How much does a website cost in the UK in 2026?

Website pricing looks arbitrary from the outside, because the phrase 'a website' covers a single brochure page and a full booking platform. The number changes with scope, not with postcode. Here is what each level actually buys in the UK in 2026.

Template builders — a few hundred pounds a year

You are paying for a subscription and doing the work yourself. Fine for validating an idea or holding a very simple presence. The cost lands elsewhere: your time, and a structure you will outgrow.

Freelance and low-cost builds — roughly £1,000 to £3,000

Usually a template configured for you, with your copy and images dropped in. It gets you online. What is typically missing is strategy, original photography, written-for-you copy, structured SEO and any real conversion thinking. Good value if you know exactly what you want and can supply the content.

Studio-built bespoke sites — from £2,500, commonly £5,000 to £15,000

This is where we sit. Our engagements start from £2,500 for focused builds, and most full commercial sites land higher once strategy, copy direction, custom design, structured SEO and integrations are included.

What you are buying is not more pages. It is a site designed around how you actually sell, on foundations that will not need replacing in eighteen months. Our websites service sets out what that includes, and selected work shows the range — from Lickies, a product-led brand carried by photography and mobile speed, to Morrow House, where the whole job was a booking route that works in under a minute.

For most established businesses the deciding factor is one enquiry. If a project win is worth several thousand pounds, the gap between a £1,500 site and an £8,000 site is recovered quickly.

Digital products and platforms — £15,000 upwards

Client portals, booking systems, dashboards, internal tools — anything with accounts and permissions. Priced individually because the requirements genuinely differ. Fieldwork is that kind of build, and it's the work we cover under digital products and automation.

Where the money actually goes

• Strategy and structure. Deciding what the site says, in what order, to whom.
• Copy direction. The single biggest lever on conversion, and the thing most often skipped.
• Design. Bespoke layout, typography and grid rather than a theme's defaults.
• Build quality. Speed, accessibility, mobile behaviour, clean markup.
• SEO foundations. Titles, page architecture, structured data, sitemap, internal linking.
• Integrations. Enquiry routing, CRM, payments — whatever the business runs on.

The ongoing costs nobody mentions

• Domain: a small annual fee.
• Hosting: from a few pounds a month, considerably more for applications.
• Maintenance and support: sensible on any commercial site, essential on anything with logins or payments.
• Content: the recurring cost that produces the most return.

We quote recurring items separately and in writing, so ongoing cost is never a surprise after launch.

How we price

A short conversation, then a written scope listing what is included, what is not, and what it costs. A deposit secures the schedule and the balance is due before launch — no staged payments in between. The detail is in how we scope a project, and our thinking on where budget is best spent is in why templates cost more than bespoke.

Most of our work is with businesses across Liverpool, Manchester and Cheshire. If you want a number for your own situation, send us the brief — you'll get a scope and a fixed price, not a day-rate estimate.