Using a website builder is the cheapest way to build a website, with most costing around $10-$30 per month. However, there are plenty of other paths, such as WordPress or hiring a web designer.
I’ve tested builders for years, so I know that cost and affordability are important factors, especially for small businesses. But, depending on your site or business needs, a website can cost you nothing to build or thousands of dollars. This guide will break down pricing, hidden fees, and ways to save money when creating your website.
- A website builder is the most affordable option, with costs ranging from $2.99 to $299 per month
- Business websites should avoid free plans if possible, since these usually include ads and lack basic features
- Hiring a web designer is the most expensive route, costing upwards of $5,000
- Budget for ongoing or additional fees, such as domain names, hosting, and apps
I’ve reviewed the page to ensure the pricing and recommendations are accurate, as of December 2025. I’ve also made the costs involved with each method much clearer for readers scanning through the guide.
Quick Overview of Website Costs
The cost of your website can range anywhere between $2.99 per month to an upfront fee of $5,000, depending on how you create it:
Website Cost Overview
- Website builder – Approx. $1.99 to $299 per month
- WordPress – Approx. $11 to $1,000 upfront (+ ongoing costs)
- Web designer – Approx. $1,000 to $5,000 upfront (+ ongoing costs)
The right website building route for you will depend on your budget, amount of free time, and level of technical expertise:
You’re a small business working with a limited budget, or are new to building websites and want to pay for a plan that already comes with the features you need.
You want more control over how much you spend on additional costs, or you feel comfortable with building a site from scratch, without a helping hand.
You’re working on a larger project and you don’t mind paying more to have greater control over your website’s final look.
Website builders are the best option in most cases because of their user-friendly editors, built-in features (such as hosting and security), and responsive customer support.
Building with WordPress comes with additional costs, such as plugins and hosting, and choosing to hire a web designer can be a very costly process.
If you’re still undecided on what route to take, check out our YouTube deep dive below:
How Much Does a Website Builder Cost?
- 💰 Typical costs: $2.99 to $299 per month
- 💻 Our recommendation: Wix, Hostinger, and GoDaddy
- ✅ Free website builders: Yes
A website builder is the most affordable way to create and manage a website. The best value for money options are Wix and GoDaddy, which start at $17 and $9.99 per month respectively, when billed annually.
In 2025, we spent over 300 hours testing and reviewing the best website builders. And part of this research process involves analyzing pricing plans to check the costs involved with getting online. Here’s the need-to-know pricing information for our top builders:
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Overall rating
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Today's best price
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Free plan or free trial
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AI website builder
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Recommended for
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Best Free Plan
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Cheapest Plan
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Affordable Upgrades
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14-Day Free Trial
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Best Scalability for Stores
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Wix |
Hostinger |
GoDaddy |
Squarespace |
Shopify |
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4.8
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4.2
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4.1
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4.5
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4.2
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Free plan |
14-day free trial |
Free plan |
14-day free trial |
3-day free trial |
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Businesses promoting their online presence |
Freelancers and budget-conscious users |
Tech novices and side hustlers |
Creatives, portfolios and service-based businesses |
Online stores |
Our top ecommerce website builders cost between $16 and $299 per month (billed annually). These plans are definitely pricier than general website builder plans, but that’s to be expected, since you’re unlocking additional sales tools and business support for your online store.
Adding ecommerce functionality usually means upgrading to a more expensive plan, but some website builders, such as Shopify and Squarespace, let you sell on any plan.
Can You Build a Website for Free?
You can build a website for free with select website builders, such as Wix. This can be valuable for anyone on a tight budget, but I recommend upgrading to a premium plan as soon as possible.
Free website builder plans usually come with drawbacks, such as:
- Ads on your website
- No custom domain name
- Low storage space
- Limited features
- No ecommerce functionality
You can use a free website builder to see if a platform is the right fit for you. It’s great for testing out the editor and features, or improving your website building skills without any financial pressure. But, you’ll want to upgrade to unlock advanced tools.
How Much Does Web Hosting Cost?
- 💰 Typical costs: $1 – $200+ per month
- 💻 Our recommendation: Bluehost for WordPress
- ✅ Free web hosting: No
Hosting providers can charge anywhere between $1 and $25 per month for basic shared hosting. You’ll only have to pay for hosting separately if you choose to build a website with WordPress, whereas website builders include it in your monthly subscription price.
Of the web hosting providers we’ve tested, Bluehost is our top-rated choice, with pricing starting from $3.95 per month. It’s even recommended by WordPress, and you can upgrade to more advanced hosting types, such as VPS or dedicated hosting, for better resources at a higher price.
