If you are looking for the cheapest way to get a website in the UK, the honest answer is "it depends what you are counting". Count only cash, and a DIY builder wins easily. Count your own evenings, the renewals nobody mentions, and what the site actually brings in, and the order changes.
This guide lays out the four realistic routes for a small business - DIY builder, freelancer, agency, pay-monthly - and what each tends to cost over three years, which is roughly how long a small business website lasts before it needs a proper refresh.
The four ways to get a small business website
- DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and similar): you pick a template and build it yourself. You pay a subscription; the platform hosts it.
- Freelancer: one person designs and builds it for a fixed fee. Hosting and changes are either extra or arranged separately.
- Agency: a team with a process, a project manager and a bigger price. Usually a large upfront fee plus a monthly retainer or hosting plan.
- Pay-monthly: little or nothing upfront, a fixed monthly fee that covers the build, hosting and some changes, usually with a minimum term.
What each route really costs over three years
These are rough market ranges for a small local business site of around five pages, based on the prices commonly quoted across the UK at the time of writing. They are not quotes. Your own quotes will vary, and that is the point of doing the maths yourself.
| Route | Upfront | Ongoing | Rough 3-year total | Your time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | £0 | £150–£400 a year, incl. domain | £450–£1,200 | 20–40 hours to build, plus upkeep |
| Freelancer | £500–£2,000 | £10–£50 a month hosting/care | £860–£3,800 | A few hours of briefing |
| Agency | £2,500–£10,000 | £50–£300 a month | £4,300–£20,800 | Meetings, sign-offs, content |
| Pay-monthly | £0–£300 | £30–£150 a month | £1,080–£5,700 | A short call, usually |
Why the DIY builder is not always the cheapest
A builder subscription is genuinely cheap, and for some businesses it is the right answer. But three things tend to be left out of the comparison.
First, your time. Twenty to forty hours of evenings choosing templates, writing copy and fighting with layouts on mobile is a real cost if you could have spent it quoting or working. Second, introductory prices: several builders discount the first term or bundle a free domain for year one, so year two costs more than year one. Third, the result. A tidy template with vague copy and no clear call to action can cost you more in lost enquiries than it ever saved.
None of that means DIY is a mistake. It means the comparison should be three years of total cost against three years of enquiries, not month one against month one.
When a freelancer is the cheapest option
A good freelancer at the lower end of the market can be the best value of all, especially if you are happy to handle small changes yourself afterwards. The risks are practical rather than financial: what happens if they get busy, move on, or stop answering? Before paying, make sure the domain is registered in your name, you have the hosting login, and you know who to call if something breaks.
When an agency is worth the money
An agency is almost never the cheapest route, and it is not trying to be. What you pay for is a team, a process and capacity: strategy, design, copy, development and testing handled by different people, with someone managing the project. For a business with complicated requirements - integrations, a large product range, several locations - that can be worth it.
For a sole trader or small local business with five or six pages to publish, it is usually more than the job needs. If an agency quote is several times the others, ask what specifically you are getting for the difference, and whether you need it.
When pay-monthly works out cheaper
Pay-monthly spreads the build cost over the contract, so the cash hit on day one is small. Over three years it is often in the same range as a freelancer, and it usually includes hosting, security and a set number of changes - which are the things that quietly cost money on other routes.
The catch is the contract. Check the minimum term, what happens when it ends, and whether you own your domain. We cover all of that in our guide to pay-monthly websites explained.
How to work out your own cheapest option
- Get every price as upfront plus monthly, then multiply the monthly by 36 and add the two together.
- Add renewals: domain, email, any premium plugins or apps, and the year-two price of any introductory plan.
- Put a number on your time. If you would spend 30 hours building it, what are 30 hours of your work worth?
- Ask what is included: hosting, SSL, backups, changes, support. Anything not included will cost you later.
- Ask what happens when you leave. The cheapest site to buy is not cheap if leaving means starting again.
Where we fit
For completeness: Nerdsharks sits in the pay-monthly column. Our Monthly plan is £299 to set up and £99/month with a 12 months minimum, or you can pay £1,795 once and £49/month with no minimum term. Run the same three-year sum on us as on anyone else - that is exactly how it should be judged.