How Much Should a Website Cost for a Small Business?

Start with what one enquiry is worth

Your budget ceiling is the gross profit the site can plausibly add over about three years. The formula is: extra enquiries per month, times the share you close, times profit per customer, times 36 months.

Here is an illustrative example for a service business. Every figure is an assumption, so replace them with your own.

• Average job: EUR 900
• Gross margin: 40%, so EUR 360 profit per customer
• Close rate: 1 in 4 enquiries, so each enquiry is worth EUR 90 in expected profit

Now compare a EUR 5,000 build with EUR 600 a year of running costs, which is EUR 6,800 over three years. At 8 extra enquiries a month the site earns back almost four times its cost. At 3 it clears the cost by about EUR 2,900. At 1 it falls short by more than half. The decision rule follows: if your honest estimate is one or two extra enquiries a month, buy a cheaper tier. Nobody can guarantee the enquiry figure, so use the conservative case.

What do the three budget tiers buy?

Match the tier to the evidence you have, not to the site you would like. The ranges are typical figures built from hours and rates, explained in our guide to the cost of building a website.

The starter range reflects plan fees we checked in November 2026: Squarespace's Basic plan at EUR 13.09 a month on annual billing and Wix's Core plan at USD 29.77 a month on yearly billing. Both vendors say prices vary, so check their pages.

What does a small business need on day one?

Less than most quotes include. A first site needs:

• A home page that says what you do, where, and for whom.
• One page per main service, each with its own address.
• A contact page with a phone number, a form and a map if customers visit you.
• Proof that is real: reviews you can show, photos of your own work, certifications you hold.
• A privacy notice and cookie banner that match how the site tracks visitors.
• Speed on a phone, checked before launch.
• Analytics and Search Console, so you can see what happens next.

Leave a blog, a booking system, a shop and a chatbot until the basics earn enquiries. Each one adds cost and maintenance, and each can be added later.

Build it yourself or hire someone?

Choose a builder if your site is a handful of pages, you have the time, and a template layout fits what you sell. Hire a professional if the site is your main source of enquiries, you need custom features, you have an old site with rankings to protect, or you do not want to learn the tool.

Clutch's August 2025 survey of small businesses found that 83% have a website, and that DIY builders such as Wix and Squarespace power 41% of the sites launched in the past year. Clutch does not state the survey's sample size, so read the shares as indicative. The takeaway is that building yourself is common, not that it suits every business. Our Wix versus custom comparison works through the trade-offs with numbers.

How do you start a small business website, step by step?

1. Write the goal. One sentence: what should a visitor do, and how many should do it?
2. List the pages. One per service, plus home, about and contact.
3. Choose the route. Builder or hired build, using the rule above.
4. Gather content. Text, photos, prices, reviews and logos, before design starts.
5. Build and test. Check forms, phone layout and speed.
6. Launch with the basics. Analytics, a sitemap in Search Console, and a link from your Google Business Profile. Our local SEO guide for small businesses covers the profile.

What should you ask a supplier to put in writing?

A cheap quote that leaves things out costs more than an honest higher one. Ask for:

• Ownership. The domain and hosting account are registered in your name, and you receive design files and logins at the end.
• Scope. A page list and a number of revision rounds, with a price for extra rounds.
• Content. Who writes it, who sources images, and the deadline for each.
• Aftercare. What happens in the first 30 days if something breaks, and what ongoing care costs.
• Renewals. The price of hosting, licences and the domain in year two, not only year one.

Be wary of a price per page with no layout limit, "unlimited revisions" with no end date, and hosting that only the supplier can access.

Does a website cost more in Cyprus?

We do not have a verified survey of Cypriot website prices, so we do not claim one. Two local factors do add work: Greek and English versions, and GDPR-compliant forms and cookie notices. Our Cyprus website cost guide covers those.

For a quote on your own project, see our web design service. We quote in writing and do not publish a price list. Before you compare quotes, read how to judge website design services for small businesses.