Nobody answers this question properly. Every article on website costs is either a builder platform telling you websites are basically free, or an agency telling you “it depends” before asking for your email address.
So here’s the straight answer, then the detail.
What websites actually cost in 2026
- DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace): £100 to £500 a year, plus a lot of your own time
- Freelancer: roughly £500 to £3,000 depending on experience and scope
- Design studio or small agency: £3,000 to £10,000 for most projects
- Larger agency or complex build: £10,000 to £15,000 and beyond
At Future Faced, projects start from £2,000 and most land between £3,000 and £7,000. I’ll break down exactly what moves a project around inside that range, because that’s the part most agencies keep vague.
Why is the range so wide?
Because you’re not buying pages. You’re buying thinking.
A website is positioning, copy, design, build and search foundations all working together. A five page site with proper strategy behind it costs more than a fifteen page template job. And it should, because the five page site is the one that wins the enquiry.
When two quotes for “the same website” are £1,500 apart, it’s almost never the technology. It’s how much thinking is included. One quote covers building what you ask for. The other covers working out what your business actually needs first, then building that.
What drives the price up or down
These are the levers that move a quote. Know them and you’re in control of the conversation with whoever you hire.
Custom design vs template. A template gets adapted to your brand. Custom design starts from your positioning and builds out from there. Custom costs more, and it’s worth it when how you look is part of how you win work. For founder-led businesses, it almost always is.
Copywriting. Every site we build includes AI assisted copywriting, refined together until it sounds like you. Want fully handwritten content from scratch? That costs more, and for some businesses it’s the right call.
Branding. If you arrive with a logo, some colours and fonts, that’s enough for us to build from. I can make good judgement calls to fill the gaps. If the brand needs building or rebuilding properly, that’s a separate piece of work with its own price. And be suspicious of anyone offering “full branding” inside a £2,000 website. Something’s being skipped, you just won’t find out what until later.
Page types, not pages. Ten pages using three layouts costs less than five pages that each need their own design. When you’re comparing quotes, ask how many unique templates are included, not how many pages.
Functionality. Booking systems, client portals, membership areas, ecommerce. Each one is its own project sitting on top of the site. A brochure site with a contact form and a site with a customer portal might look similar in the proposal. They’re not.
Custom assets. This is where the real beauty comes from. We design custom graphics in Figma and build motion pieces separately, and it’s a big part of why our sites don’t look like everyone else’s. It’s also work, so it’s part of the price.
The costs nobody puts in the quote
Whatever you pay to launch, a website has running costs. Budget for them or they’ll surprise you.
- Hosting and domain: from a few pounds a month to £30+ for decent managed hosting
- Plugin and software licences: quality WordPress sites run on premium plugins with annual costs
- Maintenance: updates, security, backups, monitoring. Our care plans are around £75 a month and include monitoring, security, uptime checks, plugin updates and licences, a monthly report, and a set amount of time for content changes
- The cost of doing it twice
That last one deserves a story.
A client came to us after paying someone £800 for a website. Three months later, nothing was live. No site, no updates, and eventually no replies at all. Just £800, gone quiet.
We had their full site designed, written and launched in about four weeks. They’re still with us today.
So the £800 website actually cost £800, plus three months of lost enquiries, plus the price of doing it properly. Turns out the most expensive website you can buy is the one you buy twice.
What you get at each price point, honestly
Under £500: a website builder. If your budget is here and you have time, Wix or Squarespace will get something live. I’d only recommend it if you genuinely just need a simple template site to exist. You’re trading time for money, and you’ll feel the ceiling quickly.
£500 to £1,500: a freelancer or a very small build. A decent freelancer can do good work here. Honestly, if your budget is below £1,000, that’s where I’d point you. For that amount we could put together a nice one or two page site, but we couldn’t build much more than that, and I’d rather tell you now than take the project and cut corners.
£2,000 to £7,000: studio territory. Positioning, custom design, proper copy, SEO foundations and a site you can edit yourself, all as one piece of work. This is where we sit, and it’s the right level for an established founder-led business whose website needs to carry real commercial weight.
£10,000 and up: complexity, not vanity. Large content estates, integrations, portals, ecommerce at scale. Worth it when the functionality demands it. Unnecessary when it doesn’t, whatever the agency pitching it tells you.
A quick word on platforms
We build in WordPress, and we’ll keep doing so until something beats it. Nothing has yet.
It’s not nostalgia. WordPress means you own your site, organic search actually works, and you can make your own edits without calling us for every typo.
Framer is genuinely promising, especially for landing pages. But sending organic traffic to it is still difficult, and adding real functionality like portals gets awkward fast. Wix and Squarespace are fine if a simple template site is truly all you need. For a business that plans to grow on search? WordPress is still our answer.
Does a proper website pay for itself?
Honest answer: it depends what you feed it. That’s why we build SEO foundations into every site instead of bolting them on later.
One of our clients, Revive Windows, saw 114% more leads within six months of us managing their SEO. The site paid for itself, then kept going.
A bad website is a cost. A good one is the hardest working thing your business owns.
How we price at Future Faced
Projects start from £2,000. Most founder-led businesses invest between £3,000 and £7,000 depending on the levers above. A typical build takes around six weeks, though that flexes with how quickly content and feedback come back from your side. (Sites move as fast as their founders do.)
We work on a 50% deposit with the balance on completion. Monthly payment options are available, and for the right project we’re open to revenue share.
If that’s the right sort of level for where your business is, have a look at how we approach web design or get in touch. If it’s not, I hope the breakdown helps you brief whoever you do hire. Either way, you’ll make a better decision knowing the numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay monthly? Yes. Our standard structure is a 50% deposit with 50% on completion, but monthly options are available, and for the right project we’ll consider revenue share. Ask and we’ll find a structure that works.
Why do agencies charge such different prices for the same thing? Because it’s rarely the same thing. The variables are how much strategy and positioning work is included, custom design versus template, who writes the copy, and how much custom functionality is involved. Ask each quote to break those down and the price difference usually explains itself.
Is a £500 website ever worth it? Sometimes. If you need a simple presence and have more time than budget, a builder or junior freelancer at this level is a reasonable start. Just go in knowing it’s a starting point, not a growth asset.
What should I budget for year one in total? Beyond the build, allow for hosting, domain, plugin licences and maintenance. As a rule of thumb, £500 to £1,500 across the year depending on how much support you want. Our care plans run around £75 a month and cover the lot.
How long does a website take to build? Our typical build is around six weeks. The biggest variable is responsiveness: sites move as fast as content, feedback and approvals come back.
