Did you know that 53% of consumers look online before ever using or considering a business? Or that 55% of people will search online for information and reviews before making a purchase?
As you may have guessed from these statistics, having a website is ESSENTIAL.
So to help you get online, I have broken down how much a website costs, whether you decide to make it yourself (it’s surprisingly easy) or hire a web designer.
If you are in a rush, here is the short and sweet answer.
How much does a website cost? For making your own website, an average price is £115 for 3 years including web hosting and a domain. For a web designer, prices can vary from £300-£1000 for a basic website.
To give you a brief run down of what I’ll cover in this guide, here is a quick snapshot of website costs that I will cover.
Type Of Websites
- Small business
- Online store
- Blog
- One page website
Website Builders
- WordPress
- Wix
- SquareSpace
- Weebly
Web Developers
- Beginner
- Off shore
- Intermediate
- Agency
How Much Does a Website Cost In 2024?
Ok, so you have decided that getting a website is your new objective.
First off, well done in taking the first step to getting your business or idea online.
Now comes to picking what path you’ll want to take in creating your new website. And it’s pretty simple.
1. You make the website yourself (is a lot easier than you think)
2. Hire a web designer to make one for you
For myself personally, I have always picked the first option. Mainly because it has allowed me to create a website in under a day for my business at a really low cost. But again, this all comes down to personal preference.
Cost Of Making a DIY Website
When it comes to the cost of making your own DIY website, it’s surprisingly very cheap.
A WordPress website for example, will cost around £115 upfront which will cover the website costs for 3 years. With a recurring price of about £70/yr.
This price includes WordPress (which is completely free), web hosting for 3 years using BlueHost and 3 years of a .com domain name.
Also with choosing this DIY option, you’ll be able to make any type of website you want from e-commerce, one page, personal blogs and product websites.
Cost Of Hiring a Web Designer
If you really don’t have the time of patience to make your own website, then outsourcing it is a great option.
As a good rule of thumb, a basic website with a couple of pages can cost from £300-£1000 upfront. This price fluctuates depending on who you hire.
Ongoing costs for a basic website can range from £100-£300/yr plus any additional edits that you may want done to the website.
For a larger website like an e-commerce store or a large content website. It can range from £1,500 and upwards with ongoing costs of £20-£300/mo.
If you are more inclined to make your own website and keep costs down. Then I highly urge you to checkout my how to make a website post where I walk you through step-by-step on how to create a website.
Pros & Cons: DIY Website Vs Web Developer
Now that we’ve got a rough understanding of how much it costs to make a website by yourself verses a web designer.
I’ll now briefly cover the pros and cons of each path so you are fully aware of what you can expect.
Remember, there is no right or wrong way about making a website. Just your budget and time frame.
DIY Website (Affordable But There Is a Learning Curve)
One of the most glaring an obvious upsides to making your own website is of course cost.
By doing it DIY style, you are able to keep costs down to a minimum while also getting a great product. This is ideal if you are just starting a small business or a blog.
Another advantage to making your own website is that you are learning a new and highly sought after skill. This new acquired skill can make you income if you get clients and also helps when applying for jobs.
As for the downsides of making your own website, the most common is that there is a steep learning curve.
No matter what platform you choose, whether it be WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or Shopify, there will have to be some time invested to learn the website builder.
Web Designer (More Expensive Upfront & Ongoing, Good Result)
When it comes to hiring a web designer or developer, the biggest advantage is that you simply don’t have to worry about it. This is a big peace of mind as you focus on other things that are more important to you.
Another upside is that if you hire the right person, they will deliver you a fantastic product that looks great, is fast, responsive and drive more traffic and revenue for you website/ business.
Much like the pro of making your own website. The opposite is true for a web developer. While the prices vary a lot, a typical hourly rate is between £15-75/hr based on experience and expertise.
When applying some simple math, these numbers can quickly start to add up and can end up costing several thousand pounds.
Cost Of Making Different Types Of Websites
When it comes to making a website, there are literally dozens of variants that you can choose from.
Some of the most notable are small business websites, forums, affiliate websites, reference websites, personal blogs, travel blogs, news websites, online stores, photography websites and the list goes on!
Below is a pricing break down on how much it costs to make certain types of websites with DIY and web designer pricing.
Small Business Website (£115-£1,500)
DIY (£115 for 3 years): For creating your own small business, it is incredibly cheap when using a web host like BlueHost. Upfront costs are £85 for web hosting (for 3 years) and about £10/yr for a .co.uk domain name. Website builder is free with WordPress.
Ongoing costs to maintain a small business is about £75/yr. Additional costs may include purchasing a premium WordPress theme or plugins.
Web Designer (£300-£1,500 upfront): Depending on who you outsource the work to, it can cost around £300-£500 for an offshore or student designer . For an experienced designer, it can range from £800-£1500 upfront costs.
Ongoing costs range depending on the hosting and platform your designer uses. It can typically range from £5-£50/mo.
E-Commerce Store (£110-£4,000)
DIY (£110/yr using Shopify): For creating an e-commerce or online store, there are options such as Shopify that start from £9/mo for their beginner plan which includes hosting, the platform and a domain. WordPress also has many e-commerce plugins for a similar price.
