How much should a small business pay for a website in 2026?
Most small businesses spend anywhere from nothing to a few thousand dollars on a website. A DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace runs roughly $10-$50 a month; a freelancer or agency build is usually a few hundred to several thousand dollars one-time. For many local businesses, a free, complete Google Business Profile is enough to start, and what you should pay depends on whether you actually need bookings, online sales, or a site you don't have to maintain yourself.
Start here: do you even need a website?
Plenty of small businesses run for years without a website. If most of your customers find you on Google Maps or by word of mouth, a free, fully filled-out Google Business Profile — hours, phone number, photos, and reviews — often does the most important job a website would do. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and most of those reviews sit on platforms like Google rather than on your own site.
The same research found that 45% of consumers used an AI tool such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to find a local business in the past year, up from 6% the year before — and those tools pull from public listings and reviews, not just websites. So before you spend anything, claim your Google Business Profile and any relevant listings. A website starts to earn its cost when you need something a listing can't do: take bookings, sell online, show a portfolio, or answer the same questions over and over.
What the options cost in 2026
Prices move around, so treat these as rough ranges and check current plans before you commit.
- Free: a Google Business Profile plus a social page (Instagram or Facebook) costs nothing but your time. A domain name, if you want one, is about $10-$20 a year.
- DIY website builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy): roughly $10-$50 a month depending on the provider and plan. You build and maintain the site yourself, so the real cost is your time.
- Hiring a freelancer: usually a few hundred to a few thousand dollars one-time for a small site. Confirm whether hosting, future edits, and support are included — often they aren't.
- Done-for-you agencies and services: typically several thousand dollars and up for fully custom work, though some charge a lower monthly fee that bundles hosting, edits, and support.
What actually changes the price
Two things both called a "small business website" can differ in price by ten times because they aren't the same product. What moves the number:
- Custom design versus a template you fill in yourself.
- Whether you need working features — online booking, payments, a menu or catalog — or just a few informational pages.
- Who builds it and who maintains it: your time is the hidden cost of DIY; someone else's time is what you pay for in a done-for-you build.
- Whether hosting, edits, and support are included or billed separately.
- Whether you own the site and domain, or rent them from a platform you can't easily leave.
How to decide what to actually pay
Match the spend to the job. Start with the free Google Business Profile. If you're comfortable building and updating a site yourself, a DIY builder at $10-$50 a month is a reasonable, low-risk choice. If you'd rather not touch it — and you're losing calls, turning away bookings, or repeating the same information all day — paying someone to build and run it can be worth it.
If you go the done-for-you route, those services sit alongside freelancers and agencies. As one example, fivedaylaunch hand-designs a small-business site with real-time booking, hosting, unlimited edits, and human support included, from $25 a month or $1,499 to own it, typically live in about five days, and you keep your site and domain. Compare it against Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, or a local freelancer on the same terms: what's included, who makes the edits, and whether you own what you're paying for.
Whatever you choose, don't overpay for a big custom build if a clean one-page site — hours, services, a few photos, reviews, and a booking or call button — covers what your customers actually need.
Questions to ask before you pay
A short list to run through with any builder, freelancer, or service before you hand over money:
- Do I own the domain and the site, and can I take it with me if I leave?
- Who makes edits after launch — me or you — and what does that cost?
- Is hosting included, or is it a separate bill?
- What's the total first-year cost, not just the monthly or headline price?
- Does it include the features I actually need (booking, payments) and none that I don't?
Frequently asked
Is a free Google Business Profile enough instead of a website?
For many local service businesses, yes — at least to start. If customers mainly find you on Google Maps and by referral, a complete Google Business Profile with your hours, photos, and reviews covers the basics. A website becomes worth it when you need bookings, online sales, a portfolio, or a way to answer the same questions without repeating yourself.
Is it cheaper to build the site myself on Wix or Squarespace?
In dollars, usually yes — roughly $10-$50 a month. But you pay in the time it takes to build and maintain it. Done-for-you options cost more up front, but you don't have to manage anything. Which is genuinely cheaper depends on how you value your own time.
How much should a simple one-page site cost?
Not much. A one-pager can be free-to-cheap if you build it yourself, a few hundred dollars from a freelancer, or a low monthly or one-time fee from a done-for-you service. If someone quotes you thousands of dollars for a single informational page, ask exactly what you're paying for.
What should I be careful not to pay for?
Lock-in — not owning your domain, or being unable to export your site if you leave. Features you'll never use. And ongoing fees that don't come with real support or edits. Always ask who owns the site, who makes changes after launch, and what the full first-year cost is.
Sources
Related questions
This answer is published by
fivedaylaunch, a web-design service for small businesses — we try to answer these honestly whether or not you hire us. If you want a hand-designed site done for you (from $25/mo or $1,499 to own it, live in about 5 days, you own it),
here is how we work, or run a free
site check to see where yours stands.