Tips
How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost?
Small business websites usually fall into three ranges. A do-it-yourself builder runs about $15 to $40 a month, but the work is yours. A traditional agency often wants a few thousand dollars up front plus hosting and hourly changes. Klutch bundles it into one flat monthly rate starting at $140, with no deposit.
The usual ways to pay for a website
Almost every option is a version of one of these. Before you compare prices, decide who is going to build the site and who will keep it running.
Wix, Squarespace, and similar builders
Cheap to start, but you build it and keep it running.
Custom build, paid up front
A big deposit, then hosting and hourly fees for changes.
Custom build, one flat monthly rate
Nothing to pay up front. Hosting, updates, and monitoring are included, and you own the code.
What is usually hidden in the price
The price on an agency or builder's homepage is rarely what you end up paying. Before you commit, ask about each of these:
- Hosting, the domain name, and the security certificate that puts the padlock in the address bar, each billed separately.
- Content changes charged by the hour once the site is live.
- A deposit that is non-refundable if the project stalls.
- Whether you own the site and the code if you leave.
Before you sign, ask what the site will cost you each month once it is live, and who you call when something needs changing.
What makes one site cost more than another
The biggest factors are how many pages you need, whether the design is custom or a template, and whether the site has to do something, like take bookings, accept payments, or connect to another system. The more the site has to do, the more it costs. A short call is usually enough to get a price.
Common questions
- Is a cheap website worth it?
- It can be, if you are fine building and maintaining it yourself and your needs are simple. With the cheapest options you pay in your own time, and moving off them later often means starting over.
- Why do agencies charge so much up front?
- A large deposit mostly covers the agency's own risk and cash flow. Ask what the deposit pays for, what happens if you cancel, and whether hosting and changes cost extra on top.
- Do I have to pay monthly forever?
- Not with Klutch. You pay the flat monthly rate through the build and for as long as you keep us on. You own the source code the whole time, so you are never locked in.