The short answer
For a small business in Australia, a website can cost anything from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. As a rough guide in 2026:
- Doing it yourself with a website builder: roughly $20 to $60 a month, plus a lot of your own time.
- A freelancer: often somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 for a small business site.
- An agency: commonly $5,000 to $15,000, and more for big custom builds.
On top of that come the running costs: your domain, hosting, and someone to keep it all up to date.
My own prices are fixed and published: $400, $600 or $1,400 for the build, plus an optional care plan of $109.99 a month once the included care runs out. The rest of this guide covers what drives the price, what you'll pay every year, and how to tell a fair quote from a bad one.
These are ballpark ranges, not quotes. Prices vary a lot with what's included, so always compare like with like.
What drives the price
Two websites can look similar and cost very different amounts. These are the things that move the number:
- How many pages, and how custom the design is. A five-page site is quicker to build than a fully custom design with a page for every service and area.
- Who writes the words and supplies the photos. If you provide them, the job is smaller. If the builder writes your copy or organises a photographer, expect to pay for it.
- Features. A contact form is simple. Quote requests, bookings, online payments, a shop, or connections to your other apps (like Xero) all add work.
- Getting found on Google. Basic setup is a small job. Pages for each service, plus ongoing improvements, take more.
- Who looks after it afterwards. Some quotes include hosting and updates. Others hand the site over and walk away.
DIY, freelancer or agency?
| Option | Typical upfront cost | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder | Little or nothing, then roughly $20–$60 a month | Tight budgets, if you have the time | Your time, generic templates, and SEO you have to learn yourself |
| Freelancer | Often $1,000–$5,000 | Most small businesses | Quality varies, so look at their real work |
| Agency | Commonly $5,000–$15,000+ | Bigger projects that need a team | Paying for account managers and overheads |
DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace look cheap, and they can be a sensible place to start. The catch is the time it takes to do well, and the monthly fee never stops. A DIY site can also look fine and still not show up on Google, which is what happened to one Brisbane business before I rebuilt its site.
Freelancers can be great value, because you deal directly with the person doing the work. Look at sites they've actually built, and ask who looks after the site after launch.
Agencies make sense for bigger projects that need a team. For a five-page site for a local business, you're often paying for the overheads as much as the website.
The running costs to budget for
The build is a one-off. These come around every year:
- Your domain, meaning your web address: roughly $15 to $50 a year. Make sure it's registered in your name, not your web designer's.
- Hosting, the computer your site lives on. It's built into DIY plans. Elsewhere it's a monthly or yearly fee, sometimes bundled into a care plan.
- Business email, like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, is usually a separate monthly fee per person, whoever builds your site.
- Care and updates: security updates, backups, fixes and small changes. You can do these yourself, pay per change, or pay a monthly fee.
- Extras you might add later: Google Ads (the ad spend is separate from any setup fee), professional photos, a logo or paid add-ons.
What my packages include
I publish fixed prices, so you know the cost before we even talk. Every build is a one-time fee:
- Starter, $400. A professional five-page website with a custom design that works on phones, a contact form that emails you, setup so Google can find you, the security padlock and visitor stats. One month of care included.
- Professional, $600. My most popular package: unlimited pages, a contact form with email set up, full Google (SEO) setup, Google Analytics and social links, and you can edit your own text and photos. Three months of care included.
- Enterprise, $1,400. A fully custom design, unlimited pages, advanced forms like quote requests, full SEO plus Google's tracking tools, connections to the other apps you use, and priority support. Six months of care included.
Your domain is separate and registered to you. You own your website, with no lock-in: if you ever want someone else to look after it, you can take it with you.
After the included care, the care plan is $109.99 a month. It covers hosting, the security padlock, daily backups, security updates, content changes and ongoing Google tweaks, and you can cancel anytime.
Year one, worked out
Here's what each package costs over the first year if you keep the care plan running, with a .com.au domain at about $25. Starter includes 1 month of care, Professional 3 months and Enterprise 6, so you pay for the rest of the year at $109.99 a month:
| Package | Build + care you pay for | Year one |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $400 + 11 months ($1,209.89) | ~$1,635 |
| Professional | $600 + 9 months ($989.91) | ~$1,615 |
| Enterprise | $1,400 + 6 months ($659.94) | ~$2,085 |
Yes, Starter and Professional come out about the same in year one, because Professional includes two more months of care. If you plan to keep the care plan, compare them on that basis. The pricing page has a toggle that shows each package's first-year total before the domain.
Red flags in a website quote
- The domain is registered in their name, not yours. If you part ways, you could lose your web address. Ask for it in writing.
- You don't own the website. Some builders keep your site on their own system, so leaving means starting again. Ask what happens if you want to move.
- A low price tied to big monthly fees. A cheap build on a long contract can cost more than a fair upfront price. Add up the whole first year, and ask about lock-in periods.
- "Page one on Google, guaranteed." Nobody can promise that. Ask what they'll actually do for your rankings, and how you'll see the results.
- No examples of real work. Ask to see live sites they've built for businesses like yours.
- A one-line quote. "Website: $3,000" tells you nothing. A good quote lists the pages, the features and what's included after launch.
- No mention of phones. Most local searches happen on a phone, so the site should be designed for one first.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra?
- Who owns the domain and the website?
- What will I pay every month or year after launch, and can I cancel?
- How long until it's live, and what do you need from me?
- Will it be set up for Google, and what does that include?
- Can I update my own text and photos?
- Who do I call when something breaks?
The bottom line
A good small business website doesn't have to cost a fortune, but the cheapest quote isn't always the cheapest year. Add up the build, the domain and the running costs, check who owns what, and pick someone who explains it all in plain English.
If you'd like a fixed price for your own site, compare my packages, or tell me about your business and I'll send back a clear plan and a fixed quote within one business day. There's more on what goes into a website design and build, and on the care plan.