How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website for a Small Business? The Build Fee and the Bill That Follows
By Ashikur Rahman17 min readQuick answer: A small business website costs two different things: a one-time build fee and a running bill that never stops. On the eight routes priced for this article, a five-page site with a domain and one business mailbox runs $123.60 to $423.60 in year one, and every route costs more in year two, because the renewal price, not the intro price, sets the bill. For the build, the only official labour figure is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics median for web developers: $44.54 an hour in May 2025. That is an employee wage, not a freelance quote. Prices read 28 September 2026.
What are you actually paying for when you build a business website?
It costs a platform plan, a domain, a mailbox and somebody's time, and only the time is a one-off. The plan, domain and mailbox bill every year for as long as the site exists. The time is paid once, by you or by whoever you hire.
The platform, domain and mailbox prices are published on vendor pages, so they can be added up exactly. The labour price is not published anywhere official. The closest official figure is a wage, covered in its own section below.
No platform publishes a typical "cost to build" a small-business site either. The only such figure found is Hostinger's own marketing line on its website builder page: "A simple small business website can cost between US$100 and US$500, depending on several factors." That is vendor copy from a company selling the builder. Read it as a claim, not a measurement.
Why does the renewal price set the bill, not the intro price?
Because the intro price is a first-year discount and the renewal price is what you pay every year after. Several platforms show three numbers for one plan, and the one in the biggest type is the one you pay least often.
Hostinger's web hosting page shows its Premium plan at a struck $11.99, a promo of $2.99 a month, and this line: "Get 48 months for $143.52 (regular price $575.52). Renews at $10.99/mo." The footnote explains the promo: "All plans are paid upfront. The monthly rate reflects the total plan price divided by the number of months in your plan." So $2.99 needs 48 months paid in advance, and the renewal is 268% higher.
WordPress.com's pricing page does the same on a one-year term. Personal shows $4 a month billed yearly, with this under it: "Auto-renews at $5 per month. Billed every 12 months, excl. taxes." So Personal is $48 in year one and $60 a year after. Business is $300, then $336.
Other builders move the bill through the extras. Squarespace's pricing page gives a free domain for a year on annual plans, then: "Domains registered through this promotion will renew at our standard rate, plus applicable taxes, after the first year." Its free Google Workspace seat on Core ends the same way. Wix's plans page says of its domain voucher: "It is not included when renewing a plan or upgrading an existing plan."
| Plan (annual billing) | Year one | After year one | Domain in year one |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | $144 ($12/mo) | $144; $19/mo if monthly | Free, then "standard rate" |
| Squarespace Core | $204 ($17/mo) | $204; $27/mo if monthly | Free, then "standard rate" |
| Wix Light (USD reference) | $17/mo yearly | Not shown | Voucher, first purchase only |
| Wix Core (USD reference) | $29/mo yearly | Not shown | Voucher, first purchase only |
| Webflow Basic | $180 ($15/mo) | $180; $25/mo if monthly | None included |
| WordPress.com Personal | $48 ($4/mo) | $60 ($5/mo) | Free for one year |
| WordPress.com Business | $300 ($25/mo) | $336 ($28/mo) | Free for one year |
| Hostinger Premium (48 months) | $143.52 upfront | $10.99/mo from month 49 | Free for one year |
Webflow's pricing page shows no renewal uplift and bundles no domain or mailbox. What you see is the ongoing rate, which makes it the easiest to budget. The full Webflow bill, Workspace plans included, is in what Webflow really costs for a client site.
The Wix figures carry a caveat. Its page was read from a connection outside the US, and its footnote says: "Prices and currency vary by location. USD prices displayed for reference only." In plain terms, the dollar figures are a guide: what you are charged depends on your billing address, and you see it only at checkout. Wix also shows yearly prices only, so its monthly price could not be verified.
What do a domain and a business email cost each year?
A .com runs from the $10.26 registry fee at an at-cost registrar to $18.48 on renewal at a retail one, and one Google Workspace mailbox is $84.00 a year once its first-year discount ends.
The floor is set by the registry. Verisign's Form 10-Q says it "will increase the annual registry-level wholesale fee for each new and renewal .com domain name registration from $10.26 to $10.97 effective November 1, 2026." Cloudflare's registrar page says: "Cloudflare Registrar does not mark up domain prices at all." It prints no .com dollar figure, and the small ICANN per-year fee on top was not verified. Namecheap's .com page showed $11.28 for the first year on sale and $18.48 for a renewal.
| Item | Year one | Year two | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com at Namecheap | $11.28 (sale) | $18.48 | Retail renewal |
| .com at cost | $10.26 registry fee | $10.97 from 1 Nov 2026 | Plus ICANN fee, not verified |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | $75.60 ($6.30 x 12) | $84.00 ($7.00 x 12) | Annual commitment |
| Zoho Mail Lite | US$1 per user/month | Same | Billed annually, 5 GB |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Not shown | Not shown | "Not available in your market" |
Google Workspace's pricing page sets the limit on its discount: "This introductory price is only available for the first 20 users added, for 12 months. Standard pricing will apply to all users after 12 months." Zoho Mail localises prices by region, so a US visitor may see a different figure. Microsoft showed no Business Basic price to the connection used.
