Guides · updated
What a small business website costs.
In 2026, from about $228 a year if you build it yourself to $15,000 up front from an agency. What moves the number is who does the work, whether you pay every month, and who owns the site when you stop paying.
Below are real prices, read off sellers’ own pages, with what you should own and what to ask before you pay anyone.
Year one
The usual ways a small business gets a website, and roughly what each costs in its first twelve months. “Year one” is everything you pay before the site’s first birthday.
| The kind of website | Who builds it | Up front | Every month | Year one | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself on a website builder | You do, on their templates | Nothing during the 14-day free trial | $19 to $39 on Squarespace’s two cheapest plans | $228 to $468, plus your evenings | The builder’s. Stop paying and the site comes down |
| A one-time build from a small web shop | A small shop | $299 for one page to $999 for about ten | Hosting is often extra. Ask | $299 to $999, plus hosting | Usually yours. Ask whose account it sits in |
| A pay-monthly website | They do, and host it for you | $0 on most plans; one charges $600 to set up | $79 to $349, for as long as the site is up | $948 to $4,188 | Often not, or only after a set term. Ask |
| An agency | An agency team, after calls | $3,000 to $15,000 | Often $150 to $300 to look after it | About $3,000 to $18,600 | Sometimes. Ask who holds the address and the files |
| Luziq | We do, from your business name and a way to reach you | $300, paid once | $0 if you run it yourself, or Fast Lane at $20 a month or $100 a year | $300, or $400 with Fast Lane paid yearly | Yours: the website and its code |
The ranges are prices printed on the public pages of website builders, web shops, pay-monthly sellers and agencies’ own pricing guides, read on 27 October 2026, before tax and add-ons. Prices change, so ask any seller for the year-one total in writing. Squarespace’s prices: Squarespace pricing.
What you pay for
Every option above covers the same few jobs. The price changes with who does them, and how often you pay for them.
- The words. What you do, where, your hours and how to reach you. On a builder you write them. Most paid options write them for you, or tidy what you send.
- The pictures. Your own photos, made to look their best, or new ones made for you.
- The build. A design that opens fast on a phone and makes it easy to call or message you.
- A place to live. Hosting and a web address. A builder or a monthly plan includes them. A one-time build usually doesn’t.
- Being found. Set up on Google, and readable by ChatGPT and other AI search tools. How that works.
- Changes later. New hours, a new service, a new photo. Ask who makes them and what each one costs.
Own it
Whatever you pay, these should be yours, in writing:
- Your web address. It goes on your truck, your cards and your email. Whoever owns it owns the way people find you.
- The website itself. Its files or its code, so another builder can pick it up if you ever switch.
- Your words and photos. You should be able to ask for them and get them back, as ordinary files.
- A way out. Ask what happens when you stop paying: what stays up, what comes down, and what you keep.
Ask first
The price on the page isn’t always the whole price. Before you pay anyone, ask:
- What does year two cost? A web address renews every year, and some plans cost more after the first one.
- Is there a setup fee, or a contract? Some monthly plans charge one before the first month, or hold you to twelve months.
- Is hosting extra? Ask whether it’s in the price or a monthly fee on top.
- What does a change cost? Ask whether you can make it yourself, and what it costs when you can’t.
- Is the logo extra? Some builders sell it on its own.
- What if I want my money back? Ask before, not after. Ours is on the terms page.
Ours
Our price is one line in that table: $300, paid once. We hand you the website and its code, and you put it online and run it yourself. Or we run it for you on Fast Lane, $20 a month or $100 a year. This is everything the $300 buys:
Everything in the $300
- Your own website with your services, your work, your hours, questions and answers, and how to reach you.
- Better photos made from the ones you send us. No photos? We make them for you.
- A flyer to match your site with a QR code, ready to print.
- A logo if you need one (free) at no extra charge.
- Set up on Google so customers can find you.
- Ready for ChatGPT and AI search set up so ChatGPT and other AI assistants can read your site and point customers to it.
- The website and its code handed to you, yours to keep.
- About 3 business days from your details to your finished site, for most sites.
$300 one-time. Then you choose: run it yourself, or we run it for you.
Then you choose
-
You run it
Only $300
We hand you the website and its code. You put it online and run it yourself.
No monthly fee
-
We run it for you
$20 a month or $100 a year
on top of the $300 for the website. That’s Fast Lane.
- Fast hosting for your site
- Quick to open on a phone
- Your web address (.com) included
- A contact form that works, so customers can reach you any time
- Your admin page: see messages, reply, post updates and send newsletters
- Email on your own web address
Yearly works out to $8.33 a month: billed $100 once a year, you save $140.
$320 today, then $20/month · or $300 + first year = $400 today, then $100/year
Want more? Full Care, $50 a month or $500 a year: Fast Lane, plus a weekly Google check-up and one real improvement to your site every month. Unlimited, $100 a month or $1,000 a year: Full Care, plus as many changes and additions as you want, one at a time. Compare the plans
Questions
- Is $300 enough for a real small business website?
For a site that says what you do, where you do it and how to reach you, with good photos and a way to get in touch, yes. That’s what most small businesses need.
Online booking, a shop or an admin for your team are bigger builds. Ours are custom websites, which start at $2,500, quoted per project.
- Why do agencies charge so much more?
You pay for more people and more meetings: planning calls, rounds of design, a project manager. That’s worth it for a big build with many moving parts.
For a site that tells people what you do and gets them to call, most of that isn’t needed.
- Is a pay-monthly website cheaper?
Cheaper on day one. Over two or three years it usually costs more than paying once, and on many plans the site isn’t yours when you stop.
Ask for the total over three years, and what you keep if you leave.
- What does a website cost each year after it’s built?
At least the web address, which renews every year, and somewhere for the site to live.
With us that’s Fast Lane, $100 a year: hosting, your .com, a contact form that works and your admin page. Or you host the code yourself.
- Does the price include Google and ChatGPT?
It should, and ours does. Every $300 site is set up on Google and set up so ChatGPT and other AI assistants can read it.
What else helps you get named in those answers is in our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.
More
Start
$300, paid once. Send your business name and a way to reach you, and your site is usually finished in about 3 business days, with a free logo if you need one.
You pay on the last step. Secure checkout by Stripe. Terms & refunds.
Questions first? Message us or email hello@luziq.ai.