How Much Does a Website Cost in the UK?
Having a well-functioning website is a must for all businesses nowadays. In the United Kingdom, most businesses have shifted online to generate a good database of online leads. They have partnered with expert website designers across the globe to make their startups stand out in this competitive market. But, how much does a website cost UK?
Getting your business online and selecting the best website design agency is a challenging process. However, if you get on a consultation call with the right company like Creative Nexa, you can save a lot of time and effort. To help you further, we have crafted this detailed blog on “How much does it cost for a website UK?” in 2025. Keep reading to know the country’s pricing structure.
Here is a quick rundown of typical website prices:
- Basic websites: £1,500 to £5,000
- Mid-Range Websites: Around £8,000
- Enterprise-Level Sites: £10,000 to £15,000.
But that is only the beginning. The final price will depend on whether you employ a freelancer, an agency, or a site builder.
In the meantime, maintenance of the site regularly will cost around £50 to £70 an hour, which will equate to £300 to £1,000 annually, depending on the amount of help needed.
How Does the Development Team Type Affect Website Costs in the UK?
Employing a freelancer can be anywhere from £20 to £50 per hour, while outsourcing to a UK web development company typically ranges from £30 to £50 per hour.
In-house teams can range from over £30,000 annually (or over 1,000 hours of work) depending on the scope of the website.
Below is a rundown of the cost of different team types when creating a simple 5-page website or an e-commerce site.
|
Team Type |
Cost |
|
Freelancer |
£20 to £50 per hour |
|
Outsource Agency |
£30 to £50 per hour |
|
In-house Team |
Over £30,000 per year (for approximately 1,000 hours of work) |
Freelancers
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
|
|
Web development agencies
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
|
Companies bring a team of specialists with diverse skills, providing a comprehensive approach that covers all aspects of web development. |
|
Selecting the right development firm is crucial to maintaining website expenses in check. For further details, refer to this concise guide on How to Select a Web Development Team.
Regardless of whether you hire freelancers, an internal team, or a development firm, the ultimate price differs.
Now that we’ve covered how various team types impact website development costs, let’s examine another key factor: location.
Website development costs could be widely different throughout the UK. Let’s see how prices differ by city.
How Does the Cost of Website Vary by City in the UK?
When it comes to website development, the average price differs considerably from city to city in the UK.
The capital city of London has the most expensive cost of living and doing business, while cities like Leeds can be more accommodating in their pricing.
Here is a comparison table of the average website development costs for four major cities:
|
City |
Cost |
|
London |
£80 to £150 per hour |
|
Manchester |
£60 to £120 per hour |
|
Birmingham |
£60 to £120 per hour |
|
Leeds |
£60 to £120 per hour |
Factors Influencing the Website Development Costs UK
“How much does it cost to build a website UK?” It’s important to know the factors behind its pricing. Find them below:
- Agency (Additional costs charged by the designers and company owners)
- Freelancer (Web design fees taken by individual designers)
- Development (The actual costs incurred to design and develop the website)
- SEO (Website maintenance to help it rank)
- Content Marketing (Publishing blogs and promoting them)
The potential cost of using a web design agency based abroad
You might have thought about using a freelancer or an overseas agency. Before you shell out any cash, have a look at some of the following points to prevent possible expensive errors:
Language barriers – Do you have time to work with a web designer whose native language is not English? Or, more importantly, what time? With the amount of language in the industry, it’s easy enough to get miscommunication of requirements, and you can discover that even after your second or third try, the firm still doesn’t entirely understand them.
Inability to comprehend your business – this must likely come first on the list because it is so important. If your web designer cannot comprehend your market, they stand little chance of creating a site that can successfully convert visitors.
Lack of support: A website is not identical to a Word document. Alas, you cannot just abandon it; it, like any other software on your laptop, needs periodic updates with the latest security patches and bug fixes.
It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that your site is much more prone to failing than your laptop because it’s sitting out on the internet exposed, and everyone’s had a breakdown with their laptop at one point or another. Micro businesses, freelancers, and other small design businesses will not be interested in giving ongoing support for your site because they wish to settle their bills at month-end with the next client’s site project.
Selecting a slightly bigger agency which desires to establish a relationship with you is essential, and a team-based business is far more likely to offer improved support.
Low quality – the lower the price of a site, the less time that can be spent on it by the designer. Of course, a web design team in a low-wage nation can potentially spend more time on the site, but there is a limit, and the designs often look out of date and inept.
High Risk: How do you plan to pay for your site? PayPal and Escrow are great for buying physical things, but they don’t cover digital products much. That’s why you won’t find many agencies that accept PayPal as payment, since neither party is protected.
If something goes wrong and you’ve already paid someone money overseas, you have no protection. If you’re prepared to take the risk of dealing with an agency from outside the UK, be informed that you’re trusting someone not to bolt with your cash. Dealing with our UK-based employees assures you of dealing with an established, insured limited company with a comprehensive dispute resolution procedure. If you have an unresolved dispute, you can also approach the Small Claims Court.
