Typical price ranges for different types of website

The UK web design market covers a wide range of prices, shaped by project type, complexity, and who does the work. Here are the indicative prices you're likely to encounter in 2026:

  • Simple landing page: £450–£700 — a single page focused on conversion, with one clear objective (lead capture, product promotion, bookings)
  • Brochure website (3–7 pages): £900–£1,800 — Home, About, Services, Portfolio, Contact. Right for small businesses and independent professionals
  • Full business website (7–15 pages): £1,800–£4,000 — more complex structure, integrations, advanced forms, possibly a blog
  • E-commerce website: £2,500–£8,000+ — product catalogue, shopping basket, online payments, stock management, courier integrations
  • Website redesign: £700–£1,800 — depends on how much of the existing structure is retained and how many pages are involved

These prices reflect working with a professional freelancer. Large agencies typically add 30–100% on top of these figures, and DIY platforms (Wix, Squarespace) involve recurring monthly costs and significant technical limitations.

Important: a very low price — under £300 for any type of site — should raise questions. More often than not it means a bought template with no real customisation, or a lack of experience. A cheap site that doesn't convert visitors into customers costs far more in the long run.

What factors affect the cost of a website

When you ask how much a website costs in the UK, the answer varies enormously depending on a few key factors that every business owner should understand:

1. Number of pages and structural complexity

A website with 5 simple pages costs considerably less than one with 20 pages, each with a different layout, animations, galleries, and rich content. Every page involves design time, implementation, and testing.

2. Required functionality

A simple brochure site is a different beast from one with an online booking system, CRM integration, a quote calculator, live chat, or a client portal. Every added feature increases both development time and ongoing maintenance costs.

3. Content — who creates it

If you supply the copy, photographs, and graphic materials yourself, the cost drops significantly. If you need professional copywriting, product photography, or custom illustrations, these add to the total budget. Many clients underestimate this component and end up stalling the project for months due to missing content.

4. Design — template or custom

A fully bespoke design built from scratch in Figma to match your brand costs more than adapting a premium template. Both can look great, but a custom design offers genuine differentiation from competitors.

5. SEO and technical optimisation

A site that's properly optimised for search engines from the build stage — correct URL structure, meta tags, page speed, structured data — requires additional implementation time. You can read more about what technical optimisation involves on the services page.

Freelancer vs agency: who's cheaper?

In general, a freelance web designer will offer lower prices than an agency for comparable projects. The reason is straightforward: there's no overhead from a large team, office space, project managers, and administrative processes. Those savings pass directly to the client.

But price isn't the only consideration. A good freelancer will be more invested in your project, communicate more directly, and better understand the specific needs of an individual entrepreneur or small business. An agency can offer more capacity if the project is very large or requires multiple specialisms simultaneously.

If you want to understand the differences in more detail, read the full article on freelancer web designer vs agency — where I compare communication, speed, quality, and costs head to head.

Hidden costs nobody tells you about

Beyond the cost of building the site, there are a number of recurring and additional expenses that many business owners don't factor in initially:

  • Domain name: ~£10–15/year for a .co.uk or .com — a small but unavoidable cost
  • Hosting: £5–50/month depending on performance and traffic. Poor hosting can ruin the speed of even a well-built site
  • SSL certificate: usually included with quality hosting providers — but worth checking before you sign up
  • Monthly maintenance: security updates, backups, monitoring — between £50 and £200/month if you opt for a care plan
  • Content updates: if the site isn't on a CMS or you can't update it yourself, every text or image change may incur a cost
  • Professional photography: £200–£800 for a product or business shoot — a cost that's often overlooked but enormously important for credibility

A realistic budget for a professional brochure website in the UK includes not just the build cost (£900–£1,800) but also quality hosting, a domain, and possibly annual maintenance. Expected total in year one: £1,100–£2,200.

How to choose based on your budget

If you're just starting out and budget is tight, the best value for money is a well-optimised landing page or a simple brochure site built by a freelancer with a verifiable portfolio. Don't invest £4,000 in features you won't use in year one.

If your business is already up and running and a website is a strategic priority, don't compromise on quality for the sake of price. A site that's slow, looks poor on mobile, or isn't SEO-optimised will cost you customers every single day.

Before any decision, get at least three quotes, look at the portfolios presented, and ask for references from previous clients. The final price should reflect the real value of the work — not the lowest number possible.

If you're curious about what each type of project includes, you can see full details on the pricing page or get in touch directly to discuss your specific needs.