A website in the UK can cost anything from around £10 a month on a DIY builder to £30,000 or more for a custom agency build. The UK price guides we checked put most professionally built small business sites in the low thousands of pounds, with online shops costing more. This guide sets out the ranges they publish, what moves a quote up or down, and the running costs that tend to be left out.
These are typical market prices from the sources named below, not our prices. We have an office on Jamaica Street in Liverpool and build websites for UK businesses, but this guide should be useful whoever you end up hiring.
Website cost in the UK at a glance
Three UK price guides for 2026 give a similar picture. ExpertSure, a UK comparison site, says its prices were verified in August 2026. Bark runs a marketplace where businesses get quotes from web designers. Whito, a UK research publisher, aggregated its ranges from freelancer platforms, agency websites and rate surveys.
| Type of website | ExpertSure | Bark | Whito |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | £0 to £29 a month | – | £10 to £50 a month |
| Basic brochure site from a freelancer | £500 to £1,500 (3 to 5 pages) | £300 to £1,000 | £1,500 to £3,000 (5 pages) |
| Small business site from a freelancer | £1,500 to £3,000 (5 to 10 pages) | £1,000 to £3,000 | – |
| Small business site from an agency | £3,000 to £8,000 (regional agency) | £2,000 to £7,000 | £3,000 to £5,000 (5 pages) |
| Larger or custom build | £5,000 to £15,000 (mid-size agency) | £10,000 to £30,000+ (custom or enterprise) | £5,000 to £15,000 (custom, 15+ pages) |
| Online shop | £3,000 to £10,000 (freelancer), £5,000 to £35,000+ (specialist agency) | £5,000 to £15,000 (agency) | £5,000 to £20,000+ |
For hourly work, ExpertSure puts UK freelance web designers at £25 to £120 an hour, and Bark's guide ranges from £35 an hour for newer designers to over £150 for experienced ones. Bark's overall figure for the average website design cost in the UK is £500 to £5,000.
What you get at each price
DIY website builders
A builder is the cheapest way to get online, because you pay a monthly plan and do the design, writing and setup yourself. It suits a new business testing an idea or a sole trader who needs a simple page. The catch is time, since every hour you spend building the site is an hour away from running the business.
Freelance web designers
A good freelancer can build a solid brochure site for a small business, and the published ranges show they're usually the cheaper professional option. Check what happens when they're busy or unavailable, who hosts the site, and whether you can update it without going back to them for every change.
Web design agencies
Agencies cost more because a project is shared across designers, developers and often copywriters and SEO specialists. ExpertSure's figures show how much the type of agency matters, from £2,000 to £5,000 at a small boutique to £8,000 to £30,000 and upwards at a London full-service agency. You're usually paying for design, build, content and search set up by one team.
Online shops
Shops cost more to build because there's more to design and set up, from product pages and filters to payments, shipping rules and stock. There are also platform fees. At the time of writing, Shopify's UK pricing starts at £19 a month on its Basic plan paid yearly, or £25 paid monthly, with card rates from 2% + 25p. Custom features add to the build, like the basket we built for The Wine Engine, a UK wine club where customers pick their own bottles and the saving applies itself. If you're planning a shop, our ecommerce website design page covers how we approach them.
What drives the cost of a website?
- The number of pages and page types. A five-page site with one layout takes far less time than a 30-page site with different templates for services, locations and case studies.
- Custom design or a theme. Adapting a good theme costs less than designing every page from scratch, and it's often enough for a small business.
- Content and photography. Whito puts copywriting at £50 to £150 a page and photography at £200 to £800, and says hidden costs like these typically add 30% to 50% to a quoted price.
- Features and integrations. Booking systems, quote calculators, customer accounts and links to your CRM or accounts software all add development time.
- Who builds it, and where. Day rates differ between freelancers and agencies, and ExpertSure's figures show London agencies at the top of the range.
- VAT. The standard VAT rate is 20%, and a business only has to register once its taxable turnover goes over £90,000. A freelancer below that threshold may not charge VAT at all, while a VAT-registered agency will add 20%, so compare quotes on the same basis.
Running costs after launch
The build is only part of the cost of a website. ExpertSure puts ongoing costs for a small business at £50 to £300 a month, covering hosting, domain renewal, security and maintenance.
| Running cost | Typical range (ExpertSure) |
|---|---|
| Domain renewal | £10 to £15 a year |
| Hosting for a freelancer-built site | £5 to £30 a month |
| Hosting for an agency-built site | £20 to £100 a month |
| Maintenance retainer, freelancer | £50 to £150 a month |
| Maintenance retainer, agency | £100 to £500 a month |
Whito's estimate for yearly maintenance is £500 to £2,000 and upwards. Our guide to website maintenance costs explains what that money should cover.
What to watch for when comparing quotes
- Who owns the website. UK government guidance says the person or business that creates a commissioned work owns the copyright unless you agree otherwise in writing, so make sure your contract covers it.
- Whose name the domain and hosting are in. Both should be registered to your business, with logins you control, so you can move them later if you need to.
- What's left out. Ask whether the quote includes the copy, the images, basic SEO setup and any training, because those are the usual extras.
- The cost of replacing a site that already ranks. If you have a website with traffic, the quote should include redirecting old addresses to new ones. Our website redesign checklist explains why.
- Monthly contracts. Ask how long any ongoing contract runs and what you take with you if you leave.
- A price that looks too good. A very cheap build usually means a template with little set up, content you write yourself, or hosting you can't take with you.
If you're also comparing agencies in Ireland, our guide to what a website costs in Ireland covers the euro prices.
Key takeaways
- UK price guides put a DIY builder at up to about £50 a month and a freelance brochure site at a few hundred to a few thousand pounds.
- Agency-built small business sites typically start in the low thousands, while agency-built online shops and custom builds start around £5,000 and can pass £30,000.
- Content, photography and SEO setup can add 30% to 50% to a quote, so ask what's included.
- Budget for running costs of roughly £50 to £300 a month for hosting, the domain, security and maintenance.
- Get the domain, hosting and copyright in your business's name before you sign.
Getting a quote
If you'd like a second opinion on a quote, or a sense of what your website needs before you ask for one, book a free website audit, delivered on a free 20-minute call. You can also read how our web design projects are put together, or, if you're based in Liverpool or the North West, about our web design in Liverpool.
Prices are the publishers' own figures at the time of writing. Whito says its figures exclude VAT, and the other guides don't say either way, so ask whether any quote includes it. Check the linked pages for current rates.