$6 – $50 per month

Using a website builder is the cheapest way to build a website, and is best for:

• Technical novices
• Anyone who needs a website live sooner rather than later
• Personal websites and portfolios

The full range of website builder prices range from free all the way up to around $500 per month. However, most new sites will fall within the $6 to $50 per month bracket. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room first – the free plan. The truth is, if you’re building a website that anyone else is going to see, you need a paid plan instead of the free plan. This is because free plans come with various limitations, the most common being:

• Adverts displayed on your website
• A free, non-custom domain, such as www.mywebsite.wix.com
• Limited features, such as low storage and bandwidth allowances
• No ecommerce features, meaning you can’t sell online
• Basic customer support

The free plan is only suitable for trying out the website builder, seeing if it’s the right fit for you, and for building test sites to hone your skills and try out new ideas without any financial pressure.

It’s the free plan that usually gives website builders a somewhat bad reputation for being cheap and poor quality, but that’s not the case as long as you choose a good quality builder. We try and test builders so that we can recommend the top brands to our readers, to help you build a better website and get more for your money.

Here’s the cream of the crop and how we rated them:

How Much Do the Best Website Builders Cost?

Wix and Weebly both come with free plans, while Squarespace provides a 14-day free trial. Weebly is unusual in that it also lets you sell online for free – however, you still need to upgrade to use your own domain and remove adverts from your site.

The cheapest paid plan for each builder is: 

• Wix: $13 per month
• Squarespace: $12 per month
• Weebly: $6 per month

It’s worth noting that Weebly’s cheapest paid plan still comes with adverts on your site, so we recommend starting on the $12 per month plan instead.

Below, you can see a more in-depth breakdown of the prices involved with each builder:

Are Website Builders Worth Your Money?

With a high quality website builder, you can create a truly professional website. Sure, if you choose poor tools, then you’ll end up with a shoddy product – but if you’re careful about the builder you choose, then you can set yourself up for success.

What we’re trying to say is, it’s worth spending a little extra on a better builder than simply picking out the first one you find. You’ll get much better value for money from a builder such as Wix or Squarespace, for example, than a low-rated option such as SiteBuilder or 1&1 IONOS.

Here’s a breakdown to help you decide how much you might need to pay for a website builder for your website:

What Costs Are Involved Using a Website Builder?

Professional Help: $0

You won’t need to pay for any professional designers to help out with your site, as builders are easy to use and quick to get the hang of. You pay for a subscription, either monthly or annually, and this is the main cost you’ll need to budget for.

Domain Name: $12 per year

A lot of website builders include a free custom domain in their plans – this usually gives you a free domain of your choice for your first year, after which you’ll need to pay. Domains vary in price, but average around $12 per year for a common one such as .com. 

Apps: $3 – $60 per month

If you want to add apps to your site, then there’s often a mix of free and paid ones to choose from. Paid apps aren’t usually expensive, ranging from $3 to $60 per month – you get to pick which apps to install and which plan you want, so you’re in total control of this cost.

Themes, Hosting, or Security: $0

You don’t need to pay for themes, hosting, or security for your website – these costs are all included in your website builder subscription.

$35 – $780 upfront cost, then $11 – $50 per month

Using WordPress gives you a lot more control over your website – and your budget. It’s best for:

• Those with a little technical confidence
• Anyone who wants full customization 
• Blogs, business sites, and very large websites

The cost of a WordPress website is pretty hard to pin down. It depends on a lot of different factors, because there’s a lot of different aspects to think about when setting up a WordPress site.

On the one hand, WordPress is free. There are free themes and plugins too, so in theory, it should be easy to keep costs low. However, you might find you need a premium theme, and then there’s hosting to think about (and pay for). If you hire a WordPress developer, your total website cost could quickly creep up into the thousands.

There are various costs that can affect the total price of building a WordPress website, but the main one is hosting. You can get away with using free themes and plugins, but hosting is an essential and important cost that’s vital for getting your WordPress website online.