What does a small business website cost per month in year one and year two?
On the routes below, a five-page site with a domain and one mailbox costs $123.60 to $423.60 in year one, and every route costs more in year two. The table assumes annual billing, prices before tax, no online store, and one Google Workspace Business Starter seat.
Each platform's own domain renewal rate could not be verified, so year two uses Namecheap's .com renewal of $18.48 as a stand-in. An at-cost registrar would be about $8 less. Webflow bundles no domain, so its year one uses $18.48 too.
| Route | Year one | Year two | Year two built from |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com Personal | $123.60 | $162.48 | 60 + 18.48 + 84 |
| Squarespace Core | $204.00 | $306.48 | 204 + 18.48 + 84 |
| Squarespace Basic | $219.60 | $246.48 | 144 + 18.48 + 84 |
| Hostinger Premium, 48-month prepay | $219.12 cash | $102.48 cash | 0 hosting + 18.48 + 84 |
| Webflow Basic | $274.08 | $282.48 | 180 + 18.48 + 84 |
| Wix Light (USD reference) | $279.60 | $306.48 | 204 + 18.48 + 84 |
| WordPress.com Business | $375.60 | $438.48 | 336 + 18.48 + 84 |
| Wix Core (USD reference) | $423.60 | $450.48 | 348 + 18.48 + 84 |
Hostinger looks cheaper in year two only because four years of hosting were prepaid. Spread evenly, it is $111.48 in year one and $138.36 in year two. From month 49 the hosting alone renews at $131.88 a year. Its plan includes two free mailboxes for a year, but they are Hostinger's own, so the table still prices a Workspace seat.
Wix Core only makes sense if the site takes payments. Premium themes, paid plugins, stock images and a logo are left out of every row. Monthly billing costs more: Squarespace Core is $27 x 12 = $324 a year billed monthly, against $204 annually.
Work with me
Pricing a new website and unsure what it actually needs to do?
Most of the money in a small business website is decided before anyone opens a builder: how many pages, whether people book or pay online, who writes the words, and whether an old site's addresses have to survive the move. I start with a free look at those questions for your business, using your current site if you have one and the jobs you want the new one to do. You get a plain list of what the site needs and which of the routes above fits it.
If a builder plan and a few evenings of your own time will do the job, I will say that and stop there. If the work is beyond a template, I write the scope down page by page, including who owns the domain and every account, and quote one fixed price against it, with the running costs listed separately. Reach me through the contact form, or on WhatsApp if the old site is down today.
Ashikur Rahman
SEO and AI Search Specialist
The contact links above go to me directly, so I earn from it if you hire me. Nothing else on this page is a paid placement.
How much does it cost to have someone build a website?
No official source publishes a price for building a small-business website. The only official labour figure is a wage: the BLS median for web developers was $44.54 an hour in May 2025. That is what employers pay employees, not what a freelancer or agency bills.
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page states: "The median annual wage for web developers was $92,650 in May 2025." BLS defines a median as "The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less." The hourly medians from its May 2025 wage survey are $44.54 for web developers and $50.00 for web and digital interface designers; the combined group shows $47.85. The articles that rank for this query do not cite any of these.
The table multiplies the medians by three build sizes. The hours are illustrative assumptions, not facts. Nobody publishes how long a small-business site takes.
| Hourly basis (BLS, May 2025) | 40 hours | 80 hours | 120 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web developers, median $44.54 | $1,781.60 | $3,563.20 | $5,344.80 |
| Combined group, median $47.85 | $1,914.00 | $3,828.00 | $5,742.00 |
| Interface designers, median $50.00 | $2,000.00 | $4,000.00 | $6,000.00 |
The spread is wide. The 10th percentile hourly wage for web developers was $23.12 and the 90th was $78.03, so 80 hours runs from $1,849.60 to $6,242.40. A bill rate sits above all of these, because an independent builder pays overhead, unbilled time, software and self-employment tax out of what they charge. BLS does not publish freelance bill rates.
Official directories show what builders advertise. The Wix Marketplace cards shown ran from "Starting at $50" to "Starting at $500". The featured Webflow Certified Partners ran from "Starting at $2,500 USD" to "Starting at $50,000 USD", skewed toward large agencies. A starting price is a minimum, not your price. For a store, see what it costs to have someone build an online store.
