Ask five web designers what a website costs and you will get five different answers — usually followed by “it depends.” Here is the straight answer from a Sherman-based team that builds them every week: most small business websites in Texas cost $2,000–$10,000 built custom, $20–$50 a month if you build it yourself, or $500 a month leased with everything handled for you. Which one is right comes down to cash flow, time, and how badly you need the site to produce customers.
The Three Ways Small Businesses Pay for a Website
1. Do-it-yourself builders — $20–$50/month, plus your weekends
Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy look cheap on the sticker. But you supply the design, the writing, the search optimization, and the hours. Most DIY sites we audit around Sherman and Denison load slowly, never show up on Google, and quietly cost their owners more in missed calls than they save in fees. If your time is worth anything, “free” is the most expensive option on this list.
2. A custom build — $2,000–$10,000 one-time
A professional site designed around your services and your market. In North Texas, an honest price for a small service business usually lands between $3,000 and $6,000 — our own Phase One build is $4,000 flat, and it includes professional videography and Google Business Profile setup. Just remember the build price is not the whole story: hosting, security, and maintenance come after launch.
3. A website lease — $500/month, nothing upfront
Same custom build, no big check. Our $500/month website lease rolls design, hosting, security, maintenance, and ongoing updates into one flat monthly payment. You get a professional site working for you in weeks, and you never get a surprise invoice when something needs fixing.
Why Website Prices Vary So Much
Two quotes can be thousands of dollars apart because they are not the same product. The price moves with:
- How many pages you need (each service and city page is real work — and real Google visibility)
- Custom design versus a template with your logo dropped in
- Who writes the words — copy that sells takes time
- Whether search optimization is built in or “extra”
- Hosting, security, and backups
- Who maintains it after launch — because someone has to
The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
Even a “one-time” website keeps costing money: hosting runs $20–$60 a month, plus security updates, backups, and every content change you cannot make yourself. Budget $50–$150 a month to keep a custom site healthy. Over three years, a $4,000 build plus upkeep lands surprisingly close to what a lease costs — except the lease includes all the labor, and the lease site never sits broken waiting for “the website guy.”
What Should a Sherman or Denison Business Actually Pay?
Just starting out or protecting cash flow: lease at $500/month. You get the professional build now and skip the $4,000 check entirely.
Established and want to own the asset: the $4,000 build, which comes with a 3-month marketing trial so the site starts producing right away.
Already have a site that is not bringing in work: get it audited before you rebuild. Sometimes a $500 fix beats a $5,000 do-over — book a free consultation and we will tell you honestly which one you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a website cost per month in Texas?
DIY builders run $20–$50 a month plus your time. A professionally built site costs $50–$150 a month to host and maintain after the build. An all-inclusive lease — build, hosting, and maintenance together — is $500 a month with us.
Is a $500/month website lease worth it?
For service businesses, usually yes. If your average job is worth a few hundred dollars or more, one new customer a month pays the lease. Everything after that is profit the site earned you.
Why not just use a free Facebook page?
You do not own it, it does not show up when people search Google for your service, and one algorithm change can bury you. We wrote a whole piece on it: your Facebook page is not a website.
How long does a website take to build?
Our builds typically go live in two to four weeks — lease or purchase. DIY takes as long as your next free weekend, and the one after that.
The Bottom Line
A small business website in Texas costs $2,000–$10,000 upfront, or $500 a month with everything included. If the upfront check is the thing stopping you, that is exactly why we built the $500/month website lease — and if you want a straight number for your specific business, the consultation is free.