You ask what a website costs and you get a quote form. Fill this out, hop on a call, and we will tell you a number that somehow depends on your budget. We think that is backwards. You would not buy a truck from a dealer who hides the sticker price, and a website should not work that way either.
So here is the direct answer. In 2026, a small business website costs anywhere from about $17 a month (you build it yourself) to $20,000 or more (an agency builds it for you). Most owners we talk to in and around Effingham land in one of four lanes, and each lane has a real price tag. This post walks through all four, including exactly what we charge, so you can pick the lane that fits without filling out a single form.
The short version: DIY builders run $17 to $160 a month plus your nights and weekends. Monthly website companies charge $100 to $500 a month forever, and you usually own nothing. Custom builds run $2,000 to $20,000 and up (ours start at $5,000, fixed). Our website subscription is $299 a month, and the site is yours at the end of the term.
In this post:
- The four ways to pay for a website
- DIY builders: $17 to $160 a month, plus your time
- Monthly website companies: the bill that never ends
- Custom builds: what a real quote looks like
- The subscription option: $299 a month, and you own it
- The costs nobody puts on the pricing page
- Frequently asked questions
The four ways to pay for a website
Every website price you will ever see fits one of four models. The sticker price matters, but so do two other questions: whose time builds and maintains the site, and who owns it when you stop paying.
| Model | Typical cost in 2026 | Whose time | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $17 to $160/mo | Yours | You own the content, not the platform |
| Monthly website company | $100 to $500/mo, ongoing | Theirs | Usually them, check your contract |
| Custom build (freelancer or agency) | $2,000 to $20,000+ one time | Theirs, then yours | You |
| Website subscription (ours) | $299/mo, 24-month term | Theirs | You, at the end of the term |
Now the detail on each, with sources for every number.
DIY builders: $17 to $160 a month, plus your time
The build-it-yourself platforms publish their prices, which we respect. As of October 2026, Wix plans run from $17.77 to $159.77 a month on annual billing, and Squarespace plans run $25 to $139 a month billed monthly, or $19 to $99 on annual billing. Hosting and SSL are included, so the sticker price is close to the whole price.
The cost that does not show up on those pages is your time. You design the pages, write the copy, size the photos, and figure out why the menu looks wrong on your phone. For an owner who enjoys that and has slow seasons to spend on it, DIY is genuinely the cheapest lane. For an owner billing $75 an hour who spends 40 hours fighting a template, that “cheap” site cost $3,000 in lost work before it ever took an order.
One more thing to know: you own your content, but the site itself only runs on their platform. There is no taking a Wix site with you when you leave.
Monthly website companies: the bill that never ends
These are the companies that call your business offering a website, hosting, and “marketing” for one monthly fee. In the contracts local businesses have shown us, the fee typically lands between $100 and $500 a month, and it continues for as long as you want a website, because in most of these agreements you are renting the site, not buying it.
Run the math on a typical deal. At $300 a month for five years, you have paid $18,000. Cancel, and in most of these contracts the site goes away with the company, because they own the design, and sometimes the domain too. We review sites like this around Effingham every month, and the pattern repeats: the owner has paid more than a custom build would have cost and holds none of it.
If you are in one of these deals, the first step is to find out who owns your domain. That one fact decides how hard it is to leave.
Custom builds: what a real quote looks like
A custom build means a developer or agency designs and builds the site once, you pay once, and you own it. This is the lane with the widest price range, and the quote forms, because the honest answer depends on scope. Quotes we have seen locally run from about $2,000 for a basic brochure site to well past $20,000 for large or complicated projects.
We publish our number: a custom WordPress build starts at $5,000, fixed price, no hourly surprises. That includes custom design, a mobile-responsive build, speed work, an SEO foundation, Google Analytics setup, training, and 30 days of post-launch support. When you see custom quotes far below that, ask what is being skipped. It is usually speed, security, or the part where you can update the site yourself.
The trade-off with any custom build is that after launch, maintenance is on you: hosting, updates, backups, and fixes, which we cover in the next section.
The subscription option: $299 a month, and you own it
The fourth lane bundles the build and the upkeep into one flat fee. Our website subscription is $299 a month with no setup fee: a custom-built site up to 8 pages, hosting with SSL and daily backups, security, content edits done within 2 business days, a blog post written and published every month, and monthly SEO work.
The difference from the monthly website companies in lane two is the ending. Our term is 24 months, then month-to-month, and at the end of the term the site is yours outright, files and domain included, working on any host you choose. Cancel early and you pay out the remaining months, and the site still transfers to you. Renting that ends in owning is a different product from renting that ends in nothing.
Over 24 months that is $7,176 total, which is more than a base custom build. What you are paying for is never touching the website: no hosting account, no plugin updates, no finding someone to fix the contact form. For owners whose list is already too long, that is the point.
The costs nobody puts on the pricing page
Whichever lane you pick, budget for these, because they show up in every lane:
- Domain name: $10 to $20 a year for a typical .com from a registrar such as Cloudflare. Register it yourself, in your own account. This is the single cheapest insurance policy in web ownership.
- Hosting: $5 to $100+ a month on a custom build, depending on quality and how much is managed for you. Included in the other three lanes.
- Email: roughly $6 to $14 per user per month for business email like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
- Maintenance: on a site you own, plan for updates, backups, and the occasional fix. Paying a professional typically runs $40 to $150 a month; skipping it is how sites get hacked or quietly break.
- Content: photos, copy, and the hours someone spends writing them. Free if you do it, real money if you do not.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small business website cost per month?
In 2026, expect $17 to $160 a month if you build it yourself on Wix or Squarespace, $100 to $500 a month from a do-it-for-me website company, or $299 a month on our subscription, which includes hosting, edits, monthly SEO, and ownership of the site at the end of the 24-month term.
How much should a 5-page website cost?
Built by a professional, a well-made 5-page site typically quotes between $2,000 and $7,500 depending on design, copywriting, and who handles upkeep. Our custom builds start at $5,000 fixed, and our $299 a month subscription covers up to 8 pages with hosting and maintenance included.
Why do most web designers make you fill out a quote form?
Partly because scope really does change the price, and partly because a form lets them price the client instead of the work. We think the fix is publishing a starting number. Ours are $5,000 for a custom build and $299 a month for a subscription, stated before you ever contact us.
Is Wix or Squarespace cheaper than hiring someone?
In cash, yes. Wix and Squarespace run $17 to $160 a month, far less than a custom build. The real cost is your time and the result: you do the designing, writing, and troubleshooting, and the site only exists on their platform. Cheap in dollars, expensive in weekends.
Do I own my website if I pay monthly?
It depends entirely on the contract. With most monthly website companies, no: cancel and the site disappears with them. With our subscription, yes: after the 24-month term the site, files, and domain are yours outright, and it will run on any host you choose.
What does it cost to maintain a website after it launches?
For a site you own, budget $10 to $20 a year for the domain, $5 to $100 a month for hosting, and either your own time or $40 to $150 a month for professional updates, backups, and security. Subscription models fold all of this into the monthly fee.
The bottom line
The small business website cost question has four honest answers in 2026: $17 to $160 a month to build it yourself, $100 to $500 a month to rent one forever, $2,000 to $20,000+ to buy one outright, or $299 a month for ours, built and maintained for you, that becomes yours. The right lane depends on whose time you want to spend and what you want to hold at the end.
If you are not sure which lane your current site is in, or what you are actually paying for, request a free website review. We will give you the real numbers for your situation, no quote form games.