Why you shouldn’t take the cheapest option when considering the cost of web design
The value of a UK employment agency’s average transaction is £2000. A professional website design company would pay you approximately £500-1000 for designing your site, while a cheaper option would pay you about £200. You took the much lower option, and the site was ultimately built and put up.
It’s fine, but by no means perfect; there are a couple of problems with the mobile version, the graphics are fuzzy, there are a couple of spelling mistakes, and it takes ages to load. But it’s finished now, so you can just leave it?! Wrong.
A prospective client is looking for a local recruitment agency and has come to your site before going on to your rivals’. You just lost potentially thousands of dollars in business and a client who would have been a great addition to your portfolio. Why? Because your website is often the first impression of your company as a whole.
Fundamental flaws on your website are no different than having a cluttered storefront, stains in your carpets, and a pile of boxes by the front door. It doesn’t look professional and makes an adverse first impression upon a would-be buyer.
How Much Does it Cost to Make a Website UK (Brief Answer)?
You can expect a minimal charge of around £100 per year for a simple website. These prices can go up to £10,000 and beyond for a very large, complex website.
The Basic Tools Needed
Every website is carved out of five basic building blocks. The table below provides a rough guide to these tools and their costs:
|
Tools needed to build a website |
|
|
Element |
Cost upfront |
|
Domain name |
£0-£30 |
|
Web hosting |
£0-£500+ |
|
Content (words, photos, videos) |
£0-£5,000+ |
|
Website security |
£0-120+ |
|
SEO and marketing |
£0-£500 |
Domain name
These are the website names that you must have typed at least once in your life (Example: XYZ.com, abc.uk, etc.). You may call them “website addresses” or similar.
How much does it cost to run a website UK? The price of a domain name depends on the type of extension you use. For instance. ‘.com’ and ‘.in’ are the most common names that rank well. But these can cost around £0-£30 a year to remain active. Note that some high-demand domain extensions can cost much more than these ranges in a year.
Web hosting
A website consists of various computer files that need to be stored somewhere — that place is a web host or a server.
A web server is essentially a host computer that is always connected to the internet and never switched off.
Now, you could build your own web host for your website, but that is too costly for many businesses.
That’s why web hosting exists. Essentially, it involves paying a company, such as GoDaddy or Namecheap, to host your website on your behalf.
How much does it cost to host a website UK? The price of web hosting ranges currently between £3.99 and £42.99 a month (excluding dedicated servers), although there are special offers that can make already-set costs for your website lower.
Content
This includes articles, infographics, videos, or any multimedia file that you want to put up on your website. The type of content you need will depend greatly on your business, the location you serve, the website functionality you want, and the products/services you trade in.
For standard websites, you may manage the content part by yourself. However, for a complex website built on coding, you’ll have to hire a designer or a copywriter to create fresh content.
Website security
With cyber-hacking rising rapidly, you need to keep your website as secure as possible. You need to use an SSL certificate on your site to tackle this. Additionally, you may want to invest in extra website security software, as this will help you protect your website.
SEO and marketing
Creating a website isn’t enough. You’ll have to market yourself to generate organic or paid leads. This is achieved through SEO and paid advertising on Google and other search engines. It may further add to upfront costs if you can’t do it alone.
How Much Does it Cost to Create a Website UK (Detailed Answer)?
|
Cost of creating a basic website |
|
|
Feature |
With a web designer/Agency |
|
Design |
£4,500* |
|
Website Builder annual cost |
N/A |
|
Hosting |
£170/year |
|
Domain name |
£15/year |
|
SSL certificate |
Free-£90/year |
|
Maintenance |
£600/year |
|
Minimum cost 1st year |
£5,375 |
|
Ongoing annual cost |
£875 and up |
All businesses don’t need dozens of pages. Sometimes, a standard size of 5-6 pages can make you win. It will consist of details such as:
- Product/service overview
- Your success story
- Reviews from your happy customers
- Your contact details
- Blog
- Links to your social media accounts
Simple, nothing fancy. This kind of website is more suitable for service providers, traders, and other people who want to attract online leads but do not want to convert them physically.
Cost of creating a hospitality sector website
|
Cost of creating a hospitality sector website |
|
|
Feature |
With a web designer/Agency |
|
Design |
£4,500 and up* |
|
Website Builder annual cost |
N/A |
|
Hosting |
£170/year |
|
Domain name |
£15/year |
|
SSL certificate |
Free-£90/year |
|
Maintenance |
£600/year* |
|
Minimum cost 1st year |
£5,375 |
|
Ongoing annual cost |
£875 and up |
If you’re running a cafe or bar, you’ll have to let people know what and where you serve. Including items such as a menu, reviews, maps and directions, photos, and comments should be your top priority. Adding a blog section to keep your readers updated about events and special offers is a plus.
Cost of creating a small to medium e-commerce website
If you’re about to take your e-commerce business online, adding relevant categories like return policies, blogs, contact details, etc., would be a plus. The main website focus will be the products you deal with. In case you have a physical store, including a map and directions is a must.
