How much does a website actually cost?

It depends mostly on who builds it. A 5-page business site usually takes 30–60 hours: at the $100–$149 an hour most agencies on Clutch charge that's roughly $3,000–$9,000, and at the $25–$60 an hour Upwork lists for intermediate freelancers it's roughly $750–$3,600. Doing it yourself on Wix or Squarespace costs about $200–$500 a year plus your own time. Clutch reports that most web design projects listed there cost under $10,000. The calculator works out each route for your exact choices.

It estimates the hours your choices usually take (for example 30–60 for a 5-page business site, plus time for each feature) and multiplies them by published US rates: $25–$60 an hour for freelancers (Upwork's intermediate range) and $100–$149 an hour for agencies (Clutch). Builder costs come from Squarespace's and Wix's yearly plans. The sources are linked under the comparison.

Yes. "Copy a link to these choices" gives you a link that reopens the calculator with the same selections, and "Copy this estimate" copies a plain-text summary with all four routes for an email or a budget document.

It uses the studio's real pricing bands — the same numbers on the pricing page — so the range is honest. But an estimate is not a quote. The fixed quote comes after a free discovery call, once every page and feature has a name, and that written number does not move mid-project.

Design, engineering, deployment, analytics, SEO structure and schema markup, training so your team can update content, and a support period after launch. You own everything: code, domain, hosting and data.

Hosting and a domain, typically $5–30 a month depending on the project, registered in your name. Optional maintenance plans exist for businesses that want updates handled, but nothing about the build locks you into one.

In the US in 2026, published rates run about $25 to $60 an hour for an intermediate freelancer (Upwork) and $100 to $149 an hour at most agencies (Clutch). A basic 5-page business website usually takes 30 to 60 hours, so the going rate works out at roughly $750 to $3,600 from a freelancer and $3,000 to $9,000 from an agency.

After it's built, a small-business website usually costs about $1 to $27 a month to keep online: a domain (about $1 to $2 a month) and hosting ($0 to $25). Add from $49 a month if you want updates and backups handled for you. On a builder such as Wix or Squarespace you pay about $16 to $160 a month instead, for as long as the site exists.