Guide · 6 min read
How much does a small business website cost to run each month?
The build price is only half the story. Here is every running cost of a small business website, line by line, with typical amounts, and the questions to ask before you sign with anyone.
By Amandeep Kaur, SolidSite Studio ·
The running costs, line by line
| What | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | About $20 a year | Your address, like yourbusiness.com. Make sure it's registered in your name. |
| Hosting | Free to about $25 a month | Small, fast sites often fit in free or low-cost plans. |
| Business email | A few dollars per person a month | An address like info@yourbusiness.com looks far more trustworthy than a free one. |
| Booking calendar | Free to a few dollars a month | Only if you take bookings. |
| Text messages | A few cents per message | Reminders and confirmations by text. |
| Card processing | Usually around 3% per card payment | Charged by the card processor on each payment. Bank transfers usually cost nothing. |
| AI assistant | Free to a few dollars a month | Answers visitors' questions from your pages. |
| Upkeep | Do it yourself, or a monthly care plan | Security updates, backups and small edits. |
Add up only the lines you need. A simple showcase site needs the first three; a booking or ordering site adds the calendar, texts and card processing.
The costs people don't see coming
- Mark-ups. Some designers resell hosting or email at several times the real price. Ask what each provider charges and who the bill goes to.
- Commission. Booking and delivery platforms may take a share of every booking or order, on top of a monthly fee.
- Renewal jumps. Introductory prices on domains and hosting can rise sharply after the first year.
- Lock-in. If your site lives on someone else's account, leaving can mean starting again from scratch.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Whose name are the domain, hosting and payment accounts in?
- What will I pay each month, to whom, and is any of it marked up?
- Is there a commission on bookings or orders?
- If we stop working together, does the site keep running, and what do I get?
- What happens if something breaks after launch, and who pays to fix it?
What it costs with SolidSite Studio
Running costs are billed to you directly by the providers, on accounts in your name, and never marked up: typically about $14 a month for a Showcase site and about $21–39 a month for a Booking or Ordering site. Care plans for upkeep are optional, from $49 a month. The build itself is a one-time price; the plans page lists every package side by side.