How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost?

If you've searched for website development quotes recently, you've probably seen a range that makes no sense. One agency quoted you $15,000. A freelancer on Fiverr offered to do it for $150. A local firm said $4,000. How can something this common vary that much in price?

The answer is that "website" is a vague word. A brochure site for a plumber and a custom e-commerce platform for a national retailer are both "websites." The question is what you're actually buying.

This covers what each price tier includes, anywhere. If you are collecting quotes in Austin, the Austin guide covers local rates and how to evaluate the firms quoting you.

The main price tiers — and what you're actually getting

$0–$40+/month — DIY website builders

Wix, Squarespace, and similar services let you build from templates. You own the content you add, but the published site depends on the platform and an active subscription.

These can work well if you have time to learn the platform and are comfortable doing the design, writing, and upkeep yourself. The tradeoff is the time required and the limits of the platform you choose.

$150–$500 — cheap freelancers and offshore work

At this price, the work is often a lightly customized WordPress theme or template. Quality and support vary widely, and WordPress sites need ongoing software and security maintenance.

Ask exactly what is being customized, who handles maintenance, and what support exists after launch.

$800–$2,500 — specialist studios

This is where you start getting real, professionally crafted websites from a focused studio with the right technical and design experience. Some charge a project fee and others charge hourly; in either case, the scope and ownership terms should be clear before work starts.

At the lower end of this range you get a clean five-page site done properly. At the higher end you get more pages, SEO work done alongside the design, and more complex layouts.

This is the right tier for most small businesses.

$3,000–$10,000 — established freelancers and boutique agencies

More thorough discovery, more pages, more custom functionality. Good for businesses that have specific requirements — booking systems, integrations with existing tools, membership areas.

Legitimate work at this price. The question is whether your business needs what this tier provides, or whether you're paying for overhead.

$10,000+ — agencies

You're paying for account managers, project managers, designers, and developers, plus their office, their sales team, and their profit margin. The work can be excellent. You're also funding a lot of infrastructure that has nothing to do with your website.

Right for large businesses with complex requirements and ongoing retainer relationships. Wrong for most small businesses.

The real question: what do you actually need?

Most small businesses need the same things from a website:

• People can find it on Google when they search for your service in your city
• It loads quickly on a phone
• It's clear what you do and how to contact you
• It looks professional enough that a first-time visitor trusts you

A well-built five-page site does all of this. You don't need a $15,000 website to achieve it.

What drives the price up legitimately

Number of pages. More pages means more design and more content to manage. A 20-page site takes roughly four times as long as a five-page site.

Custom functionality. A contact form is cheap. An online booking system with calendar integration, payment processing, and email confirmations is not.

SEO work. A site with keyword research, optimized page copy, and Search Console setup costs more than the same site without it. The investment usually pays off if you're in a competitive local market.

E-commerce. Selling products online adds significant complexity — product management, payment gateways, inventory, order emails, returns handling. Budget at least $3,000–5,000 for a basic shop, more for anything complex.

What drives the price up for no good reason

Agency overhead. You pay for meetings about meetings, account management layers, and the cost of running a large office. None of this improves your website.

Proprietary platforms. Some agencies build on their own CMS that you can only edit through them, creating permanent dependency. Avoid this.

Vague scope. "A beautiful website that reflects your brand" can mean anything, which means it can cost anything. A good estimate specifies the tasks, expected hours, what's included, and what's not.

What Vertinus charges

Vertinus charges one rate for software development, website work, SEO, updates, and support:

• $49.99 per hour — no pricing tiers or bundled packages
• Estimated before work starts — expected tasks, hours, and schedule in writing
• Billed for time worked — scope changes are discussed before extra work continues
• $50 per month for optional managed care — hosting, one standard-priced domain, DNS, monitoring, backups, and routine technical maintenance

You own the completed code and domain after final payment. Managed care is optional: Vertinus can register and manage the domain and keep the technical foundation running, or you can manage the code, hosting, and domain elsewhere. Content changes, redesigns, and new features are booked at the same hourly rate.

Two costs worth planning for alongside the build: ongoing maintenance, which varies enormously by platform, and the five-year total of whichever option you choose.