As a small business owner, you’re highly aware of costs and what they can mean for your daily operations. Still, there are some costs that tend to be unavoidable, one of them being a professional website. But how much does it really cost to maintain a website and what’s the best way to generate business value for money in 2024? Let’s break down the annual costs together and find out how you can get the most bang for the buck this year!
The Cheapest Answer: $10/Month
It costs on average $10/month to maintain a small business website using a website builder. This remains the cheapest option available in 2024, while using a web developer or agency remains the most expensive option at $200/month. However, the final, annual cost to maintain a website varies wildly between $120 and even more than $50,000, depending on functionality and service needs.
| Type of Website | Monthly Maintenance Cost | Annual Maintenance Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Website from a web developer/agency | $170–1,200 | $2,000–14,000 |
| WordPress website | $30–250 | $250–3,000 |
| Website based on a website builder | $10–50 | $120–600 |
So, what are those functionalities and needs that impact pricing? Without reflecting on what you expect out of a website, you run the risk of overpaying for a service you don’t need or “underpaying” and launching a website you’ll end up feeling unhappy with. Therefore, let’s dive into the topic of website maintenance for small businesses!
Who Can Afford a Website Today?
You may have heard about costs for website building from friends in similar businesses—amounts of up to a thousand dollars just for setting up a website and annual maintenance of around the same figure. No wonder so many give up on this venture and stick to a free Facebook page, something I unfortunately can’t recommend. Costs don’t have to get that high, though, especially if you’re in any of these groups:
- Aspiring entrepreneurs—taking their first steps online.
- Small business owners—struggling with the decision to invest in a website.
- Self-employed people—considering expanding their services to online platforms but afraid of technical challenges.
- Freelancers—dreaming of setting up their own website as a key element of promoting their services.
- Product managers—demanding to understand the costs and logistics associated with maintaining a website in order to effectively manage online projects.
Typically, this means you have more modest requirements for functionality and are used to fixing a lot of stuff yourself, whether it’s signing up for insurance, leasing an office space, or figuring out governmental application forms. A clean and efficient website for a small business can be affordable, even today, especially if you’re willing to accept more standard solutions and don’t mind making use of the smart AI functionality that’s out there.
7 Factors That Decide How Much You’ll Pay
The main website costs consist primarily of the domain, hosting, and an SSL certificate (also known as HTTPS encryption). In addition, you should take into account the so-called additional maintenance costs, including updates, plugins and templates, and virus removal from the website.
1. Domain
A domain is a name that identifies your website on the internet and allows it to be found. Domain registration is the first step to creating your own online space and involves an annual fee. A good domain is one that is, on the one hand, relates to your business profile and, on the other hand, is short and easy to remember.
How much does a domain cost?
The price for a domain usually ranges from $10 to $45 per year, depending on the type of domain extension (.com, .org etc.) and additional services offered by the provider.
2. Hosting
Hosting is a service that provides the necessary server resources for your website, allowing it to be accessible on the internet 24/7. If you already have a domain, you need to connect it to a server. Choosing the right hosting is crucial for the page loading speed, security, and stability of your website. Hosting services differ primarily in storage space, data transfer limits, and the availability of technical support and additional functions (such as backup).
How much does the hosting cost?
The cost of hosting ranges from approximately $10 to $600 or more per year, depending on the requirements and scale of the project you intend to develop.
3. SSL certificate (HTTPS encryption)
The SSL certificate, i.e., the HTTPS encryption protocol, guarantees the security of data transmitted between the server of your website and the person visiting your site. The use of this certificate is critical for the protection of personal and financial information, and also strengthens visitors’ trust in your website. By using an SSL, you ensure data encryption (indicated in your Chrome browser by a tune icon and in other browsers typically by a padlock symbol), effectively protecting it against unauthorized access.
How much does an SSL certificate cost?
An SSL certificate may be free of charge (e.g., Let’s Encrypt). However, for versions that guarantee the higher level of security, you will pay approximately $60 per year.
4. Website Updates
Software updates for your website are necessary to ensure its efficiency, security, and compliance with the latest technological standards and legal regulations. Regular updates also protect against attacks using known software vulnerabilities while introducing new functionalities and bug fixes.
How much do updates cost?
The cost of updates will vary depending on the complexity of your site and content management system (CMS). For example, if you use paid extensions or individually tailored software, the costs will range from $100 to $500 per year. For custom-built functionality, updates can rather range in the thousands of dollars per year.
