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Key Takeaways
Most small business websites cost between a few dollars and thousands to build.
Development expenses vary by execution, ranging from DIY setups to $500- $5,000+ for freelancers and $5,000- $15,000+ for agencies.
Over 80% of consumers research online before purchasing. Keeping your page count minimal delivers a better navigation experience while cutting storage and maintenance costs.
Managed hosting includes essential security, SSL certificates, and automated updates, protecting small businesses from unpredictable technical expenses.
Evaluate your business type, required features, and long-term goals before selecting a platform to build a cost-effective site.
The initial cost of a small business site on WordPress®1 can range from just a few dollars to thousands. For small business owners, understanding where your money goes is important. It’s also crucial to keep an eye on recurring costs, as they have an ongoing impact on your budget.
Website costs fluctuate depending on your site’s platform, design complexity, technical features, and whether you hire outside help. To build a site that fits your business, plan for the initial site build and recurring costs.
It is becoming increasingly important for small business sites to provide high-quality experiences. More than 80% of consumers turn to the internet for information before purchasing a product or service. A high-functioning, branded website does not have to break the bank, depending on how you budget and design your site.
In this blog, we cover the factors that affect the cost of a small business website, expectations for sites by industry, and break down each cost component so you know exactly what you are paying for and can create the right site for your business.
What affects the cost of a small business website?
The way your website is structured and the platform you choose will impact the overall cost, recurring fees, and the future of your site.
Platform choice and technical setup
WordPress is a free, open-source platform for website creation and management. It offers flexibility in the design process by providing customizable themes for site building and access to thousands of site-improving tools in the plugin ecosystem. Through the ecosystem, you can add additional features to your site to boost performance, further improve design, enhance security, and more.
With this platform, you can update your site, add new functionalities, and scale with your growing business.
Outside of WordPress, site-building platforms like Squarespace and Wix will help you create easy-to-build websites using blocks and on-site tools at a flat monthly rate. Although these websites are simple to maintain, it is difficult to move your site off of this builder and transfer your content. You will have less control over the design, security, and performance features than you would with a WordPress site.
Website size, number of pages, and complexity
While planning your site, stick to the minimum number of pages needed to represent your business. A simple site helps customers easily navigate through your content while cutting your design, storage, and maintenance costs. Be sure to map out exactly the pages you need before you design anything.
Storage, site maintenance, and design costs typically increase with the number of pages.
Depending on your business and the experience you want to create, you may want to add content creation and copywriting to your to-do list. These services can be outsourced, but you’ll need to include those costs in your budget.
Adding functionality or integrating tools to your site can boost performance and create a more user-friendly experience, but it can raise the overall cost of your website. Although there are free tools, be careful about adding premium plugins if you are working within a budget. License costs can add up quickly.
Ongoing maintenance and support
Your website will need ongoing support and maintenance. Updating content, software, security, and maintaining plugins will be a monthly expense. Plus, the more pages you have, the more maintenance and support you need.
Small business website cost by component
The cost of a website can be affected by a number of reasons, but what actually goes into creating a website?
Domain name
Before you start the design process, your website needs a domain name. Your website’s domain name will appear in your URL and can be customized to your business.
A domain name typically costs around $10 – $20 per year, but the price tag can rise significantly if the domain name is highly desirable. For small businesses using WordPress or a site-building platform, you will have to renew these yearly.
Design, development, and add-ons
Small business owners can approach website development in a number of ways.
- For those who want to design and develop the website themselves, you can add pre-built themes to get a better starting point for design, such as Astra, Kadence, and Elementor.
- You can also use a freelancer or agency to help, which increases development costs.
| Worker Type | Typical cost ($) |
|---|---|
| Freelancer | $500-$5000+ |
| Agency | $5,000-$15,000+ |
Adding premium plugins to your site can also increase the monthly/yearly bill. Additional costs for plugins and add-ons depend on the amount your site uses.