So, how much does it cost to host a WordPress website? It depends on your provider. There are tons of hosting providers out there to choose from, and some are better than others. For WordPress, we recommend using Bluehost (and so does WordPress itself, come to that!)

What’s the Best WordPress Hosting Provider?

Bluehost is the number one WordPress hosting provider, making it the highest quality host you can choose for your WordPress website. No, it’s not the cheapest on the market – but with prices starting at $2.95 per month, it’s not going to break the bank, either.

Why is it the best? Not only does it come with an official recommendation from WordPress itself, it also wowed us in our research – just check out its scores!

Okay, okay, we know what you’re wondering: Just how much will a Bluehost hosting plan cost me?

Here’s the quick answer: between $2.95 and $49.95 per month, depending on which plan you need. Here are the starting prices for each of Bluehost’s WordPress-specific hosting plans:

• Shared WordPress hosting: $2.95 per month, renews at $7.99 per month
• WooCommerce hosting: $6.95 per month, renews at $13.99 per month
• Managed WordPress hosting: $19.95 per month, renews at $29.99 per month

Bluehost’s WordPress specific hosting plans come with features to help you run your WordPress site, such as automatic backups and automatic WordPress installation, to save you time and hassle.

How Much Do the Best Web Hosts Cost?

Although Bluehost is the best WordPress hosting provider, it’s not the only option. Here’s a quick run-down of the best WordPress hosting providers according to our research, and their prices plans:

Bluehost is the best overall, for both shared and managed WordPress hosting. A2 Hosting offers a strong set of managed WordPress plans, making it a great Bluehost alternative if you’re looking for something a tiny bit cheaper. HostGator only provides shared WordPress hosting, but it does it well – if at a higher price tag than its competitors.

You can see how we scored these WordPress hosts in our research below:

Other top WordPress hosts include:

• iPage – starting at $1.99 per month
• DreamHost – starting at $2.59 per month
• InMotion – starting at $4.99 per month
• SiteGround – starting at $11.95 per month
• WPEngine – starting at $25 per month

As you can see, there’s a lot of variation in how much it costs to host a WordPress website. Some hosts offer just shared or just managed WordPress hosting plans, which affects the price – managed hosting tends to be more expensive.

Of course, you don’t have to choose WordPress specific hosting, but we highly recommend it – you’ll save a lot of time and headaches by letting your host handle some of the techy stuff!

Which Type of Hosting Should You Pay For?

Managed WordPress, shared WordPress, ecommerce… how on earth are you supposed to pick the best one for you, and find one to suit your budget? You don’t want to overpay for a plan you don’t need – or shoot your site in the foot by skimping on a plan that’s too limiting for your needs.

We’ll quickly walk you through the different types of WordPress hosting, and hopefully point you in the direction of the plan that’s best for you, your site, and your budget.

What Extra Costs Are Involved Using WordPress?

Okay, so we’ve covered the main cost associated with creating a WordPress website. But what about other costs aside from hosting? Let’s run through how much it costs to build a website when you consider extras such as domains, plugins, and themes.

Professional Help: $300 – $100 per hour

Many beginners use WordPress, but if you want a complex or custom website, then chances are you might need to hire a WordPress developer to help make your ideas a reality. This is optional, so we won’t be factoring this cost into the final WordPress total, as many people build quite happily without a developer’s help.

However, if you do need to hire someone to help you with your WordPress site, you’re looking at a cost anywhere between $30 and $100+ per hour. Usually, the more you pay, the better the developer is likely to be – but always do your research before hiring someone.

Spending around $100 per hour on a developer may sound like a lot, but that’s within the average cost you should expect to pay for a capable WordPress specialist.

Domain Name: $12 – $60 per year

You need a domain for your WordPress website to help people find you online!

Unlike with website builders, you don’t get a free branded subdomain, so you need to pick out a custom domain from day one. This is usually part of the sign-up process when you create a hosting account, making the whole registering process super easy.

