A professionally built small-business website costs roughly $1,500–$4,000 for a straightforward brochure site, $3,000–$10,000 for a lead-generating business site, and $5,000–$25,000 for ecommerce — the market’s real 2026 ranges, not folklore. DIY builders cost far less in cash and far more in hours. Use the calculator below for a number scoped to your actual project, then read what each price actually buys.
Get your estimate
Answer four questions — the estimate updates live. It uses the market’s real 2026 ranges; it’s the same arithmetic an honest quote does.
Estimated build: —
Market estimate, not a quote — our real quote is fixed-price, arrives the same business day, and doesn’t expire the moment you hang up.
Website cost by site type — the market’s real ranges
| Site type | 2026 market range | Typical industry timeline | What’s driving the price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page / brochure site (1–5 pages) | $1,500–$4,000 | 2–4 weeks | Design, mobile build, contact forms that actually reach you |
| Small-business site (6–15 pages) | $3,000–$10,000 | 4–8 weeks | Per-page design and copy, SEO-correct structure, tracking wired in |
| Ecommerce store | $5,000–$25,000 | 6–12 weeks | Product architecture, payments, shipping/tax logic, launch testing |
| Redesign of an existing site | $3,000–$12,000 | 4–10 weeks | Everything above plus migration without losing rankings |
One note on those timeline columns: they’re the industry’s, not ours. Our builds go live in as little as 2 days — AI-accelerated drafting with senior human review, with your responsiveness on feedback and materials setting the pace. Details on the web design page.
Why ranges instead of one number? Because the honest answer depends on the four calculator inputs above. What we won’t do is the industry’s favorite trick: a low teaser price that grows a change-order tail. Our quotes are fixed — the number you sign is the number you pay.
How much do web designers usually charge?
Three pricing models dominate, and knowing which one you’re in explains most quote gaps:
- Hourly: freelance web designers commonly bill in the $75–$150/hour band, with rates climbing with specialty and city. Hourly works for small fixes; for full builds it makes the final cost a guess.
- Fixed project price: what we use — a scoped number derived from pages, features, and content, agreed before work starts.
- “Free” website with a monthly fee: the rent-to-own model some vendors sell trades a low entry for perpetual payments and, in the worst versions, a site you never own. Read the exit clause first: who keeps the domain, the files, the content?
How much should I pay someone to design a website?
Pay for the job the site has to do, not the pixels. A site whose job is “exist so people can find our address” is a $1,500–$4,000 problem. A site whose job is “turn searches into booked jobs” justifies the $3,000–$10,000 band, because that build includes the things that do the converting — page-per-service structure, real copy, forms and calls tracked, speed and mobile handled. If a quote at that level doesn’t itemize those, you’re paying business-site money for a brochure.
The reverse rule also holds: when a template is honestly fine — a side project, a placeholder, a validation test — a builder subscription is the right answer, and we’ll tell you so on the call.
Is web design still worth it in 2026?
With AI builders everywhere, fair question. The tools have genuinely gotten better at producing a website; what hasn’t changed is that a website’s value comes from what’s specific to your business — your services, your proof, your neighborhoods, pages structured around what your customers search. That’s judgment and research, not generation. Where sites fail commercially in 2026 it’s almost never “the template looked dated” — it’s unfindable pages, forms nobody tested, and copy that could describe any business in your industry. Paying for design is worth it exactly when it buys those problems solved.
The $500 site vs the $5,000 site — what’s actually inside
| Budget build | Professional build | |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Template as-is, your logo dropped in | Layout built around your services and conversion path |
| Copy | You write it, or placeholder text ships live | Written or edited professionally, structured for search |
| SEO | “SEO-friendly” (means: nothing broken, nothing built) | Titles, structure, schema, redirects, Search Console verified |
| Tracking | None, or an unconfigured Analytics snippet | Form and call conversions actually measured |
| Ownership | Sometimes the vendor’s account, the vendor’s license | Domain, hosting, files, content — all in your name |
| After launch | Goodbye | Care plan available — maintenance plans |
Neither column is wrong. They’re different products, and the industry’s pricing confusion comes from selling both under the same name.
What a redesign costs
Redesigns price like builds with one addition: not breaking what you already have. Moving a ranking site without redirect mapping and structure preservation can vaporize years of accumulated search equity — which is why competent redesigns cost real money ($3,000–$12,000 across the market) and cut-rate ones can cost far more than they save. If your current site ranks for anything, ask any redesign vendor to walk you through their redirect plan before you sign; a blank look is your answer.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to build a website?
The industry norm for a small-business site is 2–4+ weeks, and larger builds run months. Our answer is different: live in as little as 2 days — AI-accelerated build, senior human review — with the honest conditional that your responsiveness on feedback and materials sets the pace. The speed matters most when every week the old site stays up costs real customers.
Is Squarespace cheaper than WordPress?
Upfront, usually yes: a subscription and a template versus a designed build. Over years the gap narrows — subscription fees run forever, and WordPress’s costs shift to hosting and maintenance instead. The real decision is flexibility and ownership versus convenience.
How much does website maintenance cost?
Market-wide: roughly $50–$300/month for basic plans covering updates, backups, security, and small fixes — more for lead-generating and ecommerce sites. Every honest plan itemizes its cadence; ours are on the maintenance page. Budget something: an unmaintained WordPress site is the single most common way small-business sites get hacked or quietly break.
Why do website quotes vary so much?
Because “website” spans a template afternoon and a three-month engineering project, and because many shops price by what the client seems able to pay. Make quotes comparable by holding the inputs fixed — page count, ecommerce, who writes the copy, what happens after launch — which is exactly what the calculator above does.
Based in Queens and want local hands on the build? See our web design services in Queens.