How much does a website cost in the UK? (2026 prices)
What a small business website costs in the UK in 2026, from DIY builders to agencies, the yearly costs that catch people out, and what 22 Birmingham web designers really charge.
- A DIY website builder costs about £150–£500 a year. A freelancer typically charges £1,000–£5,000, and an agency £2,500 and up.
- In our check of 22 Birmingham and West Midlands web designers, the median starting price was £1,240.
- Budget for the yearly costs too: domain, hosting, and updates or a care plan.
- Copywriting, extra pages, booking and online shops are what push the price up most.
“How much is a website?” is the first question most business owners ask, and the answers they get range from £10 a month to £20,000. Both can be honest. The price depends on who builds it, how much it needs to do, and what you need to keep it running.
This guide breaks down UK prices for 2026, the yearly costs people forget, and what web designers in Birmingham actually charge, based on our own check of 22 local price lists.
The short answer
| Option | Typical UK price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace) | £150–£500 a year | Brand-new businesses testing an idea |
| Freelance web designer | £1,000–£5,000 one-off | Small businesses that need a solid 5–10 page site |
| Web design agency | £2,500–£15,000+ one-off | Bigger sites, custom features, ongoing support |
| Pay-monthly website | About £35–£99 a month | Businesses that can’t pay a lump sum |
Ranges for builders, freelancers and agencies are taken from published UK price guides (see sources). Pay-monthly prices are from our Birmingham check. Weighing up a builder? See Wix vs a web designer over three years.
What Birmingham web designers charge
National averages mix London agencies with everyone else. So we checked the published prices of web designers in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Of the 22 that publish a starting price for a multi-page business website, the median was £1,240, and half started between £1,000 and £2,000.
| Starting price | Birmingham web designers |
|---|---|
| Under £1,000 | 6 of 22 |
| £1,000–£1,999 | 11 of 22 |
| £2,000–£3,499 | 3 of 22 |
| £3,500 and over | 2 of 22 |
The full findings, including SEO prices and pay-monthly options, are in what web design and SEO cost in Birmingham.
What pushes the price up
| Factor | Why it adds cost |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | Each page needs designing, building and checking on mobile |
| Custom design vs a template | A design made for you takes far more time than adapting a theme |
| Copywriting | Often quoted separately; UK guides put it at about £500–£2,000 |
| Features | Online booking, quote forms, memberships and integrations each add development time |
| Selling online | Products, checkout, delivery and stock make an ecommerce website the biggest jump |
| SEO setup | Proper page titles, local pages and speed work take time if done well |
The biggest hidden cost is usually the words. A designer can build a beautiful page, but if you don’t have clear text about what you do and where, the site won’t win enquiries.
The yearly costs people forget
| Cost | Typical UK price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name (.co.uk) | £10–£15 a year | Register it in your own name, never your designer’s |
| Hosting | £3–£10 a month (budget) to £15–£50 a month (managed) | Managed hosting is faster and includes more support |
| Security certificate (SSL) | Usually free with hosting | Gives your site the padlock in the browser |
| Updates and care | £49–£90 a month in Birmingham | Updates, backups and security checks |
| Premium plugins or software | £0–£500 a year | Ask which ones your site uses before you sign |
Three example budgets for year one
| Starter | Typical small business | Growing business | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The site | DIY builder, 5 pages | Local web designer, 8 pages | Agency, custom design, 15 pages and booking |
| Build | £0 (your time) | £1,500 | £5,000 |
| Domain, hosting, care | About £250 (builder plan + domain) | About £150 (domain + basic hosting) | About £1,100 (£90 care plan + domain) |
| Year one total | About £250 | About £1,650 | About £6,100 |
These are illustrations built from the ranges above, not quotes. Copywriting, photography and an online shop would add to each.
How to spend less without getting a worse site
- Write your own first draft. Even rough notes on each service save hours of a copywriter’s time.
- Start with the pages that bring in work: home, one page per main service, about and contact. Add more later.
- Use real photos of your work and team instead of paying for stock images.
- Ask for a fixed quote with the number of pages, rounds of changes and what happens after launch written down.
- Own everything: the domain, the hosting account and the content. Moving later is then cheap.
Is a cheap website a false economy?
Not always. A simple, fast site with clear text can outperform an expensive one. The real question is what it needs to do. If customers find you by word of mouth and just check you’re real, a basic site is fine. If you want Google to send you new enquiries, the site needs proper service pages, local pages and good SEO from day one, and that takes more time to build.
That’s how we approach web design in Birmingham: we build every site around the searches your customers make, so it can bring in work rather than just look good. Need the site to rank too? See how much SEO costs in the UK.
Sources
- Axarez price check of 22 Birmingham and West Midlands web designers, 14 November 2026.
- Pixelish: How much does a website cost in 2026? UK pricing guide
- Duport: Average cost of website design for small business UK
- Brambla: How much does a website cost UK?
Frequently asked questions
How much should a small business website cost in the UK?
For a professionally built 5–10 page website, expect to pay roughly £1,000–£3,000 with a freelancer or small local agency, and more with a larger agency. Our check of 22 Birmingham and West Midlands web designers found a median starting price of £1,240. A DIY builder costs less up front but takes your time.
How much does a website cost per month?
After launch, a simple website usually costs a few pounds a month for hosting, plus about £10–£15 a year for a .co.uk domain. If someone keeps it updated and secure for you, local care plans we checked start at £49–£90 a month. Pay-monthly websites, where the build is included, start at about £35–£99 a month.
Is it cheaper to build a website yourself?
Up front, yes: website builders cost about £150–£500 a year. But you pay in time, often 20–40 hours, and in results if the site doesn’t bring in enquiries. A DIY site suits a brand-new business testing an idea; a business that relies on Google for customers usually gets more from a professionally built site.
How much does an ecommerce website cost in the UK?
UK ecommerce websites typically cost from about £2,000 to £20,000 or more, depending on the number of products, the platform and features such as accounts, subscriptions or integrations. Platforms like Shopify also charge a monthly subscription.
Is a .co.uk or .com domain better for a UK business?
Either works. A .co.uk tells customers, and Google, that you’re a UK business, so it’s the natural choice if you only trade in the UK. At about £10–£15 a year, many businesses buy both and point the .com at the main site. Whichever you choose, register it in your own name.