How much does a website cost per month?

Running a business website with us starts at £420 a month plus VAT on our Essentials package, which covers managed hosting, software and security updates, backups and uptime monitoring. Our Managed package, at £840 a month plus VAT, adds content changes, support tickets, performance monitoring and a monthly report. A larger site, or a portfolio of several sites, is priced to its size on Managed+.

Why does a bespoke website cost more than a template?

A bespoke website costs more because it's designed and built around your business, your products and services and your customers, while a template fits your content into a ready-made design. A template is quicker and cheaper up front and can suit a simple online presence. A bespoke build includes only what your business needs, performs better and can be extended as your business grows. For a firm that relies on its website to generate work, it's often the better long-term investment.

How much should a small business spend on a website?

An established small business should typically budget from £4,000 for a professional service website built to perform, plus running costs. The right figure depends on what the site has to do. If it needs to generate enquiries, budget enough to have SEO and conversion built in from the start. If it only needs to provide a credible presence, a smaller brochure site can cost less. Underspending on a site that needs to generate work usually costs more in the long run.

What is the cheapest way to get a website?

The cheapest way to get a website is a DIY builder such as Wix or Squarespace, from around £150 a year. You build and maintain it yourself within the platform's features. It's a reasonable choice for a very small or early-stage business. Once your business needs the website to actively generate work, a site built around that job is usually better value.

Are there hidden costs with a website?

The costs that most often catch people out are the ongoing running costs. Hosting, security, updates and management continue after launch, so budget for them from the start. Also allow for content and copywriting, and for any changes that fall outside the original scope. A good supplier sets all of this out up front, so there are no surprises later.

How much does an ecommerce website cost?

An ecommerce website in the UK typically costs from £8,000 to build, depending on the number of products, the payment and shipping setup, and how bespoke the design is. It costs more than a brochure site because it has more to do. It needs to load quickly, be found in search and make buying easy, because a slow or awkward checkout loses sales. Running costs are usually higher too, because of the extra security and functionality.

Guides

How much does a website cost in the UK?

A professionally built UK business website typically costs from £4,000 for a service website and from £8,000 for an ecommerce site in 2026. On top of the build, you'll need to budget for hosting, updates and ongoing management, and our website maintenance packages start at £420 a month plus VAT. The final figure depends on what the site needs to do for your business. A brochure site and a site built to generate a steady flow of enquiries are different projects, with different scopes and different costs.

By Matt StorrieCo-founder, Monument Digital

Published 31 Oct 20266 min read

Illustration: a website with the parts that set its price in front of it: pages, features, content and monthly running costs, plus two quotes compared for the same pages.

What a website costs in 2026, at a glance

Website costs in the UK fall into a few broad bands, set mostly by what the site needs to do. The table below shows typical build costs for each type of website. Use them as a starting point for scoping your project, and confirm the exact figure against your own requirements.

Website type	Typical UK cost (build)	Who it suits
DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace and similar)	From around £150 a year	A very small business testing an idea, happy to build and maintain it themselves
Brochure / small business site	£1,500-£5,000	An established firm needing a credible presence, with limited pages
Service website (B2B / lead generation)	From £4,000	A firm that needs the site to generate qualified enquiries, built for search visibility and conversion
Ecommerce site	From £8,000	A business selling online, where speed and an easy checkout drive sales

Website typeDIY builder (Wix, Squarespace and similar)
Typical UK cost (build)
From around £150 a year
Who it suits
A very small business testing an idea, happy to build and maintain it themselves
Website typeBrochure / small business site
Typical UK cost (build)
£1,500-£5,000
Who it suits
An established firm needing a credible presence, with limited pages
Website typeService website (B2B / lead generation)
Typical UK cost (build)
From £4,000
Who it suits
A firm that needs the site to generate qualified enquiries, built for search visibility and conversion
Website typeEcommerce site
Typical UK cost (build)
From £8,000
Who it suits
A business selling online, where speed and an easy checkout drive sales

A DIY builder is the cheapest way to get online. It suits a very small business testing an idea, where you build and maintain the site yourself within the platform's features. When your business needs the website to actively win work, a site built around that job will achieve more.

Either a service website or an ecommerce site can be a bespoke build. What moves the cost within each band is how many services or products the site covers, how much depth each one needs and how much custom functionality it has.

For a website that needs to generate enquiries, our web development service sits in the service website and ecommerce bands, with search visibility and conversion built in from launch.

What actually drives the cost of a website

The price is set by the scope of work, not by page count alone. Two quotes for the same number of pages can differ by thousands of pounds because they're pricing different amounts of work. These are the factors that affect the cost:

What the site has to do. A site built to generate enquiries needs more planning than one that only provides information. The commercial purpose of the site is the biggest single driver of cost.
How bespoke the design is. A template is cheaper up front. A bespoke design, built around your business and designed to perform, costs more and is often the better long-term investment.
Content and copywriting. Content that generates valuable actions takes time to plan, write and produce. If you need the copy written and the images produced, that's part of the cost.
Functionality and integrations. Booking tools, client portals, payments and integrations with the systems your team already uses each add build time.
Whether SEO and conversion are built in. A site built from the start for search visibility and conversion costs more than one where they're left until later, and it saves you the much larger cost of fixing them after launch.

