How much should a small business website cost in the UK?

It's the first question almost every business owner asks. The honest answer is that it depends, but not on anything mysterious. It depends on a handful of specific things, and once you know them you can judge any quote on its merits.

The realistic range

For a small UK business, a properly designed and built website generally sits somewhere between £1,800 and £4,500. Go much below that and you're mostly buying a template with your logo dropped in. Go well above it and a lot of what you pay funds agency overheads. The work is rarely better for it.

Arête's bespoke websites start at £1,800. For that, you get a custom design, a fast responsive build, a sound SEO foundation and a structure built to turn visitors into enquiries. In short, a website with a job to do.

What moves the price

• How many pages you need, and how many unique page templates
• Whether you need copywriting or are supplying the words yourself
• A content management system, so you can edit pages yourself
• Integrations such as booking systems, payments or ecommerce
• Custom animation and more involved interaction design

Nothing on that list is hidden. A good quote names the things that affect the figure, so you can decide what's worth paying for and what isn't.

Why the cheapest option is rarely the cheapest

A £500 website that loads slowly, reads badly and never brings in an enquiry isn't cheap. It's money spent on something that doesn't work. Then there's usually a second bill, to rebuild it properly. The true cost of a website is what it fails to earn.

A fair way to judge a quote

Ask three things. What's included? What affects the price? What happens after launch? If the answers are straight and the work looks credible, the number is doing its job. If the quote is vague or the price feels plucked from the air, that tells you something too.