The downside to building your site with WordPress is having to pay for these essentials separately. Along with hosting, you’ll need to source security, templates, plugins, and more, which can increase your upfront costs dramatically.
For beginners, website builders are more user-friendly and accessible than WordPress. Plus, website builders bundle everything together including hosting, security, features and templates, so it’s much more convenient, since you’re just paying one fee for everything.WordPress gives you complete control over how your site looks and what you pay for, but I’d only recommend using it if you’ve got prior website building experience and the skills to manage everything yourself.
How Much Does Hiring a Web Designer Cost?
- 💰 Typical costs: $1,000 – $5,000+ upfront
- 💻 Our recommendation: Freelancers and design agencies
- ✅ Free web designers: No
Hiring a web designer to do the heavy lifting for you will typically cost around $50 to $200 per hour, making this the most expensive method of building a website. However, knowing what to budget for a designer can be difficult, since their fees and time required are variable.
However, this is the hardest price to estimate because it varies depending on a designer’s rates – it could set you back a few hundred dollars upfront, with additional fees for ongoing maintenance.
Here are a few key pros and cons to the method:
Pros
✔️ Good for complex or large websites
✔️ Helps you prioritize other work
✔️ Get a completely custom website
✔️ No need to learn website building skills
✔️ Pay for what you need
Cons
❌ Expensive to hire and costs can vary
❌ Could pay and get a poorly-designed website
❌ Not necessary for personal or small sites
❌ Takes time to get your site live
❌ Lack of creative control
Do You Need a Web Designer?
If you’re not confident with building a website but don’t have the budget to spend on a professional designer, you could consider using an AI website builder instead to handle the design work for you. We’ve weighed up the pros and cons of building a website with AI vs hiring a freelancer, so you can see which is the best option for your business.
You can cut web design costs by vibe coding a basic version of your website then handing the code over to a freelancer on a platform such as Fiverr. Here’s what costs look like for this hybrid approach:
- Low tier vibe coding plan: $10 to $20 per month
- Freelancer fees for the last 20% of work: Around $250
Here’s how it works: Vibe coding tools build your website’s code from natural language prompts. You describe the style, layout, elements, and functionality you want, and AI will write the code for you.
Once you’ve created your website prototype, you can share the code with a freelance web designer, who can review and finetune it for a fraction of the cost of managing the whole project.
How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?
- 💰 Typical costs: $10 – $20 for one year
- 💻 Our recommendation: GoDaddy, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, Hostinger
- ✅ Free domains: Sometimes included with website builder packages
Buying a custom domain name for your website is a great way to build brand awareness. Some website builders include a custom domain name for free (usually for the first year of your plan), but you’ll eventually need to pay to keep your name registered.
A standard .com domain name can cost around $10 to $20 per year.
The cost of a domain name varies depending on your registrar, such as GoDaddy or NameCheap, the TLD (meaning the .com part of the address), and how popular the domain name is.
If you’re purchasing a domain directly from a domain name registrar, remember to compare the prices across different registrars to find the best deal for your business. And don’t forget to look at the renewal prices so you’re not caught by surprise!
Additional Website Costs
There are plenty of additional fees to consider when figuring out how much a website should cost. When browsing website builder plans, see if the following features are included, or make a note if you’ll have to pay extra:
- Templates – For example, the majority of Shopify’s templates have a one-time fee, ranging between $100 and $500
- Apps – Squarespace’s Acuity Scheduling tool costs extra to use (starting from $16/mo)
- Security – An SSL certificate and fraud detection tools will be added costs if you use WordPress
- Content – You’ll need to hire a professional if you don’t feel confident writing or producing your own content
- SEO – SEO experts can help you optimize your website for a fee (but it’s best if you rely on your website builder’s built-in SEO tools)
- Maintenance – You might need to pay extra for tools to track your website’s performance
How To Reduce Your Website Costs
You need to spend your time and money wisely to get the best results, but you don’t need a huge budget to create a professional website.
Here are my top tips to help you save money when building your site:
- Think about present needs first (you can upgrade down the line!)
- Use a cheap website builder
- Don’t pay for extra features you don’t need
- Choose a free template
- Use available resources and guides to upskill
Final Bill: How Much Should a Website Cost?
Below, I’ve summarized the costs we’ve discussed already and the different paths you can take when building your website:
- Website builders – $0 and $299 per month
- WordPress – $11 and $1,000+ upfront
- Web designers – $1,000 and $5,000+ upfront (vary in price)
With these costs involved, using a website builder is the most affordable and beginner-friendly option. The costs are minimal, depending on your chosen plan, and everything’s bundled under one price tag to keep things simple.
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