The short answer. For a typical small business site (five to ten pages, a contact form, built to show up in local search), expect roughly:
- Build it yourself on a website builder: about $17–$49 a month, plus your own time.
- A freelancer: about $1,000–$5,000 up front.
- An agency: about $3,000–$15,000 or more up front.
- A monthly website plan: about $50–$300 a month.
The upfront price is only part of the story. Compare what each option costs over three years, including everything that comes after launch.
The four ways to get a website
1. Build it yourself with a website builder
Website builders such as Wix and Squarespace give you templates, hosting and a drag-and-drop editor. Their business plans run roughly $17–$49 a month; check their pricing pages for current rates.
Good for: brand-new businesses on a tight budget, owners who enjoy this kind of work, and simple sites that rarely change.
Watch out for: the time. Picking a template is quick. Writing every page, finding photos, setting up forms and learning enough SEO to be found take far longer than most owners expect. That time has a cost, even if it never shows up on an invoice.
2. Hire a freelancer
A freelance designer or developer builds the site for a one-off fee, typically about $1,000–$5,000 for a small business site, depending on the number of pages, how custom the design is, and features such as booking or online payments.
Good for: businesses that want a custom look without agency prices, and owners who are comfortable managing the project.
Watch out for: what happens after launch. Ask who hosts the site, who applies updates, what changes cost and how quickly they’ll respond. Plenty of freelancers are excellent; some move on to other work, and a site nobody maintains slowly breaks.
3. Hire an agency
An agency brings a team: strategy, design, copywriting, development and project management. Expect about $3,000–$15,000 or more, and well above that for large or complex builds.
Good for: businesses with complex needs, several locations, connections to other software, or a brand that needs a full creative process.
Watch out for: paying for more than you need. A two-truck plumbing company rarely needs a three-month discovery phase. Agency care plans and retainers also add a monthly cost on top of the build.
4. A monthly website plan
Sometimes called “website as a service”: instead of a large upfront fee, you pay a small setup fee and then a monthly subscription, roughly $50–$300 a month, that covers the build, hosting, security, updates and a set number of changes.
Good for: owners who want a professional site without a big upfront bill, and who would rather hand off hosting, updates and changes.
Watch out for: contracts and ownership. Check for a minimum term, what leaving early costs, and whether you keep your domain and your content. A good plan puts those numbers in writing and doesn’t hold your site hostage.
The costs people forget
The build happens once. Running a website costs something every year, and these items are easy to leave out of the budget:
- Domain name: usually about $10–$25 a year for a .com. Make sure it’s registered to your business, or that you can have it transferred to you.
- Hosting: where the site lives. Included with builders and most monthly plans; otherwise anything from a few dollars to $50 or more a month, depending on quality.
- SSL certificate: the padlock in the address bar. Usually free these days, but someone has to set it up and make sure it keeps renewing.
- Updates and security: software, plugins and themes need regular updates. Cleaning up a hacked site costs far more than protecting it.
- Changes: new prices, services, staff, photos, holiday hours. If you pay by the hour, small edits add up over a year.
- SEO: showing up when people search for your service in your city takes ongoing work on your site, your Google Business Profile and your listings. It’s not a box you tick once. (Here’s how we approach local SEO in Atlanta.)
- The cost of a site nobody finds: the biggest one. A beautiful site that doesn’t appear when nearby customers search brings in nobody. If one new customer is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to you, being invisible is the most expensive option on this list.
What it really costs over three years
Here’s how the options compare once you add the running costs to the build:
| Option | Up front | Ongoing | 3-year total (approx.) | Your time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | $0 | $17–$49/mo, plus a domain | $650–$1,850 | High: you build and maintain it |
| Freelancer | $1,000–$5,000 | Hosting and domain, about $15–$40/mo; changes billed as needed | $1,550–$6,500 + changes | Medium: you manage the project |
| Agency | $3,000–$15,000+ | Care plan or retainer, often about $50–$250/mo | $4,800–$24,000+ | Medium: meetings and approvals |
| Monthly website plan | $0–$500 setup | $50–$300/mo, hosting, updates and changes included | $1,800–$11,300 | Low: send content, approve |
| Total Stack website plans | $0 setup on a 12-month plan | $99–$299/mo from launch, hosting, updates and changes included | $3,564–$10,764 | Low: send content, approve |
Approximate ranges for a small business site of five to ten pages, over 36 months, before sales tax. Your own time isn’t counted. Total Stack figures assume monthly billing from launch on a 12-month plan with no setup fee; with annual billing (pay for 10 months, get 12) they come to $2,970–$8,970. Domains are billed separately on our plans.
How to choose
Price matters, but these questions usually decide it:
- How much time do you really have? If your evenings are already full, building it yourself is the expensive option in disguise.
- How often does your information change? Seasonal menus, changing prices and new services favor an option that includes changes.
- Does the site need to bring in customers from Google? If most of your work comes from referrals, a simple site may be plenty. If you need calls from people searching nearby, budget for local SEO.
- Up front or monthly? A one-off build costs more today and less each month; a plan spreads the cost and includes upkeep. Neither is wrong; pick the one that suits your cash flow.
- Who do you call when something breaks? Get a name and an idea of how quickly they respond before you pay anyone.
- What do you own if you leave? Your domain and your content should always be yours. Ask before you sign.
Where Total Stack fits
We’re an Atlanta team that builds custom websites on monthly plans. There’s no setup fee on a 12-month plan, and your plan only begins when your site launches, after you’ve seen it. You can cancel anytime, with no cancellation fee. Prefer no term? Month-to-month is the same price plus a $299 setup fee. Annual billing gets you 12 months for the price of 10.
- Base website: $99 a month, $0 setup. Set it and forget it.
- Semi-managed: $149 a month, $0 setup. For businesses that update often.
- SEO only: $149 a month, $0 setup. For a website nobody can find.
- Fully managed + SEO: $299 a month, $0 setup. To own local search.
Every website plan includes custom design, hosting, SSL, security and updates, and you send us changes from the portal. See exactly what each plan includes on our pricing page, or read more about web design for Atlanta businesses.
Weighing up doing it yourself? Read our honest comparison: Wix vs hiring a web designer.