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What Does a Small-Business Website Cost in 2026? Real Prices From a Placer County Agency
A professionally built small-business website in 2026 costs about $2,500 to $8,000 or more to build, plus roughly $17 to $39 a month to keep it online. That's the honest range for most local businesses we work with in Auburn and across Placer County, and below I'll show you exactly where a project lands in it.
If you've searched this question before, you've probably seen answers like "anywhere from $0 to $35,000." That's technically true and practically useless. It's like asking what a truck costs and being told "between a used Tacoma and a new semi." So instead of a range wide enough to drive through, here are our actual published prices, what's in each one, and the math for your first year.
Want a straight answer for your business?
Our free Digital Presence Scorecard looks at your website, your Google Business Profile and how you show up in search, then tells you what's worth fixing first. It's free, and there's no obligation.
Our website prices, and what each one includes
We publish our prices on our pricing page because I think a business owner should know the ballpark before getting on a call. Every project has a fixed scope and a fixed price. All three are built on Wix Studio.
Local Launch: starting at $2,495. A 3–4 page website for a new or small business moving off an old site or a Facebook page. It's mobile friendly, has clear calls to action and basic SEO, and includes a checkup of your Google Business Profile.
Business Builder: starting at $4,950. A 10+ page website for an established contractor, clinic or shop that wants the site to bring in leads. You get a conversion-focused layout, full on-page SEO, basic analytics, a blog set up and ready to use, and a short training call so you can make your own small edits.
Full Business Platform: custom, usually $8,000 and up. A 10 to 30+ page site for a growing or multi-location business that relies on its website for sales, bookings or customer support. This is where online stores, booking systems and resource libraries live.
Most local service businesses land in the middle tier. A plumber, a landscaper or a physical therapy office usually needs a page for each service, a service-area page, a gallery or reviews, and a contact form that actually reaches someone. Three or four pages rarely covers that.
The first-year math nobody shows you
The build price is the number everyone asks about. It isn't the whole bill. Here's what a first year actually includes.
The build. One-time, from the tiers above.
The website plan. On Wix, paid plans start at $17 a month (Light), then $29 (Core) and $39 (Business), billed yearly, as listed on Wix's pricing page when I checked it this month. Core and Business are the plans that accept payments and run booking tools, so pick one of those if you want to take payments or appointments online.
Your domain. Paid Wix plans include the domain free for the first year. After that you renew it every year.
Ongoing care (optional). Someone has to make updates, keep the site healthy and watch how it's found on Google. You can do this yourself, or put it on a monthly plan. Ours starts at $750 a month and bundles website care with local SEO and Google Business Profile updates.
A worked example: a Business Builder site at $4,950 on the Core plan ($29 × 12 = $348) comes to $5,298 for the first year, before any monthly marketing. In year two, if you maintain it yourself, you're paying for the plan and the domain renewal, and that's about it.
That second-year number surprises people. A well-built site isn't a subscription you're trapped in. It's mostly a one-time cost with a modest yearly fee to keep the lights on.
What pushes the price up
When a quote comes in higher than you expected, it's almost always one of these:
More pages. Every service and every town you want to show up for usually needs its own page. Ten services across six towns is a different project from one homepage.
Bookings or an online store. Taking payments, scheduling appointments or selling products means more setup, more testing and more pages.
Writing the words. Many owners don't have time to write 3,000 words about their own business. If we write the copy, that's real work and it's in the price.
Photos. Real photos of your crew, your shop and your finished jobs beat stock photos every time, but somebody has to take them or gather them.
Multiple locations. Each location needs its own information, hours and Google listing kept in sync.
Notice what isn't on that list: fancy animations. They rarely bring in more calls, and they're one of the easiest things to cut when the budget is tight.
When you shouldn't hire anyone yet
This is going to sound strange coming from someone who builds websites for a living, but not every business should pay for one right away.
If you just opened, your budget is tight, and most of your work comes from referrals, a simple do-it-yourself site on a $17-a-month plan is a perfectly good start. Put up your services, your phone number, your service area and a few photos. Make sure your Google Business Profile is filled out, because for a lot of local searches that listing gets seen before your website does.
Hiring a professional starts to pay off when the website has a job to do: bringing in calls from people who've never heard of you, booking appointments, or making you look as established as you are. If the site is just a digital business card, keep it simple and spend the money somewhere else.
Five questions to ask before you sign
Whoever you hire, these questions will save you a headache later. Google's own guide to hiring a search professional recommends asking for examples of past work and how results will be measured, and the same logic applies to a website.
Who owns the domain and the site? It should be registered in your name, on your account. If you part ways with the designer, you keep everything.
What exactly is included, and what costs extra? Page count, copywriting, photos, forms and revisions should be written down before work starts.
What happens after launch? Do you get training? Who fixes things if something breaks? Is there a monthly fee, and is it optional?
Can I see sites you've built, and talk to those owners? Live sites tell you more than a portfolio of screenshots.
How will the site be found on Google? A beautiful site that doesn't show up for the searches your customers make is an expensive brochure.
Two recent examples
The Pines Inn & Cottages, Grass Valley. A small inn needed a site that sells the stay and sends guests straight to booking. The new site has a page for each room type, a pet-friendly page, a guide to exploring Grass Valley, and "Book Now" and "Check Availability" buttons that connect to their online booking system. It launched in October 2026.
ICS Tile & Grout Services. A tile and grout restoration company that wanted more calls from homeowners and property managers. The site has a page for each service (floor restoration, natural stone and travertine, shower regrouting, repairs, and grout color sealing), a service-area page, a gallery, a page for property managers and realtors, and a free-estimate form. It launched in November 2026.
Both are built on Wix, and both owners can make simple edits themselves. You can see more of our work on our website design page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small-business website cost in 2026? A professionally built small-business website typically costs $2,500 to $8,000 or more to build, plus a website plan of about $17 to $39 a month. Do-it-yourself sites can cost only the monthly plan.
How much does a Wix website cost? Wix paid plans run $17 to $39 a month for most small businesses (Light, Core and Business), with Business Elite at $159 a month, billed yearly. A professionally designed Wix site adds a one-time design and build cost.
Do I have to pay every month after my website is built? You'll pay for the website plan and your yearly domain renewal. Ongoing marketing or maintenance plans are optional.
How long does it take to build a small-business website? It depends on the size of the site and how quickly content and photos come in. A small site moves faster than a 30-page platform with bookings or an online store.
Is a cheap website worth it? It can be, if all you need is a simple online presence. If you need the website to bring in new customers from Google, it needs real pages for your services and towns, and that takes more time to build.
Not sure what you need?
Before you spend anything, try our free Digital Presence Scorecard. We'll look at your current website, your Google Business Profile and how you show up in search, and tell you the smallest sensible next step, even if that turns out to be the $17 plan and an afternoon of your own time.
Ready to talk about your website?
Tell us about your business and what you need your website to do. We'll give you a fixed scope and a fixed price before any work starts.
Brian Buckle is the owner of Real Connection Media in Auburn, CA, where he builds Wix Studio websites and runs local SEO for small businesses across Placer County. Before starting RCM, he managed software engineering teams at Intel.
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