The short answer
There are five ways to get your business online: build it yourself on Wix or Squarespace, pay a freelancer, hire an agency, sign up with a pay-monthly website firm or rely on a directory listing and a Facebook page. Each has a different upfront cost, a different yearly cost and a different answer to the question that matters most later on: what happens if you want to leave?
This guide puts real prices on each option at the time of writing (October 2026). Where a figure comes from someone else's price list, it's linked at the bottom of the page. Where it's a typical range rather than a published price, we say so. We sell pay-monthly websites ourselves, so our prices are in here too, as one option among the others. They won't be right for everyone.
Option 1: build it yourself on Wix or Squarespace
Website builders are the cheapest way to get a site up. You pick a template, drag your text and photos in and pay a yearly or monthly fee for hosting.
Wix's UK plans page lists Light at £9 a month on a yearly plan, Core at £16 and Business at £25. Squarespace's UK pricing page lists Basic at £12 a month billed yearly or £16 billed monthly, Core at £17 or £24 and Plus at £29 or £36. Both include a free domain for the first year on yearly plans. After that you pay for the domain separately. Wix says its prices don't include taxes, so check the final figure at checkout.
The real cost is your time. Writing the words, sorting the photos, getting it to look right on a phone and setting up your Google Business Profile can take several evenings. If you enjoy that kind of thing, it's good value. If you'd rather be pricing jobs, it isn't.
- Good for: someone starting out on a tight budget who is happy at a computer.
- Watch out for: the price after any first-year discount, domain renewal and the fact that you can't easily move a Wix or Squarespace site to another host.
Option 2: a freelancer
A freelance web designer builds the site for you, usually on WordPress, for a one-off fee. One published UK guide (Whito, updated September 2026) puts a four or five page trade site from a freelancer at £800 to £3,000, with most between £1,200 and £2,000, plus £100 to £300 a year for hosting, domain and small updates.
A good freelancer gives you a site that's yours outright. The risk is what happens after launch. WordPress sites need updates to stay secure, so ask who does them and what it costs. If your freelancer gets busy, changes career or stops answering the phone, you need to know where the site lives and how to get into it.
Option 3: an agency
An agency has a team: a designer, a developer, sometimes a copywriter and a project manager. The same Whito guide puts a standard agency build at £2,500 to £10,000. Ongoing hosting, support and marketing are usually priced separately, often as a monthly retainer.
For a sole trader or a small firm that needs five pages and a phone number, an agency is usually more than you need. It makes sense when you need something bigger: online booking with deposits, a large project gallery tied into a CRM or ongoing advertising run for you.
Option 4: pay-monthly website firms
Pay-monthly firms build the site and charge a monthly fee that covers hosting, the domain and some changes. Published prices from UK pay-monthly firms typically run from about £30 to £90 a month, sometimes with a setup fee on top. That's a typical range, not a quote, so always check the firm's own price page.
The monthly fee is easy to budget for. The catch is usually in the contract: how long you're tied in, whether the domain is in your name and whether you can take the site with you if you leave. Some firms keep the domain and the site, so leaving means starting again from nothing.
We're a pay-monthly firm. Our plans are £39, £69 or £99 a month, plus a £199 setup fee. The minimum term is 12 months, then you can cancel any time with 30 days' notice. Your domain is registered in your name from day one and a standard domain costing up to £20 a year is included. After your first 12 months you can take your website files with you. If you'd rather pay once, a one-off site is from £695 (or £995 for up to 10 pages), then £20 a month for hosting, your domain and support.
Option 5: directory listings and Facebook
Directories like Checkatrade, Yell or MyBuilder can bring work in. A Facebook page costs nothing. But they're not a website. The directory owns the page, sets the rules and puts your competitors next to you. Directory fees vary, so ask for the full yearly cost and what happens to your reviews if you stop paying.
Plenty of trades use both: a directory or Facebook for people who already use those apps and a website of their own for people who search Google for a tradesperson in their town.
