Business Email Cost: Google, Microsoft or Your Host
Business email costs $1 to $14 per user a month. Yearly totals for 1, 3 and 10 people at Google, Microsoft, Zoho, Fastmail and Namecheap, read 6 Nov 2026.
Web Design
How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? It Depends Less on the Site Than on Who You Ask
One guide says a small business website costs $640. Another says $10,000 to $50,000. Both can be right, because they are describing different things, and each author sells the kind of site it describes. This page sets the published figures next to who wrote them, gives a cost for each route, and links to our dated guide for each platform and page type. Checked 4 November 2026.
Key takeaways
- The route sets the price. On the plans we read, building it yourself starts at about $120 to $468 a year. Published professional figures start at around $500 to $3,000 and run to $50,000 and more for custom work.
- Published ranges follow the seller. Hosts and builders quote from the low end, and agencies from the high end. Neither is lying. They are pricing different products.
- A small business site is usually a mid-range job. Published professional ranges for one cluster around $2,000 to $10,000, with custom work above that.
- The website is not the only bill. Domain, plan or hosting, email, apps and upkeep carry on each year, and our monthly cost guide adds them up.
- Compare by what is included. Copy, photos, tracking and revisions are the items most often left out of a low quote.
The short answer
| Route | What it usually costs | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan on a builder | $0, with the maker's branding and address | Testing an idea |
| Build it yourself on a paid builder | About $120 to $468 a year, plus your time | A simple site, when you have time |
| AI builder | About $264 to $300 a year on the plans we read, plus your time | A quick first version |
| Freelancer, or a template with professional help | About $640 to $10,000 once | Most small businesses wanting help |
| Studio or agency custom build | About $3,000 to $50,000 once | A site that has to win work |
| Custom online store | About $5,000 to $100,000+ once | A shop with real volume or complex needs |
| Large or enterprise site | About $50,000 to $250,000+ once | Many teams, systems and rules |
The first three rows use prices read from makers' pages on 4 November 2026: Framer Basic $120, Webflow Basic $180, Wix Light $204, Wix Core $348 and Wix Business $468 a year on yearly billing, and Durable Launch ($22 a month) and Lovable Pro ($25 a month) worked out over 12 months. The others are published ranges, not our prices, and we show their sources below.
Why the guides disagree
On 4 November 2026 we searched Google (United States, English) for this question. Here is what each source says about an ordinary small business site, and what that source sells.
| Source | What it says | What it sells |
|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy (27 Feb 2026, read) | $640 and up with a web designer. $145 to $640+ a year to create and maintain | Builder, hosting, design services |
| Hostaccent (8 Jun 2026, search result) | $50 to $500 to launch a basic site | Hosting |
| Wix (updated Nov 2026, read) | From $17 a month DIY. $500 to $10,000 with a designer. $3,000 to $10,000+ with an agency | Builder |
| Forbes (17 Sep 2026, search result) | Professional design from $1,500 | Publisher |
| Elementor (2026, search result, 24 Oct) | $10,000 to $35,000 typically | WordPress tools |
| Lifted Logic (9 Apr 2026, read 24 Oct) | $10,000 to $50,000 for custom | Agency |
| Larkspur Creative (search result) | Custom from $10,000, more typically $30,000 to $50,000 | Design studio |
The pattern is hard to miss. Companies selling tools and hosting start the conversation low, and studios selling custom work start it high. A reader who sees only one of them gets a badly wrong idea of the market. No one in this table is necessarily wrong. A $640 site made from a template and a $30,000 site built on research, new copy and custom design share a name and little else.
What you get at each level
This table is our own reading of how the work usually splits. It is not a published standard, and individual sellers differ, so ask.
| Item | DIY | Template with help | Custom build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layout | A template you adjust | A template adapted to you | Designed for your business |
| Words | Yours | Usually yours, sometimes edited | Often written or rewritten, so check |
| Photos | Yours or stock | Yours or stock | Sometimes a shoot, usually extra |
| Planning | Your own | A short brief | Research and a page plan |
| Search setup | Basics, by you | Basics | Page plan, redirects, tracking |
| Revisions | Unlimited, your time | A set number | A set number |
| Who owns it | You | Check the contract | Check the contract |
Look at the second and third rows if a quote seems cheap. Words are usually the hardest part, and many low quotes assume you will supply them. If you need help deciding what a site needs at all, do you need a website for your business starts earlier in the process.
What moves the price most
In our reading of the pages above, these change a quote most, in rough order.
- The number of different page designs. A 30-page site with three templates can cost less than a 10-page site with ten designs.