Building the site properly the first time costs less than paying for it twice. A low quote that skips this groundwork usually costs more once you add back what was left out. That's the approach behind our web development service.

What your money buys from a freelancer, a template or an agency

The right route depends on what the site has to do and how much risk you can take on, as well as on price. Each option is a reasonable choice for the right business.

A freelancer is usually the lowest-cost option for a straightforward site, and a good freelancer does excellent work. One person manages the design and build, which suits a smaller project with flexibility in the timeline.

A DIY builder is the cheapest option of all and gives you full control. It suits a very small or early-stage business that's happy to build and maintain the site itself within the platform's features.

An agency costs more, and for that you get a team, an established process and someone responsible for the outcome. For an established firm that needs the site to perform and keep performing, that's often where the value is. You're paying for the result, from design and build through to the enquiries the site generates.

The right choice matches the route to the job and the budget. If you want one team to manage the project end to end and own the result, an agency is worth the cost. See what that budget delivers.

Illustration: three routes side by side. A freelancer: one person covers design and build, suited to a smaller project. A DIY builder: you build and maintain the site yourself, within the platform's features. An agency: a team and a process, from design and build through to the enquiries the site brings in, suited to an established firm. — Figure 1Who does the work on each route: one person, you, or a team with a process.

What it costs to run a website with us

A website isn't a one-off cost. It needs hosting, updates, security and ongoing management to stay fast, secure and working, so budget for running the site as well as building it. We manage this through three website maintenance packages:

Essentials, £420 a month plus VAT. Managed hosting on our servers, WordPress core, plugin and theme updates, scheduled backups with restore, security updates and monitoring, and uptime monitoring around the clock.
Managed, £840 a month plus VAT. Everything in Essentials, plus content changes, fixes raised as support tickets, speed and performance monitoring, contact form checks and a monthly report on what we've done and how the site is performing.
Managed+, priced to your portfolio. Everything in Managed, plus cover for several sites or a multisite network, with priority support, page speed optimisations, integration and custom feature management, and a named contact with a quarterly review.

You can manage some of this yourself, or have it managed for you so that problems are prevented before they affect the site. See our website maintenance packages.

How to budget for your website

Work back from what the site needs to do for your business, not up from the cheapest quote. A budget based on your goals holds up far better than one based on the lowest number you can find. Plan it in four steps:

Name the site's job. Do you need more enquiries, online sales, or a credible presence for a firm that already wins work by referral? The job sets the budget band.
Decide what it must do at launch. List what the site needs on day one to do that job, and separate what's essential from what isn't.
Decide what can wait. Anything that isn't essential at launch can come in a second phase, once the site is generating enquiries. This keeps the first build focused and affordable.
Budget for running the site as well as building it. Add the monthly running costs so you're planning for the full cost from the start.

A clear brief and a realistic budget get you a better site than a bigger budget without a clear scope. When you're ready, get a tailored estimate.

Frequentlyaskedquestions

Running a business website with us starts at £420 a month plus VAT on our Essentials package, which covers managed hosting, software and security updates, backups and uptime monitoring. Our Managed package, at £840 a month plus VAT, adds content changes, support tickets, performance monitoring and a monthly report. A larger site, or a portfolio of several sites, is priced to its size on Managed+.
A bespoke website costs more because it's designed and built around your business, your products and services and your customers, while a template fits your content into a ready-made design. A template is quicker and cheaper up front and can suit a simple online presence. A bespoke build includes only what your business needs, performs better and can be extended as your business grows. For a firm that relies on its website to generate work, it's often the better long-term investment.
An established small business should typically budget from £4,000 for a professional service website built to perform, plus running costs. The right figure depends on what the site has to do. If it needs to generate enquiries, budget enough to have SEO and conversion built in from the start. If it only needs to provide a credible presence, a smaller brochure site can cost less. Underspending on a site that needs to generate work usually costs more in the long run.
An ecommerce website in the UK typically costs from £8,000 to build, depending on the number of products, the payment and shipping setup, and how bespoke the design is. It costs more than a brochure site because it has more to do. It needs to load quickly, be found in search and make buying easy, because a slow or awkward checkout loses sales. Running costs are usually higher too, because of the extra security and functionality.

Getatailoredestimateforyourwebsite

The way to find out what your website will cost is a short conversation about what it needs to do. Every figure on this page is a starting point, and the final cost depends on your requirements. Tell us what the site needs to do and we'll give you a clear estimate with no obligation.

Or read more about our web development service and see what that budget delivers.

Get a tailored estimate

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