What a small business website costs in 2026, and what you are paying for

You ask two agencies for a quote. One sends a single one-off number, the other a monthly fee, and a third is "cheap" but does not say what is included. Before you compare the numbers, one thing needs saying: a website is not one product. It is the sum of several jobs.

What goes into a website price

Quotes often squash these items into one line. Open them up and look for:

• Design: drawn from scratch, or a ready-made template adapted to your business?
• Copy and photos: do you bring the content, or are writing and photography part of the price?
• Features and setup: contact forms, a map, a WhatsApp button, several languages, a menu or booking.
• Domain name: your .com address, including the yearly renewal fee.
• Hosting and SSL: the server the site sits on and the padlock in the browser.
• Business email: addresses like info@yourbusiness.com.
• Maintenance and updates: when a price, an opening hour or a menu changes, who does it and how fast?
• Basic SEO: titles, descriptions, a Google listing, a sitemap.

If one of these is missing from a quote, either you will be asked to pay for it later or it will not be done. Both are annoying in month three.

Three ways agencies charge

1. A one-off project fee

You commission the site and pay once. It is predictable. The downside is that every change after launch is billed separately, and domain and hosting renewals become your own job to track.

2. A monthly plan

Setup, hosting, maintenance and updates are rolled into one monthly fee. The upfront cost stays low and the site is always looked after. What to check: the cancellation terms, and whether your content and domain are handed over if you leave.

3. Cheap setup, expensive upkeep

Looks cheap in the shop window but asks for a high monthly "maintenance and hosting" fee or a long lock-in. Work out the total over 12 months and the picture often changes.

The numbers at KMG

KMG works with monthly plans. There is no setup fee and no commitment. Monthly prices (in Turkish lira) are:

• Starter: 749 TL with domain and hosting from us, 599 TL if you use your own server. One page, one language, 1 small update a month.
• Business: 1,149 TL with domain and hosting from us, 999 TL on your own server. Up to 8 pages, Turkish and English, 3 updates a month, Google Business Profile setup.
• Growth: 1,599 TL with domain and hosting from us, 1,499 TL on your own server. Up to 20 pages, a blog, unlimited small updates (fair use), local SEO care.

If you pay yearly you get 2 months free, so the year costs 10 months. For example the Business plan with domain and hosting comes to 11,490 TL a year. The current list is always on the pricing page, where amounts are converted to US dollars at the daily rate.

With "domain and hosting from us", the domain, server, SSL and business email are part of the plan, and the domain is registered in your name. If you cancel within 15 days of your first payment you get your money back (the domain registry fee is excluded).

KMG prices exclude VAT, which is added on the invoice. Whoever you work with, do not pay until the total that will appear on the invoice is clear.

Questions to ask when comparing quotes

• Whose name will the domain be registered in?
• What will I pay in year two? Are renewals included?
• How many updates do I get, and what counts as an update?
• If I leave, what do I take with me: texts, photos, the domain?
• Are mobile layout, speed and basic SEO inside the price?
• Is VAT included, and will I get an invoice?

Get the answers in writing. A spoken "everything is included" means little if it never reaches the contract.

Monthly or yearly?

Let us use the numbers. Someone on the Business plan with domain and hosting paying monthly spends 12 x 1,149 = 13,788 TL a year. Paying yearly costs 11,490 TL, a difference of 2,298 TL. If your cash flow is comfortable, yearly is clearly cheaper. If you are unsure, start monthly: since there is no commitment you can switch to yearly in any month you like.

Using your own server only means the server, email and backups stay with you. If nobody on your side will look after them, the gap of roughly 150 TL is rarely worth the trouble.

Where hidden costs usually live

• Price rises on domain and hosting renewals.
• Every small change quoted as a separate job.
• A fee for an extra language or page added later.
• Themes and plugins bought on a yearly licence.
• Content and domain not handed over when you leave.

The four decisions that really set the price

More than the plan name, a handful of decisions set the total. The first is page count: if your services fit on one page, keep them on one page. The second is language: a second language pays off only if you take customers from abroad or sit in a tourist area. The third is content: a client who arrives with texts and photos ready cuts the agency's hours and therefore the price. The fourth is how often things change: if your prices or menu move every week, a plan with a high update allowance costs less than paying for each update separately.

When you need a custom quote

E-commerce with online payments, a fully bespoke design, multi-location setups or ERP and booking integrations do not fit a standard plan. These are priced by scope rather than a fixed fee. At KMG there is a custom quote form for them. If you want to see finished work first, have a look at what has been made with KMG.

Planning your budget

A tradesperson or a freelancer who needs a shopfront is usually well served by one clean, fast page with good copy. If you want a second language, separate service pages and visibility on Google, the middle plan makes sense. Planning to publish a blog and fresh content regularly is a good reason to move up. Write down the goal first, then pick the plan. The other way round gets expensive.