If you've asked three people what a website costs, you probably got three answers that were thousands of dollars apart. They weren't lying. "A website" covers everything from a one-page builder template to a custom build with a booking system, and the price follows the work.
Here's what the market looks like right now, and how to figure out which bucket you're in.
The short answer
| Who builds it | Typical upfront cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| You, on a builder like Squarespace or Wix | $0 to $300, plus $10 to $30 a month | Brand new businesses testing an idea |
| A freelancer | $500 to $5,000, up to $10,000 for senior people | Simple sites with a clear scope |
| A small studio or agency | $5,000 to $15,000 | Businesses that need the site to bring in leads |
| An agency, with ecommerce or custom features | $15,000 to $60,000 and up | Stores, member areas, complex booking |
Those ranges come from Levitate's 2026 pricing roundup, and they line up with what we see in quotes.
What actually moves the price
- Number of page types. Ten service pages that share one layout cost far less than ten pages that each need their own design.
- Who writes the words. Copywriting is the step that stalls most projects. If you hand over finished copy, the price drops. If the studio writes it, budget for it.
- Features. Online booking, payments, a store or a member login each add real work.
- Search setup. A site that looks nice but has no schema, no Search Console and no redirects from your old pages can lose the rankings you already have. Doing this right takes time, and it should be in the quote.
The monthly costs people forget
The launch price isn't the whole bill. Plan for hosting, a domain, and someone to run updates and fix things when a plugin breaks. Maintenance runs anywhere from $50 a month with a freelancer to several hundred with an agency. Ours is $149 a month for hosting and support.
A cheaper way to start
Not every business needs a new site. If your current site works but looks dated, a redesign on top of what you have is often the better buy. Our Website Refresh is $2,497 for a new design plus the search foundation, on the site you already own.
If you're not sure which you need, send us your URL. We'll send back a free PDF mock of your homepage, and you can decide from there.