“How much does a website cost?” is the most common question I get from Irish small business owners. It is also the one with the most misleading answers online — because most guides show you the initial build cost and hide the ongoing costs, or quote agency prices as if they are the only option.
Here is the honest answer, tier by tier, with total cost of ownership over five years included. Because the €500 template you buy today can cost more than the €3,000 freelance build over that horizon.
The five real cost tiers
Websites for Irish small businesses in 2026 fall into five distinct price tiers. Each suits a different type of business, and each has its own trade-offs.
| Tier | Initial cost | 5-year total | Time to launch | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY template | €0-500 | €500-1,500 | 40-100 hours | Testing an idea, MVP |
| Designer + template | €500-2,000 | €2,000-4,000 | 2-4 weeks | Solo practitioners, side hustles |
| Freelance-built | €2,000-5,000 | €4,000-8,000 | 3-6 weeks | Growing Irish SMEs |
| Small agency | €5,000-15,000 | €10,000-25,000 | 8-16 weeks | Established businesses, professional services firms |
| Full custom build | €15,000-50,000+ | €25,000-75,000+ | 3-6 months | High-traffic, high-revenue businesses |
Notice that the freelance-built tier is where most Irish SMEs get the best value. Big enough to be professional, small enough to stay lean.
What each tier actually includes
Tier 1. DIY template (€0-500 initial)
What you get: Free WordPress theme, Squarespace, or Wix template. You do the setup, copy, images, forms, SEO. Everything.
What it costs beyond the platform:
- Domain: €10-20/year
- Hosting (WordPress only): €5-30/month
- Premium theme (optional): €30-80 one-off
- Your time: 40-100 hours over 3-6 months
Best for: Someone testing whether their business idea has legs. Should not be your permanent home if you plan to spend on marketing.
Reality check: DIY sites almost always have SEO ceilings, weak conversion optimisation, and generic branding. If your business generates real revenue, it costs you more in lost enquiries than a proper build would have.
Tier 2. Designer + template (€500-2,000 initial)
What you get: A freelance designer customises a Squarespace or WordPress template for you. Your branding, your copy (usually you write it), your imagery.
What it costs beyond the initial build:
- Ongoing hosting: €12-40/month for Squarespace or €5-30/month for WordPress
- Small changes: €80-120/hour when you need them
Best for: Solo practitioners, side hustles, small consultancies with modest online ambitions.
Reality check: Templates limit you visually and structurally. The site will look nice but will not stand out. Fine for many businesses, not for anyone competing on brand.
Tier 3. Freelance-built (€2,000-5,000 initial)
What you get: A freelance web designer builds you a proper site — WordPress, Squarespace, or custom Vercel/GitHub — with:
- Custom design (not just template swap)
- Copy written for conversion
- SEO foundation built in
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Contact forms, integrations, essentials
- Post-launch support
What it costs beyond the initial build:
- Hosting: €5-30/month
- Domain: €10-20/year
- Optional maintenance retainer: €100-300/month
- Ongoing changes: €60-120/hour or included in a small retainer
Best for: Growing Irish SMEs turning over €200k-€2m annually who want a website that actually earns its keep. This is where I work — my web design service sits in this tier at €600+ for a home page with additional pages at €200 each.
Reality check: Best value for most small businesses in Ireland. Professional output without agency overhead.
Tier 4. Small agency (€5,000-15,000 initial)
What you get: A small design/dev agency (3-10 people) builds your site with a proper team: project manager, designer, developer, copywriter, and possibly SEO specialist. More polish, more process, higher production value.
What it costs beyond the initial build:
- Ongoing hosting
- Maintenance retainer: €300-800/month typically
- Marketing services often bundled in
Best for: Established professional services firms (solicitors, accountancy practices, medical clinics) where the site needs to project institutional quality. Businesses with multiple stakeholders who need process and account management.
Reality check: You are paying for the team infrastructure. If a freelancer can do 80% of the job at 40% of the price, ask honestly whether you need the extra 20%.