Worked example: a five-page service site, year one and year two
Take a plumber who wants five pages, a contact form, a .com and one mailbox, with no online store. Here is Squarespace Core against WordPress on Hostinger Premium, line by line.
Squarespace Core, year one. Plan: $17 x 12 = $204.00. Domain: free for the first year = 0. Mailbox: one Workspace seat, free for the first year on Core = 0. Total: $204.00.
Squarespace Core, year two. Plan: $204.00. Domain at the Namecheap stand-in: $18.48. Mailbox: $7.00 x 12 = $84.00. Total: 204 + 18.48 + 84 = $306.48. Both free extras ended, so the bill rose by half.
Hostinger Premium, year one, cash. Hosting for 48 months upfront: $143.52. Domain: free = 0. Mailbox at the intro rate: $6.30 x 12 = $75.60. Total: 143.52 + 0 + 75.60 = $219.12.
Hostinger Premium, year two, cash. Hosting: already paid = 0. Domain: $18.48. Mailbox: $84.00. Total: 0 + 18.48 + 84 = $102.48. Spread over four years, the route is $111.48 in year one and $138.36 in year two.
Now the labour, as a separate line. At the web developer median and an assumed 40 hours: 40 x $44.54 = $1,781.60. That one-time line is almost nine times Squarespace Core's first-year bill. The build is the biggest single number; the running bill is the one that never ends.
What should a website quote include?
A quote should list, in writing, every page and feature, every account the business will own, and every running cost after launch. One figure with no scope cannot be compared with anything.
- The page list, and who writes the words.
- The platform and plan, billed to the business's own account.
- The domain: registered in the business's name, with its renewal price.
- Email setup and the mail provider.
- Forms, bookings or payments, and where messages go.
- Paid themes, plugins or images, and who holds each licence.
- For a replacement site: which old URLs are kept or redirected.
- Titles, descriptions, a sitemap and analytics.
- Handover: logins, a short guide, and the price of later changes.
How much should I charge to build a website for a small business?
No official source tells a freelancer what to charge. BLS publishes employee wages, not bill rates, but it gives you a floor if you treat it as one.
The median employed web developer earned $44.54 an hour in May 2025, and the middle half earned between $30.88 and $60.69. An employee is paid for every working hour. A freelancer is not: sales calls, quoting, admin and quiet weeks are unbilled, and you pay your own tools and self-employment tax. Charge the employee median and you earn less than an employee.
- Pick the wage you would accept as an employee, using the BLS percentiles for your level.
- Estimate honestly how many of your hours are billable.
- Add your yearly tools and tax.
- Set the hourly rate that covers all three from billable hours alone.
- Quote fixed prices from a written scope, using your own hour estimate.
The BLS page adds a line worth pricing around: "However, improving web development tools and increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) for web development may soften the employment growth of these workers." See the AI website builder comparison. Charge for what a tool cannot do: scope, content, structure and search setup.
How can a small business spend less on a website without hurting SEO?
Pay annually, keep the domain and mailbox under your own control, and never change URLs without redirects.
- Choose annual billing and compare renewal prices, not promos.
- Register the domain at a low-markup registrar.
- Use a bundled mailbox for year one if it is enough.
- Start on the smallest plan that does the job.
- Keep every URL when you move platform, or redirect each one.
The last point comes from this site. I moved criticnest.com off WordPress on 19 September 2026 and kept 101 URLs byte-identical, so no address Google already knew changed. A cheaper platform is only cheaper if the move keeps what already ranks. What that move involved is in whether Lovable is good for SEO.
When is a website builder plan enough?
A builder plan is enough when the site is a handful of pages saying what you do, where you work and how to reach you. That covers most local service businesses.
Google's SEO Starter Guide names no builder, but says: "If you use a CMS, you might not need to do anything technical to your titles, beyond just focusing on writing good titles." For a small site, content and business details move results, not the platform. The trade-offs between two popular builders are in Webflow versus Squarespace for a small business.
Choose WordPress on your own hosting when you need plugins, many pages or file control; see the best WordPress hosting for beginners. WordPress.com's page showed plugins on Personal and above on 28 September 2026, a change from its older rule, so check the plan card before buying. Pay for a build when the work is beyond a template, such as a migration or bookings tied to staff calendars.
How this was researched
Every price and quotation was read at source on 28 September 2026: the pricing pages of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, WordPress.com, Hostinger (web hosting and website builder), Google Workspace, Zoho Mail and Microsoft 365; the Namecheap .com and Cloudflare Registrar pages; Verisign's Form 10-Q on SEC EDGAR; the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and May 2025 wage data via the BLS public API; Google's SEO Starter Guide; and the Wix Marketplace, Webflow Certified Partners and Shopify Partner Directory listings.
