How Much Does a Website Cost in the UK in 2026?
A UK website costs roughly £1,500–£5,000 for a small business site on a configured theme, £5,000–£15,000 for a bespoke marketing site, £15,000–£40,000 for a content-managed site with custom functionality, and £40,000+ once there is ecommerce or genuine application logic. Plus hosting, maintenance and content.
The reason quotes vary by a factor of ten for apparently the same brief is that “a website” covers everything from a five-page brochure on a purchased theme to a custom-built platform with integrations. Both are websites. They are not the same product, and the gap is rarely explained before the quotes arrive.
- The cost driver is how much is bespoke versus configured — not page count.
- Content is the most commonly excluded line, and the most common cause of delay.
- Budget 15–25% of build cost per year for maintenance and hosting.
- A cheap site that needs replacing in two years is not cheap.
What you get at each level
| Budget | What it buys | Right for |
|---|---|---|
| £1,500 – £5,000 | Configured theme, standard pages, light customisation | Small businesses needing credible presence |
| £5,000 – £15,000 | Bespoke design and build, custom blocks, basic integrations | Businesses where the site generates enquiries |
| £15,000 – £40,000 | Custom functionality, several integrations, serious content modelling | Sites doing real work — portals, directories, complex catalogues |
| £40,000+ | Ecommerce at scale, or application logic behind the site | The site is the product, not the brochure |
What actually drives the number
- Bespoke versus configured. A purchased theme adjusted is a fraction of a design built for you — and the difference shows most in whether you can extend it later.
- Integrations. Every connected system adds discovery, error handling and testing that rarely appears in the first estimate.
- Content. Whether copy, photography and data entry are yours or theirs. This is the most common hidden cost and the most common cause of a site sitting unlaunched.
- Custom functionality. Calculators, portals, booking, member areas — each is software rather than a page.
- Accessibility and performance targets, if they are genuine requirements rather than aspirations.
The costs most quotes leave out
- Hosting — £10–£100+ a month depending on what the site does.
- Maintenance — updates, backups, security. Typically 15–25% of build cost annually.
- Premium plugin or theme licences, renewed yearly, and worth keeping in your own name.
- Content production, which is almost always excluded unless explicitly included.
- Photography, where stock will not do.
Frequently asked questions
Why are some agencies ten times the price of others?
Mostly scope and overheads. A £2,000 site is a configured theme with your content in it; a £20,000 site is designed and built for you with functionality that does not exist off the shelf. Both can be the right purchase. The problem is when the quotes are compared as if they are the same thing.
Is WordPress cheaper than a custom build?
Usually, because so much exists already. But a WordPress site with heavy custom functionality costs what the functionality costs — the platform saves on foundations, not on the bespoke parts.
How long does a website take?
Four to six weeks for a small configured site, eight to twelve for a bespoke build, longer with custom functionality. The most common cause of delay is not development — it is content arriving late.
Do we own the website?
You should, and it is worth confirming in writing before signing. Ask specifically about the code, the hosting account, the domain and any premium licences. Licences held in an agency’s name are a lock-in most people only discover when they try to leave.
We build bespoke WordPress sites and publish our prices rather than asking you to enquire for a bracket.
