How much does a website cost for a small business in 2026?

How much should you budget?

Expect $17 to $120 a month on a do-it-yourself builder’s plan for businesses, about $2,000 to $7,600 for a typical freelancer build, or $5,000 to $15,000 for an agency build. SiteSpin is $28 a month on the yearly plan ($334.99 a year), including the build, hosting, bookings, orders, messages, changes by chat and an eligible domain, registered and renewed for you while you subscribe. Add payment fees, any separate tools and the value of your time to compare the whole cost.

Free publishing can be enough for information pages. For a website that takes bookings or orders, price the complete job and what happens after launch. Prices were checked on 23 October 2026; year-two budgets use current prices, so confirm the renewal terms before paying.

Decide what work the price should cover

Start with what a visitor needs to do. A barber may need customers to choose an available time. A candle maker may need people to find a product, place an order and pay.

Then write down the work behind that result: preparing the pages, arranging the web address, connecting bookings or a shop, checking the result and keeping prices and photographs current. Include who will do each job.

A DIY subscription gives you tools to use. A freelancer or agency quote can pay someone to build to your brief, with later changes priced as agreed. SiteSpin takes the building and routine website changes into a conversation: you describe the business, answer focused questions and later say what changed from your phone.

Compare those arrangements using a change you expect to make, such as new opening hours. Ask who makes it, what you must do and whether another charge applies. If you need help choosing the pages and functions, start with how to make a website for your small business.

What SiteSpin would do for a candle shop

Ember & Wick is one of SiteSpin’s example businesses, a candle maker in Bristol. Its live website has five pages: Home, Shop, The making, Refills and Contact. The shop takes orders.

ember-and-wick.sitespin.app

Use that as the job to price: explain the candles, show the products, take orders and keep the details current. An example opening message could be:

I make candles in Bristol and want a website where people can read about them and place orders.

app.sitespin.app

SiteSpin asks focused questions and builds your website in minutes. You supply the business details and check the result. SiteSpin handles the website tools and setup.

Later, you can describe a change in the same conversation from your phone or computer. For example: “Change the opening hours on the Contact page.” SiteSpin updates the website; changes by chat are included within a daily fair-use allowance.

Orders and messages arrive in the app. Customers can pay for shop orders through your Stripe account, which you need to maintain. Card processing fees apply; SiteSpin adds no transaction fee of its own. The shop is part of the same plan.

For a service business, the plan also includes bookings. Customers choose from your available times, SiteSpin reserves their place and sends the details, and you decide whether to confirm requests yourself. Online payment for bookings can also use your Stripe account.

An eligible domain is registered and renewed for you while you subscribe. Included endings are .com, .net and .org; country domains such as .co.uk and premium-priced names are excluded. You can connect a domain you already own instead.

You still run the business, check its details and handle customers. The website build, address arrangements and ordinary website changes are work the subscription takes off your hands.

Example budgets through year two

SiteSpin’s $334.99 yearly price includes the build, secure hosting, bookings, orders, messages, changes by chat within the daily allowance and an eligible domain, registered and renewed for you while you subscribe.

Eligible owners can start with a 7-day free trial, confirmed at checkout before the build.

Each paid subscription below is shown as an annual amount or calculation. These are budgets for the candle-shop example, with separate costs identified beneath the table.

Route	Year one	Year two
SiteSpin Pro	$334.99	$334.99
Wix Core	12 × $29.77	12 × $29.77 + domain renewal
Squarespace Core	$348	$360 to $373 with a .com
GoDaddy Commerce	$251.88 + any domain cost	$419.88 + any domain cost
ChatGPT Plus + .com	$251.88 to $264.88	$251.88 to $264.88
Free builder	Free publishing; shop costs to confirm	Free publishing; shop costs to confirm
Freelancer	About $2,000 to $7,600 + running costs	Running costs + agreed changes
Agency	$5,000 to $15,000 + running costs	Running costs + agreed changes

The conditions matter:

• Wix: Core is a selling plan. The quoted price includes a regional tax; compare your checkout total with SiteSpin’s US price before tax. The first-year domain voucher is for a first Premium purchase, must be used within 60 days and does not cover renewal.
• Squarespace: Core is $29 a month billed yearly. The budget includes first-year domain registration, then a typical separately priced .com at $12 to $25. Core has no Squarespace transaction fee on shop sales; Basic charges 2%. Check payment processing separately.
• GoDaddy: Commerce has an introductory price followed by the standard price. Confirm domain charges in both years.
• ChatGPT: The figures cover Plus at the US App Store price and a typical separately bought .com. They leave payment arrangements and any associated charges to you; confirm how you will use the address before buying it.
• Free publishing and commissioned builds: Establish the complete ordering and payment arrangement. The freelancer and agency ranges are for typical small business websites, so get this shop’s requirements quoted.

Add payment fees and your time to every route. Add hosting or tools where separately charged, and check what a project quote already includes before adding them again. Allow for payment fees on the orders you expect to take.