5. Plugins
Plugins are extensions to the functionality of your website that enable it to be tailored to specific user and content management needs. They’re typically available for CMSs such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, and provide add-ons that improve search engine optimization (SEO), security, and social functions, as well as advanced analytics tools. There are a wide range of plugins available for most CMSs, both free and paid—this allows you to significantly expand the capabilities of your website without changing its code.
How much do plugins cost?
Plugins cost from $200 to $1,500 per year for the most specialized solutions. There are also free plugins (WordPress offers the most).
6. Templates
Templates are ready-made website designs that allow you to quickly and effectively launch an attractive-looking website. They offer a variety of visual options and functionalities that you can customize to reflect the nature of your business. Using templates is an effective way to reduce the upfront costs of creating a website while ensuring a professional look and functionality.
How much do templates cost?
The cost of templates starts from about $50 for very simple projects, reaching up to $1,500 per year for solutions with additional technical support after implementation.
7. Virus Removal
Websites are, unfortunately, susceptible to various vulnerabilities, such as hacker attacks, malware, and viruses. You should therefore consider virus analysis and removal a necessary part of overall site maintenance. Eliminating malicious software where and when it occurs is critical to restore proper functionality of your website and protect user data against leakage. Removing malware requires specialized knowledge and tools that can effectively identify and remove threats without the risk of damaging important website files.
How much does virus removal cost for a website?
The cost of virus removal from a website ranges from $200 to $800 per year, depending on the complexity of the infection and the number of hours needed by a specialist.
Summary: The True Cost of Maintaining a Small Business Website
As we’ve seen, a number of factors play into the final figure of what it actually costs to maintain a website for a small business. Below is a more detailed comparison of the most important aspects I’ve mentioned:
| Cost Type | Website from a Web Developer/Agency | WordPress Website | Website Based on a Website Builder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | $10–45 / year | $10–45 / year | included in the price |
| Hosting | $10–600 / year | $3–100 / year | included in the price |
| SSL certificate | $0–1,000 / year | $0–60 / year | included in the price |
| Updates | $240–2,400 / year | $100–500 / year | included in the price |
| Plugins | $200–6,000 / year or one-time | $0–300 / year or one-time | included in the price |
| Templates | $1,000–2,500 / year or one-time | $20–1,000 / year or one-time | included in the price |
| Virus removal | $100–1,000 / year or one-time | $100–1,000 / year or one-time | included in the price |
| Total annual cost | $2,000–14,000 | $250–3,000 | From $120—only with _Now by cyber_Folks!—to $600 |
What You Get with _Now Website Builder
Indeed, the cost of website maintenance varies wildly depending on needs, but with a website builder such as _Now, the annual cost can go as low as $120 a year. One core reason why website builders are relatively affordable is that all of the technical development and maintenance is outsourced to the service provider. As a result, you don’t have to worry about hosting, database, or certificates. Your only job is to create a website and maintain its content to reflect your business.
The _Now website builder allows you to create a full-fledged website in 60 seconds. It’s easier than creating a fan page on social media, yet offers the functionality small business owners need:
- Business blog—allows you to post and update content about your business through a ready-to-use article template
- Contact details and location—Google Maps integration, allowing your customers to discover your company more easily
- Business visuals—enhance your content by selecting from among a wide range of stock images tailored to your business
- Starter content—we automatically prepare text and stock photos using AI technology, enabling a true quick launch of your website
- Content layout—our builder creates a page structure designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate
- Responsive design—_Now effortlessly adapts your website to computer, tablet, and mobile screens
- Fast page speed—web visitors today don’t have time to wait around for pages to load; the average loading time for a _Now website is less than 1 second!
Conclusion
It should be clear by now that you don’t have to resort only to a free Facebook page as a small business owner in order to drive more growth and visibility online. If all you need is a place for contact details, news, a company bio, and a service/product offering, you’ll be able to go live today for a cost of less than $600 a year. While there are more expensive alternatives involving web developers or WordPress services, many small businesses won’t make full use of those options. Rather, they’ll ultimately save both money and time, as well as having full control of the outcome, using a reliable website builder.
However, we generally recommend custom design projects and WordPress sites for more medium to large enterprises, where customization is key. Our _Now website builder is commonly chosen by small enterprises and solopreneurs that want to test their business idea or develop a company in a niche characterized by little competition. If you’re already dreaming of your own website, why not give _Now a test run today—free of charge, no credit card required!
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