How much does a small business website cost in 2026?

How much does a website cost in 2026?

The median is $2,400 for a small business website with five or more pages and SEO included. That's the middle of 10 published US packages I reviewed on Oct 17, 2026, all one-time payments covering design and build. Half cost less, and half cost more.

These are list prices, often "starting at", not what each client paid in the end. I left out monthly subscriptions and do-it-yourself AI builders, which charge by the month.

Is $1,500 a good price for a website?

It sits in a gap: none of the 10 comparable packages in my sample costs between $700 and $2,300. So $1,500 is well below a US studio and well above a marketplace gig. Whether it's a good price depends on what's included, not on the number.

Say each page targets a researched search, the provider writes the copy, and the domain and Google accounts are yours. Then it's below what studios charge.

If it's a template with your own text, it costs more than a marketplace gig for the same thing.

What makes a website cost more or less?

Five things move the price more than design does: page count, real SEO, who writes the copy, turnaround and what happens after launch. In the sample, the big jump is between providers who drop your text into a template and those who research and write each page. The table shows what pushes the price each way.

Some studios charge for copy separately. Bonnie Sorsby charges $4,200 for 5 to 7 pages with keyword research per page, plus $350 for each blog post.

How much does it cost to keep a website running?

It can cost almost nothing beyond the domain, or $75 a month and up if a studio hosts and maintains it. A .com costs about $10 a year, and hosting for a small site can be free on Cloudflare. Maintenance is what adds up each month, if you pay for it.

• Domain: a .com costs about $10 a year through Cloudflare Registrar, which sells domains at cost.

• Hosting: Cloudflare Pages' free plan allows 500 builds a month and 20,000 files per site. That's plenty for a small site.

• Maintenance: Succeeding Small lists hosting at $75 or 175 a month, on top of the build.

Ask what year two costs before you sign. Some packages include the first year of hosting and renew after that.

What costs nothing is your business listing on Google Maps. Here's how to set up a Google Business Profile, step by step.

Does a more expensive website load faster?

Not necessarily. I tested the home page of 7 Colombian agencies and designers that sell websites, and their median mobile performance score was 62 out of 100. The most expensive one scored 95, but a $300 one scored 84 and a $470 one scored 50.

I couldn't test the US studios that day because the PageSpeed API quota ran out, so that comparison is still pending. It's one day, home pages only and lab data only, and my two sites don't have real-user field data yet. If you want to test yours, Core Web Vitals: what they are and how to measure them explains how to read the score.

What should you ask before paying for a website?

Ask how many pages you get, which search each page targets and who writes the copy. Ask whose name the domain and Google accounts are in, and what hosting costs from year two. And get the number of revision rounds and when the deadline starts counting in writing.

The seven questions, ready to copy:

• How many pages, and is it a custom design or a template?

• Which search does each page target, and what tool measured it?

• Who writes the copy?

• Are the domain, the code and the Google accounts in my name?

• What does hosting cost from year two?

• How many rounds of revisions do I get?

• When does the deadline start counting?

The Google accounts are the one most people skip. Without them in your name, you can't measure anything.

How much does it cost to build a website yourself?

It can cost you just the domain, about $10 a year, plus your time. With AI tools like Lovable, Base44 or Claude Code you can put a site together in an afternoon. Base44, for example, allows a custom domain from its Starter plan, $16 a month billed yearly (official pricing, Oct 17, 2026).

The hard part isn't building it; it's getting Google to read it. Many AI-built sites hand Google an almost empty HTML page. It happened to me, and I wrote it up in a site built with AI that Google couldn't read.

If you go this way, the guide to building a website with AI walks you through avoiding it. Once it's live, check whether Google sees it.

Is it worth having a website for a small business?

It's worth it if people search on Google for what you sell, because a website answers the people already looking for you. If nobody searches for it, a website mostly works as a business card. If they do, it can bring you clients without paying for every click.

For comparison, advertisers pay about $10.49 per click on "how much does a website cost" (estimated CPC, Dinorank, Oct 17, 2026). A page that ranks for a search doesn't charge you for each visit. Check the demand for your own service before you pay anyone, including me.

How much do I charge for a website?

I charge $990. You get a home page, contact page, up to three service pages, About and three blog posts, live in 15 business days. That's 59 % below the $2,400 median for comparable packages.

Every page targets a measured search, and the site ships with Search Console and Google Analytics 4 in your name. I build with Claude Code, publish on Cloudflare and check what Google receives on the live page.

It costs less because AI saves me build hours, not research hours. The details are on SEO website design, and if you already have a site, the free diagnostic tells you what it's missing.

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