Domains vary in price depending on the hosting provider you register with, and the domain you pick (such as .com versus .rich) – these two factors will hugely affect how much you should expect to pay for your domain.

On average, though, domains cost anywhere between $12 and $60 per year. The good news is that some web hosts, such as Bluehost, give you a custom domain for free for your first year – after that, you’ll need to pay the yearly domain fee.

Plugins: $0 – $100+ per year

Plugins add functionality to your WordPress website, such as contact forms, testimonials, newsletter subscriptions, and whatever else you want your site to have! Popular plugins include adding ecommerce or multilingual functionality to your WordPress website.

There are free plugins and paid plugins, so it’s up to you how much you want to spend adding new features to your site. Some plugins come with different plans, so that you can start off using the free plan and then upgrade to unlock a better version.

The cost of plugins range from $0 to $100+ per year. 

Themes: $0 – $50 per theme

Just like plugins, there are both free and premium themes for you to choose from. Free themes are a great way of getting started, and you can find some stylish ones in the WordPress theme directory. Just bear in mind that they might not be as professional or loaded with features as premium themes, which can cause you to rely more heavily on plugins further down the line.

Premium themes tend to be around $50, but can reach up beyond the $200 mark – however, this is a one-time charge, after which the theme is yours to customize and edit for as long as you wish.

The upside to using a premium theme is that it usually comes with more support and regular updates, to stop it breaking or becoming outdated, and also has features built-in to save you spending money on premium plugins. Think of it as a theme and plugin bundle!

It’s totally your choice whether to use a free or premium theme – just remember to think about your website and its essential features when choosing.

Security: $0 – $200 per year

Any hosting provider worth its salt will come with security features built into its plans. However, WordPress sites can be pretty vulnerable to online attacks, so it’s worth investing in some extra security measures.

There are free security plugins available – for example, Sucuri is a security plugin that scans, blocks, and removes threats from your site. The plugin is free, but if you want a Sucuri account and access to all its features, then the cheapest Sucuri plan costs $199.99 per year. 

Sucuri isn’t the only option, so it’s worth doing some research. Other popular choices include:

• Wordfence – $0 – $99 per year
• JetPack Security – $0 – $299 per year
• Cloudflare – $0 – $200 per month
• iThemes Security – $80 – $199 per year
• All in One WP Security & Firewall – $0

$5,000 – $30,000 upfront cost

Hiring a web designer to plan and create your site puts your project firmly in the hands of the professionals. You don’t get to totally sit back and relax – you’ll need to work with your web designer to create a site you love – but it does take a lot of the heavy lifting away from you.

Hiring a web designer is best for: 

• Anyone needing a very complex website
• Those with zero time or technical confidence
• Big budgets and big, custom websites

This is possibly the hardest cost to estimate, because different web designers will charge different rates depending on the project and their own experience. You might choose an agency or a freelancer, and this will also affect the cost.

On the whole though, you’re looking at a cost between $5,000 and $30,000 to get someone to create your website for you.

We tried and reviewed the design agency Hibu, so we can give you a more accurate estimate based on their charge rates. However, remember that other agencies and freelancers will have their own pricing tables.

When we tested Hibu, we paid an upfront cost of $449, and then an ongoing fee of $129 per month.

Hibu’s upfront quotes range between $99 and $449, which covers the creation of your website. This is dependent on how many pages you need, which features you want, and if you need to sell through your site.

There is then an ongoing fee, which ranges from $99 to $159 per month. This covers hosting and security, grants access to support, and lets you create maintenance requests.

Price is pretty important here, because if you pay less than $5,000, you could end up with a poorly designed website – and run into problems pretty quickly as you try to maintain it. This is not an option if you’re not confident in your budget, so don’t overstretch yourself!

What Affects the Cost Of Hiring a Web Designer?

