By Renie Ravin, co-founder of InkySites. Updated 9 November 2026. Every price on this page was read on the seller's own page on 9 November 2026, as it shows to a visitor in the UK. Already have a site and want the yearly bill? Read what it costs to keep a small-business website running in the UK.
Who can build your website, and what each charges
You can build it yourself on a website builder, have a host build it on a monthly plan, or hire a freelancer, a small agency or an established agency. Each price covers different things, so check what a package holds before you compare. Some prices are plus VAT and some include it. Fiverr and PeoplePerHour sellers can be anywhere in the world. The table shows each with its VAT status as printed, so you can see which fits your budget.
| Who builds it | What they publish, and what it leaves out |
|---|---|
| You, on a website builderpaid yearly | A month, paid yearly: GoDaddy Starter £7.49; Squarespace Basic £12 (£16 paid monthly); Shopify Basic £19 for a shop (£25 paid monthly). Plus your time. None of the three says whether VAT is included. |
| A host builds it for youa monthly plan | IONOS Website Design Service: £45 a month plus £199 setup for 3 pages, £65 plus £299 for 5, £85 plus £399 for 7, all before VAT. A web address and 5 email accounts included; a 12-month minimum, then month to month. The one host we found that publishes such a price. |
| A UK freelancer's own packageVAT not stated | James Monk (Malvern): from £700, an online shop from £1,000. Rob Saunders: "A typical Squarespace website is £850", a shop £1,450; you provide the content, and he puts the Squarespace plan you pay at "£204 plus vat per year". Marco Mundo (Clapham, London): from £2,500 for up to 5 pages, £4,500 with 12 months of hosting and care, online shops from £5,500. |
| A freelancer on a monthly plan | Oscar Beamish: "Plans start at £70/month" for design, hosting and updates, with a 12-month minimum term on Starter and Professional. The page does not say who owns the site if you leave. |
| A small UK agency | Web Factory: a one-page site "From £159+VAT". Harris Digital (Hertfordshire): £299 with 12 months of hosting. Cheap Web Design (Camberley): from £399 plus VAT, up to 4 pages. Studio36 (Lancashire): 5 pages from £699 plus VAT, words included. Brambla: from £1,200, VAT included. Three Girls Media: from £1,500, words not included. Vision Marketing (Hampshire): Wix sites from £2,000 plus VAT. Blue Whale Media (London): 4 pages £495 plus VAT, 8 pages £1,500 plus VAT, retainer sites from £5,000 plus VAT. |
| An established agency | We found none that publishes a build price on its own pages. Their figure comes in a written quote. |
| A marketplace sellerFiverr, PeoplePerHour; sellers anywhere in the world | Fiverr gigs "From£63" and "From£197"; PeoplePerHour offers at £190 and £475. The pages do not show where each seller is. |
Prices in pounds as each seller published them, with VAT shown the way each page printed it. A freelancer or agency is named as UK-based only where its own pages say where it is. Prices are not converted, rounded or averaged.
Should you pay monthly for your website?
Some builds come as a monthly plan, so you avoid a big bill up front. IONOS's design service starts at £45 a month plus £199 setup, before VAT, with a 12-month minimum term. Oscar Beamish's plans start at £70 a month, two of them with a 12-month minimum. Web Factory charges £399 plus VAT, then £13.99 plus VAT a month, with no minimum. Brambla says its sites are "managed, not handed over", and a cancelled one "comes offline". Studio36 says "You own the code, the content and the design outright". Before you sign, ask: if I stop paying, what do I keep?
What the quote leaves out
A low build price can leave out parts your site needs. Three Girls Media leaves the words out of its build price, and Blue Whale's 4-page package asks you to "Provide all content". Studio36 includes them. Photos, a logo, extra pages, booking, a shop and hosting after a free period can each add to your bill. The table gives published prices in pounds for each. Ask every seller to say in writing which ones your quote covers, so nothing surprises you later.
