How Much Does a Website Cost?
Real numbers, not "it depends". What a small business website actually costs in the UK in 2026, what changes the price, and what our own prices are — published rather than quoted on request.
The offer
What You Get
The honest answer is that a website costs whatever the work in it costs, and most pages avoiding a number are avoiding it because their number changes depending on who is asking. Ours are on the pricing page and have been for years: £400 a year for a Launchpad site, and £149 to £1,199 a month for the plans that include hosting, maintenance, SEO and support.
What genuinely moves the price is scope, and it is worth knowing which parts are expensive. Page count matters less than people expect. E-commerce matters a great deal — a shop is a different job from a brochure site, with payments, stock and tax to get right. Copywriting and photography move it more than design does, because that is real hours either way: yours if you write it, ours if we do.
What should not move the price is where you are. Any agency charging a premium for being local is charging you for their office, and any charging a premium for being far away is charging for travel that a video call replaces. We work remotely with every client and the price is the same wherever they are.
The number most people miss is the second year. A one-off build for £3,000 with no hosting, no updates and no support is not finished — it is a site that will quietly rot, and the bill for fixing it arrives later. A monthly plan looks more expensive on day one and is usually cheaper by month eighteen, because nothing is deferred.
What Clients Say
“Dalton Digital transformed our online presence. Professional, responsive, and delivered exactly what we needed. Highly recommend!”
“I highly recommend this company! They went above and beyond to make sure everything was exactly how I wanted it. It's so nice to deal with a company that truly cares about their customers.”
“A massive thank you to Will at Dalton Digital for building my website, he's done an outstanding job! He's done things to my website I didn't even think were possible. He's knowledgeable, fast and very forward thinking — not only for informational websites but also booking and research tools that help me run my business. The price is more than fair for the amount of work he puts in. I'll always use Will at Dalton Digital from now on.”
Common questions
How Much Does a Website Cost? — the questions people actually ask
How much does a website cost for a small business in the UK?
For a small business site built by a freelancer, roughly £500 to £2,000 as a one-off. A small agency will usually be £2,000 to £8,000. A DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace costs £12 to £40 a month plus however many evenings you spend on it. Our own Launchpad site is £400 a year, and the monthly plans run from £149 to £1,199 depending on what is included.
Why do web design prices vary so much?
Because "a website" describes anything from a one-page brochure to a shop with stock control. The three things that actually move the number are e-commerce, whether copy and photography are being produced or supplied, and how much ongoing work is included. Design time is rarely the biggest line, which surprises people.
Is it cheaper to build a website myself?
On paper, yes. Wix or Squarespace will cost you £12 to £40 a month. Whether it is cheaper in practice depends on what your time is worth and whether the result brings in work. Plenty of DIY sites are perfectly fine. The ones that are not tend to fail in the same specific ways — slow on mobile, no schema, unreadable on a phone, invisible to search — and by then you have spent the evenings anyway.
What should a website cost per month?
If you are only paying for hosting, £10 to £30 a month is normal for a small site. If maintenance, updates, backups, SEO and someone answering the phone are included, expect £100 upwards. Ours are £149 to £1,199 depending on the plan. The question worth asking any supplier is what happens in month fourteen when something breaks — the answer tells you what you are really buying.
Do you charge extra for e-commerce?
Yes, because it is genuinely more work — payments, stock, tax, delivery rules and a checkout that has to be right every single time. It sits on the higher plans rather than being an add-on to a brochure site, and if a shop is not what you actually need we will say so first.
Are your prices really published?
Yes, in full, on the pricing page. It is unusual and deliberate. Quoting per enquiry lets a supplier price you rather than the work, and it wastes a call for anyone who was never going to be in budget.
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