Tier 5. Full custom build (€15,000-50,000+ initial)
What you get: A custom-designed, custom-developed site built on modern frameworks like Astro, Next.js, or Remix, with:
- Fully bespoke design
- Custom functionality (booking systems, calculators, member areas)
- Complex integrations (CRM, ERP, custom APIs)
- Enterprise-grade hosting and infrastructure
- Ongoing development retainer
What it costs beyond the initial build:
- Hosting: €50-500+/month depending on scale
- Ongoing development: €500-3,000+/month typical
- Long-term support relationships
Best for: High-traffic Irish businesses, e-commerce with complex catalogue needs, SaaS companies, businesses where the website itself is a core product.
Reality check: Overkill for most SMEs. Right for the few businesses that genuinely need it.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) — the honest 5-year view
The initial build cost is only part of the picture. Here is what the same “small business website” actually costs over five years across three realistic paths:
| Path | Initial | Year 1 total | Years 2-5 (avg) | 5-year TCO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace DIY | €200 (theme + setup) | €700 | €400/year | ~€2,300 |
| Freelance WordPress build | €2,500 | €3,500 | €500/year | ~€5,500 |
| Small agency build | €8,000 | €12,000 | €4,000/year | ~€28,000 |
The freelance path costs roughly twice the DIY path over five years — but delivers a site that actually converts and ranks. The agency path costs five times the freelance path over the same period.
For most Irish SMEs generating real revenue, the freelance path is the ROI sweet spot.
Hidden costs everyone forgets
Copywriting. Great sites need great copy. Either you write it (10-30 hours) or you pay a copywriter (€800-2,500 for a small business site).
Photography. Stock photos look like stock photos. Original photography adds €300-800 for a small business shoot.
Domain and email. €10-20/year for the domain, €5-10/month for professional email if using Google Workspace.
SSL certificate. Free with most modern hosts (SiteGround, Vercel, Squarespace all include it). Do not pay extra for this.
Analytics setup. GA4 and Search Console are free but need proper setup. Budget €150-400 to have it done properly.
Ongoing SEO. If you want to rank, budget €400-1,500/month for SEO work on top of the build. See my SEO service — it starts at €110/week as an add-on to Google Ads after month three.
Compliance. GDPR cookie banner, privacy policy, terms of service. Free templates work for most SMEs, but if you handle sensitive data expect €300-800 for a solicitor to draft custom policies.
Two Irish examples worth studying
Boxever (now Sitecore Personalize)
Boxever, the Irish personalisation SaaS acquired by Sitecore, invested in a custom-built site from day one because they were selling personalisation technology — their site had to demonstrate what they preached. That is the case for going beyond the freelance tier. If your product signals sophistication, your site has to match.
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus operates a fully custom platform because their site is essentially a product (booking, check-in, ancillaries). This is Tier 5 territory — €500k+ annual investment. That is warranted because the site directly generates hundreds of millions in bookings. If your site is a booking or transaction engine, the investment scales accordingly.
Most Irish SMEs are in neither of these categories. The freelance tier serves 80% of businesses better than the alternatives.
How to decide which tier you need
Ask yourself three questions:
- Will this site directly generate revenue in the next 12 months? If no, stay in Tier 1 or 2. If yes, move up.
- Do I need to look distinctive vs my competitors? If competitors all use templates, a bespoke freelance build (Tier 3) sets you apart. If competitors have agency-tier sites, you may need Tier 4 to match.
- Do I have complex functionality needs? Booking systems, member areas, calculators, integrations — these push you toward Tier 4 or 5.
If the answers are “yes, yes, no”, you are in Tier 3 territory — freelance build, €2,000 to €5,000, professional result at SME price.
What to do next
If you are trying to decide between rebuilding your current site or leaving it as-is, get a free Digital Blind Spot Report. I will look at your current site — speed, SEO, conversion elements — and give you a written recommendation on whether it needs replacing or just improving.
Or if you know you need a new site, book a 20-minute call or see the web design service page for exact pricing and process. Three-week build, project priced (no monthly platform lock-in), and I will tell you honestly if a template-based approach would serve you just as well.
Every euro spent on a website should be recoverable in leads within 12 months. If not, you overspent. If you have not recouped it, you underspent on marketing. The site itself is the smallest piece of the total picture — build the right one and everything else compounds.