How Much Does a Website Cost for a Small Business in 2026?

The Honest Answer

If you Google “how much does a website cost,” you’ll get answers ranging from $0 to $500,000. That’s not helpful. So let me give you realistic numbers based on what we see working with small businesses every day.

The short answer: Most small businesses should expect to spend between $3,000 and $15,000 for a professional website that actually generates customers. Here’s what determines where you’ll fall in that range.

Website Cost Breakdown by Type

DIY Website Builders ($0–$500/year)

Platforms: Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com

What you get:

• Template-based design with drag-and-drop editing
• Basic hosting included
• Simple contact forms
• Limited customization

Best for: Hobby businesses, side projects, or businesses that just need a basic online presence.

The catch: These sites rarely rank well in search engines, load slowly, and look generic. If your website is your primary lead generation tool, DIY usually costs you more in lost customers than you save on development.

Template-Based Professional Sites ($1,500–$5,000)

What you get:

• Professional design based on premium templates
• Mobile-responsive layout
• Basic SEO setup
• Contact forms and analytics
• 5-10 pages

Best for: Service businesses that need a professional presence but don’t need advanced features.

The reality: This is where most freelancers and entry-level agencies operate. Quality varies wildly — some deliver excellent work, others deliver a template with your logo swapped in.

Custom Professional Sites ($5,000–$15,000)

What you get:

• Custom design tailored to your brand and goals
• Conversion-focused architecture (Hero, Proof, Offer, CTA framework)
• Advanced SEO foundation with structured data
• Performance optimization (fast loading, Core Web Vitals compliant)
• Content strategy and copywriting
• Analytics and conversion tracking
• 10-20 pages
• Ongoing support and maintenance

Best for: Businesses that depend on their website for lead generation and customer acquisition.

Why this range is worth it: A website that converts at 3% instead of 0.5% will pay for itself many times over. The difference between a $3,000 site and a $10,000 site is usually the depth of strategy, copywriting quality, and conversion optimization.

Enterprise & E-commerce ($15,000+)

What you get:

• Complex functionality (e-commerce, portals, integrations)
• Custom development and API integrations
• Multi-language support
• Advanced security and compliance
• Ongoing development team

Best for: Established businesses with complex requirements, online stores, or SaaS companies.

What Actually Affects Website Cost

1. Number of Pages

More pages = more design, content, and development time. A 5-page site costs significantly less than a 20-page site.

Our recommendation: Start with the pages that directly generate business (homepage, services, about, contact) and expand from there. You don’t need 50 pages on day one.

2. Custom Design vs. Templates

A fully custom design from scratch costs 2-3x more than adapting a premium template. For most small businesses, a well-customized template delivers 90% of the results at a fraction of the cost.

3. Copywriting

The words on your website matter more than the design. Professional copywriting that’s optimized for both search engines and conversion typically adds $1,000-$3,000 to a project. It’s worth every penny.

4. Photography & Video

Stock photos are cheap but generic. Custom photography adds authenticity and trust. Budget $500-$2,000 for professional photos if you don’t have them.

5. SEO Foundation

A basic SEO setup (meta tags, site structure, page speed) should be included in any professional website. A deeper SEO strategy with keyword research, content planning, and local optimization is a separate investment.

6. Integrations

CRM connections, email marketing, booking systems, payment processing — each integration adds complexity and cost. Be clear about what you need before getting quotes.

7. Ongoing Maintenance

Websites aren’t “set it and forget it.” Budget $50-$300/month for hosting, security updates, content updates, and monitoring. Some agencies include this in their pricing; others charge separately.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

Domain name: $10-$50/year. You should own your domain — not your web designer.

Hosting: $10-$100/month depending on performance requirements. Platforms like Cloudflare Pages offer excellent free hosting for static sites.

SSL certificate: Should be free (Let’s Encrypt) or included in hosting. If someone charges extra for this, that’s a red flag.

Content updates: Some agencies charge $50-$150/hour for changes. Ask about this upfront — it adds up fast.

Plugin/license fees: Premium WordPress plugins or other tools can cost $100-$500/year in recurring fees.

How to Get the Best Value

1. Define Your Goals First

Before talking to anyone about a website, write down what success looks like. “Get more customers” is vague. “Generate 20 qualified leads per month from the website” is specific and measurable.

2. Get 3 Quotes

Don’t go with the first agency you talk to. Get 3 proposals and compare not just price, but scope, timeline, and ongoing support.

3. Ask About Results

Any good web designer should be able to show you past work that achieved business results — not just “pretty websites.”

4. Prioritize Speed and Mobile

Over 60% of web traffic is mobile. A beautiful desktop site that’s unusable on phones is a waste of money. And every second of load time costs you ~7% in conversions.

5. Think Long-Term

The cheapest option upfront often becomes the most expensive over time. A well-built website on a solid platform costs less to maintain and update than a fragile site that breaks every time you make a change.

What We Charge

At BearGorilla, our web design projects typically range from $5,000 to $12,000 for small businesses. That includes custom design, conversion-optimized copywriting, SEO foundation, performance optimization, and 30 days of post-launch support.

We focus on websites that generate measurable business results — not just websites that look nice. Our clients typically see 3x more customer inquiries within the first quarter after launch.

Get a free website audit and we’ll show you exactly what’s holding your current site back and what it would take to fix it.

The Bottom Line

A website isn’t an expense — it’s an investment in customer acquisition. The question isn’t “how little can I spend?” but “what return will I get?”

A $500 website that generates zero leads costs you infinite dollars per customer. A $10,000 website that generates 30 leads per month at a 10% close rate costs you $33 per customer — and that number only gets better over time.

Invest in a website that works as hard as you do.