$1,500–$15,000 for most small businesses, depending on whether you go DIY, freelancer, or agency.
Realistic 2026 ranges by approach:
**DIY on Squarespace, Wix, or Shopify ($300–$1,500/year all-in):** Best for service businesses with under 10 pages and no custom integrations. You'll spend the first $30–$80/month on the SaaS plan, $15–$30/year on a domain, and $200–$1,000 on optional template customization. Time investment: 20–60 hours of your own work.
**Freelancer custom build ($2,500–$7,500):** A solo designer/developer typically delivers a 10–25 page custom WordPress, Webflow, or Next.js site in 4–8 weeks. You own the domain, hosting, and source code outright. Ongoing hosting runs $25–$60/month.
**Small agency build ($5,000–$15,000):** A 4–8 person agency adds project management, copywriting, design strategy, and SEO setup. Expected deliverables: 25–50 pages, schema markup, GA4 + Search Console hookup, image optimization, and a 30–90 day post-launch optimization period.
**Mid-market agency build ($15,000–$60,000):** Adds custom illustration, motion design, A/B testing infrastructure, full content strategy, and integrations with CRM/ERP/booking systems.
What actually drives the cost up: integrations (booking, payments, custom CRM), content production (writing 30+ pages of original copy is the hidden time cost), and stock photo replacement with original photography.
What to avoid: any "$99/month forever" pitch that doesn't include source code ownership — over 18–24 months you'll have spent the same as a custom build but you'll own nothing.
- **Should I use WordPress, Webflow, or Shopify for my business website?** — Shopify if you sell products. Webflow if design matters most and you want a working CMS. WordPress if you need maximum flexibility or already have a team that knows it. - **What is Core Web Vitals and how do I fix it?** — Three Google performance metrics — LCP (load speed), INP (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability) — that affect your search rankings. - **How fast should my website load?** — Under 2.5 seconds for the main content (LCP) on mobile 4G. Anything slower and you lose roughly 7% of conversions for every additional second. - **Do I need a custom website or is a template fine?** — A template is fine if your business looks like 1,000 others in your category. Custom is worth it when design itself is part of how you sell.