If you've tried to get a straight answer on website costs, you'll know how frustrating it is. One agency quotes £500, another quotes £5,000, a web designer on Bark wants £1,200, and Wix says you can do it yourself for £17 a month. They're all technically correct - but they're not all giving you the same thing. Here's what the numbers actually mean.
The main options - and what each one really costs
DIY website builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy)
These are the cheapest option on paper. You pay a monthly subscription - usually between £10 and £30 a month - and build the site yourself using drag-and-drop tools.
The catch is the word "yourself". You're responsible for choosing a template, writing every word, sourcing or creating every image, figuring out the layout, and keeping it updated. If you've never built a website before, that's a significant time investment - and the results often show it.
- Monthly cost: £10 - £30/mo
- Setup time: 10 to 40+ hours of your own time
- Content writing: you do it
- Design quality: template-based, hard to make distinctive
- Ongoing maintenance: you do it
Freelance web designers
A freelance designer will build you something custom. Prices vary enormously depending on experience and location - a junior designer might charge £400-£800, while an experienced one in London might charge £2,000-£4,000 for the same brief.
Most freelancers charge for design and development only. Content writing, photography, hosting, and ongoing updates are typically separate costs - or simply not offered at all. Once the site is built, you're largely on your own.
- Typical one-off cost: £500 - £4,000+
- Content writing: usually not included
- Hosting: not included (you arrange separately)
- Ongoing updates: charged by the hour, or not offered
Web design agencies
Agencies bring more resource - project managers, designers, developers, sometimes copywriters - and their prices reflect that. A small agency might start at £1,500 for a basic site. Mid-size agencies regularly quote £3,000-£8,000 for a small business site, and larger ones can charge significantly more.
You get a more managed process, but the core problem is the same: a large upfront invoice before you've seen a single page, with hosting, maintenance, and changes billed separately afterwards.
- Typical one-off cost: £1,500 - £8,000+
- Content writing: sometimes included, often extra
- Hosting: usually separate, £10-£30/mo
- Ongoing updates: charged by the hour (typically £50-£100/hr)
The hidden cost most people miss: A £2,000 agency website sounds manageable - until you add hosting (£20/mo), an SSL certificate, a content update six months later (£150), and the hours you spent writing your own copy. The real cost over two years is often double the headline figure.
Managed website services
A newer model - and the one we use at GetOnWeb - is a monthly subscription that covers everything: design, content writing, hosting, domain, security, and ongoing updates. You pay one predictable amount each month, and everything is handled for you.
This works well for small businesses that want a professional result without the upfront cost or the ongoing admin. The trade-off is that you don't own the site outright in the same way - though with GetOnWeb, your domain name is always yours to keep.
- Monthly cost: £34.99/mo (GetOnWeb)
- Setup fee: none
- Content writing: included
- Hosting and domain: included
- Monthly updates: included (1 hour/mo)
The full comparison
| Option | Upfront cost | Monthly cost | Content written for you | Updates included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix etc.) | None | £10 - £30 | No | You do it |
| Freelance designer | £500 - £4,000 | £10 - £30 (hosting) | Rarely | Charged extra |
| Web agency | £1,500 - £8,000+ | £10 - £30 (hosting) | Sometimes | Charged extra |
| GetOnWeb | None | £34.99 | Yes | Yes (1hr/mo) |
So what's the right choice for a small business?
It depends on two things: how much time you have, and how much you want to spend upfront.
If you're happy to invest 20-40 hours learning a website builder and writing your own content, Wix or Squarespace can work. The result won't be as polished, but it's a legitimate option if budget is the only concern.
If you want a professional result but can't justify a £2,000-£5,000 upfront cost, a managed service makes more sense. You get a properly designed, fully written site for the cost of a monthly subscription - with no large bill to pay before you've seen anything.
Get a professional website for £34.99/mo
No setup fee. We write all the content, handle the design, and keep everything running. Cancel anytime.
See what's included →What about ongoing costs?
This is where a lot of businesses get caught out. The upfront build cost is just the beginning - a website also needs:
- Hosting - typically £10-£30/mo, or included in a managed service
- A domain name - around £10-£15/year for a .co.uk
- SSL certificate - usually free now, but needs renewing
- Updates and changes - freelancers and agencies charge by the hour; expect £50-£100/hr
- Security and backups - often an afterthought, until something goes wrong
Over a two-year period, a £2,000 agency site with typical ongoing costs will often total £3,000-£4,000. A managed service at £34.99/mo comes to around £840 over the same period - with everything included.
The bottom line
There's no single right answer to how much a website costs - it depends entirely on what you're getting. A £500 freelance build and a £5,000 agency project are very different products. The question worth asking isn't "how cheap can I get this?" but "what do I actually need, and what's the real total cost over the next year or two?"
For most small UK businesses - tradespeople, local service providers, cafes, therapists - a managed service is the most practical option. You get a professional result without the upfront risk, and someone else handles everything that happens after launch.