The short answer
- Build it yourself: £9 to £25 a month on Wix and Squarespace's main website plans, paid yearly. That's £108 to £300 a year, plus your own time.
- Pay a designer once: from £295 for a one-page site at a fixed-price trade specialist, up to £3,000 to £5,000 for a five-page agency site. Then hosting and care each month.
- Pay monthly: £49 to £199 a month plus VAT at one agency, usually with a 12-month minimum. Upkept is £99 a month, everything included.
The three ways to get a website, and what each costs
There are really only three routes: build it yourself on a website builder, pay someone once to build it and then pay to keep it running, or pay a monthly fee that covers the build and the upkeep together. Here is what each costs over the first year and after, using real published prices.
| Route and example | What you pay | First year | Each year after |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY: Wix Light | £9 a month on a yearly plan, plus tax | £108 plus tax | £108 plus tax, and a domain renewal after the free first year |
| DIY: Squarespace Basic | £12 a month paid annually, or £16 paid monthly | £144 (annual) | £144, and a domain renewal after the free first year |
| One-off build: up to 5 pages from a trade specialist | £595 once, then hosting £150 and care £250 a year | £995 | £400 |
| One-off build: agency brochure site | £3,000 to £5,000 once, then £500 to £2,000 a year to run | £3,500 to £7,000 | £500 to £2,000 |
| Pay monthly: agency plans | £49, £99 or £199 a month plus VAT, 12-month initial term | £588 to £2,388 plus VAT | £588 to £2,388 plus VAT |
| Pay monthly: Upkept | £99 a month, no setup fee, 12-month initial plan | £1,188 | £1,188 |
Wix and Squarespace: their UK pricing pages. Trade specialist: Websites for Tradespeople, whose package prices include VAT. Agency brochure site: Whito's May 2026 pricing data. Agency pay monthly plans: ProfileTree. Domain renewal prices vary by registrar; see costs people forget, below.
What a website costs per month and per year
Most people think about a website as a monthly bill, so here are the same options side by side. Yearly figures are simply twelve months; some providers knock a little off if you pay a year upfront.
| Option | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Wix Light, Core or Business, yearly plans, excluding tax | £9, £16 or £25 | £108, £192 or £300 |
| Squarespace Basic or Core, paid annually | £12 or £17 | £144 or £204 |
| Squarespace Basic or Core, paid monthly | £16 or £24 | £192 or £288 |
| Hosting only, for a site you already have (Krystal shared hosting, excluding VAT) | £7 to £19 | £84 to £228 |
| Care plan for a one-off site: updates, backups, security, small edits | £25 to £51 | £250 to £612 |
| Agency pay monthly plans (ProfileTree, excluding VAT) | £49 to £199 | £588 to £2,388 |
| Upkept, everything included | £99 | £1,188 |
Care plans: Websites for Tradespeople charges £25 a month or £250 a year; Website Helper's comparison of UK WordPress maintenance providers lists rolling plans from £30 to £51 a month. Hosting and care for a one-off site are paid on top of the build. For a fuller breakdown of running costs, see how much it costs to maintain a website.
What web designers charge in the UK
Designer and agency prices vary more than anything else here, because “a website” can mean a one-page template or a fully custom build with words and photos written for you.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| Whito, May 2026 pricing data | Five-page brochure site: £1,500 to £3,000 from a freelancer, £3,000 to £5,000 from an agency. Most UK businesses pay £3,000 to £6,000. Freelancers charge £40 to £70 an hour, agencies £60 to £150. |
| ProfileTree, WordPress cost guide | Freelancer build £700 to £4,000; agency custom build £3,500 to £12,000, both excluding VAT. Running costs £150 to £3,000 a year. |
| Websites for Tradespeople | Fixed prices including VAT: one page from £295, up to five pages from £595, larger sites from £995. |
| Delivered Social | From £895 for five pages, £1,295 for up to 15 pages and £1,595 for larger sites. |
| Blue Whale Media | £495 plus VAT for an eight-page brochure site, £895 plus VAT for a 12-page WordPress site. |
What pushes the price up
- Pages. Each extra page is more design, writing and testing.
