Guide
How much does a website cost in the UK?
Last updated 28 September 2026
A fixed-price website build from Swick Labs starts at £1,495 for the AI Starter Site and runs to from £9,500 for a Bespoke Platform Build. Every Swick Labs figure on this page is pulled from the same published price list used across this site, not estimated for this article or given only after a call.
The short answer
Four fixed-price website builds, what each one is, and what a typical UK studio charges for comparable work.
| What it is | Our price | Typical UK range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Starter SiteA fast, five-page site for a new or very small business. | Our price: £1,495 | Typical UK range: £1,500–£3,000 (micro-business / starter, UK 2026) | Timeline: 2–3 weeks |
| AI Business WebsiteA ten to fifteen page site for an established business that needs to convert. | Our price: £2,950 | Typical UK range: £2,000–£5,000 (professional small-business site, UK 2026) | Timeline: 4–6 weeks |
| AI e-ShopAn online shop built to sell, with payments, shipping and stock wired in properly. | Our price: £4,950 | Typical UK range: £4,000–£12,000 (basic-to-mid ecommerce, UK 2026) | Timeline: 6–10 weeks |
| Bespoke Platform BuildA custom web application when an off-the-shelf product genuinely will not do. | Our price: from £9,500 | Typical UK range: £8,000–£25,000+ (bespoke build, UK 2026) | Timeline: 10 weeks and up |
“Typical UK range” is our own market research for 2026, kept for comparison — it is not published by, or attributed to, any named third party. All prices are in GBP and exclude VAT, which is charged where applicable.
What actually drives the cost
Two builds with the same page count can cost very different amounts. These are the things that actually move the number.
- Distinct page templates, not page count. Ten pages that all reuse two or three layouts cost far less to build than ten pages that each need their own design and behaviour. Count templates, not pages, when comparing quotes.
- Who writes the copy. A build that includes copywriting support or full copywriting for every page costs more to produce than one where you supply finished text — check the "what you get" list on any service page for which applies.
- E-commerce and payment integration. Taking payment properly — cards, digital wallets, tax handling, receipts — is a different scope from a brochure site, which is why an online shop is priced as its own build rather than an add-on.
- Integrations with booking, CRM or stock systems. Connecting to software you already run is usually the least visible line in a quote and one of the most variable, because every business runs a slightly different combination of tools.
- Custom functionality. Anything beyond standard pages and forms — a calculator, a member area, a configurator — is closer to small application work than website work, and is priced accordingly.
- Migrating an existing site and its rankings. Moving a live site means preserving every URL search engines already know about. A missing redirect map is the most common way a migration quietly loses traffic that took years to earn.
- Design from scratch versus adapting a system. A fully bespoke visual design costs more than working within a proven layout system refreshed to your brand — both are legitimate choices, but they are not the same amount of work.
- Accessibility and performance targets. Building to a genuine accessibility standard and a strict performance budget from the outset costs less than retrofitting either after launch, but it is still work that has to be scoped in.
The costs after launch
The build is a one-off. Three things keep costing money afterwards: hosting, the domain, and whoever keeps the site patched, backed up and working.
Hosting keeps the pages online and the domain is renewed annually through a registrar. Both are modest and both vary by provider, so check your own host or registrar's current pricing rather than a figure quoted elsewhere — we will estimate them for you before you commit to a build.
A site nobody touches after launch does not stay still. The software underneath it keeps receiving security patches whether or not you apply them, and a known, unpatched vulnerability sitting open is a real risk, not a theoretical one. Left long enough, the same neglect shows up as slower loading too, as the tools and dependencies around the site move on without ever being revisited. That is what a care plan exists to prevent.
Patching, backups and uptime monitoring for a brochure site.
£79/mo
Everything in Essential, plus real monthly development time.
£149/mo
Cover sized for a shop, where downtime costs money by the hour.
£299/mo
Content changes beyond a plan's included time are quoted individually, at the same day-to-day rate as the rest of the plan's work.
