Building a website can cost as little as $3 per month if you choose to do it yourself with a cheap website builder like Hostinger. However, there are more advanced options like Wix and Squarespace, will cost anywhere from $16 to $59 per month, depending on your chosen package.
Alternatively, if you don’t fancy doing the handiwork yourself, or if your site needs to fulfill specific functions and requirements, hiring a professional is an option too. This costs considerably more than using a website builder, though – with prices averaging at around $500 to $10,000 per site.
In addition to the initial build, there are a number of extra expenses to be aware of, including the cost of web hosting, domain names, and security protections like SSL certificates. To help you prepare financially, we break down the essential costs involved with building a website, alongside the price of additional services and integrations.
Heads up!
Yes, some website builders have plans that allow you to set up and get started for free, but on this page, we’re mainly going to focus on paid plans, as they offer much more in terms of features, integrations, and scalability.
How Much Does it Cost to Build a Website?
Building a website using a web builder can cost anywhere from $3 to $60 per month, with the average price sitting around $30 per month.
Even our top-rated builders which offer advanced functions like analytics and SEO have plans which start from $16 per month, placing them well in the budget of most businesses. Large businesses with extensive or specific site needs will need to shell out more though, with some enterprise packages from platforms like Wix costing upwards of $150 per month.
Some platforms charge businesses extra for necessary features involved with establishing and maintaining their site. We highlight some factors to be aware of below:
| Price Range | What is it? | Included With Most Builders? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website Domain | Website Hosting | SSL Certificate | |
| $10 to $600 | $4 to $190 per month with a third party | $4 to $250 per month with a third party | |
| A domain refers to the name of your website that shows up in the browser URL bar. | Web hosting is a service which allows businesses and individuals to post their website on the internet. | A SSL is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a site and encrypts information sent to the server. | |
| Domain names are included in most website builder plans at no extra cost. | Most web builders include website hosting for free. However, if you use WordPress or build a site from scratch, you’ll have to pay extra. | Fortunately, most website builders guarantee a SSL certificate for at least a year. |
Using a website builder isn’t the only way to create a high-performing site. If you have coding experience, and want full agency over your site, building a site with WordPress.org is free but you’ll have to pay an additional fee for hosting. Since you’ll have to outsource this service to an external provider, the price will vary – with hosting companies charging anywhere from $2.95 to $49.95 per month initially, and renewals costing more.
If you lack the technical expertise or the time to build a site from scratch, hiring a professional web designer will cost anywhere from $500 to $10,000 depending on the nature of your site. Jump to this section to learn more about the costs involved with outsourcing the task to a professional, or scroll down for more details on the extra costs involved with creating and maintaining a site with a website builder.
Wix lets you pick out a domain name as part of its basic package. Source: Wix
Website domain
If your chosen website builder doesn’t let you connect to a domain for free, buying a new domain costs around $10 to $20 per year, with premium domains coming at a higher cost. If you hire a professional to design your website, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll have to pay extra to guarantee and maintain your domain name as well. The prices of domain registrars range heavily, but businesses can secure a decent name from around $32 to $600.
Website hosting
If you’re moving forwards with a web builder, the cost of web hosting will likely be included in your dues. However, WordPress and WP Pro charge anywhere from $2.95 to $49.95 for the privilege, with the web hosting provider Bluehost being the most popular port-of-call.
Securing your own space on the internet will cost extra if you create your site yourself, too. Depending on the needs of your site and the amount of traffic it’s expected to attract, this could cost anywhere from $4 per month for a shared hosting option or $120 to $190 per month for your own dedicated server. Learn more about website hosting costs.
SSL certificate
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is needed to prove that your website enables an encrypted connection. Website builders tend to offer the certificate for free, but if SSL certification isn’t included in your hosting plan, or if you’re building a website from the ground up, you’ll need to spend anywhere from $7 to $250 a year to purchase the security protocol from a certificate provider.
How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website?
On top of the up-front cost of building and publishing your site, businesses will need to pay maintenance fees once the site is live. Maintenance costs will depend on the type of site your building.
However, ongoing costs associated with editing and hosting your site, and renewing domain names will cost anywhere between $5 to $150 per month for small businesses. For personal sites, professional blogs, and portfolios paying somewhere in the lower bracket, this cost will likely be capped at under $25 per month.
| Price Range | What is it? | Included With Most Builders? | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce | SEO | Marketing | Communication | Design elements |
| Free to $89 per month | Free to $39 per month | Free to $284 per month | Free to $250 per month | Free to $89 per month |
| Ecommerce integrations synchronise data between your website builder platform and your ecommerce data management system. | SEO integrations help users improve the ranking of their page organically. | Marketing integrations help increase the reach of your website through a range of different means. | Communication integrations encourage active collaboration by giving the public a way to interact with the site. | Design elements give users greater agency over the look of their site by enabling greater customization. |
| This function will be included with ecommerce-focused website builder like Shopify. | Most website builders will offer SEO features, but you may need to upgrade to pricer plans to unlock advanced functions like keyword support. | Many websites include basic marketing features like email marketing in-house. | Basic communication features like blogs and testimonials are included with most website builders. | Every builder will include basic design features but many charge for extra templates and advanced controls. |
Ecommerce: $0 to $89 per month
Not all website builders let you sell online. But if you want to build a site that sells, you can purchase an ecommerce integration. Lots of these integrations can be free to download too, saving businesses from needing to upgrade to ecommerce website builders. For example, Wix customers can connect to Etsy, Amazon, and Online Store apps for free, and have access to tons of free and paid sell button apps to help them sell online directly through their site.