| The extra | What it costs, as published |
|---|---|
| The words | 360 Web Solutions, a UK copywriting agency: from £300 for a single landing page, £1,200 to £2,800 for a 5 to 7 page site. |
| Photos | The People Photographer (Nottingham): a headshot session £240, and "People typically invest between £640 and £940". Stock photos: Shutterstock, £17 a month billed yearly at £204. |
| A logo | Luxbranding £129, no VAT added; Web Factory £149 plus VAT; Hoverfly Design £350. |
| More pages | Blue Whale Media: £100 plus VAT for each extra page on its 4-page package, £150 plus VAT on its 8-page one. |
| Booking | Squarespace Scheduling Starter, £11 a month paid yearly; Calendly Standard, £8 per person a month billed yearly. Marco Mundo quotes booking systems separately. |
| A second language | Welsh translation from Cwmni2: "£50 per 1000 words". |
| A shop | Harris Digital: £299 for a site, online shops from £399. Web Factory: shops from £599 plus VAT. Marco Mundo: £2,500 for a site, shops from £5,500. A shop also pays a fee on every sale (see the upkeep guide). |
| Hosting after a free period | Cheap Web Design: free hosting for the first 3 months, then "Usually £24.99+VAT a month!". Harris Digital: "After the first year, you only pay for web hosting", with no price on the page. |
Prices in pounds as published, with VAT as each page printed it; where no VAT status is shown, the page did not give one.
What your first year costs in total
These sums are our own arithmetic, each from one seller's figures. Doing it yourself on Squarespace Basic at £12 a month paid yearly is £144 for the year, with your web address free for year one. Squarespace does not say whether tax is included. Rob Saunders' £850 site plus the Squarespace plan he quotes at £204 plus VAT a year is £1,054, before VAT on the plan. Web Factory's £399 plus 12 months at £13.99 is £566.88 plus VAT, with web address and hosting included. Marco Mundo's £4,500 Business website includes 12 months of hosting and care. Year two adds your upkeep. Our UK upkeep guide has that bill, so you can plan both years before you sign.
How to get quotes you can compare
Each seller prices a different package, so three quotes can describe three different websites. Send every seller the same short brief, and ask each the same questions. Then every quote prices the same job. You can put them side by side and see where your money goes.
- List the pages you need by name, so every quote prices the same size of site
- Say who will write the words and supply the photos, and ask the price if the seller does it
- Name the extras you need, such as booking, a shop, a logo or a second language
- Ask whether each price includes VAT, is plus VAT, or has no VAT added
- Ask what hosting costs after any free period, and what you pay each year from year two
- Ask whose name your web address will be registered in, and what you keep if you leave
- If you are replacing a site, ask whether your old page addresses will be redirected to the new pages
How do you keep your old page addresses on a new site?
A new site can give your pages new addresses, so old links can lead to a missing page. Google's site-move guide says to "Prepare a URL mapping from the current URLs to their corresponding new format", then use permanent redirects, kept "generally at least 1 year". It warns: "Expect temporary fluctuation in site ranking during the move." Brambla and Vision Marketing include redirects. Most packages we read say nothing, so ask for them as a line in your quote and keep the visitors you have.
VAT: why two quotes can differ by 20%
GOV.UK gives the standard VAT rate as 20%. A VAT-registered business must charge it unless what it sells is exempt. Registering is required once taxable turnover for the last 12 months tops £90,000; smaller firms may opt in. Studio36 and Web Factory price plus VAT, Brambla includes it, and Luxbranding, not registered, adds none. Two quotes for the same work can differ by 20%. If you are not VAT-registered, you pay it on top. This is general guidance, not tax advice; an accountant can say what applies to you.
What moves the price of your website
- The number of pages: Blue Whale's 4-page site is £495 plus VAT and its 8-page site £1,500 plus VAT, so a short page list keeps your quote down
- Who writes the words: some packages include them and others ask you to, and a UK copywriting agency starts at £300 for one landing page
- A shop: Marco Mundo's sites start at £2,500 and his shops at £5,500, so selling online raises your quote
- Booking: Marco Mundo quotes it separately, and Squarespace Scheduling Starter adds £11 a month paid yearly
- Hosting and care: Marco Mundo's £4,500 Business website includes a year of both, so ask what each quote covers after launch
Traps to look for in a website quote
- A "from" price with no ceiling: Blue Whale's retainer sites are "Starting at £5,000, but price will vary" with the spec
- The words or photos left out: Three Girls Media, Blue Whale and Marco Mundo each leave some of it to you or quote it separately
- A site you rent: Brambla's sites are "managed, not handed over" and go offline after you cancel
- Hosting free for a while: Cheap Web Design's 3 free months, then £24.99 plus VAT a month, and Harris publishes no price after year one
- Your web address in their name: Nominet's register shows whoever registered it, and moving it to you costs £10 plus VAT
- Sellers you cannot place: Fiverr and PeoplePerHour sellers can be anywhere in the world, and the pages we read do not show where
When to keep your current site
If your current site shows the right details and brings in enquiries, you may not need a new one. Updating its words, photos or prices keeps what already works, and our upkeep guide covers what changes cost. With no site and some spare hours, a builder plan from £7.49 a month gets you online, and the cost is the plan and your time. Before you replace anything, run the free site check to see who your web address is with and when it expires.
