A functional small business website in Canada runs $2,000–$5,000 for a basic template-based design with 5–10 pages, contact forms, and mobile responsiveness. Custom designs with unique layouts, advanced functionality, or e-commerce features push that to $5,000–$10,000. Agencies in Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal charge $100–200/hour for development, while freelancers might quote $50–100/hour but with variable quality and availability. DIY platforms seem cheaper upfront at $15–45/month ($180–540/year), but you're trading money for time and control. Most small business owners underestimate the learning curve and end up with a site that looks generic or performs poorly in search because they can't access technical SEO elements like schema markup, proper heading hierarchy, or server-level speed optimizations. The real cost drivers are functionality and content. A brochure site with stock photos costs far less than one requiring custom photography ($500–2,000), copywriting ($100–150/page), or integrations with booking systems, CRMs, or inventory management. E-commerce adds $1,500–4,000 depending on product count and payment gateway complexity. Ongoing costs matter too. Hosting runs $10–50/month for shared plans, $100–300/month for managed WordPress hosting with better speed and security. Maintenance agreements cost $50–200/month and cover updates, backups, and security patches. Skip maintenance and you risk getting hacked or having your site break when plugins update. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we typically scope small business sites at $3,500–6,500 because we build on WordPress with proper technical foundations, include basic on-page SEO, and set up analytics tracking. We've seen too many clients waste $2,000 on a pretty site that generates zero leads because no one considered search intent, page speed, or conversion paths. Budget for the website as a tool that needs to work, not just exist. If your business relies on local customers finding you online, spending $5,000 once beats losing $500/month in missed opportunities to competitors who show up in search.