How much does Zorva Labs cost?

$55 per month, all-in. That includes the custom website build (no setup fee), Cloudflare edge hosting, SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring, and monthly content changes. Larger custom work is billed at $33/hour, always quoted upfront. There is also a $57/month bundle that adds domain registration, DNS, and yearly renewals.

What's the difference between $55/mo and $57/mo?

The $55/mo plan covers the custom website, Cloudflare edge hosting, monthly content edits, SSL, backups, and ongoing optimization — but you bring your own domain. The $57/mo bundle is the same plan plus we register your domain in your name, manage DNS, set up SSL, and handle every yearly renewal automatically. Just $2 more per month covers $15/year of domain costs and removes one thing from your plate forever.

Is the website really free?

Yes. We design and build your custom 3-page website at no upfront cost — it's bundled into the $55/month plan. As long as you stay subscribed, your site is live and maintained.

How long does it take to launch a website?

Most websites are live within 7 days. We request your content on day 1, send a preview by day 4, and launch after your approval.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes — no contracts, cancel from your Stripe portal anytime. We do ask for a 90-day minimum after launch to cover the initial build cost.

Why not just use Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress?

Those builders look cheap but cost more once you add apps, plugins, hosting, and your own time to build. Wix Business with apps runs $72/mo. WordPress with hosting and plugins runs $60/mo plus your time. And the sites are slow — 40-55 mobile PageSpeed vs Zorva's 95-100. Plus, you have to build it yourself or pay a developer.

What kind of website changes are included?

Text edits, photo swaps, hours and price updates, contact info changes, small layout tweaks, and any change under 15 minutes — all included. Larger projects like new pages, redesigns, or integrations are quoted at $33/hour.

Where is Zorva Labs based?

Zorva Labs is based in Nashville, Tennessee. We serve small businesses across the United States and Canada.

Yes. You own your domain, the source code, the design, your logo, your content, and your brand. If you ever leave Zorva Labs, you take everything with you intact — no rebuild required. Unlike Wix, Squarespace, or most agencies, there's no vendor lock-in.

PricingMay 2, 2026·9 min read

How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in 2026? The Real Answer

What a small business website actually costs in 2026 — including the hidden fees of Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, freelancer rates, agency pricing, and how Zorva Labs delivers a custom build for $55/month with no upfront cost.

Michael Blair

Founder, Zorva Labs

A small business owner reviewing website pricing on a tablet — Zorva Labs

TL;DR

A real small business website in 2026 costs anywhere from $480/year (Wix Business + apps, you build it) to $15,000+ (custom agency build) — but the headline price almost always misses the real total. Zorva Labs builds, hosts, and maintains custom websites for $55/month all-in. No upfront cost. No hidden fees. Live in 7 days.

If you've Googled "small business website cost," you've already noticed the answers are useless: a 50-page guide that quotes "$500 to $50,000" without telling you which range you're actually in. This post fixes that. We'll break down the four real ways to get a website built in 2026, what each one actually costs (including the hidden fees nobody quotes upfront), and how to pick the path that fits your business.

The four real options

Every small business website ends up coming from one of these four paths:

DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy)
WordPress + hosting + plugins (DIY or freelancer-built)
Freelancer or agency custom build
All-in subscription service (like Zorva Labs at $55/mo)

1. DIY website builders — the hidden-fee trap

Wix advertises $17/month. Squarespace advertises $16/month. By the time you have a real business website running on either, you're paying:

Business-tier plan (you can't use the cheap plan for a real site): $30-32/month
Business email per user: $6-12/month
Forms, popups, SEO apps: $15-25/month
Booking or appointment app: $12-15/month
Live chat or chatbot: $15-20/month

Real total: $80-100/month, which is $960-1,200 per year. And you still have to build it yourself — typically 20-40 hours for a small business site. That's another $1,000-2,000 in opportunity cost if you charge anything for your time.

For our full breakdown of why Wix specifically loses on cost, see Wix vs Zorva Labs: Real Cost Breakdown.

