What does a small business website cost in 2026?
The number that matters is the one you pay every month after the trial, plus the domain, plus any shop or plugin you actually turn on. A quote that hides those is not a price.
How much should a small business budget for a website?
Budget the published monthly plan, a domain if you want your own name, and nothing else until you need it. On 3 November 2026 that published plan was $5.50 AUD a month on BeyondSite's list, about US$17 to US$29 a month on Wix's yearly Light or Core plan, US$19 to US$29 a month on Squarespace's yearly Basic or Core plan, or US$4 a month on WordPress.com Personal billed yearly. Hosting for WordPress.org is extra and is not a single official price.
Those are list prices from each company's site, not an average and not a survey. Currency and tax change the invoice. BeyondSite's $5.50 is the listed Basic price in Australian dollars. The product does not charge a card yet, so the cost today of publishing a BeyondSite draft is nothing until payments are switched on.
| Cost | Often included in the plan | Often a separate decision |
|---|---|---|
| BeyondSite Basic, $5.50 AUD listed | The site on name.beyondsite.app, editing, a contact form, bookings | Your own domain. Card payment, which is not on yet. |
| Wix premium | Hosting, and on premium a domain connection and removal of Wix ads | The plan tier if you need payments or a shop. Taxes. |
| Squarespace | Hosting and, on an annual plan, one year of a domain on their cheapest tier | A plan per site. Commerce fees, which their help centre lists separately. |
| WordPress.com | Managed hosting. A free domain for the first year is described on paid plans. | The plan length. Plugins you add. Ads remain on the free plan. |
| WordPress.org | The software, which is free to download | Hosting, the domain, updates, and backups. |
What pushes a website quote up?
A shop, a custom design from scratch, a copy of a large old site, and a stack of plugins. A handful of honest pages does not need those.
- Selling products. Wix puts accepting payments and basic eCommerce on Core, not on the free plan. Squarespace's selling fees differ by plan. Price the selling plan, not the cheapest plan.
- A domain you already own. BeyondSite publishes on a beyondsite.app name in this version. The other products describe a first-year domain offer on selected paid plans. Renewals are a later bill.
- Moving a large WordPress site. That is a migration project. BeyondSite does not do that copy.
- Writing. If nobody writes the services in plain language, you will pay a person to do it or the site will say nothing useful.
Ignore any quote that gives one number for 'a website' without saying whether a domain, email, a shop, and the writing are inside it.
What should you check before the site goes live?
Read every page on a phone, confirm the contact path stores the message, and remove any claim you cannot stand behind. Then publish.
- The business name is text on the page, spelled the way customers write it.
- The homepage says who you help and what to do next.
- Services match the work you do this month.
- The address, hours, and phone number are current.
- The contact form keeps a copy the business can open. On BeyondSite that copy is in Messages.
- If you take bookings, the hours match the week you actually work. A booking stores the name, email, and time.
- There are no testimonials, prices, or staff portraits you do not have permission to use.
- The page title and description say the service and the place, not only the business name.
- You have read the homepage on a phone.
- You know the monthly price after any trial, from the company's own pricing page.
When that list is true, use the button below to start a free draft. The practice guide is How to build or redo a website for a law, accounting, or medical practice and the builder comparison is BeyondSite vs Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress for a small business.
Questions people ask
Is $5.50 AUD a month the full cost of BeyondSite?
It is the listed Basic price. This version does not charge a card, and it does not include a domain you already own. Publish uses a name.beyondsite.app address.
Why do Wix and Squarespace look more expensive?
Their published entry paid plans, on yearly billing, were higher than $5.50 AUD when checked on 3 November 2026. They also bundle things BeyondSite does not, such as a first-year domain offer and, on higher plans, a shop.
Is WordPress free?
The WordPress.org software is free to download. You still pay for hosting and a domain. WordPress.com has a free plan with its own ads, and paid plans that include hosting.
What is the one thing that makes a cheap site fail?
A contact path nobody reads, or a homepage that does not say what the business does. The tool is the smaller decision.
See a draft before you decide
Describe the business in one question. You get a preview before you create an account. Basic is listed at $5.50 AUD a month, and this version does not ask for a card.
Keep reading
- BeyondSite vs Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress for a small business
- How to build or redo a website for a law, accounting, or medical practice
The privacy policy says what the product stores.