How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in the UK in 2026?
If you are comparing website quotes in 2026, the hardest part is rarely the design. It is knowing whether you are looking at a one-page launch, a proper business site, a booking journey or a custom system — and what sits outside the build price.
Start with the job, not a page count
A useful price question is: what does the website need to do? Generate enquiries? Take bookings? Sell products? Give clients a login? Those jobs map to different packages more reliably than counting URLs.
At North & Form, public packages are fixed where the scope stays standard, and quoted as “from” when the workflow can expand. Figures below include VAT.
- Starter — £295 for one focused page
- Business — £695 for up to five core pages
- Growth — £1,295 for a bigger site or light CMS
- Portfolio / project site — £1,750
- Booking websites — from £2,300
- Ecommerce — from £2,750
- Client portals, custom systems and web apps — from £3,300+
What usually moves the number up
Cost rises when the project needs accounts, payments, integrations, complex content models or unusual design direction. It also rises when the brief is still vague — not because studios invent work, but because undefined requirements cannot be fixed-priced honestly.
A calm estimate process should recommend the leanest package that still supports the outcome, then separate optional extras rather than burying them in a single mysterious total.
Hosting, Care and changes after launch
The build price is not the same as keeping the site healthy. Managed hosting is £99/year when we look after production hosting. Optional Care starts from £19/month for technical upkeep of the original build — monitoring, routine updates, backups where appropriate and small technical fixes, subject to reasonable use.
Without Care, post-launch changes are £45/hour with a one-hour minimum, confirmed in writing before work starts. Larger features, redesigns and multi-page additions are fixed-quoted rather than left open on the clock.
Estimate, quotation and deposit
An estimate is a guide range. A quotation is the fixed price for an agreed scope. That distinction matters: you should not be asked to commit to a build on a soft number alone.
Projects below £1,000 typically use 50% to start and 50% on handover. Larger builds can use 40% to start, 30% at design approval and 30% before launch.
Templates can be cheaper — until they are not
A template or page builder can be the right first step for a simple presence. It becomes expensive when the business needs a different structure, distinctive design or functionality the theme was never meant to support.
Custom work is worth considering when the website is expected to generate meaningful enquiries, explain a complex offer or support an operational process — not merely because “custom” sounds better in a proposal.
Where to go next
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