How Much Does a Website Cost in 2026? Real Numbers by Route

A website costs anywhere from about $11 a year to $5,000 and up. A template on a hosted builder like Framer or Webflow lands between roughly $120 and $440 in the first year. A designer's time adds hundreds or thousands, and a fully custom build starts in the thousands.

The spread is that wide because "a website" covers very different jobs. Below, each route is priced line by line from the vendors' own pricing pages, checked on 24 September 2026, so you can add up your own number instead of trusting an average.

Website Costs at a Glance

There are five common routes, and the first-year cost depends mostly on who does the work and which plan hosts it. The table uses the cheapest plan that supports a custom domain on each platform, and the price range of the templates in our own catalogue.

Everything after this section explains where each figure comes from and what it leaves out, starting with the costs you pay every year whichever route you take.

What You Pay Every Year: Domain and Hosting

Every live website has two running costs: the domain name and the hosting (or site plan). A .com domain costs around $11 a year, and hosting runs from $0 on a static host to $10–$25 a month on a visual builder, depending on whether you need a CMS.

The domain. Porkbun lists .com registration and renewal at $11.08 a year. Watch renewal prices at any registrar: some advertise a cheap first year and charge more after it. Framer's pricing page also includes a complimentary domain on its yearly paid plans, which removes this line for Framer sites.

The site plan. These are the entry prices on each platform's own pricing page today:

Webflow prices are per site and in US dollars before tax. If you are weighing the two builders on more than price, our Framer pricing guide covers the plan limits in more detail, and our Webflow vs Framer comparison covers how they work.

What a Website Template Costs

A premium website template costs a one-off $39 to $129, and many good ones are free. You pay once and keep it; the running costs above are separate. In our own catalogue, prices depend on the platform, because a Webflow clone link and an HTML zip are different products.

• Framer: 20 of our 35 Framer templates are free with a free account; the rest are $49–$99.
• Webflow: Webflow templates are $59–$129, with Zelda and Medonix free.
• HTML: $39. Next.js and Astro: $49. You host them wherever you like, including a free static host.
• Figma files are sold separately at $19 each, except Zelda's and Medonix's, which are free.

If you will build more than one site, compare a single template with the alternatives on our pricing page: the Framer and Webflow bundles are $159 one-off for every template on that platform, and Pro is $144 a year with a template credit every quarter. Our licence covers unlimited personal, commercial and client projects for one person; the exact terms are in the licence terms.

Free is not always the cheaper choice once you count the hours spent fixing a weak layout. Our guide to premium vs free templates covers where the difference shows up.

What a Freelancer Costs

A freelance web designer usually charges by the hour or a fixed project fee, and rates vary more than any other line here. There is no official freelance rate, but employee pay gives a useful anchor: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median for web developers and digital designers at $47.85 an hour.

That figure is the May 2025 median wage in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook ($99,520 a year) for employed staff, not a freelance quote. As arithmetic only: 40 hours at $47.85 comes to $1,914. A freelancer also pays for their own tools, tax and unbilled hours out of that rate, so an hourly quote is not directly comparable with a salary.

To compare quotes fairly, ask each freelancer for a fixed price against the same page list, the same number of revision rounds, and a clear answer on who owns the design files and the hosting account at the end.

What an Agency or Custom Build Costs

A custom-designed website starts in the thousands because you are paying for design, a design system and the build, not just the build. Agencies quote per project, so the only honest way to get a number is to send the same brief to two or three of them.

For a reference point from our side: our customisation service lists a custom website at $5,000 one-time, including a custom layout and design system, CMS setup, custom interactions, SEO foundations and the Figma design. Its timeline varies by project.

The middle path is a template plus paid customisation. Our template customisation package is $499 one-time with 7-day delivery: logo, copy, colours, images and typography updated, mobile checked, up to 2 custom sections added and 2 rounds of revisions. Our template vs custom website guide covers when a custom build is worth it.

The Costs People Forget

The costs that surprise people are rarely the template or the plan. They are plan upgrades you did not expect, renewals, and your own hours. Check these before you commit:

• The CMS upgrade. Webflow Basic has no CMS, so a blog or a portfolio collection means Premium at $25 a month instead of $15.
• Commercial use on free plans. Framer positions its Free plan as ideal for non-commercial use, and it cannot connect a custom domain.
• Renewals. Domains and yearly plans renew; put the dates in a calendar.
• Content. Photography, copywriting and a logo are often the largest real cost and appear on no pricing page.
• The design file. If you want to edit the design in Figma, budget for the file if your template does not include it.
• Your time. A template still needs your copy, images and a few hours of editing before launch.

How to Keep the Cost Down

The cheapest website that still looks professional is a good template, your own copy, and the lowest plan that supports a custom domain. Most of the savings come from not paying for features before you need them. In order:

1. Write the page list and the copy first, so you know whether you need a CMS at all.
2. Pick the platform by who will edit the site: a visual builder if a non-developer updates it, a code template if a developer does.
3. Start from a template that already has your pages rather than one you have to restructure.
4. Choose the lowest plan that supports a custom domain and upgrade only when you hit a limit.
5. Pay for customisation only for the parts you cannot do yourself.

Waida Templates at Three Price Points

These three are our own templates, picked to show the range: two free on every platform with a free account, and one paid business template. Prices are from our catalogue today.

Zelda: free

A dark, 13-page design agency template, free on Framer, Webflow, HTML, Next.js and Astro with a free account, Figma file included. Paired with a free static host and an $11.08 domain, it is the cheapest professional route in the table above.

Check out Zelda template

Medonix: free

A 13-page medical SaaS startup template, also free on every platform with a free account and with its Figma file included. It suits a health-tech or SaaS startup that wants a finished multi-page site without paying for a template.

Check out Medonix template

Steelcrest: $39–$79

A 13-page roofing and construction template: $79 on Framer or Webflow, $39 on HTML, $49 on Next.js or Astro. On Framer Basic, the first-year total is $199 including the plan and the complimentary domain.

Check out Steelcrest template

So how much does a website cost? For most small businesses and freelancers starting from a template, the realistic first-year figure is $120 to $440, and it can be as low as $11 if you use a free code template and a free static host. Add $499 if you want the template customised for you, or budget from $5,000 for a custom build.

If you want to start at the low end, the free website templates in our catalogue cost nothing with a free account, and paid templates are $39 to $129 one-off, depending on the platform.