The Short Answer: Small Business Website Cost
A small business website costs about $200–$1,100 from a budget studio, $6,500–$15,000 from a full-service agency, or $19–$99 a month to build yourself on Squarespace in 2026. 48 Hour Websites publishes $399–$1,099 by page count and Linkit Marketing $199 for five pages, while WebFX puts basic small-business web design at $6,500–$15,000. After launch, plan on about $10–$50 a month to keep it hosted and updated.
Those are other companies' published prices, read October 22, 2026, not ours. Mark Studios builds custom-coded websites and quotes each one for a fixed scope, so there is no Mark Studios price on this page.
The gap between a $500 site and a $10,000 one is mostly not about looks. It's what comes with the build: who writes the words, how many pages, whether search setup is done properly, whether you can take payments, and who keeps the site running after launch. WebFX alone prices copywriting at $60–$300 a page and adds $2,000–$10,000 when SEO is bundled in.
Four Ways to Get a Website, Side by Side
| Route | Published price | What you get | Your time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it on Squarespace | $19–$99 a month billed annually, or $25–$139 monthly | Templates and hosting, plus a free domain for the first year on annual plans | You write, design and update every page |
| Build a store on Shopify | $29–$299 a month billed yearly; Plus is $2,300 a month and up | A store with checkout and hosting | You set up the products and pages |
| A Fiverr freelancer | Page-one gigs $80–$1,050; Fiverr's own guide puts a simple site at $175–$1,000 | One project, scoped per gig | You brief, review and approve |
| A budget flat-fee studio | $199–$1,099 one time | Up to 5–12 pages, a contact form and basic search setup | You send the logo, photos and text |
| A full-service agency | $6,500–$15,000 for a basic small-business site; WebFX's own builds are $8,000 and up | Custom design, copywriting, SEO and a project team | A discovery call and several review rounds |
Some Fiverr links on this page are affiliate links: Mark Studios may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no cost to you.
Webflow is another builder, at $15–$25 a month billed yearly for a site plan, so the same "your time" column applies. If you're weighing a freelancer against a studio for any of this, Fiverr vs Upwork vs an agency runs the platform fee math.
What the Cheap Packages Leave Out
The budget studios are honest about their limits, so read the package before you compare prices:
- Page caps. Linkit's $199 package is five pages. 48 Hour Websites charges $399 for one or two pages, $699 for three to five and $1,099 for six to twelve. Websites That Get Calls charges $500 for up to five pages and $100 for each extra page.
- The words. At Linkit you send your logo, photos and copy on an intake form. If you don't have copy, budget for it: WebFX prices website copywriting at $60–$300 a page.
- Revisions. Linkit includes one round. 48 Hour Websites includes one to three, depending on the tier.
- Selling online. WebFX prices basic e-commerce functionality at $5,000–$10,000 on a custom site. That is the work a Shopify plan replaces.
Ownership is the one thing the good cheap options get right. Linkit and 48 Hour Websites both say you own the site outright, and you should get that in writing from anyone you hire.
The Monthly Bill After Launch
A website is never a one-time cost. If you build on a platform, the plan is the bill for as long as the site is live. If a studio builds it, you pay for hosting and upkeep: Linkit's care plan is $29 a month, Websites That Get Calls charges $50 a month for hosting, security updates, edits and ongoing SEO, and 48 Hour Websites renews hosting at $120–$360 a year after the first year.
Then there's what makes the site earn its keep after launch: new pages, video and traffic. Our post on building a website, video and search system covers the content side. If you buy traffic, Facebook ads management runs $400–$1,400 a month for a small business, before ad spend.
What Raises an Agency Quote
WebFX itemizes its quotes, which shows where a $10,000 site's money goes. For a small business, design and style run $2,000–$5,000, responsive design $3,000–$10,000, e-commerce $5,000–$10,000, bundled SEO $2,000–$10,000 and database work $2,000–$10,000. A site of up to 75 pages is $1,000–$3,000 on size alone.
None of the published packages above list video. If the homepage needs one, price it separately: our animated explainer video cost guide covers animated ones. Contractors and home-service businesses can put job videos on the site instead, and our video editing for contractors page covers turning one job into a website video and a vertical clip.
How to Get an Accurate Website Quote
Send these with your first message and every quote you get back can be compared line by line:
- What the site must do: bring calls, take bookings or sell products online.
- Every page you need, by name: Home, About, one page per service or location, and Contact.
- Who writes the words, and which photos and videos you already have.
- The features: booking, payments, a store, a blog, or forms that feed your email.
- Who hosts and updates it after launch, and what that costs each month.
- Who owns the domain, the code and the accounts when the project ends.
Where Mark Studios Fits
We build custom-coded websites with no page builders, set up to rank on Google and to be quoted by answer engines like ChatGPT. You get a flat quote for a fixed scope, not hourly billing. Landing pages typically take 1–2 weeks and full marketing sites 3–6 weeks, depending on how ready your content is. On final payment you own the site, the code and every account, and optional monthly care plans cover updates after launch. Because we edit video every day, the site's homepage film, explainer or testimonials can come from the same studio. You can see client sites and our own products on the websites and apps we've built page. Across 10,000+ projects for 4,500+ clients at a 4.9★ average, the projects that launch on time are the ones that start with the pages and the words, not the colors.
The Bottom Line
A small business website costs about $200–$1,100 from a budget studio, $6,500–$15,000 from an agency, or $19–$99 a month to build yourself, plus $10–$50 a month to keep it running. The price difference is mostly copy, pages, search setup and upkeep, so compare quotes on those before you compare totals.