SEO: $0 to $39 per month
While lots of web builders offer SEO tools as part of their roster, some solutions will charge these services at an extra cost. These include keyword tools, link builders, and AI-driven optimization tools.
Marketing: $0 to $284 per month
If you’re looking for a way to expand your site’s reach, you can also pay extra for marketing add-ons like social media integrations, advert builders, and email marketing tools.
Communication: $0 to $250 per month
Communication tools like web chats, forums, polls, blogs, and reviews & testimonials provider businesses with powerful ways to connect with their community and relay information.
Design elements: $0 to $89 per month
If your chosen website builder doesn’t let you customize your site to your liking, you may be able to purchase extra design elements — like page templates and banners — at an extra cost. Research shows site design and usability can have a major impact on customer behavior, so while it may be easier to rely on your builder’s toolkit, slashing out on advanced features will likely pay for themselves over time.
If your web builder doesn’t offer as many design options as you’d like, you can augment your plan with targeted integrations. Source: Hostinger
What Is the Cheapest Way to Start a Website?
The cheapest way to start a website is by using a website builder. With prices starting from $2.99 per month, Hostinger is the cheapest solution we’ve reviewed, while industry leaders Wix and Squarespace both have quality plans starting from $17 and $16 per month respectively.
Can I run a website for free?
Lots of website builders have free forever plans, so yes, it is possible to run and maintain a website for free. However, these free packages provide very limited storage, lack fairly basic features, and some even force you to display advertisements on your web page. While this may fit the needs of small businesses with rudimentary site requirements, its almost always worth investing in your website.
How Much Does a Website Builder Cost?
The main factors that influence the cost of the web builder are the demands of your website. If you’re a small business after a simple website, a static site, a blog, or a portfolio, you’ll probably be able to get by on an affordable monthly plan without needing to splurge on heaps of extra features.
For example, providers like Weebly and Hostinger have quality entry-level plans for under $10 per month, while plans from more established builders like Squarespace start from around $16 per month. Quality, free plans exist too, like Square Online’s Free package that offers web-building capabilities, SEO tools, and a seamless integration with Square POS.
Alternatively, for larger businesses with precise requirements, the cost of building a website yourself can rack up quickly. For instance, if you require large storage limits and advanced tools like email marketing and professional logo designing, you should expect to pay around $36 per month for plans like Wix Business.
Businesses selling a high turnover of goods can expect costs to escalate even more, with Shopify’s Advanced plan – a package with affordable credit card rates at up to 1,000 inventory locations – costing $499 per month and the provider’s enterprise ecommerce package starting at a very steep $2,000 per month.
No matter what your business’s precise needs are, there’ll be a website out there that will be sitting within your budget. If you’re not sure where to start, we sifted through the competition and narrowed down six website builders that we think are ideal for small businesses. You can see how they compare below:
| Paid plan Monthly | Free Plan | Pros | Cons | Rating Overall score based on features, value, support, ease of use, and customer score | Value for Money Price factors including plan costs and feature tiers. | Try it Today | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST FOR BUSINESS  |  |  |  |  | ||||
| Squarespace | Shopify | Hostinger | Square | |||||
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| 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 4.6 | ||||
| 3.6 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.8 | ||||
| Claim 10% off | Save 10% | Try Shopify | Save up to 10% | Try Square |
Should You Hire a Web Designer Instead?
If you don’t have the time or technical know-how to build a website using a web builder, hiring a professional web designer could be a good alternative. Outsourcing this service allows you to create a website that matches your exact needs. From design to functionality, it can be fully customized to your liking and since it’ll be built from scratch, you can ensure it’ll be completely one-of-a-kind too.
Hiring a professional won’t be an option for every business, though. Using this method can cost anywhere from $500 to over $10,000 per site, depending on your business’s requirements. If you’re able to afford this premium, bespoke sites do tend to offer businesses a higher return on their investment.
You should consider hiring a web designer if…
- You lack technical knowledge or you’re short on time
- You have a large website-building budget
- You have complex or specific site requirements
You shouldn’t consider hiring a web designer if…
- Your site needs aren’t complex or specific
- You don’t have a large site-building budget
- You have time to spare to build it yourself
Read our guide to the cost of hiring web designers to learn how much this method would set your business back.
Verdict: How Much Does it Cost to Create & Run a Website?
If you’re using a website builder to create a site, you can expect to spend anywhere between $3 and $59 per month to use the tool, although larger businesses with high turnovers may be required to pay upwards of $500 per month.
Fortunately, these monthly fees tend to include necessary functions like domain registration, web hosting, and SSL certificates too, preventing you from having to pay for these externally. However, the price of extra capabilities like ecommerce and marketing can bump up this price more, so the total price you’ll pay will ultimately reflect your business’s unique needs.
If you’re considering hiring a professional, building a site can cost anywhere from $500 to $10,000, with site maintenance incurring regular costs on top. You don’t need to fork out to make a polished, high-performing website, though. Take our free comparison quiz to get matched to a website builder that suits your needs today.
Web Builder Costs: Frequently Asked Questions
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