Insights · 5 min read
What a small business or nonprofit website costs in 2026
By Austin Hunter ·
There are three very different things people call "a website": a do-it-yourself builder site you set up yourself, a template site a freelancer customizes, and a custom site designed and built around your organization. All three can be the right answer. Here's what each one involves and what we see custom sites actually cost.
The three options
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (a monthly subscription) | A simple brochure site you're happy to update yourself | Your time, design limits, and features that get locked behind higher tiers |
| Customized template | A modest budget and a standard layout | Plugin sprawl, and nobody responsible for updates afterwards |
| Custom design and build | Organizations with real content, forms, donations or integrations, or accessibility requirements | It costs more up front, so it needs a clear scope |
What a custom site costs with us
From the quotes we've sent over the past year, small custom websites and apps have mostly landed between about $8,000 and $20,000, with a fixed quote agreed before work starts and payments split by milestone. Very small, focused projects can come in under that. Large sites with portals or complex integrations go above it.
What moves the price
- How many distinct page types there are (not how many pages: ten news posts share one design).
- Custom design versus adapting an existing look.
- Integrations: donations, events, newsletters, CRM, payments, booking.
- Accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA, which nonprofits and public-facing organizations increasingly need. We build to it from the start rather than fixing it later.
- Moving content from an old site, and who writes the new words.
- How easily staff need to edit it without a developer.
What it costs after launch
Every website needs hosting, security updates and the occasional change. With us, hosting starts at $40 a month, and the Care plan at $129 a month adds tested monthly updates, malware and uptime monitoring, and an hour of small changes each month. Domains and any paid plugins are billed at cost, in accounts you own.
How to get an accurate number
- List the pages and the three or four things visitors most need to do.
- Note the tools it must connect to.
- Decide who will update it, and how often.
- Ask every vendor for a fixed quote, what's excluded, and who owns the accounts.
If you'd like a fixed quote, book a free call. We'll tell you plainly if a builder site would serve you better.