How Much Does a Website Cost for a Small Business?
The honest 2026 numbers: DIY builders $16 to $46/mo plus your labor, freelancers $1,500 to $5,000, agencies $3,000 to $15,000, and AI builders from free to $99/mo..
The 2026 answer, honestly: a small business website costs anywhere from $0 to $15,000 depending on who does the labor. DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace) run $16 to $46/mo but you spend 20 to 60 hours building it yourself. Freelancers charge $1,500 to $5,000. Agencies charge $3,000 to $15,000 and take 4 to 8 weeks. The new option is AI building: PISCES builds the entire site in about 90 seconds, publishes free, and runs $29 to $99/mo with the labor already done.
The real cost table
| Route | Cash cost | Your time | Wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $192 to $552/yr | 20 to 60 hours | Weeks of evenings |
| Freelancer | $1,500 to $5,000 once | Meetings + revisions | 2 to 6 weeks |
| Agency | $3,000 to $15,000 once | Meetings + revisions | 4 to 8 weeks |
| PISCES (AI builds it) | Free to $99/mo | About an evening of review | 90 seconds to first draft |
The line most people miss is the second column. At even $50/hour, 40 hours of DIY labor is a $2,000 invisible cost on top of the "cheap" subscription.
What it costs
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 AI build + publish a one-pager on a free address (with badge) |
| Launch | $29/mo | 3 pages, your own domain, 25 AI edits a month, no badge |
| Pro | $99/mo | 25 pages, blog, Stripe store, booking, full Next.js code export |
Full details on the pricing page.
See your site rebuilt by AI, free
Paste your current website's URL and PISCES rebuilds it, 10x better, in about 90 seconds. Keep it only if you love it.
Get my free rebuild →Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to get a small business website?
A free AI build. PISCES builds your site free and publishes a one-page version on a free address with a small badge, no credit card. The cheapest paid route with your own domain is $29/mo, which undercuts hiring anyone by orders of magnitude.
Why do agencies charge $5,000+ for a website?
You are paying for human hours: design, copywriting, revisions, project management. That made sense before AI could do the first 90 percent. Now the honest agency play is what we do: let the AI build, and charge humans for strategy and growth.
What is PISCES?
PISCES is the AI website builder from Marketing By Magnet: paste your current site's URL (or answer a few questions) and the AI builds your entire site in about 90 seconds. Free to build and publish a one-pager; $29/mo for your own domain; $99/mo for blog, store, booking and full code export.