Where InkySites fits among your quotes
InkySites builds a fresh version of your current site from its public pages and emails it free within 48 hours, with no card. With no site yet, it builds one from your public listings. If you like it, $29 a month covers hosting and unlimited reasonable changes by email, such as new text, photos or pages. A ground-up redesign or a new online store is a separate conversation. There is no setup fee or notice period: you pay monthly, and billing stops when you cancel. We do not sell web addresses or business email, or build full online stores. Your web address stays at your registrar, and your code comes back free whenever you ask.
Questions people ask
How much does a small business website cost in the UK?
It depends on who builds it. On prices read on 9 November 2026, a builder plan you set up yourself starts at £7.49 a month. The UK freelancers we read price their packages from £700, up to shops from £5,500. The small UK agencies we read start from £159 plus VAT for one page, up to retainer sites "Starting at £5,000" plus VAT. We found no established UK agency that publishes a price. A year of upkeep comes on top.
Why are website quotes so different?
Each quote covers a different job. One may include the words, the photos, a year of hosting and a web address. Another may cover the build alone. Some prices are plus VAT and some include it, and that can move a quote by 20%. A builder plan, a freelancer and an agency also price in different ways. Send every seller the same brief, and your quotes become ones you can compare.
What should a website build quote include?
A quote you can compare names the pages, says who writes the words and supplies the photos, and lists extras such as booking or a shop. It says whether the price includes VAT. It gives the hosting cost after any free period and the yearly bill from year two. It says whose name your web address goes in and what you keep if you leave. For a replaced site, it says whether old page addresses will be redirected.
Is a pay-monthly website a good idea?
It can suit you if you want to avoid a big bill up front. IONOS's design service starts at £45 a month plus £199 setup, before VAT. Oscar Beamish's plans start at £70 a month. IONOS has a 12-month minimum term, and so do two of his plans. The bigger question is what you keep if you stop. Brambla's sites come offline after you cancel, while Studio36 says you own the code, the content and the design outright. Ask before you sign.
Do web design prices include VAT?
Some do and some do not. Studio36, Web Factory and Blue Whale publish prices plus VAT. Brambla says "All prices are VAT-inclusive." Luxbranding says it is not VAT registered, so it adds no VAT. GOV.UK gives the standard rate as 20%, so two quotes for the same work can differ by that much. Ask every seller whether the price includes VAT, and compare quotes on the same footing.
How we got these prices
On 9 November 2026, from a UK location, we read more than 300 price, plan, terms and help pages and GOV.UK's VAT pages. A seller counts only where its pages say where in the UK it is. Our searches saw English-language pages in UK results, so a gap means we did not find it. Prices are as published, VAT status as printed, never converted or averaged. The sums are our own arithmetic. We update this page when prices move.
Every page these prices came from
- Website builders: GoDaddy, Squarespace, Shopify
- A host's build service: IONOS Website Design Service
- Freelancers: James Monk Design, Rob Saunders, Marco Mundo, Oscar Beamish
- Small agencies: Web Factory packages and bespoke sites, Harris Digital, Cheap Web Design, Studio36 Digital, Brambla, Three Girls Media, Vision Marketing, Blue Whale Media
- Marketplaces: Fiverr, PeoplePerHour
- Extras: 360 Web Solutions, The People Photographer, Shutterstock, Luxbranding, Hoverfly Design, Squarespace Scheduling, Calendly, Cwmni2
- Moving a site: Google Search Central on site moves with URL changes, last updated 20 August 2026, read again 9 November 2026
- VAT: GOV.UK VAT rates, GOV.UK on charging VAT, GOV.UK on registering for VAT
- Your web address: Nominet's registration terms and transfer service
Set a free preview beside your quotes
Get a fresh version of your site, free, by email within 48 hours, with no card, and set it beside the quotes you have. Or run the free site check on your current site to see who your web address is with and when it expires.