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Prices checked on 1 October 2026

The best website builders for small businesses in the UK, with 2026 prices

What a website with your own domain costs on each of eleven builders in pounds (or dollars, where a builder charges in dollars), whether VAT is on top, which plan you need to sell online or take bookings, and the catches.

We make AI Web Maker, one of the eleven builders on this page. It is marked as ours and described with the same facts as the others: its price, what is included and its catches. Every other figure links to the page it came from.

The short answer: which one to choose

Each builder is good at a different job. Start from the job your website has to do.

  • AI Web MakerOurs
    Choose it if you want one yearly price with bookings, a shop, a blog writer, a chatbot and marketing tools included, and a website built for you from a short description of your business.
  • Wix
    Choose it if you want a large choice of templates and built-in features in one editor, and plan to grow into bookings or a shop.
  • Squarespace
    Choose it if design matters most to you and you are happy to pay extra for scheduling and email campaigns.
  • Shopify
    Choose it if selling products is the main job of your website.
  • GoDaddy (Airo)
    Choose it if you want a low yearly price and a site made from a few prompts, and monthly AI credits suit you.
  • Hostinger
    Choose it if the lowest price matters most and you can pay four years upfront.
  • WordPress.com
    Choose it if you want the cheapest plan with your own domain, or a blog comes first.
  • Square Online
    Choose it if you already take payments with Square in person.
  • Durable
    Choose it if you run a service business and want a quick site with bookings and invoices.
  • Webflow
    Choose it if a designer will build your site and look after it.
  • Framer
    Choose it if you want a polished marketing site and do not need to sell online.

What a website with your own domain costs

The cheapest plan on each builder that lets you use your own domain (yourbusiness.com), per month. Year one is twelve months of that plan paid yearly; most builders also give the domain free for that first year.

BuilderCheapest plan with your own domainPer month, billed yearlyPer month, billed monthlyYear oneDomain free in year one
AI Web MakerOurs Hosting about £7.49 Priced by the year about £90 + domain No, paid separately
Wix Light £9 £11.50 £108 Yes
Squarespace Basic £12 £16 £144 Yes
Shopify Basic £19 £25 £228 No
GoDaddy (Airo) Cheapest paid plan £7.49 Not found £89.88 Yes
Hostinger Premium £2.99 (48 months) Not shown £143.52 for 4 years Yes
WordPress.com Personal £3 Not found £36 Yes
Square Online Plus £20 Not found £240 Yes (credit for one year)
Durable Launch $22 $25 $264 Yes (worth up to $20)
Webflow Basic $15 $25 $180 None mentioned
Framer Basic $10 $15 $120 Yes

Durable, Webflow and Framer charge in US dollars, so their prices are in dollars here.

AI Web Maker charges $119 a year in US dollars. The amounts in pounds use the European Central Bank rate of 1 October 2026 (1 US dollar = £0.7556), so your bank may show a slightly different figure.

Selling online, bookings and email marketing

The cheapest plan that lets customers pay or order online, and where bookings and email marketing come from. Card fees and each builder's own fee on sales, where it publishes them, are in its details below.

BuilderCheapest plan for selling onlinePer month, billed yearlyOnline bookingsEmail marketingFree plan
AI Web MakerOurs Hosting (Store Manager) about £90 a year Included Outreach emails from your domain No: building and previewing cost nothing
Wix Core £16 Core and up 200 a month free, then paid tiers Yes, with Wix ads and no own domain
Squarespace Basic2% fee £12 Paid add-on Paid add-on No (14-day trial)
Shopify Basic £19 Apps 10,000 a month free No (3 days, then £1 a month for 3 months)
GoDaddy (Airo) Not confirmed in the UK Not found Built in (plan not stated) Not confirmed in the UK Build only (per the US page)
Hostinger Unlimited £3.99 (48 months) Unlimited and up Unlimited and up No (30-day money back)
WordPress.com Premium4% fee £7 Plugins Business and up Yes, with ads and no own domain
Square Online FreeSquare address £0 Separate (Square Appointments) Separate, from £9 Yes, on a Square address
Durable Invoices only No shop found Launch and up Listed, plan not stated Private preview only
Webflow Ecommerce Standard2% fee $29 Other tools Other tools Yes, on a webflow.io address
Framer No built-in shop Not offered Other tools Other tools Yes, on a Framer address

Each builder, plan by plan

Every plan's price, what you get for selling, bookings, a blog and email marketing, the catches, and the pages each figure comes from.