Web Designer (£1,000-£4,000 upfront): When complexity in a websites goes up, so too does the cost of a web designer. Simply due to the fact that there is more hours involved. Ongoing costs are around £5-£50/mo.
Personal Blog (£115)
DIY (£115 for 3 years): For a personal blog, I wouldn’t engage with a web designer as these are the most simplest and easiest websites to make. When using a provider like BlueHost, you can get a blog online in 5 minutes for only £2.33/mo.
There are also thousands of themes to choose from to make the website more unique and appealing to readers.
One Page Website (£115-£1,000)
DIY (£115 for 3 years): One page websites are all the rage these days with businesses opting to use the more simple and easy to navigate layout. A one page website will set you back £115 upfront for 3 years on WordPress with access to free one page layouts.
Web Designer (£400-£1,000 upfront): While one page websites are incredibly easy to make and maintain, many web designer specialise in this area which also comes at a hefty price tag. Depending on the look, they can start from £400 and go up from there.
Cost Of Using Websites Builders
For those wanting to make their very own website, picking a website builder is essential. This means you won’t have to learn coding and write the website in Php or HTML.
Alternatively, a website builder like WordPress enables you to create a website and publish content with ease. Best of all is that this is completely beginner friendly and easy to use.
Below are some of the most popular website builders (with costs) out there to help you get started with your new website.
WordPress (Free Plus Web Hosting)
Without a doubt, WordPress is the most popular and widely used CMS on the web. Currently it runs 29% of all websites on the internet and is a completely free platform to use! Even websites like BBC, TechCrunch and Microsoft use this platform.
As for the price, you will have to pay for web hosting to host your files online with. I use read recommend BlueHost which costs £2.33/mo when signing up for their 3 year plan.
To get started with WordPress, you can see my UK web hosting guide that all charge in GBP and have stellar features.
Wix (From £9/mo)
Another extremely website builder that is gaining a lot of attention is Wix. This is a simple drag and drop builder with all the bells and whistles included into their platform.
Unlike WordPress, Wix is a closed ecosystem where you are using Wix hosting and their platform which has its advantages and downsides.
As for the pricing, it starts from £9/mo ongoing which includes 2GB of bandwidth, 3GB of storage and a domain for 1 year. You will also have access to their premium themes.
Shopify (From £8/mo)
If you are wanting to start an online store and sell products within the UK or around the world, Shopify is a great starting point.
Their lite plan starts at £8/mo which is quite restricted to the amount of products you can sell. Their basic plan on the other hand, which starts at £25/mo allows users to list and unlimited amount of products with multiple sales channels and 24/7 customer support.
SquareSpace (From £10/mo)
In direct competition with Wix is SquareSpace which offers up a great integrated platform from £10/mo. Unlike Wix, SquareSpaces starter plan offers up a lot more storage and bandwidth which are both unlimited.
SquareSpace also includes a free domain for every year of renewal with their service, free SSL certificate, mobile optimised website, analytics and access to dozens of their professionally made themes.
How Much Does a Web Developer Charge For a Website?
If making websites isn’t your thing, then outsourcing the process to a pro is a great option!
By doing so, you are able to focus on other things that you are better skilled at. Also by hiring a web designer, you are able to tell them exactly how you want your website without the headaches.
Below are the common web designer pricing structures which is typically based on experience. I will also being using a small business website as an example for the pricing.
Beginner/ Student Web Designer (£300)
If you are on a tight budget and looking for a local UK based web designer. Then engaging with a beginner/ student is a great option as these web designers are typically looking for work to add to their portfolio.
I for one did this when I first starting making website. And you can actually get a great website as your site will most likely get added to their portfolio, so they’ll want todo a great job.
Typically student web designers will charge anywhere from £300 and upwards. A good place to look is on Gumtree where you can hire a local web designer.
Off Shore Web Designers (£200)
With the advent of online freelancers and people working online, outsourcing a website to an online web designer is easier than ever.
Services like UpWork enable you to post a brief of what you are after and then you will get dozens of applicants that will bid for the job. From there, you simply hand it over to them for completion.
Depending on who you hire and where they are located, you can expect to pay £200 for a good small business website.
Intermediate Web Designers (£1,000)
Next are intermediate or established web designers who typically work out of their own office and specialise in making websites.
These web designers can typically be found locally in your area by search for “web designer Leeds” which will give you a wide selection to choose from.
As these small businesses are mainly focused on quantity, you are actually able to get a great website at a good price. Typically the pricing rangers from £1,000, but can drop or increase depending on your needs.
Agency Web Designers (£3,000)
Last but not least on my how much does a website cost guide are agency web designers. These guys are the cream of the crop when it comes to creating websites.
You are likely to get a tailor made website that isn’t a cookie cutter theme, but rather a unique one-off website.
As for the price, with great quality and design comes high prices. These agencies can charge from £3,000 and upwards depending on your specifications.
Final Thoughts
That wraps it up folks! If there is anything else you want to know on the price of a website, whether it be a website builder or hosting, please let me know down below in the comments and I’ll be happy to help out!
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