Short answer: UK planning ranges run from a few hundred pounds a year for a DIY platform to several thousand pounds for a one-off professional build. The useful comparison is what each quote includes now, what continues each year and what must be bought separately.
Basis: UK small-business buying context, checked 18 September 2026. GBP. These are broad planning bands, not a market survey or Pagewright prices. Tax treatment varies and is unspecified unless a supplier's quote states otherwise.
| Approach | One-off build | Annual running cost | Typically includes | Check or exclude |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY on Wix / Squarespace | Your own time | £0–£400 platform plan | Template, editor and platform hosting | Domain, paid apps, copy, design and your maintenance time |
| Freelancer / small studio | £1,500–£5,000 | Quoted separately | Agreed design and build scope | Copy, photography, hosting, care and third-party subscriptions |
| Mid-sized agency | £8,000–£25,000 | Quoted separately | Broader discovery, design and delivery team | Ongoing support, hosting, licences and additions outside scope |
| Full custom build | £15,000–£60,000+ | Depends on infrastructure and support | Bespoke functionality within an agreed specification | Usage charges, integrations, maintenance and later development |
What drives the price within a band
Two quotes that sound similar can cover materially different work because of:
- Page count and content depth. A 4-page brochure site is a different job from a 15-page services site with case studies.
- Custom design vs template. Original branding work and custom layouts vs picking a template and recolouring it.
- Copywriting. "You provide the words" vs "we'll write your homepage."
- Photography. Stock images vs an on-site shoot.
- Integrations. CRM, booking, payments, multilingual, members area — every one adds work.
- SEO setup. Some quotes include real on-page SEO, schema, sitemap and analytics. Others quietly skip all of it.
- Post-launch support. What's included for the first 3, 6, 12 months?
What you actually get at each level
£0–£400 — DIY on a platform
A template you fill in, hosted on Wix/Squarespace. Looks reasonable on launch day. Hits a ceiling fast as you grow. Worth it for a brand-new business that needs to look real and isn't sure where it's going yet.
£1,500–£3,000 — Freelance "tidy small site"
4–8 pages, light customisation on top of a chosen template or design system, basic SEO done, contact form and launch configuration. Pagewright's Launch is £395 for one homepage, with extra pages at £150 each (five pages £995); it is a product price, not evidence for the market band above. The exact scope is confirmed in writing.
£3,000–£5,000 — Properly bespoke small business build
Original design, custom components, real strategy work, more pages, more thought given to lead generation and SEO from day one. The level you want if your website is a meaningful part of how you get customers.
£8,000+ — Agency or complex build
Multiple specialists, more stakeholder management, more polish. Worth it for larger budgets, more complex integrations, regulated industries or where brand work happens alongside the build.
Compare total cost, not just the build figure
A lower build quote can still be the right choice. Before deciding, ask the same total-cost questions of every provider:
- Which pages, copy, photography, forms and search setup are included?
- Who can edit the site, and what platform or licence limits apply?
- What are the domain, hosting, platform, plugin and other third-party costs?
- What support is included after launch, for how long, and what is quoted separately?
- What happens to the site, content and accounts if you change supplier?
Compare those answers over the period you expect to use the site. Price alone does not establish quality, and a higher quote is not automatically better.
Where to go next
Our full guide to this topic is the complete guide to small business websites. If you want a real number for your specific project, our pricing page shows Pagewright's starting points and the contact page is where you ask for a quote.