AI Web MakerOurs

Choose it if you want one yearly price with bookings, a shop, a blog writer, a chatbot and marketing tools included, and a website built for you from a short description of your business.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Hosting, every tool included$119 a year, about £90about £7.49Priced by the year
AI
Builds your whole website from a short description of your business, in minutes, and you preview it before you pay anything.
Selling
Store Manager takes orders online, included in the hosting. You connect your own payment gateway: AI Web Maker takes no fee on your sales, and your payment provider charges its own card fees.
Running costs
The hosting, and AI credits for AI work when you need it; nothing else. The domain is paid separately.
Bookings
Booking Manager takes bookings online, included in the hosting.
Blog
The AI Blog Writer publishes new articles on a schedule (it uses AI credits).
Marketing
Contacts and leads, AI Marketing Outreach (it finds clients and emails them from your own domain) and the AI Social Media Marketer, all included.
Also included
An AI chatbot that answers visitors day and night, directory listings and email on your own domain.
Domain
Not included: point the domain you own to your new site, or register one when you go live and pay for it separately.

Catches

  • Charged in US dollars ($119 a year), so the amount in pounds moves with the exchange rate.
  • The domain is not included, in the first year or after.
  • Some AI work, like writing articles, uses credits you add when you need them.
  • Newer and smaller than the big names on this page.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026

Our own prices, as on aiwebmaker.co.

Wix

Choose it if you want a large choice of templates and built-in features in one editor, and plan to grow into bookings or a shop.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Free£0£0
Light£9£11.50
Core£16£19
Business£25£29
Business Elitemonthly price not firmly confirmed£119£145

UK prices from Expertsure, checked against Wix's UK page in July 2026. Startups.co.uk gave £129 a month for Business Elite in 2025.

AI
Wix Harmony: the Aria agent makes pages, sections, text and images, next to a drag-and-drop editor. On every plan, Free included.
Selling
From Core. Wix takes no fee on sales; Wix Payments charges 2.1% + 20p per UK card payment.
Bookings
Wix Bookings from Core.
Blog
On every plan.
Email marketing
200 emails a month free, with paid tiers above that.
Domain
Free for the first year on yearly plans.
VAT
Prices exclude VAT, which is added at checkout (ExpertMarket, July 2025; we found no 2026 source that says so).

Catches

  • The headline prices need a year paid upfront.
  • Light cannot sell online: Core is the first plan with a shop and bookings.
  • The free plan shows Wix ads and cannot use your own domain.
  • A 2025 review says VAT is added at checkout.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Expertsure: Wix pricing UK (3 Aug 2026)
  2. ExpertMarket: Wix pricing UK (7 Jul 2025)
  3. Website Builder Expert: Wix Payments (6 Feb 2026)
  4. Wix blog: how much Wix costs (updated 10 Sep 2026)

Squarespace

Choose it if design matters most to you and you are happy to pay extra for scheduling and email campaigns.

