Writer: Laura Bernheim
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Cristian Lopez
Early in their entrepreneurial journey, aspiring site owners may wonder: How much does it cost to build a website? Web designers and developers get paid a lot, and some agencies won’t even listen to your website ideas unless the project is worth thousands of dollars.
While it might save you a few headaches to outsource your website to someone else, don’t break your budget by hiring a designer or developer for something you can actually do on your own.
That’s right, building your own website isn’t a scary, insurmountable task. Many web hosting plans offer very intuitive programs that help you create the website you’ve always wanted. Even better, they are extremely affordable. Read on to learn how you can get a top-quality website for as little as $2 to $10 per month, as well as a list of the companies that provide the tools that will help you.
Average Cost of Building a Website
Without a trusted hosting company and site builder in your corner, the cost of making a website can soar. Freelance designers typically charge $50 to $100 an hour to make a custom website. Adding the specific features you need, such as a shopping cart or PayPal, can multiply your costs dramatically. However, we’ve found the do-it-yourself website builders many premier web hosts offer are more than up for the task of creating a stunning site for a fraction of the cost.
Low-Cost Website Builder Plans
Some of our favorite hosts created their own site builder tools to help you make exactly the site you want for between $2 and $10 per month — without any coding or programming expertise.
These three hosts offer powerful and intuitive options to help you cook up your own website from scratch. What’s more, they give you at least 30 days to try out their services and get your money back. InMotion’s BoldGrid extends that money-back guarantee to 90 days.
Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best website builder: The most complete AI-powered builder at this price point.
- Describe your site to AI and go live in minutes
- 300+ designer-made templates with drag-and-drop
- Built-in eCommerce with 0% fees and 100+ payment methods
- Built-in SEO, email marketing, and AI logo maker included
- Free domain for 1 year + 14-day free trial to start
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 25 GB SSD - 100 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
Squarespace.com
Monthly Starting Price $16.00
- Blueprint AI Builder — named a TIME Best Invention of 2025
- Industry-leading templates built for creatives and businesses
- Built-in eCommerce, scheduling, invoicing, and memberships
- AI-powered content, SEO tools, and email marketing included
- Free trial, no credit card required — cancel anytime
- Get started on Squarespace now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days | Unlimited Storage | FREE (1 year) | ~5 minutes |
Wix.com
Monthly Starting Price $17.00
- Trusted by 250 million websites across 190 countries
- 2,000+ designer-made templates for every industry
- Built-in eCommerce, scheduling, blogging, and events
- Built-in SEO tools, email marketing, and Google/Facebook ads
- 99.99% uptime on multi-cloud hosting with enterprise security
- Get started on Wix now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days | 2 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Cheap Hosting with Free Website Builders
If your budget is extremely tight, these cheap hosts offer great value with their free domain, advertising credits, and site builder for $2 to $3 per month.
Your design options might be a touch more limited with these builders, but most of these plans include eCommerce functionality. By spending so little on hosting, you can maximize your profits.
Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best overall value: Nothing at this price comes close feature-for-feature.
- AI builds your site in minutes — no technical skills needed
- Up to 3 websites with free SSL
- Weekly backups and managed WordPress
- 2 business mailboxes free for 1 year
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 20 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Most affordable option: Pay just $12 at checkout
- 1-click WordPress install gets you online in minutes
- Unlimited websites, storage, and databases
- Daily backups, free SSL, and 24/7 support
- Free professional email included
- Get started on IONOS now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
ScalaHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.51
- Rated 4.9/5 on Trustpilot with 2,000+ reviews
- Turbo-fast NVMe SSD storage on all plans
- 1-click WordPress install with free migration & guided setup
- Daily backups, free SSL, and AI-powered security (SShield)
- Price lock guarantee — your rate never increases
- Get started on ScalaHosting now.
Laura Bernheim
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime | 10 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 6 minutes |
How Much Does It Cost to Build an Ecommerce Website?
Future ecommerce site owners have specific needs. They’re looking for inventory management, 1-click Magento installs, and help with marketing their products. Our top host for ecommerce store building offers all that and more — for as little as $3 a month.
This host sometimes offers free advertising credits, which will get your brand noticed and refine the traffic to your site by sending interested customers to your online store.
Cloudways.com
Monthly Starting Price $11.00
- Managed cloud hosting for Magento developers
- FREE Magento website migration and staging areas
- Scale server resources up and down as needed
- Regular security patches and automated backups
- Powered by Digital Ocean, Vultr, Google Cloud, AWS, & Linode
- Get started on Cloudways now.
Jack Wallen
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-day FREE trial | 20 GB - 3.84 TB | New or Transfer | 8 minutes |
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Professional Website?
Maybe you’re worried a website that only costs you a few dollars to build and host can’t possibly have a professional look and feel to it. That’s where you’re wrong — The cost to build a sharp and powerful business website can still boil down to $5 to $10 a month.
The Bold Grid platform from InMotion is the only site builder that operates on WordPress, which is the Internet’s most-used content management system.
InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $14.99
- Supports WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, and more
- NVMe SSD and tuned PHP-FPM for dynamic store speed
- Monarx security, mod_security, DDoS protection, and free SSL
- PCI compliance compatible — ideal for high-volume stores
- 90-day money-back guarantee and free website migration
- Get started on InMotion now.
Dave McQuilling
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD/NVMe | Select Plans | 5 minutes |
What About the Cost of Building a Website for a Small Business?
If you’re a small- to medium-sized business owner, surely you’re thinking, ‘How much would it cost to build a website for a business with both beautiful designs and a startup budget in mind?’
Fret not. The cost of building a website for a small business with goals for growth is hard to beat with a host like HostGator. The company’s plans include the developed-in-house Gator site builder, unlimited storage and bandwidth, as well as around-the-clock support.
HostGator.com
Monthly Starting Price $3.75
- Free domain name, SSL certificate, and CDN included
- Unmetered bandwidth — no limits on traffic or storage
- 1-click WordPress install and easy cPanel control panel
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no long-term contracts
- Get 66% OFF by buying 36 months upfront
- Get started on HostGator now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Good Website?
As our options above show you, a good website doesn’t have to break the bank. Hosting providers and website builders, however, aren’t a one-size-fits-all decision — think about the kind of website you want and the amount of money you’re willing to spend.
You can put together a basic website for as little as $2 or $3 per month, but slightly more established ecommerce brands or small businesses might need to invest a little more to get the performance and added features. For those folks, you should expect to spend between $5 and $10 each month.
The Cost to Build and Maintain a Website is Offset By a Great Host
Don’t let the idea of building your own website scare you into hiring an expensive outside developer or designer. Take ownership of your online presence by creating something completely on your own — our favorite website builder hosts give you all the user-friendly tools that will show you the way.
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