- Custom design. A design made from scratch costs more than adapting a template.
- The words. Most designers expect you to write your own; Whito puts copywriting at £50 to £150 a page.
- Photos. A photographer for your premises, team or work is a separate cost.
- Shops, bookings and integrations. Taking payments or bookings adds build time and often yearly licence fees.
The cheapest way to get a website
If money is the only measure, a free plan is cheapest. Wix has one, but a free site carries Wix branding and can't use your own domain until you pay for a premium plan. Squarespace has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. The cheapest paid option we found from the big builders is Wix Light at £9 a month on a yearly plan, plus tax.
Self-built WordPress can cost little more than hosting and a domain, but it costs time instead. ProfileTree estimates a first-time builder needs 40 to 80 hours for a five to eight page business site, and two to four hours a month to keep it updated. At £40 an hour, their example, that first build is £1,600 to £3,200 of your time.
So the honest answer: cheapest in money is a DIY builder. Cheapest in time is paying someone else. Which is cheaper overall depends on what an evening of your time is worth.
Costs people forget
- The domain after year one. Free first years end. Fasthosts, for example, sells a .co.uk for £1 for the first year, then £12.83 a year plus VAT. Wix's free domain voucher covers one year.
- VAT. Wix's prices exclude applicable taxes, and ProfileTree's monthly plans and Fasthosts' domains are quoted without VAT. If you aren't VAT registered, add 20% before comparing.
- Payment fees. Builders charge for taking payments: Squarespace lists card rates from 2.0% plus 25p on its Basic and Core plans.
- Changes after launch. With a one-off build, changes beyond a care plan's small edits are usually charged by the hour.
- Minimum terms. Many pay monthly plans start with a 12-month term; ProfileTree's does, and so does ours. Check the notice period and what you keep if you leave.
- Your time. Updating, fixing and keeping a site secure takes hours every month if you do it yourself.
Where Upkept sits
Upkept is £99 a month with no setup fee: £1,188 a year. That's more than a DIY builder and far less upfront than an agency. It sits in the middle of the pay monthly range, and the difference is the changes: unlimited, done by chat, rather than an allowance of hours. Hosting, SSL, security, daily backups and UK support are all in the price. There's a 12-month initial plan, then it's month to month.
When we aren't the best value: if you enjoy building and editing a site yourself, a £9 to £25 a month builder costs less. If you need an online shop or a booking system built into your site, a builder plan that includes them, or an agency, fits better. Upkept builds brochure sites, and links out to the booking or ordering tool you already use.
Sources
Prices were read from each company's own UK website on 15 October 2026. They change, so check before you buy.
- Wix plans: Free £0, Light £9, Core £16, Business £25 and Business Elite £119 a month; yearly subscriptions paid in full; prices exclude applicable taxes; free domain voucher for one year on most premium plans.
- Squarespace pricing: Basic £12, Core £17, Plus £29 and Advanced £79 a month paid annually; £16, £24, £36 and £89 paid monthly; 14-day free trial, no free plan; card rates from 2.0% + £0.25 on Basic and Core.
- Websites for Tradespeople pricing: Starter from £295, Essentials from £595, Business from £995, prices including VAT; website care £25 a month or £250 a year; hosting £15 a month or £150 a year.
- Whito: website design costs UK 2026: May 2026 pricing data for freelancer and agency builds, hourly rates, copywriting and running costs.
- ProfileTree: WordPress website cost UK breakdown: Build costs by route, running costs, and DIY time of 40 to 80 hours.
- ProfileTree: web design monthly packages: Starter from £49, Growth from £99 and Pro from £199 a month excluding VAT, 12-month initial term.
- Delivered Social: web design for tradespeople: From £895, £1,295 and £1,595.
- Blue Whale Media: how much does a website cost: £495 + VAT, £895 + VAT and £1,500 + VAT brochure builds.
- Krystal hosting: Shared hosting from £7 to £19 a month excluding VAT on monthly billing (Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald).
- Website Helper: WordPress maintenance price comparison: UK maintenance plans listed from £30 to £51 a month, with one from £150.
- Fasthosts domain names: .co.uk £1 for the first year, then £12.83 a year; prices exclude VAT.