For small businesses, try limiting the number of premium plugins or tools used on your site. When shopping for additional functionality, look for tools with multiple features.
Hosting
Hosting allows your WordPress site to be served from an external server and to use its resources for storage, performance, and security. There are different types of hosting that vary in price point and resources.
Unmanaged shared hosting typically costs less than other plans, but comes with fewer resources and often requires more maintenance on your end. This type of hosting is usually recommended for small blog sites.
Managed hosting starter plans typically run from $15 to $40 per month and include more support and technical maintenance. This type of hosting is great for small businesses’ sites that are looking to grow in the future and increase their amount of site traffic, but do not want to constantly monitor for site security or maintenance issues.
SSL
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is an encryption-based security protocol that authenticates links for your users and is required for websites. This added layer of security helps you protect your site from unknown requests while also protecting your visitors’ information.
For many managed hosting plans, including WP Engine, and site-building platforms, SSL certificates and renewal fees are included. For those that do not fall into this category, this typically ranges from $3.99 to $150, depending on the certificate type you choose.
Maintenance and updates
Maintenance and updates can cost anywhere from $0 to $100+ per month, depending on your software, security, and plugins that need updating. One of the benefits of managed hosting is the technical maintenance and support provided within your monthly/annual fee. With WP Engine, regular site monitoring for security and performance issues is included in the starting hosting plan and incurs no additional cost.
There are several add-ons that can help you maintain and upkeep your site.
- For additional site monitoring, WP Engine’s Smart Plugin Manager manages plugin updates and maintenance.
- Other WordPress tools and plugins for security and site maintenance include UpdraftPlus and Wordfence Security.
Small business website costs by business type and size
Not every website type will fit your business. It’s important to figure out how you should build your website and what to expect while budgeting.
The initial cost to build a starter site ranges from essentially free if you do it yourself, with custom projects reaching $1,000+ with the use of an agency or freelancer.
If you build the site, manage updates, and host on a shared/basic platform, your expenses will remain low. Comparatively, outsourcing the initial build and ongoing maintenance to an agency requires a much higher budget.
Service business website costs
Service-based business websites like plumbing, electrical services, HVAC, roofing, or landscaping focus on highlighting services and guiding the user to request a quote.
These sites will typically include a simple structure with 3-5 basic pages, call-to-action buttons to request a quote, and basic maintenance.
The initial cost can vary with additional plugins, themes, freelancers, hosting providers, or the size and scope of your business. If you are a plumbing business owner with five employees and one location, your website will cost less than that of a plumbing business with 20 employees and three locations. Your business’s size and complexity will affect where you land in this range for the initial build and recurring costs.
Local business website costs
Local business websites are meant to showcase the business itself, the team, services, and contact information. These usually include local restaurants, law firms, accounting practices, local health practices (dental, vision, primary care, etc.), and real estate agencies.
Local business sites have a similar site structure to service-based businesses, but will include more pages, more content, potentially more plugins, and a more intricate design.
The cost depends on the size and complexity of your site. If you are a local bakery taking mobile orders, providing an in-site menu, listing pop-up events, updating a blog resource/recipe page, and highlighting the baking team, your website will cost more and likely need more plugins to support your website than a basic site.
eCommerce website costs
eCommerce sites require a home page, an extensive product catalog, and more content in general to highlight each product through images and text.
The average small business eCommerce site using premium plugins, hosting, and ongoing maintenance will have a higher average cost than the other two site categories and require more maintenance and back end support. A small eCommerce clothing store front with multiple product categories like shirts, pants, accessories, and new product lines every few months will require more maintenance, security, and updating than a service-based business whose services do not change.
You may want to focus on adding stronger security for your customers’ financial information, as well as back end support for shipping, transactions, and fulfillment.
A popular free plugin for eCommerce sites on WordPress is WooCommerce®. Using this platform, you can create product listings, manage inventory, offer standard shipping options, and set up basic checkout.
WP Engine customers using WooCommerce can access the eCommerce Performance Pack, an all-in-one set of tools to improve the performance of eCommerce storefronts.
