The typical price ranges
DIY website builders such as Wix or Squarespace cost roughly £10–£30 a month, plus your evenings and weekends. A freelancer typically charges £500–£2,000 for a small business site, depending on experience and how much content they write for you. A small agency usually starts around £2,000–£5,000, and larger agencies charge well beyond that.
None of these numbers is wrong. They buy different amounts of design skill, copywriting, project management and accountability. The problem is that from the outside, two websites costing £600 and £4,000 can look superficially similar — so it pays to understand what actually moves the price.
What actually drives the cost up
Page count matters less than people expect. The real cost drivers are custom functionality (booking systems, ecommerce, customer accounts), copywriting from scratch, custom photography or branding, and the number of revision rounds. A five-page marketing site with clear content is a fundamentally different project from anything with a login box.
If a quote seems surprisingly high or low, the difference is almost always in one of those four areas. Ask what is included — specifically who writes the words and how many revisions you get — before comparing numbers.
The ongoing costs nobody mentions upfront
Every website carries running costs: a domain (£10–£30 a year), hosting (£5–£50+ a month), and someone to keep software updated, certificates valid and backups working. With DIY builders these are bundled into the subscription. With freelancer or agency builds, ask directly who maintains the site after launch and what that costs — this is where 'cheap' builds often become expensive.
Where a free build fits honestly
Reflow Digital builds professional marketing websites for accepted small businesses at £0, and earns money only when businesses choose the optional managed hosting at £29 a month. That model works because the build is the sales pitch for the hosting — you see the finished website before paying anything or deciding anything.
Whichever route you choose, the same test applies: a small business website should pay for itself in enquiries. A £0 or £5,000 website that customers cannot find, or that fails to turn visitors into phone calls, is expensive at any price.