These UK prices were checked in July 2026 or earlier. Squarespace raised US prices by up to 26% in July 2026, and we found no UK source dated after that, so UK prices may now be higher.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Basic£12£16
Core£17£24
Plus£29£36
Advanced£79£89
AI
Blueprint AI builds the whole site. AI credits: 10 once on Basic, then 20, 40 or 120 a month on Core, Plus and Advanced.
Selling
Every plan sells. Basic takes 2% of physical product sales (0% from Core); digital products carry 7%, 5%, 1% or 0% by plan. Card fees from 2% + 25p (Basic and Core), 1.7% + 25p (Plus) and 1.5% + 25p (Advanced).
Bookings
Squarespace Scheduling is a separate subscription (we found no UK price).
Blog
On every plan.
Email marketing
Email Campaigns is a separate subscription (we found no UK price).
Domain
Free for the first year on yearly plans.
VAT
Included in the price, says Techverifiers (June 2026); Squarespace's UK page would not load for us to confirm it.

Catches

  • UK prices may have risen since July 2026.
  • No free plan, and bookings and email campaigns are paid extras.
  • Basic takes 2% of product sales.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Expertsure: Squarespace pricing UK (5 Aug 2026)
  2. Techverifiers: Squarespace pricing (28 Jun 2026)
  3. Startups.co.uk: Squarespace pricing (15 Sep 2025)
  4. PetaPixel: Squarespace raises prices (17 Jul 2026)
  5. Squarespace pricing (the builder's own page)

Shopify

Choose it if selling products is the main job of your website.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Basic£19£25
Grow£49£65
Advanced£259£344
Pluscustom termsCustomAbout £1,800

Shopify's UK pricing page would not load for us; UK prices from Expertsure (checked August 2026) and Charle. The Starter plan is closed to new stores.

AI
Builds a store from a prompt; Sidekick writes headlines, product descriptions and posts. On every plan.
Selling
Every plan. Shopify Payments adds no fee of its own beyond card fees: 2.0% + 25p (Basic), 1.7% + 25p (Grow) or 1.5% + 25p (Advanced) online. Another payment provider adds 2%, 1% or 0.6%.
Bookings
Through apps from the Shopify App Store.
Blog
Built in.
Email marketing
Shopify Email: 10,000 emails a month free, then pay as you send.
Domain
Not included.
VAT
20% VAT is added unless you give a VAT number, in which case the reverse charge applies (Expertsure).

Catches

  • The Starter plan is closed to new stores, so a real shop starts at Basic.
  • No free domain, and paid apps (bookings, reviews and the like) add monthly costs.
  • A payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds 0.6% to 2% per sale.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Expertsure: Shopify pricing UK (13 Sep 2026)
  2. Charle: Shopify pricing (2026)
  3. Shopify Help Center: Starter plan (the builder's own page)
  4. Shopify Help Center: Shopify Email pricing (the builder's own page)
  5. Shopify website builder (the builder's own page)

GoDaddy (Airo)

Choose it if you want a low yearly price and a site made from a few prompts, and monthly AI credits suit you.

GoDaddy's UK page shows only "as low as £7.49 a month" on a yearly term and does not name the plan. We could not find the other UK prices.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Free50 free AI credits; GoDaddy's US page says it cannot publish£0£0
Cheapest paid planname not shown on the UK page£7.49Not found
ProfessionalNot foundNot found
UltimateNot foundNot found
AI
Airo builds the site, its pages and simple apps from prompts. AI credits run out each billing cycle and do not carry over.
Selling
GoDaddy's US page says any paid plan can take payments; we could not confirm the UK plans.
Bookings
Appointments are listed as built in; we could not confirm which plans include them.
Blog
Built in.
Domain
Free for the first year on yearly plans (GoDaddy's UK page).
VAT
Not confirmed: Expertsure (September 2026) says prices include VAT; Jamie Grand (July 2026) says 20% VAT is added.
Plans
New since late August 2026: they replaced Basic, Premium and Commerce.