What it adds up to over 12, 24 and 36 months
Here's what each option costs in total, assuming a simple five-page site. Website builder figures use the yearly plan and allow about £12 a year for a .co.uk domain from year two. Freelancer and agency figures use the published ranges above.
| Option | 12 months | 24 months | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Light, yearly plan (you build it) | £108 | about £228 | about £348 |
| Squarespace Basic, yearly plan (you build it) | £144 | about £300 | about £456 |
| Freelancer (£800 to £3,000 build, £100 to £300 a year after) | £900 to £3,300 | £1,000 to £3,600 | £1,100 to £3,900 |
| Agency (£2,500 to £10,000 build) | £2,500 to £10,000 plus support | plus hosting and support | plus hosting and support |
| Pay-monthly firms (typical £30 to £90 a month) | £360 to £1,080 plus any setup | £720 to £2,160 plus any setup | £1,080 to £3,240 plus any setup |
| Onside Starter (£199 setup, £39 a month) | £667 | £1,135 | £1,603 |
| Onside Standard (£199 setup, £69 a month) | £1,027 | £1,855 | £2,683 |
| Onside Growth (£199 setup, £99 a month) | £1,387 | £2,575 | £3,763 |
| Onside one-off (£695, then £20 a month) | £935 | £1,175 | £1,415 |
Third-party prices at the time of writing (October 2026). DIY figures leave out your own time, paid apps and email inboxes. Check whether VAT is added before you buy.
The hidden costs
The headline price is rarely the whole story. These are the costs that catch people out.
- Your domain. A .co.uk is often £1 or free in the first year, then more. IONOS shows a .co.uk at £1 for the first year with a £10 list price beside it (excluding VAT). Ask whose name it's registered in. If it's not yours, you don't control it.
- Hosting after year one. Introductory prices on hosting and builders often go up at renewal. Read the renewal price, not the offer price.
- Email. A forwarding address like info@yourbusiness.co.uk is often included somewhere. A full inbox usually isn't. Google Workspace Business Starter is listed at £5.90 per user per month before tax.
- Changes. Updating a price, a phone number or a photo should be quick. Find out whether it's included, charged by the hour or something you have to do yourself.
- Security updates. A WordPress site needs its plugins kept up to date. If nobody does it, it's a risk.
- Leaving. Some firms keep the website when you go. Some charge an exit fee. A free domain from a website builder's yearly plan doesn't come with you if you move it to another provider.
What a tradesperson actually needs
Most trades need less than they're sold. A small site that loads quickly on a phone and makes it easy to ring you will do more than a big one nobody finishes reading.
- Your phone number on every page, with a button that rings you when tapped.
- What you do, written the way people search for it, like boiler servicing or consumer unit upgrades.
- The towns you cover.
- Photos of your own work.
- Your registrations and memberships, with numbers people can check.
- Real reviews, linked to Google or Facebook.
- A Google Business Profile, set up properly and linked to the site.
What you can usually skip
A blog you won't have time to write. Pages of stock photos. An online shop if you don't sell products. A chatbot. Twenty town pages that all say the same thing, which can do more harm than good on Google. Big monthly SEO packages that promise page one. Nobody can honestly promise a ranking.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is the domain registered in my name?
- How long is the minimum contract and how much notice do I give after that?
- If I leave, do I get the website files, or does the site stay with you?
- Is there an exit fee?
- What changes are included each month and what do extra changes cost?
- Who writes the words?
- Is email included? Is that a forwarding address or a full inbox?
- Can the price go up during the contract? By how much?
So which should you pick?
If you've got more time than money and you're comfortable at a computer, a website builder is a fair start. If you want something bespoke and you're happy to pay upfront, a good freelancer is worth it. If you need complex features, talk to an agency. If you want it built for you, looked after for a fixed monthly cost and you'd rather not deal with any of it, a pay-monthly firm makes sense. Just read the contract first.
Whichever you choose, make sure the domain is in your name and you know what happens if you leave. Those two things matter more over three years than the difference between £39 and £49 a month.