How Much Does a Website Cost per Month for a Small Business? What the Monthly Should Cover

A small business website costs as little as $4 a month on a do-it-yourself builder like WordPress.com paid yearly, and more when someone builds and runs it for you, because then you're paying for their time, not just the software. Whatever the price, the monthly should cover five things: hosting, the domain, updates, your Google Business Profile and new content.

If you've got three quotes open that don't make sense next to each other (a freelancer at one number, a local web guy at another, an agency with a monthly fee on top), the only way to compare them is to line up what each monthly actually pays for. Here's how.

How much does a website cost per month for a small business?

There are roughly three ways to pay:

• Do it yourself on a builder. You pay the builder monthly or yearly and do all the work. Cheapest in dollars, most expensive in your time.
• Pay a designer once, then run it yourself. One build fee, then the builder or hosting fee every month, and every change after that is on you or billed by the hour.
• Pay someone monthly to run it. A build fee (sometimes rolled into the monthly), then a monthly that covers hosting and the ongoing work.

None of these is wrong. The mistake is comparing the monthly numbers without comparing what's inside them.

What should a website's monthly fee cover?

1. Hosting. The server that keeps your site online and loading fast. Without it, there's no site.
2. The domain. Your web address, like yourbusiness.com. It renews every year, and it should be registered in your name.
3. Updates. Text and photo changes when your hours, services or service area change, plus the technical upkeep that keeps the site working.
4. Your Google Business Profile. The listing that shows up on Google Maps. Creating it is free, according to Google, but keeping it current with photos, posts, hours and answers takes time every month. Google also says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local results.
5. Content. New pages or articles about the work you do and the places you do it. A site that never changes gives people and search engines nothing new to find.

If a monthly fee only pays for hosting, that's rent, not service. Nothing wrong with rent, as long as you know that's what you're buying.

What do website builders like Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com cost per month?

Builders publish their prices, so check the source instead of trusting a blog. When we checked in September 2026, WordPress.com's pricing page listed its Personal plan at $9 a month paid monthly or $4 a month paid yearly, and its Business plan at $40 a month paid monthly or $25 a month paid yearly. Plans auto-renew, so look at the renewal price too. Wix and Squarespace list their current plans on their own pricing pages, and Wix notes that prices vary by location.

One detail all three share: the free domain lasts one year on annual plans. After that you pay for the domain separately, so check what the renewal costs before you pick a name.

The builder fee buys software. It doesn't write your service pages, edit your photos, keep your Google profile current or publish anything new. If you have the time and like doing it, a builder is a fine choice. If you don't, the cheap monthly can turn into a site nobody has touched in two years.

What does Medalist charge per month?

Here's one option, with the price in the open. Medalist has one website plan for local service businesses: $1,000 to set up, one time, paid with the first month, for the custom website, the copy, your photos edited and placed, and service and city pages. Then it's $297 a month on a 12-month plan or $397 month to month for the website, one new article a week, hosting, the domain and security, up to 30 minutes of site changes a month, a monthly email report and direct support from Henrique by text. Google Business Profile management isn't part of the plan. It's an optional add-on: $497 to set up, then $897 a month.

Month to month, you can cancel anytime. On a 12-month plan, cancelling early costs the difference between the two prices for the months you already used, and nothing else. Either way, if you cancel, the website and the domain are yours: the site files and the domain are handed over within 15 days. The full details are on medalisthq.com/websites. It isn't the cheapest way to have a website. It's a way to have one that someone keeps working on every month.

What does a fair monthly website deal look like?

Whoever you hire, a fair deal has these:

• No long contract. Month to month, or a short term you agree to on purpose, with no cancellation fee hiding in the fine print.
• You own the domain. It's registered in your name, or it's handed to you when you leave. Get that in writing.
• You get the site if you leave. The files, the text, the photos. If leaving means starting from zero, you're not a customer, you're a hostage.
• A clear list of what's included. "Maintenance" should mean specific things, not a vague promise.
• A report you can read. Something that shows what was done and what the site brought in, so you can judge it yourself.
• No guaranteed rankings or calls. Nobody controls Google. Google itself says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone promising page one is guessing.

And a few red flags: the domain registered in the agency's name "for convenience," a monthly fee with no list of what it pays for, and a price that jumps after the first year that nobody mentioned up front.

FAQ

Do I have to pay monthly for a website? Something has to pay for hosting and the domain, whether it's billed monthly or yearly. Builders typically charge less per month if you pay for the year up front.

Who should own my website's domain? You. It should be registered in your name, with a login you control, even if someone else manages it for you.

Is a Google Business Profile free? Yes. Google says creating a profile and listing your business on Google is free. The real cost is the time it takes to keep it current.

How much does a domain cost per year? It depends on the ending (.com, .net and so on) and the company you register it with. Look at the renewal price, not only the first-year price, because the two can be different.

Does a more expensive monthly plan mean more calls? No. The price tells you how much work is being done, not what Google or your customers will do. Judge any plan by what it includes and what the monthly report shows.

Want to see what we build and what it costs? It's all at medalisthq.com/websites. Or call Henrique at (407) 890-7557 and ask what the monthly would cover for your trade.