What are the main ways to get a website built?
There are four routes, and they're priced very differently. The numbers below are typical ballpark figures, not quotes. Prices vary a lot by who you ask and what you want.
| Option | Typical upfront cost | Ongoing cost | Who does the work? |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | £0 | Monthly subscription | You |
| Freelancer | A few hundred to a couple of thousand pounds | Hosting, plus edits charged by the hour | One person |
| Agency | Usually several thousand pounds | Hosting and a support contract | A team |
| Monthly website plan | Often £0 | One fixed monthly fee | A team |
Is a DIY website builder actually cheaper?
On paper, yes. In practice, the cost is your time. Building a decent site yourself means writing the copy, sorting the photos, wrestling the layout and learning enough SEO to be found. Plenty of business owners start on a Sunday afternoon and are still on the homepage three weekends later.
DIY builders are fine for testing an idea. They're less good when you need the site to bring in work, because they tend to be slower and harder to optimise than a site built for the job.
What do freelancers and agencies charge for?
Mostly design, development and copywriting time, plus project management with an agency. A bigger upfront price often buys a better site. The catch is what happens afterwards: hosting renewals, security updates and every small change can arrive as a separate invoice.
When you compare quotes, ask each one the same three questions. Who hosts it? What does a text change cost? What happens if something breaks at 9pm on a Friday?
What are the running costs people forget?
- Domain name: renewed every year.
- Hosting: monthly or yearly, and cheap hosting usually means a slow site.
- Security and updates: especially on WordPress, where plugins need updating regularly.
- Edits: new prices, new photos, a new service. These add up if you pay per change.
- Email: a business email address is usually a separate subscription.
How much does a Wright Web Design website cost?
£0 upfront and £99 a month for a hand-coded 5-page site. That includes hosting, unlimited edits, lifetime updates, support and a free Google Business Profile setup. There's no VAT on top. If you need more than five pages, we'll work out a monthly package that fits.
The full breakdown is on our pricing page. If you're weighing up a monthly plan against paying once, we've written about which works out better.
So what should you budget?
Budget for the whole of the first three years, not just the build. A cheap build with expensive edits can cost more than a monthly plan. An expensive build that nobody updates can be money down the drain. Pick the option where you know exactly what you'll pay and who to call when you need something changing.