Looking for a cheap website for your small business in Australia? Here's what to watch for
When you search for a cheap website, you're not after the smallest number on the page. You're worried about a surprise invoice, an hourly rate ticking away, months of back-and-forth, or a site that looks like everyone else's. That's a fair thing to be wary of.
This page isn't a price-by-price breakdown of what websites cost across Australia. It's about one specific option: a custom-designed site, built and hosted for a flat, public $50/month, ready in about a week. Cheap doesn't have to look cheap. The sections below show where extra charges tend to hide, and what you get when none of them apply.
Why isn't a $15 a month website builder really $15 a month?
Because the $15 plan is the entry price, not the one small businesses typically end up on. Add your own domain, drop the ads, and bolt on an app or two, and builders like Wix and Squarespace tend to land between $30 and $60 a month.
Over five years, that adds up to $2,000 to $3,500, and it still doesn't count the hours you spend building and fixing the site yourself. Freelancers and agencies have their own version of this: a lower quote that grows once revisions, hosting and updates are added.
That's why we keep our price public and fixed. One flat $50/month, no setup charge, no hourly rate, no invoice you didn't see coming.
What keeps a small business website simple and affordable?
Four things drive the price of any site: how many pages you need, how custom the design is, whether you want features beyond a brochure, and who writes the words. A simple cafe or trade site sits at the low end of every one.
Pages: about five does it (home, services or menu, about, contact, maybe a gallery). Design: custom-designed costs more than a template, but it doesn't have to cost five figures. Features: online booking, e-commerce and member areas push prices up fast, and a brochure site needs none of them.
Words: most owners can describe their own business better than a copywriter can. Keep those four dials simple and a small business site stays cheap without looking it.
Should you go DIY, hire a freelancer, use an agency or pay a flat monthly fee?
When each route makes sense
If your business is an experiment, go DIY. If customers check you out online before they call, get the site done well, through a good freelancer, a flat-fee service, or an agency if you're a bigger operation.
- DIY builders: $15-60/month plus your own time. Right for side hustles, ideas that may pivot, or a site that's just a business card.
- Freelancer: typically $800-3,000 upfront, then you're on your own.
- Agency: $5,000-20,000 and up. Suits a twenty-staff company with complex needs.
- Flat monthly fee: one fixed price with everything included.
Where agencies are overkill
A cafe, tradie or solo professional seldom needs strategy workshops and project management. Small businesses need about five pages that load fast, look right on a phone and make it easy to call. That's not a $15,000 problem.
Compare five years, not day one
Our flat $50/month is $3,000 over five years, with the design, build, hosting and updates done for you. Set that against the $2,000-3,500 a DIY plan tends to reach, where you still do all the work yourself.
How does a flat $50 a month website work with Topos?
You pay a flat $50/month and we handle the rest, with no upfront cost. Send us your logo and photos, and we design, build and host your site, usually within about a week. Your part is a 10-minute onboarding and a quick look at the draft.
After launch you can edit your own text and images any time, or ask us and we'll make the change.
This isn't for shops needing ecommerce, user accounts, payments or app features, and the price isn't negotiable. An optional add-on covers hands-on updates and backlinking to help you get found, though we can't promise rankings.
If that suits you, get in touch and we'll start with the 10-minute onboarding.