2. WordPress + hosting + plugins

"WordPress is free" is technically true and practically misleading. A real WordPress small business site needs:

Managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine, SiteGround business): $25-40/month
Premium theme (Divi, Avada, custom): $60-80/year
Page builder (Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder): $5-7/month
SEO plugin (Yoast or RankMath Premium): $8-15/month
Backup + security plugins: $10-15/month
Forms, CRM, booking plugins: $12-25/month

Real total: $60-100/month in subscriptions, plus another $80/year in theme licenses, plus 30-50 hours to build it yourself or $2,000-5,000 to a freelancer. And WordPress sites need ongoing maintenance — every plugin update is a chance for something to break.

3. Freelancer or agency custom build

Quality varies wildly. Real ranges in 2026:

Upwork / Fiverr freelancer: $500-2,000 upfront. Usually a templated build. Quality is hit or miss. Maintenance after launch is rarely included.
Established freelancer or small studio: $2,500-7,500 upfront. Custom design, decent code. Hosting and maintenance separate.
Mid-size agency: $8,000-20,000 upfront. Better project management, real strategy, sometimes ongoing care plans for $100-300/month.
Top-tier agency: $25,000-75,000+. Brand strategy, custom code, full SEO, ongoing optimization. Rare for small businesses.

Add in hosting ($25-50/month), domain ($15-20/year), email ($6-12/user/month), and ongoing maintenance ($50-300/month) and the year-one total at the freelancer level lands around $3,500-9,000.

4. The all-in subscription model — Zorva Labs at $55/month

This is a newer category. Zorva Labs charges $55/month flat, all-in:

Custom 3-page website built FREE (no setup fee)
Zorva edge hosting (sub-second loads globally)
SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring
Monthly content changes included
Ongoing optimization and SEO foundations
Real human support — no chatbots

Year-one total: $660. No upfront cost. Cancel anytime.

The economic difference is dramatic. Year-one comparison:

Option	Year-One Total
Wix Business + apps + you build it	~$1,000 + 30 hours
WordPress + plugins + freelancer	~$3,500
Mid-size agency build	~$10,000
Zorva Labs $55/mo	$660

What about quality?

The biggest objection to "all-in subscription" sites is usually quality. Fair concern. Zorva Labs sites consistently score 95-100 on Google PageSpeed Insights for mobile — well above Wix sites (40-65), Squarespace (55-70), and most WordPress builds (50-80). Every site gets full schema markup, the new AI-search disciplines (GEO, AIO, AEO), and Zorva edge hosting on a global edge network.

See examples of real client work in our case studies.

Which option fits your business?

Hobby / side project — DIY builder is fine. You'll build it once and forget about it.
Real small business with steady revenue — Zorva Labs at $55/mo. Lowest total cost, highest performance, zero maintenance burden.
Funded startup or established mid-market — Mid-size agency. You need project management and brand strategy that goes beyond a small-business template.
Enterprise — Top-tier agency or in-house team. Different economics entirely.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to build a small business website?

DIY: 20-40 hours over a week or two. Freelancer: 4-8 weeks typical. Agency: 3-6 months. Zorva Labs: live in 7 days.

Should I pay upfront or monthly?

Monthly subscription wins for cash flow and risk. Upfront builds tie you to a specific designer and leave you paying for hosting and maintenance separately forever after.

What about owning the website?

Critical question. With Wix and Squarespace, you don't own the platform — leaving means rebuilding. With WordPress and most agencies, you own the code but inherit the maintenance. Zorva Labs clients own everything: domain, code, brand, content. If you leave, you take it all.

Want a free mockup?

The fastest way to figure out if Zorva is right for your business is to see what your site would look like before you commit. Get a free custom mockup — we'll design and build a homepage preview specifically for you. No call required, no commitment. 3-day turnaround.

Want this done for you?

Zorva Labs ships SEO, GEO, AIO, and AEO as part of every site we build.

Get a free strategy call →