The short answer
There are three ways to get a website, and each one charges you in a different shape. A builder like Squarespace or Wix is a monthly fee you keep paying, plus the hours you put in. A freelancer is a one time fee, and then the hosting and the changes are on you. An agency is a bigger one time fee, usually with a monthly plan after launch so someone else keeps the site running.
Forbes Advisor's website cost guide, updated September 2026 and read by us in October 2026, gives three ranges. A DIY build at $0 to $450, professional design at $1,500 and up, and hosting plus apps at $15 to $150 a month.
The build and monthly plan, explained See pricing.
What each option costs in October 2026
These are the published prices on each company's own pricing page as of October 2026. Builders show the yearly rate first. The month to month price is higher.
- Squarespace
- Basic is $19 a month paid yearly or $25 month to month. Core is $29 yearly or $39 monthly. Basic takes a 2% fee on anything you sell online; Core drops it to 0%. The free domain is for the first year only and only on a yearly plan.
- Wix
- Light is $17.77 a month on a yearly plan with 2 GB of storage and no way to take payments. Core is $29.77 and adds a basic store. Business is $39.77. A yearly plan includes a domain voucher for one year.
- GoDaddy Website Builder
- Starter is $9.99 a month on an annual term, or $19.99 month to month, and publishes one site. Professional, the tier GoDaddy points local businesses to, is $24.99 a month yearly or $49.99 monthly. GoDaddy also sells a done for you design service for a $499.99 one time build fee plus an annual hosting fee.
- Shopify
- Basic is $29 a month paid yearly or $39 monthly, then 2.9% plus 30 cents on each online card payment. Use a payment processor other than Shopify's and you pay another 2% on every sale. Grow is $79 yearly or $105 monthly.
- Freelancer
- Upwork's own rate page lists a median of $15 to $30 an hour for web designers, and $45 to $75 an hour and up for full custom site design. It says a project runs from 10 hours for something very small to several dozen hours. Gruffygoat, a design shop whose cost guide was updated September 2026, puts a freelance custom site at $1,500 to $8,000 one time.
- Agency
- The same Gruffygoat guide puts a boutique agency at $6,000 to $35,000 and up, which buys strategy, custom design, development and support.
- Graphyte Agency
- Sites start at $500, custom built in code rather than on a builder. The exact quote comes with the free homepage mockup. A monthly plan after launch covers the domain, hosting and updates.
Forbes Advisor, How Much Does a Website Cost (updated September 2026) Read the Forbes Advisor guide (opens in a new tab).
Upwork, web designer hourly rates See Upwork's rate page (opens in a new tab).
What moves the price
Two quotes for "a five page site" can be hundreds of dollars apart and both be fair. The gap comes from what's inside the pages, and who does the work that isn't design.
- Page count. Every page is layout, writing and testing on a phone. A home page, services, about and contact is a different job than twelve service pages with a blog.
- Custom design or a template. A template is picked and filled in. Custom means someone lays out your pages for your business, which is more hours and a site that doesn't look like the shop down the street.
- Who writes the words. If you hand over finished text, the price drops. If the designer has to interview you and write every page, that's billable hours. Most builder quotes assume you write it all.
- Photos. Forbes Advisor's guide says a professional photographer runs from about $50 for one image to thousands for a full day. Phone photos of your real work are free and often beat stock.
- Integrations. Online booking, a store, a menu that updates, a form that routes to the right person. Forbes puts store features on a builder at an extra $15 to $30 a month, and custom integrations add build time.
- Who maintains it. A site needs a domain renewed, hosting paid, software updated and text changed when your hours or prices change. Someone does that, and it's either you or a plan.
The costs a builder doesn't put on the pricing page
A $19 a month plan is real and it's the cheapest way to get a site on the internet. The number just isn't the whole bill.
Your time
Upwork says a working designer spends 10 hours on a very small site and several dozen on a custom one. You'll spend at least that, and you're learning the tool while you do it.
The plan you actually need
The entry tier is built to be outgrown. Squarespace Basic charges 2% on sales until you move to Core. Wix Light can't take a payment and caps you at 2 GB. GoDaddy Starter publishes one site. On the three builders above, the next tier up is $10 to $15 more a month. The month to month price runs $6 to $25 above the yearly price you saw first.
Apps and the domain after year one
Booking, reviews, pop ups and advanced forms live in app stores on every builder. WebsiteSetup's maintenance cost guide (updated March 2026) puts premium add ons at $30 to $200 a year each. The free domain runs out after twelve months. At Namecheap in October 2026 a .com renews at $18.48 a year, and Forbes Advisor's range for domains is $10 to $35 a year.
WebsiteSetup, website maintenance costs (updated March 2026) Read the maintenance cost guide (opens in a new tab).
What "one time build plus a monthly plan" means
This is how most freelancers and agencies charge, and it's how Graphyte Agency charges. The one time fee is the build: design, writing help, setup and launch. The monthly plan is everything that keeps the site alive after that.
GoDaddy's maintenance cost article from April 2026 lists what that work includes. Hosting and domain renewal, security updates and backups, platform updates, content changes, and the SSL certificate that gives you the padlock. It puts a small to medium business site at $50 to $500 a month for all of it. Developer help by the hour runs $50 to $150 in the same article. Gruffygoat's guide puts a basic care plan at $50 to $150 a month.
The raw ingredients are cheap. Vercel, a hosting company developers use, lists its Pro plan at $20 a month in October 2026. Forbes Advisor puts entry level shared hosting at $5 to $18. What a monthly plan really buys is a person. When your hours change, a service gets added or a form stops sending, you email and it gets done. Nobody has to log in and figure it out.
Graphyte Agency's plan covers the domain, hosting and updates. We register the domain, run the hosting and make the changes. You send an email. The price of the plan comes with your quote, after the free mockup.
GoDaddy, how much it costs to maintain a website (April 2026) Read GoDaddy's maintenance article (opens in a new tab).
How to compare two quotes
- Ask for the three year total. Build fee plus 36 months of whatever comes after, including the domain.
- Ask who writes the words and who takes the photos. If the answer is you, add your time or a writer's fee.
- Ask what a change costs after launch. A new service, a price update, a photo swap. A flat monthly plan and an hourly invoice are very different answers.
- Ask whether it's custom code or a template on a builder, and whether you can see it on your phone before you pay.
- Ask what happens if you stop paying. On a builder the paid features and the domain stop with the plan. Know the answer before you sign.
If you want Graphyte Agency's answer to all five, send the form below. You'll have a real homepage design for your business in 2 business days, with the quote attached, and you owe nothing for it.
Squarespace pricing See Squarespace plans (opens in a new tab).
Wix premium plans See Wix plans (opens in a new tab).
Shopify pricing See Shopify plans (opens in a new tab).
GoDaddy Website Builder plans See GoDaddy plans (opens in a new tab).