Website costs
How much does a website cost in the UK?
A plain-English look at what small businesses pay for a website, what pushes the price up, and the ongoing costs people forget to budget for.
Typical price ranges
Website prices in the UK vary more than most services because the scope varies. A rough picture:
- A do-it-yourself builder: nothing to about £20 per month, plus your own time.
- A freelancer or small studio: roughly £500 to £2,500 for a straightforward brochure site.
- A custom site with a shop, bookings or integrations: roughly £2,000 to £8,000.
- Agency projects with strategy, campaigns and multiple stakeholders: £5,000 upwards.
Soft Launch Studio sits at the affordable end of custom work. New websites start from £180, covering up to two pages, with additional pages at £75 each. That price is possible because there is one person doing the work, no account managers and no sales team to pay for. You are paying for design, build and launch, not for a layer of people between you and the person writing the code.
What changes the price
Page count is only one factor. The bigger drivers are usually the number of templates to design, whether products or bookings need managing, and how much content has to be written or sourced. Photography, copy written from scratch, multi-language versions, member logins and connections to booking, payment or customer systems all add time and therefore cost.
Content readiness matters just as much. If your words, photographs and logo are ready to go, a project moves quickly. If they are not, someone has to produce them, and that work has to be quoted honestly rather than absorbed and rushed.
Ongoing costs to budget for
A website is not a one-off purchase. Expect a domain name (usually £10 to £15 a year), hosting, and any subscriptions the site relies on, such as booking or shop software. Then there is upkeep: security updates, backups, small edits and keeping opening hours and prices accurate.
Soft Launch Studio keeps this simple. Monthly care starts from £25 and covers updates, backups, uptime checks and a set amount of edit time. If you would rather pay as you go, occasional maintenance is £30 per hour with no contract. Before you commission anything, ask who owns the domain, where the site is hosted and what happens if you stop paying.
How to compare quotes fairly
Compare what is included, not just the headline number. Check whether the quote is fixed, how many revision rounds you get, whether copy and photography are included, who owns the design and code, and what the handover looks like at launch. A cheaper quote that leaves you locked into a platform, or paying separately for every small change, is rarely cheaper overall.
You can see services and pricing, get a starting figure from the project estimator, or read the website planning guide before you brief anyone.
Common questions
Website costs, answered
The questions UK business owners ask most about website pricing.
- How much does a website cost in the UK?
- Website prices in the UK vary with scope. A do-it-yourself builder costs nothing to about £20 per month, plus your own time. A freelancer or small studio is roughly £500 to £2,500 for a straightforward brochure site. A custom site with a shop, bookings or integrations is roughly £2,000 to £8,000. Soft Launch Studio sits at the affordable end of custom work: new websites start from £180, covering up to two pages, with additional pages at £75 each.
- What pushes a website price up?
- Page count is only one factor. The bigger drivers are usually the number of templates to design, whether products or bookings need managing, and how much content has to be written or sourced. Photography, copy written from scratch, multi-language versions, member logins and connections to booking, payment or customer systems all add time and therefore cost.
- What ongoing costs should I budget for?
- A website is not a one-off purchase. Expect a domain name, usually £10 to £15 a year, plus hosting and any subscriptions the site relies on. Then there is upkeep: security updates, backups, small edits and keeping opening hours and prices accurate. Soft Launch Studio keeps this simple — monthly care starts from £25, or occasional maintenance is £30 per hour with no contract.
- How do I compare website quotes fairly?
- Compare what is included, not just the headline number. Check whether the quote is fixed, how many revision rounds you get, whether copy and photography are included, who owns the design and code, and what the handover looks like at launch.
- Is a cheaper website really cheaper?
- A cheaper quote that leaves you locked into a platform, or paying separately for every small change, is rarely cheaper overall. Before you commission anything, ask who owns the domain, where the site is hosted and what happens if you stop paying.