How much does a website cost per month in the UK?

Building a website is one cost. Keeping it running is another, and it's the one people tend to find out about later. A renewal email for a domain you'd forgotten about, a booking system that started charging, a designer who quotes for every small change. None of it is huge on its own, but it adds up, and it's hard to plan for if nobody told you it was coming.

I'm not going to give you a list of prices. They change often, they vary a lot between suppliers, and a number in an article tends to get read as a quote. What I can do, after more than a decade building and looking after websites for independent businesses, is walk you through every line that can turn up on your monthly bill, which ones are essential, which ones are optional, and how to tell whether a pay monthly deal is fair. By the end you should be able to add up your own figure with confidence.

The essentials every website has

These are the costs you can't avoid if you want a website at all.

Your domain name

Your domain (yourbusiness.co.uk) is renewed every year, or every few years if you pay ahead. It's usually one of the smaller costs, but it's the one that hurts most if it lapses, because your website and your email can both stop working. Make sure it's registered in your business's name, set to renew automatically, and that you know which account it lives in.

Hosting

Hosting is where your site lives so people can visit it. On a website builder it's part of your subscription. With a designer, it's often included in a care plan. If you've arranged it yourself, it's a separate bill. Cheap hosting isn't always a saving: a slow site loses people who are deciding on their phone, and Google uses the mobile version of a site's content for indexing and ranking.

Security and updates

Websites need looking after, a bit like a car needs servicing. WordPress sites with plugins need regular updates to stay safe. Builder platforms handle much of this for you. Either way, someone should be keeping the site up to date and taking backups, and you should know who that is.

The common extras

These depend on how your business works. Many businesses need one or two of them.

• Email on your own domain, like hello@yourbusiness.co.uk. Usually a monthly cost per mailbox, separate from the website.
• Booking software. Salons, clinics and therapists often pay for a booking system with its own subscription. Your website links into it.
• Online shop or payments. Selling online usually adds platform fees, card fees, or both.
• Premium plugins, themes or apps. Some features on builders and WordPress come with their own monthly charge.
• Forms, chat or call tracking tools, if you use them.

It's worth listing every one of these you pay for now. People are often surprised to find they're paying twice for the same thing, or still paying for something they stopped using.

The part that brings in customers

This is the part most monthly budgets leave out, and it's often the part that makes the difference between a website that sits there and one that brings people in.

• Small changes, done quickly. New prices, new hours, a new team member, a seasonal offer. If every change needs a quote and a two week wait, your site goes out of date, and an out of date site loses trust.
• New content. Pages and articles that answer the questions your customers search for help you show up for more of those searches over time.
• Keeping you findable. Checking that Google and things like ChatGPT can read your site properly, that your details match your Google Business Profile, and that nothing has quietly broken.
• Your Google Business Profile. Google says you can manage how your business shows up on Maps and Search at no charge. The time to keep it updated, post on it and reply to reviews is the real cost. I've written about what to post and how often and how to reply to Google reviews if you'd like to do it yourself.

Be wary of anyone who promises results in exchange for a monthly fee. Google's own guidance says plainly that no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google, and warns against anyone who claims they can.

Three ways to pay each month

A website builder subscription

You build and update the site yourself, and pay the builder monthly or yearly. It covers hosting and the platform. It doesn't cover your time, the words, or anyone checking that you're being found. Look at which plan you actually need, because features like booking or selling online often sit on the higher tiers, and check what happens if you want to leave.

A care plan with your designer

You pay your designer a regular fee to look after a site they built. A good care plan usually covers hosting, updates, backups and a set amount of changes, and sometimes new content and search work. Ask for a plain list of what's included each month, how quickly changes are done, and what happens to the site if you stop.

A pay monthly website

Some companies build your site and charge a monthly fee instead of, or as well as, an upfront cost. That spreads the cost, which can really help a small business. The terms matter more than the monthly figure, so read them closely.

How to read a pay monthly deal

Before you sign up to any monthly arrangement, get clear answers to these, in writing:

1. What's the minimum term, and what does it cost to leave early?
2. What exactly is included each month, and what costs extra?
3. How many changes can I ask for, and how quickly are they done?
4. Can the monthly fee go up, and with how much notice?
5. Whose name is the domain registered in?
6. If I stop paying, do I keep the website, a copy of it, or nothing?
7. Are my Google Business Profile, analytics and booking accounts in my name?

That sixth question is the big one. With some deals you're renting the site, and when you stop paying it disappears. With others you keep it. On the sites I look after, the agreement says plainly what's yours to keep, and I'd expect the same clarity from anyone.

How to work out your own monthly figure

Here's the simplest way I know to get a true picture:

1. List everything you pay for now: domain, hosting, email, builder plan, booking system, plugins, any designer fees. Turn annual payments into a monthly figure.
2. Add the cost of your own time spent on the website each month. Be honest. An evening a month fiddling with a builder is a real cost.
3. Ask yourself what's missing: changes that never get made, a Google profile nobody updates, reviews nobody replies to.
4. Then compare that total with what one new regular customer is worth to you over a year.

A monthly cost that brings in one or two extra regulars can pay for itself, and a cheap one that brings in nobody is the expensive option. Judge it by what it does for your diary, not by the number on its own.

For the upfront side of the picture, I've written about what drives the cost of building a small business website. And if you're still deciding whether you need a website at all, start with do I need a website if I already have Instagram or Facebook.

If you'd like to talk through what makes sense for your business, with no pressure, I'm happy to. You can see the ways I work with people, or book 15 minutes here:

Book a 15-minute call →

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Checked on 7 October 2026.

• Google Business Profile Help: about Business Profile
• Google Search Central: do you need an SEO?
• Google Search Central: mobile-first indexing best practices