How much does a website really cost in the UK?

Ask ten web designers what a website costs and you'll get ten different answers ranging from £99 to £99,000. That's not because anyone is lying — it's because "a website" can mean a one-page Squarespace template or a custom-built e-commerce platform processing millions in revenue. This guide breaks down what UK businesses actually pay in 2026, what drives the price up or down, and the costs most quotes conveniently leave out.

UK website cost by build type (2026)

DIY builders (£0–£300/year): Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and WordPress.com sit at the bottom of the market. Monthly fees of £10–£30 buy you a templated site you build yourself. Realistic for sole traders, side projects and businesses that just need a digital business card. You'll spend 20–60 hours of your own time learning the platform and you'll never escape the subscription.

Freelancer builds (£1,500–£6,000): The sweet spot for most UK small businesses. A capable freelancer will scope your project, design something custom, build it on WordPress or a modern framework, and hand over a site you fully own. Expect 4–8 weeks from brief to launch.

Small studio (£5,000–£15,000): A 2–6 person studio gives you a designer, developer and project manager. Better suited to businesses with a brand to protect, multiple stakeholders, or technical requirements like integrations with a CRM or booking system.

Mid-tier agency (£15,000–£60,000): Strategy, UX research, custom design system, bespoke development, copywriting, accessibility audit and a 3–6 month engagement. Justified when the website is your primary sales channel and conversion uplift translates to real revenue.

Enterprise (£60,000–£500,000+): Headless architecture, design systems, multi-region content, SSO, custom integrations with ERPs, dedicated DevOps and a year-long roadmap. Only relevant if you're a national brand or operating at serious scale.

What actually drives the price

Page count matters less than people think. The real cost drivers are: custom design (a bespoke layout takes 3–5x longer than a template tweak), integrations (CRM, ERP, payment gateways, booking platforms each add 8–40 hours), e-commerce complexity (variable products, subscriptions, multi-currency), content migration from an old site, SEO requirements (technical SEO, schema, redirects), and accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.2 AA adds 10–15% to a build).

The hidden year-one costs

The build fee is rarely the full bill. Plan for: domain renewal (£10–£15), managed hosting (£60–£300), premium plugins or theme licences (£0–£400), stock photography or a half-day shoot (£300–£1,500), professional copywriting (£300–£2,000), email setup with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 (£60–£140 per user), and ongoing maintenance (£40–£200/month from month two onwards). A "£2,000 website" often has a year-one total cost of £3,500–£4,500.

What we charge — and what you get

I build custom WordPress and TanStack-based websites for UK businesses with fixed-price quotes, no day-rate surprises and full code ownership. A typical 6–10 page small business build is £1,800–£3,500. A 15–25 page content or service site is £3,500–£7,000. WooCommerce stores start at £4,500. Every quote includes design, build, on-page SEO, contact forms, analytics, a CMS handover session and 30 days of post-launch support.