Catches

  • Only one UK price is published as a headline, without its plan name.
  • The plans changed in late August 2026, so many reviews describe plans that are gone.
  • AI credits do not roll over.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. GoDaddy UK pricing (the builder's own page)
  2. Expertsure: GoDaddy review (13 Sep 2026)
  3. Jamie Grand: GoDaddy Website Builder review (17 Jul 2026)
  4. Zoutons: GoDaddy AI credit plans (29 Aug 2026)

Hostinger

Choose it if the lowest price matters most and you can pay four years upfront.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Premium48 months upfront (£143.52), then £10.99 a month£2.99 (48 months)Not shown
Unlimited48 months upfront (£191.52), then £13.99 a month£3.99 (48 months)Not shown
Cloud Startup48 months upfront (£383.52), then £20.99 a month£7.99 (48 months)Not shown

Hostinger shows these prices only for 48 months paid upfront, without VAT; one-month and one-year prices are not on the page.

AI
Builds a site from your brand name and a description. AI credits, once: 5 on Premium, 15 on Unlimited and Cloud Startup.
Selling
From Unlimited. Hostinger takes no fee on sales; the payment provider charges its own.
Bookings
Part of the shop features, from Unlimited.
Blog
Included; basic, with no comments (Tooltester).
Email marketing
Hostinger Reach on Unlimited and up.
Domain
Free for the first year on every plan.
VAT
Prices are listed without VAT.

Catches

  • The £2.99 price needs 48 months paid upfront, then renews at £10.99 a month or more.
  • Prices exclude VAT.
  • Premium cannot sell online.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Hostinger UK Website Builder (the builder's own page)
  2. Hostinger UK pricing (the builder's own page)
  3. Tooltester: Hostinger Website Builder review (22 May 2026)

WordPress.com

Choose it if you want the cheapest plan with your own domain, or a blog comes first.

WordPress.com would not show us prices in pounds. These come from Forbes Advisor UK (July 2026), which uses the plan names of 2024 (Starter, Explorer, Creator, Entrepreneur); we matched them to today's plans.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Free£0£0
Personal£3Not found
Premium£7Not found
Business£20Not found
Commerce£36£55
AI
A guided builder makes and launches a site as you chat with it (usage limits apply). Personal and up.
Selling
Payment buttons from Premium, with a WordPress.com fee of 4% (Premium), 2% (Business) or 0% (Commerce), plus Stripe's fees. A full WooCommerce shop needs Business. The pricing page also lists payment buttons on Personal; the help page starts them at Premium.
Bookings
Through plugins, which every paid plan can add since April 2026.
Blog
The heart of every plan, Free included.
Email marketing
MailPoet for up to 500 subscribers on Business and Commerce.
Domain
Free for the first year on yearly plans.
VAT
Not found for prices in pounds (the US page shows prices excluding tax).

Catches

  • Prices in pounds are from a July 2026 review, not WordPress.com's own page.
  • Payment buttons carry a WordPress.com fee below Commerce, on top of Stripe's.
  • Paid plugins add their own costs.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Forbes Advisor UK: WordPress pricing (22 Jul 2026)
  2. WordPress.com pricing (the builder's own page)
  3. WordPress.com support: Payments block (the builder's own page)
  4. Blog Recode: plugins on all WordPress.com plans (4 Apr 2026)

Square Online

Choose it if you already take payments with Square in person.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
FreeSquare address only£0£0
Plus£20Not found
Premium£64Not found
AI
No whole-site AI builder found; AI writes product descriptions and menus (Tech.co, February 2026).
Selling
Every plan, Free included. Card fees: 1.4% + 25p for UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for other cards on Free and Plus; 1.4% + 15p and 2.5% + 15p on Premium.
Bookings
Square Appointments is a separate product: free for one location, then £29 (Plus) or £69 (Premium) a month per location.
Blog
Included.
Email marketing
Square Marketing is separate: £9 a month for up to 500 contacts, £19 for 1,000, £29 for 2,000.
Domain
Yearly Plus and Premium plans include credit for a standard domain for one year.
VAT
Not stated on Square's page.