- Selling online. GoDaddy's table goes from $640 and up for a small business site to $5,000 and up for a small to medium store, and Lifted Logic starts custom ecommerce at $25,000.
- Words and photos. GoDaddy quotes about $0.35 a word for professional writing, so a 2,000-word site is about $700 before any images. That is our sum: 2,000 x $0.35.
- Connections to other systems. A booking tool, CRM or payment system adds work, and custom connections add the most.
- Moving from an old site. Redirects and content transfer take time. Our redesign cost guide has the figures.
- Who does it and where they are. Wix gives hourly developer rates of $50 to $500, and experience and location explain much of that gap.
The costs that come after launch
The build is a one-off, and these are not. Wix and GoDaddy both warn about them.
| Yearly cost | Typical figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | Around $20 | GoDaddy's estimate. Our domain cost guide has renewal prices |
| Plan or hosting | $120 to $468 on the plans we read | Check renewal prices on hosting |
| Business email | Billed separately on many platforms | Wix lists it among costs to check |
| Apps and plugins | $0 to $100+ a month | Wix's range |
| Care or maintenance | GoDaddy says budget up to $500 or more a year | Studio care plans run higher, see our maintenance guide |
For a total over the first year, use our web design cost worksheet. To see it as a monthly figure, with the build spread across three years, use our website cost per month guide.
Our guide for each route
Each of these reads the current prices from the maker's own pages and shows the date. This page stays general, and those go deeper.
By platform
- Webflow website cost, and which Webflow plan you need
- Framer website cost, plans and a three-year total
- Wix website cost, adding up year one
- WordPress website cost, hosting, build and care
- Shopify website cost, plans, fees and apps
- Ecommerce website cost, three shop budgets and the orders to pay them back
- AI website builders, price, credits and leaving
- Best website builder for a small business, the plan each job needs
By job
- Landing page cost, from builder to agency
- Website redesign cost, in USD, AUD and GBP
- Website maintenance cost, and what a monthly plan includes
- Website hosting cost, and WordPress hosting cost
By country
How to get a useful quote
Asking "how much for a website?" gets you a range. These questions get you a price.
- Say what the site must do. For example: "bring in 10 enquiries a month from homeowners in two towns."
- List the pages and who writes the words.
- Name what it has to connect to, such as your booking tool or CRM.
- Say what you have now, including old URLs that rank.
- Give a budget range. It saves everyone time, and a good seller will tell you what it can buy.
- Ask each seller the same list: what is included, how many revisions, when you pay, and who owns the design, copy, domain and accounts at the end.
Our guide on how to choose a web design agency has more to ask, and our red flags guide covers what should worry you.
How we help at Amariq
We price each website from its scope, never by the hour, so we quote after we understand the job. Payment runs 40% to start, 30% at design approval and 30% before launch. Once the final payment is made, the design, copy and code belong to you, and the domain, hosting and analytics accounts sit in your name. We build on Webflow, Framer, WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or custom code, so the platform follows what your business needs. See our web design services.
Frequently asked questions
Is $1,500 a good price for a website?
It can be, for a small site built on a template, if the words and photos are ready. It sits near the low end of published professional figures. Check what it includes, such as the number of revisions and who owns the result, before you compare.
How much should a small business pay for a website?
Published professional ranges cluster at around $2,000 to $10,000, and doing it yourself costs a few hundred dollars a year. A fair way to decide is to ask what one new customer is worth, and how many the site must bring in to pay for itself.
Why are websites so expensive?
Most of the cost is people's time: planning, writing, design, building and testing. The software is the cheap part. A template and your own words remove much of that time, which is why the low end of the range exists.
How much does a website cost per month?
Running costs alone come to about $13 to $31 a month for a small site. With a build and a care plan spread over three years, our worked examples range from about $19 to $604. Our monthly guide shows the sums.
Can I build a website for free?
Yes, on free plans from builders such as Wix, Framer and Webflow, with their branding and address and with limits on what you can publish. A free plan suits a test better than a business, since you cannot use your own domain on it.
How much does it cost to build a website yourself?
About $120 to $468 a year on the builder plans we read, plus a domain after any free first year, and any paid apps. The bigger cost is your time, so count the hours as well.
How long does a website take to build?
It depends on the route, and our guide to how long a website takes to build covers the timelines.
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Website Cost per Month: What You Actually Pay in 2026
Website cost per month in 2026: from about $19 for a DIY site to about $604 with an agency and care plan, with the build spread over 36 months so you can compare.