A small business website costs anywhere from about $30 a month with an AI website builder to several thousand dollars upfront with a developer or agency. The final price depends on who builds it, how much custom work you need, and whether you keep paying for content and maintenance. For most small businesses, the realistic answer in 2026 is under $70 a month.
Here is a breakdown of the real options, what each includes, and where hidden costs usually hide.
An AI website builder charges a flat monthly subscription. QingYou AIGEO starts free — 5 articles on signup plus one a month to stay active — and the Basic plan is $39 a month for 30 articles, the website builder, site audit, monitoring, and indexing. The Growth plan at $69 a month adds cold email outreach for outbound lead generation.
This is the cheapest path to a credible, content-rich site, because the subscription bundles the tool and the content production together. You are not paying separately for writing, design, and hosting.
A developer or agency typically quotes a few thousand dollars for a custom website, with monthly maintenance on top. A freelancer sits in between, often charging per page or per project. These options make sense when you need custom application logic, not when you need a professional marketing site.
The hidden cost of the custom route is time and revisions. Every text change becomes a request, and the project stretches across weeks. That overhead is often more expensive than the invoice itself.
Beyond the build, a site costs money to keep alive: domain, hosting, SSL, and content. With a subscription builder, most of these are bundled. With a custom build, you manage them separately and pay a developer to update the site as your offers change.
Content is the cost that surprises most owners. A site needs fresh articles to stay visible in search and AI. If you pay per article, that line item grows every month; if you use a tool that bundles articles, it stays flat. For a full picture of the price tiers, see the QingYou pricing page.
Spend the minimum that gets you a professional site plus steady content. For most small businesses, that is a subscription builder in the $0–$69 range, with the $39 Basic tier as the sweet spot. Reserve custom development for the moment the site must become an application.
The better question than "how much" is "what am I getting for it." A $39 subscription that includes the builder plus 30 articles a month is a different value than a $3,000 one-time build that ships with no content plan. Compare total cost over a year, not the sticker price.
Avoid overpaying by separating needs from wants. You need a fast, mobile-friendly site that clearly states your offer and publishes content. You do not need custom code for that. Start with the cheapest option that meets the need, then upgrade only if results justify it.
If you are weighing options, read our comparison of an AI website builder vs hiring a developer for the full trade-off, then start with a free plan and measure before you spend.