Ongoing website costs small business owners should budget for
Many site owners budget for the initial cost of a site but forget to consider the monthly/annual cost of maintaining it. Here are some costs to consider.
Monthly or annual hosting
For shared or managed hosting, this cost can range from $2 to $50 per month, depending on your hosting provider and plan type.
Plugin renewals and app subscriptions
When choosing plugins for your site, make sure they add value and justify their cost.
WP Engine offers several tools to optimize your site:
Maintenance and updates
Regular software updates, plugin maintenance, content updates, and security add up. These costs can vary depending on the amount of traffic you receive and the software and plugins you use. Excluding the cost of hosting, this can range from $0-100+ per month.
Redesign or refresh costs over time
Your website may need a redesign or refresh from time to time, depending on your business or industry needs. Although this may not be a monthly cost, you should anticipate this investment every few years.
How much does a small business website cost with WP Engine?
With WP Engine, small businesses will gain access to a managed infrastructure that boosts performance, provides security, and helps you manage your site. With WP Engine’s starter plan, your website will be compatible with tools designed to scale your business.
Hosting plans start at $35 per month, and your site will get immediate access to 24/7 support, security alerts, monthly security and site maintenance updates, and upgraded performance on our platform.
Hosting built for growing businesses
WP Engine’s managed hosting plans deliver speed, security, and uptime, backed by 24/7 support for your small business.
How to choose the right website budget for your business
Budget if you need a simple starter site
A simple starter site should include a basic site design, three to five pages of content, and a navigable menu. Your budget should anticipate maintenance, 2-3 premium plugin fees, and hosting costs.
Budget if your site needs to generate leads
For small businesses that want to generate leads through their site, add tools like OptinMonster and HubSpot’s Contact Form Builder.
Budget if you need to sell online
Consider investing in WooCommerce or plugins that help you grow your business and manage the back end of online shopping. Other tools can be used to further improve performance, like WP Engine’s eCommerce Performance Pack.
Budget if you need security, scale, and support
Managed hosting offers features that will help manage your site. Consider this an investment toward boosting security and scaling your business. Additional tools and plugins are available for security and performance.
- Security: WP Engine’s Global Edge Security product.
- Scaling and Performance: NitroPack improves site speed and performance for your visitors. Other plugins include WP-Optimize and WP Offload Media.
How to avoid overspending on a website
Make your small business website work for your budget. Choose the right platform for your goals—whether it be WordPress or a site-builder—align platform features, benefits, and costs to your business needs.
Your site should start with the must-have pages and prioritize essential features like security and performance. Adding additional pages or functionality can lead to increased costs and an overspent budget.
Final thoughts
Your website should fit your business needs. When planning and budgeting, consider the type of website you need, your goals for the website, and the amount you are willing to spend for the initial build and recurring monthly costs.
Small businesses looking to grow their site and business should consider WP Engine for your hosting needs. With our starter plan, you will gain access to 24/7 technical support and robust hosting services for storage, performance, and security, helping you manage your site and deliver an improved customer experience. Interested in WP Engine? Get a quote for your site today.
FAQs about small business website costs
Most small business websites cost between $15 and $1,000+ to build, with recurring costs of $35 to $500+ per month.
Building a site yourself on a platform like WordPress software, using free themes and only essential plugins, is the most affordable route.
This changes depending on your website. For most small businesses, it costs about $15-$100 per month after its creation. For sites using several premium plugins that require maintenance, this figure may be higher to account for monthly/annual costs.
The initial fee will be $500- $5,000+.
The initial fee will be $5,000- $15,000+.
Simple, clear navigation; Home Page and business-specific Pages; security and performance capabilities.
Yes, managed hosting provides greater security, better performance, and the ability to grow your site as your business grows.
- WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the community of WordPress® users. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation, and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. Uses of the WordPress®, Woo®, and WooCommerce® names in this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. ↩︎