How SiteSpin compares on the whole bill

SiteSpin costs $13.01 less in year one than Squarespace Core. With a typical .com renewal included in the Squarespace budget, SiteSpin costs $25.01 to $38.01 less from year two. SiteSpin also builds the website for you and makes changes by message.

Wix Core is about the same monthly price as SiteSpin, subject to the tax difference above. Wix provides an editor and templates for owners who want to build with those tools; its domain offer covers the first year only.

GoDaddy Commerce’s introductory price helps with the first year’s budget. At its standard plan price, SiteSpin is $84.89 less a year, before any separate GoDaddy domain bill.

For ChatGPT Plus and a separately bought .com, SiteSpin is about $6 to $7 more a month. That difference includes the domain registration and renewal, bookings, orders and messages in the app, payment connection in the app, and website changes by chat.

When free publishing is enough

Free builders are useful when you want information online and their address, branding and functions suit the job.

• Wix includes hosting, an editor and templates without a card. A Premium plan is needed to connect a custom domain and remove Wix branding.
• GoDaddy offers free publishing with GoDaddy ads and no custom domain.
• Canva allows up to five live websites at a my.canva.site address, with a “Designed with Canva” footer that stays on Free. A custom domain needs Pro, Teams or Education.
• Google Sites publishes at a sites.google.com/view/… address and charges nothing to connect a domain you already own. You verify ownership and add DNS records, the settings that point the address to the website. Buying and renewing that domain still costs money.

Squarespace has no free plan, but offers a 14-day free trial. Its Core selling plan provides a shop without a Squarespace transaction fee.

ChatGPT Sites builds and publishes at a chatgpt.site address on Plus or Pro. Plus is $19.99 a month at the US App Store price. You buy any separate domain and connect, configure and maintain a third-party payment processor for selling. See Can ChatGPT build a website?.

For the candle shop, follow the path from a product page to a paid order before deciding free publishing covers the job. SiteSpin’s one plan includes the shop, bookings, messages, hosting, an eligible domain, registered and renewed for you while you subscribe, and changes by chat.

Allow for renewals, payment fees and changes

A domain is the web address. A separately bought standard .com typically costs $12 to $25 a year; newer extensions can cost $20 to $50. Ask for the renewal price alongside any first-year offer.

Hosting keeps the pages available online. Shared hosting bought separately costs $40 to $150 a year; managed WordPress hosting costs $60 to $250. Check whether the builder or project quote includes it.

Payment charges belong in the running budget. With SiteSpin, payments use your Stripe account and card processing fees apply. With any provider, ask which fees come from the website service and which come from the payment processor. A plan with no platform transaction fee can still involve payment processing charges.

Changes deserve a budget too. WordPress developer time is around $50 to $95 an hour. An hour at that rate costs about two to three months of SiteSpin on the yearly plan. That is a WordPress reference rate; ask your chosen provider for their terms.

With a freelancer or agency, get the pages, shop, payment setup, revisions and later changes named in the quote. Their value can be a build to a detailed brief. A typical freelancer’s initial fee equals about 6 to 22 years of SiteSpin’s yearly plan; an agency’s equals about 15 to 44 years. A quote may cover more work, design or scope.

Count your hours in both years

Keep a time budget beside the cash budget. Estimate your setup hours and the hours you expect to spend on changes, then multiply them by what an hour of your time is worth to you.

Route	Your work in year one	Your work in year two
Free or paid DIY builder	Content, setup and checking orders	Changes and renewal checks
ChatGPT	Business details, domain and payment setup	Changes and payment upkeep
Freelancer or agency	Briefing and reviewing	Requesting and checking changes
SiteSpin	Business details, review and Stripe account	Describing changes and handling customers

Use your expected workload to put hours against these tasks. Include ordinary changes such as a new photograph, product price or service hours, as well as the time spent asking someone else to make them.

With SiteSpin, the building and website changes are included in the subscription. You bring the business knowledge and review the result from your phone or computer.

When a different route fits

Free publishing can be enough for information pages. Google Sites is also worth considering when you want to connect a separately bought domain without a connection charge.

If your business needs a particular shop design or carefully specified functions, get the complete job quoted and ask to see the ordering and payment process. Compare what the provider will keep current afterwards as well as the initial build.

If your priority is having the website built and keeping it current from your phone, SiteSpin puts those jobs in the same conversation. Pro is $28 a month on the yearly plan, charged as $334.99 a year, before tax in the US; the month-to-month option is $35. Eligible owners can start with a 7-day free trial, confirmed at checkout before the build. Check the plan and trial eligibility, then describe your business.

Ask these three questions before you pay

• What address will I have, and what will it cost to renew? Include any plan needed to connect it and what happens after a first-year offer.
• Who builds the website and makes later changes, and what do they cost? Count your hours alongside the subscription, project fee or change allowance.
• What is the whole bill in year two? Include the standard plan price, domain renewal, hosting, payment fees and changes.