Pages were fetched with plain HTTP requests and, where prices load by script, a headless browser. Every fetch came from a connection in Bangladesh, not the US. That affects Wix (USD "for reference only"), Zoho (regional prices) and Microsoft (no price shown).
Not verified: Wix's monthly prices and US checkout prices; Squarespace's own .com renewal; Hostinger's 12- and 24-month prices; Cloudflare's .com figure; the ICANN fee; Microsoft 365 Business Basic's price. Year-two domain costs use Namecheap's renewal as a stand-in. The route totals and labour figures are my arithmetic from published prices; the hour counts are assumptions. Nothing was bought and no platform was benchmarked for this article.
The verdict: budget for year two before you pay for year one
A small business website has two costs, and only one of them ends. The build is paid once. The platform, domain and mailbox bill every year, and on every route priced here year two costs more than year one. The renewal price does that: WordPress.com's "Auto-renews at", Hostinger's "Renews at $10.99/mo.", the free domain that renews at a "standard rate", and the mailbox discount that lasts 12 months.
For the build, no official source publishes a price. The one official labour anchor is the BLS median wage for web developers, $44.54 an hour in May 2025. It is an employee wage, and a freelance or agency rate sits above it.
The decision rule: add up year two for each route you are considering, and choose the cheapest one that does what the site needs. Pay for a build only when the work is beyond a template or your own time costs more than the labour line.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a website for a small business?
A one-time build fee plus a running bill. On eight routes priced on 28 September 2026, a five-page site with a .com and one Google Workspace mailbox cost $123.60 to $423.60 in year one, before labour. No official source publishes a build price; the BLS median for web developers, $44.54 an hour, is an employee wage.
How much does a small business website cost per month?
The plan alone runs from $4 a month on WordPress.com Personal in year one to $29 a month on Wix Core, billed annually. With a domain and one mailbox, yearly totals here run from $123.60 to $423.60 in year one. Monthly billing costs more: Squarespace Core is $27 a month billed monthly against $17 billed annually.
How much does it cost to have someone build a website?
No official source publishes a price. At the BLS web developer median of $44.54 an hour, 40 hours of an employed developer's time is $1,781.60 in wages. A freelancer or agency bills above the wage to cover overhead, unbilled time, tools and tax.
How much should I charge to build a website for a small business?
BLS publishes employee wages, not freelance rates. The median web developer earned $44.54 an hour in May 2025, with the middle half between $30.88 and $60.69. Charging the median as a freelancer pays less than a job once unbilled hours, tools and tax are counted. Set a rate that covers them, then quote fixed prices from a scope.
What is the average cost of website design for a small business?
No official source publishes an average. The only "typical cost" figure found is Hostinger's marketing line: "A simple small business website can cost between US$100 and US$500, depending on several factors." Directory listings show advertised starting prices from $50 to $50,000, which are minimums, not averages.
How much does it cost to set up a business website yourself?
Doing it yourself removes the labour line and leaves the running bill: $123.60 to $423.60 in year one on the routes in this article, including a domain and one Google Workspace seat. Your own hours are the cost that never appears on an invoice.
Why does my website hosting cost more after the first year?
Because the first-year price is a promotion. Hostinger Premium shows $2.99 a month on a 48-month prepay, then "Renews at $10.99/mo." WordPress.com Personal is $4 a month in year one and "Auto-renews at $5 per month." Free domains and mailbox discounts end after year one too.
Is a free domain with a website plan really free?
For the first year only. Squarespace says promotional domains "will renew at our standard rate, plus applicable taxes, after the first year." Wix says its voucher "is not included when renewing a plan or upgrading an existing plan." Budget a renewal from year two; Namecheap's .com renewal was $18.48 on 28 September 2026.
How much does a business email address cost?
Google Workspace Business Starter is $7.00 per user a month on an annual commitment, with $6.30 for new customers for 12 months: $75.60 in year one, $84.00 after. Zoho Mail Lite showed US$1 per user a month billed annually.
Are Wix prices the same in every country?
No. Wix's plans page says "Prices and currency vary by location. USD prices displayed for reference only." The dollar prices shown, such as $17 a month for Light billed yearly, are a guide. What you pay depends on your billing address, and Wix says the final price appears on the purchase page before payment.
Transparency: every quotation and price in this article was read from the vendor, registrar, Verisign, BLS and Google pages named above on 28 September 2026. Where a source publishes nothing, such as a US checkout price for Wix or a freelance bill rate from BLS, this article says so rather than substituting an estimate. Ashikur Rahman builds and fixes small-business websites for a fee, which is a commercial interest you should weigh when reading the recommendations above. There are no affiliate or tracking links on this page.
