Small Business Website Cost: What You Are Actually Paying For
What sets the price of a small business website, what a quote should list, the costs that come after launch, and the questions to ask before you sign.
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Shaheer Malik
Framer Designer & Developer
Quick answer
The cost of a small business website is set by four things: how many pages it has, whether the design is custom or a template, who supplies the text and images, and who builds it. A professional five-page site from Shaheer Malik is a fixed $1,500, live in 14 days. Whatever you pay, get the scope and price in writing first.
The cost of a small business website is set by four things: how many pages it has, whether the design is custom or a template, who supplies the text and images, and who builds it. Everything else on a quote is a detail of one of those four.
Disclosure: I sell fixed-price websites, so I have a stake in this topic. The only prices quoted below are my own, which are published on my pricing page. I have left out market averages because most of the ones in circulation have no source.
This guide is for an owner who needs a professional site and has been given quotes that are impossible to compare. It explains what you are paying for, what a quote should list, and the questions that reveal a bad quote before you sign it. For price ranges across every kind of site, see my longer guide, how much does a website cost.
What sets the price of a small business website?
| Factor | Costs less | Costs more |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | Five or fewer, sharing a few layouts | Many pages, each with its own layout |
| Design | A template with your logo and colours | Designed from scratch for your brand |
| Content | You supply final text and photos | The builder writes, shoots or illustrates |
| Features | Contact form, booking link, analytics | Online store, logins, custom integrations |
| Who builds it | You, or one freelancer | An agency team with several roles |
Two quotes for "a website" can differ by a large multiple and both be fair, because they describe different things. Before you compare prices, make each quote answer the five rows above.
What should a quote list?
A quote you can hold someone to names these in writing:
- The pages. A count, and ideally their names.
- The revision rounds. How many, and at which stage.
- Who supplies the content. Text, photos, logo.
- What happens to your old site. Redirects, so existing links and search rankings carry over.
- The launch date, and what it depends on.
- Ownership. Whose account the site lives in, and who holds the files.
- What is not included. A quote with no exclusions has not been thought through.
If the price is an hourly rate multiplied by an estimate, the number on the page is not the number you will pay. I explain why in hourly vs fixed-price web design.
What will you pay after launch?
Three things continue after the build is finished:
- The domain name, renewed yearly with a registrar.
- Hosting or a site-builder subscription. On Framer, for example, the subscription is billed by Framer to your own account, and the current plans are on framer.com/pricing.
- Maintenance, if you choose to pay for it. A simple marketing site on a hosted builder needs very little.
Ask for each of these by name, and ask whose account it is billed to. A site that lives in the builder's account, on the builder's card, is a site you rent.
Is five pages enough?
For most service businesses, yes. A buyer deciding whether to call you needs to know what you do, who you are, what it involves, and how to reach you. Home, About, Services, one detail page and Contact cover that.
Extra pages earn their place when they answer a question buyers actually ask: a page per service you want to be found for, a page of past work, a page of prices. Add them for a reason. A ten-item menu with thin pages behind it reads worse than five pages that are complete.
Five questions to ask before you sign
- Is this price fixed, or an estimate?
- Who exactly will design and build it?
- Whose account will the site and the domain be in?
- What happens if I want a change after the last revision round?
- What will I be paying every month after launch, and to whom?
A professional answers all five without hesitating. Vague answers to the first and third are the ones that turn into disputes.
When building it yourself is the right call
If your budget is close to zero and you have a few free evenings, build it yourself on a site builder with a template. That is a rational choice while you are testing whether the business works. It stops being rational when the site has become your main source of enquiries and you can see it losing them.
The fixed-price option
My Launch Site is a custom-designed website of up to five pages, built in Framer and live on your domain in 14 days, for a fixed $1,500. The scope, the exclusions and the day-by-day schedule are all on the fixed-price website page. If it fits, book a free scope call and you will have the price in writing before you commit to anything.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
It depends on page count, custom design versus a template, who supplies the content and who builds it. As one fixed reference point, Shaheer Malik's Launch Site is $1,500 for up to five custom-designed pages, live in 14 days.
The number of pages, the number of revision rounds, who supplies text and images, what happens to your old links, the launch date, who owns the finished site, and every cost that continues after launch.
A domain name, hosting or a site-builder subscription, and any maintenance you choose to pay for. Ask for each one by name before you sign, and ask whose account it is billed to.
For most service businesses, yes. Home, About, Services, one detail page and Contact cover what a buyer needs to decide whether to call you. Add pages when you have a reason, not to fill a menu.
If your budget is close to zero and you have the time, yes. A site builder and a template will get you online. Hire someone when the site has become your main source of enquiries.
Want it done for you? I offer website design on a fixed price, from $700. See pricing.