What are typical UK website design prices by type of site?
Price depends mostly on the type of site. Starter sites built on templates sit at the bottom of the range, custom-themed business sites in the middle, and bespoke, ecommerce or application builds at the top. The table below shows typical UK market ranges so you can see where your project is likely to fall.
If budget is the main constraint, our affordable website design service explains how to get a professional site at the lower end of these ranges without cutting the things that matter. For most owner-managed firms, small business website design sits in the £1,500–£5,000 band.
| Type of website | Typical range | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Single landing page | £500–£2,500 | 1–3 weeks |
| Template-based starter site (up to 5 pages) | £500–£1,500 | 1–3 weeks |
| Small business / brochure site (5–15 pages) | £1,500–£5,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| Custom-themed WordPress business site | £3,000–£10,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| Ecommerce on Shopify or WooCommerce | £3,000–£15,000 | 6–12 weeks |
| Bespoke custom-designed site (corporate / larger) | £8,000–£30,000+ | 2–4 months |
| Bespoke or high-volume ecommerce | £15,000–£50,000+ | 3–6 months |
| Custom web application | £15,000–£100,000+ | 3–6+ months |
These are indicative ranges from the wider UK market, not a Freehand HQ quote. Your price depends on your scope, content and integrations.
What drives the cost of a website?
The biggest cost drivers are the number of unique page designs, how bespoke the design is, functionality such as booking, ecommerce or integrations, who writes the content, and how much testing and accessibility work is included. Page count matters less than people expect; unique templates and features matter more.
- Design approach: adapting a template is quicker than designing every page from scratch. Our guide to custom websites vs templates explains the trade-off.
- Unique page templates: ten service pages sharing one layout cost far less than ten different layouts.
- Functionality: online payments, bookings, member areas, CRM or accounting integrations all add development and testing time.
- Content: copywriting, photography and moving content from an old site are real work, often underestimated.
- Platform: WordPress, Shopify or a custom build each carry different set-up and licence costs. See WordPress vs a custom website.
- Quality standards: accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA, speed optimisation and SEO foundations take time but save money later.
What ongoing costs should you budget for?
A website has running costs after launch: domain renewal, hosting, software licences and maintenance. As a typical UK market guide, expect roughly £5–£15 a year for a .co.uk domain, £5–£150 a month for hosting and £30–£300 a month for maintenance on a typical business site, excluding VAT.
| Cost | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| .co.uk domain | roughly £5–£15 per year | Register it in your business's name |
| Shared hosting | £5–£30 per month | Fine for small, low-traffic sites |
| Managed hosting | £30–£150 per month | Better speed, backups and support |
| Basic maintenance | £30–£100 per month | Updates, backups, monitoring |
| Business maintenance | £100–£300 per month | Adds content changes and support hours |
Indicative UK market ranges only, not a Freehand HQ quote. Our guide to website maintenance costs in the UK breaks these down further.
What hidden costs catch businesses out?
The most common surprises are premium plugin or theme licences that renew every year, paid stock photography, copywriting that was assumed to be included, third-party booking or payment fees, and change requests after the design is signed off. Ask every supplier to list what is excluded, not only what is included.
- Annual licences for premium plugins, fonts or page components.
- Payment gateway transaction fees on ecommerce sites.
- Subscription tools such as booking systems, email marketing or live chat.
- Content migration from an old site, especially product catalogues.
- Extra design rounds beyond those in the agreed scope.
- Redirect mapping and SEO checks when replacing an existing site.
Do website design prices include VAT?
Usually not. UK agencies and freelancers normally quote business clients excluding VAT. If your supplier is VAT-registered, the standard rate of 20% is added, so a £4,000 quote becomes £4,800. VAT-registered businesses can normally reclaim it; businesses below the £90,000 registration threshold usually cannot.
Always check whether a quote is shown "ex VAT" or "inc VAT" before comparing suppliers. A freelancer who is not VAT-registered will not charge VAT at all, which can make their price look more competitive than it is for a VAT-registered buyer who could reclaim it.
Is it cheaper to hire a freelancer or an agency?
Freelancers usually cost less per day: typical UK day rates are around £250–£500 for freelancers and £400–£900 for agencies. Agencies cost more because they bring design, development, testing and project management together. A freelancer suits a simple site; an agency suits projects with several skills or deadlines involved.
Whichever you choose, judge the quote on scope, ownership and support, not just the headline number. Our guide on how to choose a web design agency lists the questions to ask.
Day rates are typical UK market ranges, excluding VAT, not Freehand HQ rates.
How do you brief a web designer for an accurate quote?
A short written brief gets you comparable, accurate quotes. Explain your goals, audience, the pages you need, must-have features, who supplies the content, your preferred platform, examples you like, your deadline and your budget range. Suppliers can then price the same scope instead of guessing, which reduces costly changes later.
If you would like a scoped estimate for your project, contact Freehand HQ with your brief.
- Goals: what the site must achieve, for example more quote requests or online sales.
- Sitemap: a rough list of pages and how many share a layout.
- Features: forms, bookings, payments, integrations, member areas.
- Content: who writes copy and supplies images.
- Examples: two or three sites you like, and why.
- Timeline and budget: a realistic range helps suppliers propose the right approach.
- Ownership: confirm you will own the domain, hosting account and content.