How much does a website cost per month UK in this regard? The table above clarifies everything.
|
Cost of creating a small to medium e-commerce website |
|
|
Feature |
With a web designer/agency |
|
Design |
£5,000-£10,000 |
|
Online Store annual cost |
N/A |
|
Hosting |
£240/year |
|
Domain name |
£15/year |
|
SSL certificate |
£50/year |
|
Maintenance |
£2,000+/year |
|
Cost in the first year |
£5,305-£10,305 |
|
Ongoing annual cost |
£2,305+ |
Cost of creating a large-scale e-commerce website
|
Cost of creating a large e-commerce website |
|
|
Feature |
With a web designer/agency |
|
Design |
£7,000-£20,000 |
|
Hosting |
£635/year |
|
Domain name |
£15/year |
|
SSL certificate |
£50/year |
|
Maintenance |
£3,500+/year |
|
Cost in the first year |
£7,700-£20,700 |
|
Ongoing annual cost |
£4,200+ |
If you want to sell thousands of products, or you have other complicated requirements, then you’ll need a more powerful website.
As you might have guessed correctly, this will cost you more.
How much does it cost to maintain a website UK in this regard? For a large e-commerce website, you’ll have to appoint an expert web designer and the cost will reflect that.
Cost of creating a large, complex website
Complex websites are built on coding, and content management systems like Joomla, Drupal, Wix, etc. This will surely require you to hire an expert web designer like Creative Nexa. How much does it cost to maintain a website UK in this regard? Connect with us to know more. In brief, hiring a developer on a full-time or freelance basis adds to more upfront costs.
|
The cost of a large, advanced website |
|
|
Feature |
With a designer/website design company |
|
Design |
£10,000+ |
|
Hosting |
£1,120+/year |
|
Domain name |
£15/year |
|
SSL certificate |
£50/year |
|
Maintenance |
£10,000+/year |
|
Cost in the first year |
£11,185+/year |
|
Ongoing annual cost |
£11,185+/year |
What’s the average cost of building your own website in 2025?
|
Wix |
£9 – £25/month |
|
Squarespace |
£12 – £35/month |
|
GoDaddy |
£7.99 – £13.99/month |
|
IONOS |
£1 – £17/month |
|
Shopify |
£19-£259/month |
|
BigCommerce |
$29-USD 299/month |
1.Cost of using a paid WordPress theme
WordPress is the most popular website builder. It requires no coding and provides fantastic content management.
This CMS gives you complete control over all of the content on your website, which is important. Why? Regularly adding new content to your pages helps give your search engine rankings a boost.
2.Cost of using WordPress Themes (Paid ones)
|
Theme |
Costs |
|
Avada |
$60 or £48 one-off free |
|
Divi |
$89/year or £70/year |
|
Flatsome |
$60 or £48 one-off fee |
3.Domain Name Costs
|
Domain Type |
Charges |
|
.co.uk |
£5.99/year |
|
.com |
£9.99/year |
Let Us Create An Impactful Business Solution Together
creativenexa is a group of talented web and mobile app developers striving to deliver you the best development solutions in town!
FAQs
Here are some common queries related to the UK app development cost:
Is it worth paying someone to build a website?
Yes. If you’re a good designer or marketer, you can do it yourself. However, if that’s not your area of expertise, consider hiring a pro like Creative Nexa. We can help brand your business and website for optimal customer experience and conversion.
Is it cheaper to build my own website?
Yes, if you have hands-on experience. A simple website can charge you as little as $16 per month, but more complex sites involving the help of an expert (designers, copywriters, photographers, etc.) can cost more than $10,000 in total.
Is WordPress cheaper than Wix?
Yes, WordPress is generally more cost-effective compared to Wix. It gives you various budget-friendly plans to suit your pockets, contrary to other website builders.
Which domain is best for the UK?
The domain name ‘.co.uk’ is considered the best for UK businesses, as it is indexed well by the search engines, compared to other domains like .com or .org.
Should you use a website builder or hire a web designer?
Website builders are good to go if you want a standard site and don’t require any HTML or CSS coding knowledge. However, if you do not have time for design and development, hiring a web designer is the best option.
How much does GoDaddy cost UK?
GoDaddy UK charges differently according to the plan and service you select.
- A .com domain is charged at £0.01 for the first year if bought for three years.
- Domain transfer is £8.81 and comes with one year of free registration
- Domain auctions are £3.93 per annum for a yearly membership
- Domain broker service is £94.99 per domain plus 20% commission
How much does it cost to develop a website in the UK?
The cost of creating a website can range anywhere from around £120 to over £10,000. For the average SME, it will be near the bottom end of that range.
Conclusion
How much does a website cost UK? To sum up, the price of building a site can range anywhere from around £120 to over £10,000. For the average smaller companies, it will be near the bottom end of that range.
Creative Nexa guarantees the success of your online business if you partner with our web developers in the UK. Not only do we suggest affordable pricing, but we also provide quality services.
