How much does a website cost in 2026?

The short answer on website cost

A business website in the US in 2026 costs anywhere from about $15 a month on a do-it-yourself builder to well over $10,000 for a custom build from an agency. Most small-business projects land in the low thousands, and the price mostly tracks how many pages you need, who writes the words, and how much custom work the site does.

That range is wide because "a website" means very different things. A one-page builder site and a 20-page site built to win local search are different products. This guide lays out what published sources say each option costs, what moves the price up or down, and how to tell a fair quote from a bad one. You can use all of it without hiring anyone.

A note on sources: every number below links to where it came from and says when it was published or checked. Prices change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. The figures are national US figures or come from sellers' own pricing pages; we found no credible local price survey to use.

Published price ranges, with sources

Website builders (Wix, Squarespace, AI builders)

Builders charge a monthly subscription and you do the work. Durable, an AI website builder, wrote in January 2026 that its own pricing starts at $15 a month, and put a basic Wix or Squarespace site at about $16 a month plus a domain, rising to about $62 a month once a CRM and a scheduler are added (Durable, 6 January 2026). Durable sells a builder, so read its comparison with that in mind.

The builders' own pricing pages, checked on 27 October 2026, show Squarespace plans from $19 a month billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) up to $99 a month billed yearly for its top plan (Squarespace pricing). Wix's cheapest premium plan, Light, is $17 a month billed yearly or $24 billed monthly (Website Builder Expert, updated 15 September 2026), and Wix notes that its prices vary by location (Wix plans).

So a builder site costs roughly $200 to $1,200 a year in subscription fees, plus your time. The time is the real cost. If you bill your own hours at $100 or more, a weekend spent fighting a template is not free. For a trade business weighing the two, see Wix vs a custom site for contractors.

Freelancers

Clutch, a review site for agencies, reports that developers who specialize in builders such as Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow and Shopify typically charge $25 to $49 an hour (Clutch web design pricing, updated 21 September 2026). For a sense of the wage behind those rates, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the national mean hourly wage for web developers at $45.95 in May 2023 (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023, re-checked 27 October 2026; BLS has since started publishing May 2025 figures, which we will move to once we have checked them). That is a wage, not a billing rate. A freelancer pays their own taxes, software and unbilled hours out of what they charge you.

Agencies and web design companies

Clutch says agency projects typically run from $2,000 to $100,000, that most projects reviewed on its platform cost less than $10,000, and that the average project in its reviews was $38,105. It lists typical agency rates in the U.S. at $100 to $149 an hour (Clutch, updated 21 September 2026). The average is pulled up by large projects. The "most under $10,000" line is the more useful one for a small business.

WebFX, a large U.S. agency, puts a professionally designed small-business site from an agency or freelancer at $500 to $5,000 or more (WebFX website cost guide, last modified 15 May 2026).

A website budget table you can use

Use this table to match what you need to a realistic budget. The ranges come from the sources above. The right-hand column is our view of who each option suits, not a published figure.

Quick budget check: count the pages you need, decide who writes the words, and list any feature beyond a contact form (online booking, a quote calculator, payments, a customer portal). Each "yes" moves you one row down the table.

What drives the cost of a website

Two quotes for "a website" can differ by ten times and both be fair. These are the things that move the number.

1. Number of pages and templates. A home page, an about page and a contact page is a small job. A page for every service and every town you serve is a bigger one, because each page needs its own words, photos and search work.
2. Who writes the words. Copywriting is often the slowest part. If you supply finished text, the price drops. If the builder interviews you and writes it, expect to pay for that time.
3. Custom design versus a template. A template is cheaper and faster. A custom design costs more but can be built to load faster and fit your brand.
4. Features. Online booking, quote calculators, payments, logins, integrations with your job-management software and multi-language pages each add work.
5. Search work. Basic setup (titles, descriptions, a sitemap) is cheap. Research into what your customers search for, structured data, and pages built around local searches cost more and are where most of the long-term value sits.
6. Speed and accessibility standards. Building a site that passes Google's Core Web Vitals and basic accessibility checks takes care. Google's guidance is that a good experience means the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to taps within 200 milliseconds and the layout shifts very little (web.dev, Web Vitals). Ask whether a quote includes meeting those numbers.
7. Moving an old site. A redesign that keeps your old web addresses working (or redirects them) protects whatever search traffic you already have. It is extra work and worth paying for.
8. Photos and video. Real job photos beat stock photos for a trade business. A photo shoot, or the time to sort and caption your own photos, is a real cost.

The monthly costs after launch

The build is a one-time cost. These come every month or every year, whoever builds the site:

• Domain name: usually a small yearly fee from a registrar.
• Hosting: included in a builder subscription; separate for a custom site. Some hosts are free for small static sites.
• Email on your domain: often a per-mailbox monthly fee.
• Plugins, apps and booking tools: many charge monthly.
• Updates and fixes: someone has to keep the software current, fix what breaks and make small changes.
• Search and content: optional, but this is what keeps a site earning after launch.

When you compare quotes, add up three years: the build plus 36 months of running costs. A cheap build with expensive monthly add-ons can cost more than a pricier build you fully own.

Red flags in a website quote

Most people who build websites are honest. These warning signs are worth checking anyway, because each one has cost business owners real money.

Questions to ask before you sign

Print this list and take it to every call. A good builder will answer all of it without hesitation.

1. Can you show me three live sites you built, and can I run them through PageSpeed Insights now?
2. Who will actually do the work, and who do I call when something breaks?
3. Exactly which pages are included, and who writes the words?
4. How many rounds of changes are included, and what does an extra round cost?
5. Will the domain, hosting account, analytics and Google Business Profile be in my name?
6. What happens to my old web addresses if this is a redesign?
7. What does it cost per month after launch, and what does that include?
8. Can I cancel the monthly plan, and what do I keep if I do?
9. How is the deposit handled, and when is the balance due?
10. What will the site score on mobile in PageSpeed Insights at launch, and what happens if it doesn't?

Where Stewart Code's prices sit

We publish our prices so you don't have to book a call to find out. Our core website packages and monthly plan are below, pulled live from the same catalog we bill from. Compare them to the ranges above and decide for yourself.

If you want to see where your current site stands before you spend anything, run it through our free Site X-ray. It uses Google's own tests and shows the results next to ours.