How much does a small business website cost in 2026? (Complete Budget Planning Guide)

If you've ever Googled "how much does a website cost" and ended up more confused than when you started, you're not alone. You'll find answers ranging from $200 to $50,000, and somehow both can be true.

The reason pricing is all over the place is that the question itself is too broad. Asking how much a website costs is like asking how much a car costs. The answer depends entirely on what you actually need, and who you hire to build it.

This guide cuts through the noise. I'll break down every real cost involved in building a small business website in 2026, explain the three main build paths, show you where most business owners accidentally overspend (or underspend), and give you a clear budget framework you can act on today.

Quick Answer:

• DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace): $200–$600/year
• Freelance Webflow designer: $2,000–$8,000 upfront
• Full-service agency: $8,000–$35,000+
• Ongoing monthly costs (all paths): $50–$300/month

What Actually Goes Into the Cost of a Small Business Website?

Before we talk total numbers, you need to understand the building blocks. Every website, regardless of who builds it, is made up of the same core components. Here's what you're actually paying for:

1. Domain Name ($10–$20/year)

Your domain is your address on the internet: yourbusiness.com. Most domains cost between $10 and $20 per year through registrars like Namecheap or Google Domains. If you want domain privacy protection (to keep your personal info out of public WHOIS records), add another $10–$15 annually. Premium or short domains can run much higher, but for most small businesses, a standard .com is all you need.

2. Web Hosting ($3–$300/month)

Hosting is what keeps your site live. The cost varies dramatically based on the type:

• Shared hosting ($3–$10/month): Fine for brand-new sites with low traffic. Platforms like Bluehost and Hostinger sit in this range.
• VPS hosting ($20–$60/month): Better performance and more control as your traffic grows.
• Dedicated/managed hosting ($80–$300/month): For high-traffic, security-sensitive sites.

One important note: if you build with Webflow, hosting is bundled into the platform plan, starting at around $23/month for a business site. This simplifies the cost equation considerably and eliminates a lot of backend headaches.

3. SSL Certificate ($0–$300/year)

An SSL certificate encrypts data between your site and visitors. It's what puts the padlock icon in the browser and makes your URL https:// instead of http://. Without it, browsers flag your site as "Not Secure," which destroys trust and hurts SEO. Many hosts include a basic SSL for free. If you need extended validation (common for ecommerce or financial services), expect to pay up to $300/year.

4. Design and Development (The Big Variable)

This is where costs diverge the most. We'll cover this in depth in the next section, but in summary:

• DIY builder: essentially free (you're trading money for time)
• Freelance designer: $1,500–$8,000 for most small business sites
• Agency: $8,000–$35,000+ for the same type of site

5. Content Creation ($0–$5,000+)

Here's the hidden cost that catches nearly every business owner off guard: your website is a shell without content. The text, photos, and visuals are what actually communicate your value to visitors. If you write your own copy, the cost is just your time. If you hire a professional copywriter, budget $50–$150 per page. Professional photography for a business shoot can add $500–$2,500 to your total. This is the number one underestimated line item in any web project.

6. Ongoing Maintenance ($50–$300/month)

Your website is not a one-time project. It's an ongoing business asset. Once your site is live, it needs regular updates, security monitoring, performance optimization, and content changes. Neglecting this doesn't just slow your site down; it creates security vulnerabilities and causes your Google rankings to decay over time. For a full breakdown of what maintenance actually includes and what you should be paying, see our website maintenance cost guide for small businesses.

The 3 Build Paths: DIY, Freelancer, or Agency?

Every small business website falls into one of three build paths. Here's an honest breakdown of each, including what most pricing guides won't tell you.

Path 1: DIY Website Builders

Total cost: $200–$600/year

Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow's own starter plan let you drag and drop a website together without writing any code. The monthly subscription fees are low, typically $20–$50/month, which sounds great on paper.

The real cost is your time. If you have no design or marketing background, expect to spend 40–80 hours building something that still looks generic. The templates are fine for getting online fast, but they're limiting when it comes to SEO flexibility, custom branding, and scaling as your business grows. What starts as a cost-saving move often ends in a professional rebuild 12–18 months later.

Best for: Solopreneurs just testing an idea, side projects, or businesses in their first 6 months that need a basic digital presence.

Path 2: Hiring a Freelance Web Designer

Total cost: $1,500–$8,000 upfront

Hiring a freelancer is the sweet spot for most small businesses. You get a custom, professionally designed site without paying agency overhead. A skilled freelance Webflow designer, for example, typically charges between $2,000 and $5,000 for a clean 5–7 page business site, and $5,000–$8,000 for more complex builds with custom animations, CMS-powered blogs, or form integrations.

The tradeoff is that you're working with one person. If that person is unavailable or inconsistent, your project stalls. Vetting matters enormously here: look for a portfolio, real testimonials, and a clear process.