Catches

  • Your own domain needs Plus.
  • Bookings and email marketing are separate subscriptions in the UK.
  • Payments must go through Square.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Square UK online store plans (the builder's own page)
  2. Square UK pricing (the builder's own page)
  3. Square Appointments UK pricing (the builder's own page)
  4. Square Marketing UK (the builder's own page)
  5. Tech.co: Square Online review (24 Feb 2026)

Durable

Choose it if you run a service business and want a quick site with bookings and invoices.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Freeprivate preview only$0$0
Launch$22$25
Grow$41$49

Durable shows prices in US dollars only; we found no UK price or VAT information.

AI
Builds a full site (text, images and design) in about 30 seconds from a few questions; AI agents write blog posts, answer reviews and look at competitors.
Selling
No online shop or checkout found. Customers can pay invoices by card, Apple Pay or bank transfer (Cybernews, June 2026); not on the free plan, and which paid plans include it is not confirmed.
Bookings
Unlimited bookings synced to your calendar, on Launch and Grow.
Blog
The AI Blog Writer: 2 posts on Free, 10 a month on Launch, 32 on Grow.
Email marketing
AI email campaigns are listed on the builder page; the plans that include them are not stated.
Domain
Paid plans include a custom domain worth up to $20 or $40, depending on the plan; the term is not stated.
VAT
Not stated; prices are in US dollars.

Catches

  • Priced in US dollars.
  • The free plan is a private preview: it cannot be published.
  • No full online shop.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Durable pricing (the builder's own page)
  2. Durable AI website builder (the builder's own page)
  3. Cybernews: Durable review (23 Jun 2026)

Webflow

Choose it if a designer will build your site and look after it.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
Starterwebflow.io address, 2 pages$0$0
Basic$15$25
Premium$25$39
Ecommerce Standard$29$42
Ecommerce Plus$74$84
Ecommerce Advanced$212$235

Webflow charges in US dollars in the UK too, plus tax at checkout. Premium replaced the CMS and Business plans in May 2026.

AI
Turns a prompt into a site you then edit in detail; it uses AI credits. On every plan.
Selling
From Ecommerce Standard, which takes 2% of sales; Plus and Advanced take 0%. Stripe or PayPal charge their own fees.
Bookings and email
Not on the pricing page; done with other tools.
Blog
Needs the CMS, from Premium; Basic is for static pages.
Domain
None mentioned on Webflow's pricing page.
VAT
Prices are in US dollars, plus tax at checkout.

Catches

  • Priced in US dollars, plus tax.
  • A blog needs Premium ($25 a month billed yearly).
  • Ecommerce Standard takes 2% of sales.
  • If you cancel, you still pay for the rest of the term.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Webflow pricing (the builder's own page)
  2. Webflow blog: simplified plans and pricing (20 Jul 2026)
  3. Webflow Help Center: pricing for May 2026 (May 2026)
  4. LitExtension: Webflow pricing (Jul 2026)
  5. Veza Digital: Webflow pricing (3 Oct 2025)

Framer

Choose it if you want a polished marketing site and do not need to sell online.

Plans, price a month
PlanBilled yearlyBilled monthly
FreeFramer address and banner$0$0
Basic$10$15
Pro$30$45
EnterpriseCustomCustom

Framer charges in US dollars in the UK too, with tax added at checkout. Monthly prices from Awesomic (September 2026).

AI
AI agents and translation run on monthly AI credits: 500 to try on Free, 1,000 on Basic, 3,000 on Pro.
Selling
No built-in shop or payments.
Blog
The CMS: 2 collections on Basic, 10 on Pro.
Domain
Free on yearly Basic and Pro plans.
Editors
Extra editors cost $20 a month each.
VAT
Prices are in US dollars, plus tax at checkout.

Catches

  • Priced in US dollars, plus tax.
  • No online shop or payments.
  • Extra editors cost $20 a month each.
Sources, read on 1 October 2026
  1. Framer pricing (the builder's own page)
  2. Framer blog: AI credits and simpler plans (undated)
  3. Awesomic: Framer pricing (18 Sep 2026)
  4. Build in Framer: Framer pricing explained (27 Aug 2026)
Before you choose

See your own website first

AI Web Maker builds a website for your business from a short description, in minutes, and you preview it before you pay anything. Compare it with the others on your own business rather than a demo.

