What a small business website really costs, fees included

A website costs more than the build price. You'll also pay for a domain, email, and hosting, plus any changes after launch. Most quotes leave at least one of those out.

I'm going to walk through what a site with us costs, including the parts you don't pay us for. Then I'll show you the questions to ask any web designer, us included.

Other companies' prices in this post are accurate as of October 22, 2026, and ours as of October 26, 2026. Prices change, so check the current numbers before you buy. Ours are always up to date on our packages page.

The fees that surprise people

These are the costs that show up after you've already said yes.

• Domain renewals. Your domain is your web address. Network Solutions charges $9.99 for the first year of a .com, then $34.99 a year after that. Porkbun charges about $11 both years. Same product, very different second bill.
• Hosting renewals. Cheap hosting deals often triple at renewal. Hostinger's pricing page lists one plan at $2.49 a month, renewing at $10.99. You also have to prepay four years to get the low price.
• Plugin licenses. WordPress sites often run paid add-ons that renew every year. WP Rocket, a popular speed plugin, runs $59.95 to $299.95 a year. Yoast SEO Premium is $118.80 a year. A few of these add up fast.
• Who holds the domain. Some providers register your domain in their own name. If you leave, getting it back can be a fight. Always ask whose name is on it.

Website builders have their own version of this. I covered Squarespace and Wix pricing in our post on builders vs custom sites.

What a site with us costs

Our current prices are always on our packages page. Here's the rough shape, so you know what to budget.

Paying once:

• Our sites cost $1,495 to $4,995, depending on how many pages you need and whether we write the words for you. Your first year of hosting is included.
• $300 a year for hosting after that. We email you 30 days before it renews.
• Your domain, paid to whatever company you buy it from. Usually $10 to $20 a year.
• Business email if you want it. Google Workspace starts at $7 per person a month.

After year one, a site you edit yourself costs about $310 to $320 a year to keep online, plus email if you use it.

The monthly plans

If you'd rather not pay up front, our monthly plans spread the build over 12 or 24 months with nothing down. On 24 months, they start at $149 a month.

Each payment covers two things. Part of it pays off the build. The rest covers hosting, monitoring, backups, and 30 minutes to 2 hours of edits a month, depending on the package. If something urgent breaks during business hours, we get on it the same business day.

Over two years, a monthly plan costs about the same as paying once and adding our Care Essential plan at $119 a month. The real choice is whether you want Care. If you're happy making your own edits, paying once and skipping Care is much cheaper.

After your last payment, the site is yours and the price drops to Care Essential at $119 a month, month to month. You can cancel it with 30 days' notice. If you drop Care, you can keep hosting on its own for $300 a year.

If you cancel early

If you leave a monthly plan early, Care stops at the end of that month. You only owe the build part you haven't paid yet, and it never costs more than paying once would have. You can pay it all at once or keep paying monthly. Then we hand over the code and help you move the site.

We don't charge a buyout fee. We don't charge late fees or interest either.

What costs extra with us

These are the things we charge for beyond the package:

• Extra pages and adding a blog have set prices, listed on our packages page.
• Every build includes one or two rounds of changes, depending on the package. Changes past that are $125 an hour, and we tell you the estimate first.
• Bigger features like online stores or logins get a written quote first. Our services page lists starting prices.

If your site ever needs a paid upgrade from a service it runs on, we tell you the cost in writing 30 days ahead. Nothing changes until you agree.

Questions to ask any web designer

Ask these before you sign with anyone:

• Whose name is the domain registered in?
• What does hosting cost after the first year?
• What's the hourly rate for changes after launch?
• If I leave, do I get the site, or just my words and photos?
• What do I owe if I cancel early?

If the answers aren't in writing, ask for them in writing. A good designer won't mind.

Want me to price out a site for your business? Get in touch and I'll send you every number up front.