Best for: Small businesses with a defined brand that need a high-quality online presence without a five-figure budget.

Path 3: Full-Service Web Design Agency

Total cost: $8,000–$35,000+

An agency brings a full team to your project: strategist, UX designer, developer, copywriter, and project manager. You pay for that coordination. For a typical small-to-medium business site, agency quotes in 2026 run between $8,000 and $35,000 depending on scope, with larger ecommerce or enterprise builds going much higher.

Agencies make sense when your website is a core revenue channel, not just a digital business card. If you're running paid ads, need deep CMS architecture, or require complex integrations like booking systems or membership areas, the agency model pays off. For a 5-page service business site, it's usually overkill.

Best for: Established businesses where the website directly drives significant revenue, or projects requiring multi-discipline teams.

Why Webflow Is the Best Platform for Small Business Websites in 2026

If you're going the freelancer route (and for most small businesses, I recommend you do), the platform your site is built on matters as much as who builds it. After years of building websites professionally, Webflow is consistently the best choice for small business clients, and here's why:

It's not a template prison. Unlike WordPress drag-and-drop builders that work on top of a rigid theme system, Webflow gives designers pixel-level control over every element. The result is a site that looks exactly how it was designed, without compromise.

It's built for speed and SEO. Webflow generates clean, semantic HTML/CSS without bloated plugin code. This directly impacts page load speed, Core Web Vitals, and by extension, your Google rankings. Sites built in Webflow consistently outperform WordPress sites on performance benchmarks.

Maintenance is dramatically simpler. WordPress sites require constant plugin updates, security patches, and database management. Webflow handles all of that at the platform level. For a small business owner who doesn't want to think about their website infrastructure, this alone is worth a premium.

You can edit content yourself. Webflow's Editor lets you update text, images, and blog posts without touching design files or code. You stay in control of your content without needing to log tickets with a developer every time you want to change a line of copy.

Platform costs are predictable. A Webflow Business site plan runs about $23/month, with hosting included. There are no surprise plugin fees, no hosting upsells, and no security subscription add-ons.

Webflow Freelancer Cost Breakdown: What to Expect in 2026

When you hire a Webflow freelancer, here's how project pricing typically breaks down by scope:

Project TypePagesTypical CostStarter brochure site4–5 pages$1,500–$3,000Professional business site6–10 pages$3,000–$6,000Business site with CMS blog8–12 pages + blog$4,500–$8,000eCommerce / booking integrationsVaries$6,000–$12,000+

What's typically included:

• Custom design (not a template)
• Mobile-responsive build
• Basic on-page SEO setup (meta titles, descriptions, alt tags)
• Contact form integration
• Google Analytics connection
• 1–2 rounds of revisions
• A brief handoff and training session

What usually costs extra:

• Professional copywriting
• Custom animations or micro-interactions
• Third-party integrations (booking software, CRM, live chat)
• Photography sourcing or editing
• Ongoing monthly maintenance

A flat project fee is almost always better than an hourly arrangement for small business clients. It gives you cost certainty, and it incentivizes the designer to work efficiently. Always ask upfront.

Hidden Costs Most Small Business Owners Miss

The quoted project price is almost never the final number. Here are the line items that routinely catch business owners off guard:

Content and copywriting is the biggest one. Most web designers don't write the words that go on your site. That's a separate skill. If you can't provide well-written, on-brand copy before your project starts, you'll either delay the build or need to hire a copywriter. Budget $50–$150 per page, or $500–$1,500 for a full site. It's worth it. Good copy converts visitors into clients far more reliably than beautiful design alone.

Photography and visual assets add up quickly. Stock photos are fine for some use cases, but authentic business photography of your actual team, space, and products converts dramatically better. A professional business shoot runs $500–$2,500 depending on your location and scope.

Domain and email setup is often overlooked. A professional email address like you@yourbusiness.com requires a separate Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 subscription, typically $6–$12/month per user. It's a small cost but an essential one, because sending business emails from a Gmail address undermines your credibility.

Post-launch revisions happen on every project. Real-world feedback, stakeholder changes, and things that look different on actual devices all generate revision requests after the site goes live. Either include a revision allowance in your budget or negotiate it into the contract upfront.

Ongoing maintenance is not optional. A website that isn't maintained becomes a security liability and a slow, broken experience over time. Budget $50–$200/month for a proper maintenance plan if you're on a freelancer-built site.

How to Budget Smart: A 3-Year Website Cost Framework

Most businesses think about website costs in terms of the upfront build price. The smarter way is to think across three years, as that's the realistic lifespan of a well-maintained small business site before a strategic redesign makes sense.