Build my website → Check my current website

Free to build and preview · about £90 ($119) a year hosting when you go live · domain not included

Method

How we compared

We read each builder's own pricing page on 1 October 2026. Where a page would not load, or would not show prices for the UK, we used a review dated 2026 (or, where we say so, 2025) and name it next to the figure. When we could not find a figure, the page says "Not found" rather than guessing.

Prices are per month. "Billed yearly" means paying for a year upfront; "billed monthly" means paying month by month. Year one is twelve months of the cheapest plan with your own domain, paid yearly. Hostinger only shows prices for 48 months paid upfront, so its figures are for that term.

VAT: we say what each builder's page says about VAT, and where it says nothing, we say that too.

We make AI Web Maker. It is on this list, marked as ours, and described with the same facts as the others: its price, what is included and its catches.

Prices change often, and the date at the top says when we last checked them. If you see a figure that has changed, tell us and we will correct it.

Questions

Website builders for small businesses in the UK: questions and answers

What is the cheapest website builder for a small business in the UK?

On the prices we found, WordPress.com Personal at about £3 a month billed yearly (Forbes Advisor UK, July 2026), with the domain free for the first year. Hostinger shows £2.99 a month, but only with 48 months paid upfront (£143.52 before VAT), and it renews at £10.99 a month. GoDaddy starts at £7.49 a month on a yearly term, and Wix Light is £9 (VAT may be added). AI Web Maker is about £90 a year with every tool included; the domain is extra. We charge $119 in US dollars, so the amount in pounds moves with the exchange rate.

Which website builder is best for a small business in the UK?

It depends on the job your website does. To sell products, Shopify is built for it. For bookings, Wix (from Core), Durable, Hostinger, GoDaddy and AI Web Maker include them; Square and Squarespace sell them as separate subscriptions. For the lowest price, WordPress.com Personal. If a designer will run the site, Webflow or Framer. If you take card payments in person with Square, Square Online.

Do UK website builder prices include VAT?

It varies. Hostinger lists prices without VAT, and a 2025 review says the same of Wix. Shopify adds 20% VAT unless you give a VAT number. One 2026 review says Squarespace's UK prices include VAT, and reviews disagree about GoDaddy. Webflow, Framer and Durable charge in US dollars, and Webflow and Framer add tax at checkout. Check the total at checkout before you pay.

Is it cheaper to pay monthly or yearly?

Yearly, on every builder here that offers both. Paying month by month costs about 10% to 40% more on Wix, Squarespace and Shopify.

Is the domain free?

For the first year on yearly plans at Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, WordPress.com and Framer, and on Hostinger's 48-month plans; Square's yearly Plus and Premium plans include credit for one, and Durable includes one on its paid plans. After that you pay the renewal. Shopify and AI Web Maker do not include a domain, and Webflow's pricing page mentions none.

Which website builders include online booking?

Wix (from Core), Durable (Launch and Grow), Hostinger (with its shop plans), GoDaddy (plan not stated) and AI Web Maker include bookings. In the UK, Square Appointments is a separate product (free for one location, then £29 or £69 a month per location), and Squarespace sells scheduling as a separate subscription. Shopify, WordPress.com, Webflow and Framer need apps, plugins or other tools.

How much does AI Web Maker cost in the UK?

Building and previewing your website costs nothing. When you are happy with it, you go live for about £90 a year of hosting with every tool included: the shop, bookings, the AI Blog Writer, the AI chatbot, contacts and leads, marketing outreach and the social media marketer. We charge $119 in US dollars, so the amount in pounds moves with the exchange rate. Your domain is separate, and some AI work, like writing articles, uses credits you add when you need them. There is no fee on your sales: you connect your own payment gateway.

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