Websites: cost, hiring and build
How much does a website cost for a small business?
The honest answer depends on four or five decisions you can make before you ask anyone for a quote, and on a handful of yearly bills that never appear in the quote at all.
Ask five people what a website costs and you will get five numbers, and none of them will be wrong. They are pricing different things. A one-page site on a builder and a booking system wired into your shop software are both called a website. This page explains what actually moves the price, the four ways to get a site built, and the recurring costs that show up in year two when nobody budgeted for them.
We will not quote market averages here. There is no reliable public survey of what Orlando businesses pay for websites, and a range pulled from thin air would tell you less than the questions below. Where a vendor publishes its own price, we quote it, with the date we checked.
What actually drives the price
Page count is the number people reach for, and it is a weak predictor. Ten service pages built from one template cost far less than three pages that each do something different. These are the things that move a quote:
- Distinct page types. A home page, a service page template and a contact page is three designs, whether you end up with eight service pages or eighty.
- Who writes the words. If you supply finished copy, the builder lays it out. If the builder has to interview you and write it, that is often the largest single line.
- Things the site has to do, not just show. Online booking, payments, quote forms with photo uploads, a customer login, or a feed from the software you run the business on. Each integration is its own piece of work and its own thing that can break.
- Moving an existing site. If the old site ranks in Google, the move needs a URL inventory and redirects, or you risk losing that traffic. That work is real and it is often left out of cheap quotes.
- Photography and video. Stock images are cheap. Real photos of your work, your team and your building are not, and they matter more.
- Accessibility and speed. A site that works with a screen reader and loads quickly on a phone over a weak signal takes deliberate effort.
- Who sets up the accounts. Domain, hosting, analytics and search accounts opened in your name take a little longer than ones opened under the builder's login. That time is worth paying for.
The four ways to get a site built
| Option | What you are paying for | What you usually own | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace and similar) | A monthly or yearly subscription, plus your own time | Your domain and your content. The site itself runs only on the builder | You need a simple, good-looking presence soon, and you are willing to edit it yourself |
| Freelancer | One person's time, usually on a builder or WordPress | Whatever the agreement says. Check that the domain and hosting are in your name | The scope is clear and modest, and you have a way to reach them in two years |
| Studio or agency | A team: design, writing, development, and someone accountable for the whole | Whatever the agreement says. This is where ownership terms vary the most | The site has to bring in leads, rank locally, and connect to other tools |
| Custom software | An application built for how your operation works | Source code, if the contract assigns it and the repository is in your account | Nothing off the shelf fits, and the same problem keeps costing you money |
The categories overlap. Plenty of agencies build on Wix or Squarespace, and plenty of freelancers write custom code. Ask what the site will actually run on, not just who is building it.
What the builders charge, at the time of writing
These are the prices each vendor shows on its own pricing page, checked in October 2026 from a US connection. Both change their plans regularly, so read the current page before you decide.
| Plan | Price shown (October 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | $19 a month billed annually, $25 billed monthly | Shows a 2% transaction fee on online store sales |
| Squarespace Core | $29 a month billed annually, $39 billed monthly | No Squarespace transaction fee on store sales; card processing fees still apply |
| Wix Light | $17 a month | Wix shows this as the monthly figure on a yearly subscription paid up front |
| Wix Core | $29 a month | First tier that lists accepting payments |
| Wix Business | $39 a month | Same yearly basis |
Both include a free domain for the first year on qualifying annual plans. The domain then renews at the normal rate, which is a cost to remember. Wix also notes that its prices vary by location and exclude taxes.
Freelancer or studio: what you are really buying
With a freelancer or a studio you are buying time and judgment, so the price follows the scope. Two quotes for the same site can differ by a lot because one includes copywriting, redirects and analytics setup and the other does not. A low quote is not dishonest. It is usually just describing less work.
The more useful question is what happens after launch. Who can edit the site? Who pays the hosting bill, and to whom? If the person who built it disappears, can someone else pick it up from the accounts and files you hold? A cheaper site you fully control is often worth more than an expensive one you rent.
Our own prices, as one reference point
Since we are telling you not to trust invented ranges, here is ours, labelled as ours. Corsa Media House includes the website rebuild with its monthly support tiers, which start at $2,000 a month, on a twelve-month agreement. Bought on its own, the rebuild is quoted in writing after an audit of what you already have, because scope drives it more than page count does. Custom software is not published as a figure at all, because it is scoped per project. These are one studio's numbers, not a market rate.
The recurring costs people forget
The build is a one-time cost. These are not. Each one should be in an account your business owns, billed to your card, so that nothing lapses because a supplier stopped paying it.
| Cost | What it is | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Domain renewal | Your yourbusiness.com name, renewed every year or every few years | The renewal reminder goes to an old email address, the card on file expires, and the site and email go dark |
| Hosting | Where the site runs. Included in a builder subscription; billed separately otherwise | Hosting held in a supplier's account, so you cannot move it or even see it |
| Business email | you@yourbusiness.com. Google Workspace Business Starter showed $7 per user per month on an annual plan in October 2026, before promotions | Email set up by a former employee or supplier, with the admin login nobody has |
| SSL certificate | The padlock. Usually free and automatic on modern hosting | Maximum certificate lifetimes are shrinking under industry rules, so a manual renewal process will fail more often |
| Maintenance | Updates, backups, monitoring, small edits | Skipped until something breaks, then paid for as an emergency |
| Apps and plugins | Booking widgets, forms, review feeds, premium themes | Each one bills separately and quietly |
| Payment fees | Card processing and any platform transaction fee | A plan with a transaction fee costs more than it looks once sales grow |
How to compare two quotes
- Ask each builder to list every account the site will depend on, and whose name each will be in.
- Ask whether copywriting, photography, redirects from the old site and analytics setup are included, line by line.
- Ask what the site runs on, and whether you could move it to another provider without starting over.
- Ask for the yearly running cost after launch, separate from the build.
- Ask who you call if the site is down on a Saturday, and what that costs.
- Get the answers in writing. If ownership of the code or the design is part of the deal, that is a contract term, and a lawyer can tell you whether the wording does what you think.
What to do next
Write down what the site has to do, not just what it has to say. Then list the accounts you already hold and the ones you do not. That list alone will make every quote you receive easier to read. If you are a Central Florida business and want someone to do the audit with you, Corsa Media House does it, and you keep the findings whether or not you hire us.
Questions
What is the biggest factor in website cost?
Scope, not page count. The number of distinct page types, who writes the copy, what the site has to do (booking, payments, integrations) and whether an existing site has to be moved without losing search traffic all move the price more than the number of pages.
How much do Wix and Squarespace cost?
At the time of writing (October 2026), Squarespace showed Basic at $19 a month billed annually or $25 billed monthly, and Core at $29 or $39. Wix showed Light at $17, Core at $29 and Business at $39 a month on a yearly subscription. Both change prices often, so check the vendor pricing page.
What ongoing costs come with a website?
Domain renewal, hosting, business email, maintenance, apps or plugins, and payment fees. SSL is usually included with modern hosting. Each should sit in an account your business owns so nothing lapses because a supplier stopped paying it.
Is a cheaper website quote a bad sign?
Not necessarily. A lower quote usually describes less work, such as no copywriting, no redirects from the old site or no analytics setup. Ask each builder to list what is included line by line, and whose name every account will be in.