leads than the hire would have.

How much should I budget if I'm starting from scratch?

For most small businesses in 2026: $500–$1,500 for setup with a small studio, plus $25–$75/month for hosting and maintenance. That delivers a 5–15 page custom site that ranks locally, captures leads, and doesn't break. Add $1,000–$3,000 if you need automation (lead routing, missed-call text-back, review collection).

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