Prices for "a website" range from free to tens of thousands, which makes budgeting confusing. Here's an honest breakdown of what a small business actually pays, piece by piece.
The recurring costs (what you'll pay every year)
| Item | Typical cost | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | $10–$20 / year | Your address, e.g. yourbusiness.com |
| Hosting | $5–$50 / month | The always-on home where your site lives |
| Security padlock (SSL) | $0 — should be free | Included free with good hosts (it is with ours) |
| Business email | $0–$7 / user / month | info@yourbusiness.com via an email provider |
So the true "keeping the lights on" cost of a small business web presence is roughly $200–$700 per year. Be wary of hosts charging separately for SSL — that's been a standard freebie for years.
The one-time cost: building the site
- Do it yourself — $0 plus your time. Fine for a simple "who we are, where we are, call us" site. (Our step-by-step guide covers this route.)
- Freelance designer — roughly $500–$3,000 for a professional small-business site. The sweet spot for most.
- Agency — $3,000 and up, for online stores, bookings, or custom features.
Whoever builds it, the result lives on your hosting — so the build cost and the running cost stay separate, and you can change designers later without moving house.
Where businesses overpay
- Paying agency retainers for "maintenance" that's really just hosting. Ask what's actually included.
- Multi-year hosting deals with huge renewal jumps. A $2.99 teaser that renews at $15+ isn't a deal — it's a delay. We charge the same price month one and month fifty.
- Buying "extras" that should be free: SSL padlock, basic backups.
Where you shouldn't cut
Support. The cheapest hosts keep prices down by making help nearly impossible to reach. The day your site goes down before a busy weekend, the difference between a real person answering in minutes and a ticket queue answering in days is worth far more than the few dollars saved.