Year 1 (Build + Launch):

• Design and development: $3,000–$6,000
• Domain (annual): $15
• Hosting/platform: $276 (Webflow Business, $23/month)
• Professional email: $72 ($6/month)
• Content/copywriting: $500–$1,500
• Photography: $800–$1,500
• Year 1 total: approximately $4,700–$9,400

Years 2–3 (Maintenance + Growth):

• Platform/hosting: $276/year
• Maintenance retainer: $600–$2,400/year ($50–$200/month)
• Content updates and blog posts: $0–$1,200/year
• SEO and analytics tools: $0–$600/year
• Annual ongoing cost: approximately $900–$4,500/year

3-Year total investment: roughly $6,500–$18,400, depending on how actively you maintain and grow the site.

When you frame it this way, the premium difference between a mediocre build and a well-executed Webflow site is often just $1,000–$2,000 extra upfront, but it delivers years of better performance, leads, and credibility in return.

What Should You Actually Pay? A Quick Decision Framework

Not sure which budget tier is right for you? Use this as a guide:

Budget: Under $1,000You'll be doing most of the work yourself. Use a DIY builder, pick a clean template, and focus on getting your basic information online. This works if you have time, some design sensibility, and a business that doesn't rely heavily on online leads.

Budget: $2,000–$5,000This is the sweet spot for most service-based small businesses. A skilled Webflow freelancer can build you a professional 5–8 page site that looks custom, loads fast, and is built for SEO. This is the minimum realistic investment for a site that actively supports your business goals.

Budget: $5,000–$10,000At this range, you can include a CMS-powered blog, advanced animations, custom integrations, and a more comprehensive launch strategy. This is where most growth-focused small businesses and professional services firms should aim.

Budget: $10,000+Consider a boutique agency or a senior freelancer with strategic experience. Appropriate for businesses where the website is a primary revenue driver and requires deep UX thinking, extensive content, or complex integrations.

A Note on ROI: Your Website Is Not an Expense

The smartest shift you can make when thinking about website costs is to stop treating it as an expense and start treating it as an investment. A well-built website works for you 24 hours a day: answering questions, building trust, qualifying leads, and converting visitors into customers while you focus on running your business.

If your website helps you close even one additional client per year, it's likely already paid for itself. If it's actively generating consistent leads through SEO, it becomes one of the highest-ROI assets your business owns. The question isn't whether you can afford a good website. The real question is whether you can afford to keep running without one.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a 5-page website cost in 2026?A professionally built 5-page business website costs between $2,000 and $5,000 when built by a skilled Webflow freelancer. DIY builder options run $200–$500/year but require significant time investment and sacrifice quality.

Is Webflow better than WordPress for small businesses?For most small businesses, yes. Webflow offers cleaner code, faster performance, built-in hosting, and a simpler content editing experience, without the plugin maintenance burden of WordPress. For businesses that need very specific WordPress ecosystem plugins (like WooCommerce for large stores), WordPress may still be the better call.

How long does it take to build a small business website?A freelancer-built Webflow site typically takes 4–8 weeks from kickoff to launch. The biggest delays are usually on the client side: waiting on content, photography, and approvals. Having your copy and assets ready before the project starts can cut your timeline in half.

What is the single biggest mistake small businesses make with website budgets?Not budgeting for content. Most business owners focus entirely on design cost and forget that someone needs to write compelling copy for every page. A beautifully designed website with weak copy will underperform every time.

Do I need to pay for ongoing website maintenance?Yes, if you want your site to stay fast, secure, and effective. A Webflow site is lower maintenance than WordPress, but it still needs content updates, performance monitoring, and periodic design refreshes to stay competitive. Budget $50–$200/month for a proper maintenance plan.

Can I build a website for free?Technically yes. Free tiers exist on Wix, WordPress.com, and Webflow. In practice, free websites come with branded subdomains (yourbusiness.wix.com), limited features, and a look that signals to customers that you haven't invested in your business. For any serious business, the small cost of a paid plan is non-negotiable.

Ready to Build a Website That Actually Works for Your Business?

At YSR Studio, we design and build high-performance Webflow websites for small businesses that want to stand out online. Every project includes custom design, mobile-optimized builds, SEO foundations, and full handoff training so you can manage your own content with confidence.

But we don't just build sites and disappear. Our monthly Webflow maintenance service keeps your website fresh, secure, and continuously improving, with regular design updates, content changes, performance monitoring, and priority support. It's the difference between a website that slowly fades into irrelevance and one that keeps getting better over time.

If your current website isn't generating leads, loading fast, or reflecting the quality of your business? Let's fix that.

→ Get a free project quote from YSR Studio

→ Learn about the YSR Studio monthly maintenance plan

Yaseer Sanni is a Webflow designer and the founder of YSR Studio. He specializes in building conversion-focused websites for small businesses, with a focus on clean design, fast performance, and ongoing growth through monthly design maintenance.