Here are some things to think about when hiring a web designer, which will all factor into the final cost of building your website:

• How complex is your website plan? 
• Do you want the designer to handle hosting, domains, and plugins for you? Or do you just want them to design and build your site?
• Will you need them to carry out ongoing maintenance on your site? Or will you do this yourself?
• Do you have a premade template you want the designer to customize? Or do you want the designer to build your site from scratch?
• What sort of features do you need? For example, will you be selling online?
• How many pages is your website going to be? You’ll need to know this beforehand to get an accurate quote.

It’s often a good idea to manage your own hosting and domain name, because then it’s in your name and under your control. This makes running your site easier, and gives you a bigger say over your site – for example, it’ll make moving hosting providers much easier.

This is a lot to consider when trying to estimate web designer costs! If you want to budget for a web designer we’d highly recommend using the web design comparison tool powered by Expert Market. Take one minute to answer a few question about what you need, and you’ll get web design recommendations and price information that’s tailored to you.

Cost of Building a Website: Web Designer Breakdown

So, what exactly are the costs involved in hiring a web designer? The table below breaks down the different factors that you pay for, to give you a better idea of exactly what you’re paying for, and the average costs involved:

This highlights some of the often unseen costs of using a web designer, such as having to train to use your own website after they’ve made it. The average cost of hiring a web designer to build your website is $6,760. 

You’ll likely find there’s some overlap here with the WordPress building method, because many designers and developers use WordPress to create their sites.

In fact, one way of cutting down the cost of hiring a web designer is to buy a premium WordPress theme and then ask the designer to customize it for you, rather than getting them to build you a site from scratch. If you’re looking to save where you can, this is a good middle-ground, which we’ll discuss in more detail next!

How to Reduce the Cost of Hiring a Web Designer

Okay, you might be thinking you can’t afford to spend over $6,000 for a web designer to create your site. What you mustn’t do is find a designer with dirt-cheap prices to save funds – you won’t get value for your money this way. 

If you’re super tight for cash, the reality is you should probably head to either the website builder or WordPress section of this article, because a web designer is supposed to cost thousands of dollars. You usually get what you pay for when it comes to hiring a designer!

However, there is a way to slightly lower the cost of hiring a designer to create your site. And that’s to buy a premade WordPress theme, and ask a designer to customize it for you.

This option is “in-between” a DIY website and a fully custom built website design.

You can hire a designer to help customize a premade template into something unique just for you.

This is a good option if you are not ready for an entirely custom website, and if pre-made templates are not exactly what you want.

You can pay by the hour or by the project for design customizations.

Expect to pay between $300 and $1,000 for template customization – the average is around $600 for this sort of service.

The cost varies depending on how much work you want to be done, such as adding a header image, moving the logo, creating a fixed navigation bar, changing the overall layout design etc.

However, for a full, custom job from a capable designer, you’re looking at at least $10,000. 

How Much Does It Cost to Create Website Content? $50 – $80 per hour

Once the framework of your site has been designed, you need content for your website. Designers can charge for content creation by the hour, or by project:

• $50 – $80 per hour
• $250 – $500 minimum charge per project. This may include a minimum of 3 pages, and additional pages will be a slightly cheaper.
• Logo or branding design will be about $100 – $1500 depending on the extent of the branding design you need.

You may also want to budget for ongoing maintenance costs. That’s usually about $100 – $500 per year, provided you don’t make any major alterations to your website design.

Here’s a summary of the various costs involved in hiring a professional to build your site for you:

Overall, the most expensive option is to hire a web designer to build you a site from scratch. This will cost you somewhere around the $10,000 mark. There are certain things you can do to bring the cost down, such as keeping your site to a minimum number of pages and being ruthless with the features you need.

You can save some money by buying a premade theme, and then asking a designer to customize it for you – this customization usually costs around $600.

However, what you mustn’t do is try to save money by hiring a web designer on the cheap. You’ll still end up paying a few thousand, and chances are you’ll end up with a website you’re not 100% happy with!