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Guide · 6 min read

What does a website cost?

Real price ranges for a small-business website in 2026, what changes the price, and what you’ll keep paying after launch.

Short answer: projects with me start at $500. A new website of up to 5 pages runs $1,500–$3,000, and an online store $3,000–$6,000. Here’s what moves the price, what you’ll keep paying after launch, and how to spend less.

What changes the price

1. How many pages

A five-page site — home, services, about, contact and one more — is a very different job from a 30-page site with a page for every service and town. Each page needs its own layout, words, photos and search setup.

2. Whether you sell online

Products, checkout, shipping rules, sales tax and payment setup all add real work, and all of it has to be tested. That’s why online stores start higher — see why an online store costs more.

3. Who writes the words

If you write the copy, it costs less. If I write it, it’s usually $300–$800. Clear words are often the difference between a site that looks nice and a site that makes the phone ring.

4. Custom features

Booking calendars, quote forms, searchable directories, product finders. Each one has to be built, connected and tested on phones.

5. Fixing versus starting over

Sometimes the cheapest answer is to fix the site you have — speed, phone layout, search basics — instead of replacing it. That usually runs $500–$1,200.

My prices

These are the same ranges my project planner uses. The final price comes after a quick call about what you actually need.

Sites up to 5 pagesPrice
Fix my current site$500–$1,200
Redesign$1,200–$2,500
New website$1,500–$3,000
Online store$3,000–$6,000

Sites of 6–15 pages run about 1.5× those prices, and 16+ pages about 2.25×.

Add-onsPrice
Copywriting$300–$800
Local SEO$250–$600
Booking / forms$200–$500
Logo & brand$400–$1,200
Monthly care plan$99/mo

What you’ll pay after launch

  • Domain name: usually about $10–$25 a year for a .com.
  • Hosting: anywhere from a few dollars to around $30 a month for a typical small-business site.
  • Paid add-ons: some features, like certain booking calendars, need a paid plugin or service. A good designer tells you up front.
  • Upkeep: software updates, backups and small changes. You can do it yourself, or hand it off — my care plan is $99 a month.

What about Wix or Squarespace?

Website builders charge a monthly subscription, and you do the work yourself. For a very simple site, that can be a fine way to start. The real cost is your time — and the parts that bring in customers are the ones do-it-yourself sites most often skip: search setup, clear calls to action, tap-to-call phone numbers and tracking.

Not sure how yours stacks up? The free website check scores any site in a few seconds.

How to spend less

  • Have your words and photos ready. Gathering content is the slowest part of most projects.
  • Start smaller. Launch with the pages that matter most and add more later.
  • Fix before you replace. If the bones are good, a cleanup can get you most of the way for less.
  • Ask what’s included. Hosting, domain, training and changes after launch all affect the real price.

Questions to ask any web designer

  1. Who owns the site and the domain when we’re done? It should be you — here’s how to check.
  2. What will it cost every year after launch?
  3. Will it work well on phones? For most small businesses, that’s where most visitors are.
  4. Will you set up analytics and my business details for Google?
  5. What happens when something breaks?

Want a number for your project? The project planner gives you a price range in about a minute — or call or text 808-640-8479.

Start a project

Get a number for your project.

Pick what you need in the planner for a price range, or tell me what’s going on and I’ll reply with a price and timeline.