What a “from” price means
Three of the four builds on this page are fixed: the number shown is the price for the scope described on that service's page, full stop. The Bespoke Platform Build is different, and is marked from £9,500 rather than a flat figure, because a bespoke system's scope genuinely is not known until it has been discovered and specified. A flat number quoted before that point is either padded to absorb the unknowns, or too low and revised upward later. We run a paid discovery phase first, then quote the build itself as a fixed price against an agreed specification — so the uncertainty is resolved before you commit to the build, not during it.
Fixed price versus day rate
A day-rate arrangement charges for time, so the total depends on how long the work takes — which gives an inefficient supplier no incentive to be efficient, and leaves you carrying the risk of a job running long. A fixed price puts that estimating risk on the supplier instead, but only if the scope behind it is written down clearly enough that both sides agree what is and is not included. That is why every service on this site states, in writing, what you get for the figure next to it — a fixed price without a clear scope is just a day rate with an extra step.
DIY builder, freelancer or agency
None of the three is universally right; each suits a different situation.
- A DIY builder gets a simple site online fastest and cheapest up front, and you stay in full control of small changes. The trade-off is an ongoing subscription for as long as the site exists, and a ceiling on what the platform will ever let you build — see Wix vs a custom build for where that ceiling tends to bite.
- A freelancer often costs less than a studio for a comparable brief and gives you one direct point of contact. The risk is continuity: if that person is unavailable, changes career, or simply gets busy, there is no one else who knows your site — see agency vs freelancer for the rest of that trade-off.
- A studio or agency costs more because there is a process and more than one person who can pick up your project, which matters most once the site is live and something needs fixing on a Friday afternoon. A mature CMS like WordPress sits in between DIY and bespoke in a related way — see WordPress vs a custom build.
How to compare quotes
Ask any supplier these questions before you sign, whatever they quote you:
- Who owns the finished code, and who owns the domain name?
- What happens to the site and your access if you decide to leave?
- What is explicitly excluded from the price?
- Is copywriting included, or are you supplying the text yourself?
- What is the monthly cost after launch, and exactly what does it cover?
- Is VAT included in the figure you have been quoted, or added on top?
Questions people ask
Is the price on this page really what I would pay?
For the three smaller builds, yes — the figure is the fixed project price for the scope described on that service's own page. The bespoke platform build is priced from a starting figure because its scope is not fixed until a discovery phase has run; the number becomes a fixed price once that scope is agreed in writing.
Why do so few agencies publish their prices?
Usually because it ties them to a figure before they have spoken to you, and a scoping call gives them room to set that figure once they know what you are prepared to pay. We publish ours because the alternative means sitting through a call to find out whether a project is even in your range.
Does the price include the words and images on the pages?
The AI Starter Site includes copywriting support so you are not starting from a blank page, and the AI Business Website and larger builds include copywriting for every page. Photography and specialist imagery are agreed separately, because what a shoot needs varies too much between businesses to price as standard.
Do I pay for hosting and my domain separately?
Yes, as with any website — hosting keeps the pages online and the domain is renewed annually through a registrar. Both are modest and both vary by provider, so check your own host or registrar's current pricing rather than a figure quoted elsewhere. A care plan folds day-to-day hosting management into its monthly fee; the underlying hosting itself is still billed by the host.
What happens to the site if I want to leave after it is built?
You keep it. The code and the domain are yours, we hand over the repository and hosting access once a build completes, and there is no proprietary page builder holding your content hostage. A care plan has no minimum term either — you can stop at any time and we hand over backups and access.
How much should I budget if I am not sure which build I need?
Treat £1,495 as the floor for the smallest useful site and from £9,500 as the point where you are commissioning something nobody else has. Most established small businesses land on the AI Business Website in between — see the short answer table above, or use the website cost calculator to answer a few questions instead of guessing.
Are these prices negotiable?
Fixed prices are firm for the scope described on the relevant service page; discounting a fixed scope only invites cutting corners on it. Where a price is marked "from", the final figure depends on scope and is confirmed in writing before work begins, not negotiated afterwards. Any price we quote you in writing is held for 30 days.
Do these prices include VAT?
All prices are in GBP and exclude VAT, which is charged where applicable.
Where to go next
See a price built for your own project, get a free look at what you already have, or ask us directly.