Websites
How much does a small business website cost in Australia?
A small business website in Australia costs whatever its parts add up to: a domain, a way to build and host it, payment fees if you sell, email, and your own time. The cheapest builders start free and the most expensive custom builds run to many thousands, so the useful answer is a list of lines to price for your own situation.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
4 min read · Published
A small business website in Australia costs the sum of its parts: a domain name, a builder or hosting plan, design time, payment fees if you sell, email, photos and upkeep. A sole trader using a builder can be online for the price of a domain and a modest monthly plan, while an agency built site with a store and bookings can cost many thousands. Pricing each line yourself is more useful than any average.
The table below lists the lines with who charges each one. Where a number is given it is OneCraft’s own published price; for everything else the right figure depends on the supplier you choose, so the table tells you where to ask.
The domain
A .com.au domain is registered through an auDA accredited registrar, and you need an Australian connection to hold one, such as an ABN or a registered business name. Registrars set their own prices and often discount the first year, so compare the renewal price, not just the first one. Register the domain in your own business name, turn on auto renew, and keep the login somewhere the business can always reach.
A domain is not strictly needed on day one. Most builders give a free address, such as yourname.onecraft.live, which works straight away. It is a sensible way to start, and the free address page explains how renaming and moving to your own domain later work.
The builder or the designer
This is the largest variable. Doing it yourself on a builder costs a monthly plan plus your time. OneCraft’s plans are Free at $0, Starter at $8, Pro at $25 and Pro+ at $125 a month, each with monthly credits, where a new site uses 1 credit and a custom domain needs a paid plan. Other builders publish their prices on their own pricing pages.
Hiring a designer or agency costs their quote, which bundles design, copy, photos, features and support. Quotes for apparently similar sites vary widely because the scope varies. Ask for the pages, features, revisions and support period in writing, and ask who owns the site and the domain at the end.
Payment fees if you sell
An online store adds per sale costs. Card processing fees go to the payment provider, and many platforms add a percentage of their own. On OneCraft the store is part of the paid plans, checkout runs through Stripe into your own account, and the platform fee is 2 percent on Starter, 1 percent on Pro and 0.5 percent on Pro+, with Stripe’s fees on top. Work out the yearly cost at your expected sales, because at higher volumes the plan with the lower fee can be cheaper overall. The Stripe ecommerce page shows how checkout and fees work.
Email, photos and the things people forget
Business email at your own domain usually comes from a separate email provider, charged per mailbox. Most website builders, OneCraft included, do not host email, and connecting a domain to a site leaves your mail records untouched.
Photos are the difference between a site that looks like a template and one that looks like your business. A short session with a local photographer, or careful phone photos in good light, beats stock images of strangers. Budget for it.
Then there is upkeep: prices, hours, staff and photos change. An hour a month keeps most small sites accurate. A site with out of date hours costs more in lost trust than it ever cost to build.
GST and tax
Most website services sold in Australia include GST at 10 percent. If your business is registered for GST you can generally claim the GST back on business purchases, and the ATO treats many digital business costs as deductible. Larger build costs may be treated differently from monthly fees. Keep the tax invoices and ask your accountant how to treat each line.
A worked example
Mossgrove Garden Design, an invented one person landscape studio in the Adelaide Hills, builds a five page site on a builder: home, garden design, planting plans, maintenance and contact, plus privacy and terms pages. The yearly lines are the .com.au renewal from its registrar, twelve months of a Starter plan at $8, two email mailboxes from an email provider, a half day photo session of three finished gardens, and about two hours a quarter of updates. No store, so no payment fees. Every line is known before launch, and the most expensive one is the owner’s time, which a clear brief to the generator keeps short. The AI website builder page shows what the draft covers and what it leaves to you.
Questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Who owns the domain, and in whose name is it registered?
- What exactly is included: pages, copy, photos, forms, store, support?
- What does it cost each year after launch?
- Can I edit prices and hours myself without paying for changes?
- If I leave, what can I take with me?
| Cost line | Who charges it | How it is billed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com.au domain | An auDA accredited registrar | Yearly, prices set by each registrar | Needs an Australian presence such as an ABN |
| Website builder or hosting | The platform | Monthly or yearly plan | OneCraft: Free $0, Starter $8, Pro $25, Pro+ $125 a month |
| Design and build | You, or a designer or agency | Your time, or a quote | The largest variable in most budgets |
| Card payments | Your payment provider and platform | Per transaction | OneCraft adds 2%, 1% or 0.5% by plan to Stripe fees |
| Business email | An email provider | Per mailbox, usually monthly | Not included in most website builders |
| Photos | A photographer or stock library | Per shoot or per image | Real photos of your work outperform stock |
| Upkeep | You or a contractor | Hours each month | Prices, hours and photos go out of date |
Questions people ask
Do I need to pay GST on website costs?
Most website services sold in Australia include GST at 10 percent, and overseas digital services sold to Australian consumers usually charge it too. If you are registered for GST, you can generally claim it back as a business expense. Keep tax invoices and check with your accountant.
Can I build a small business website for free?
You can start for free on several builders, with a free subdomain address and limits such as a platform badge. A free start is fine for testing an idea. Most businesses soon pay for a custom domain and a plan that allows it, which is a modest monthly cost.
Is a website a tax deduction in Australia?
Many website costs are deductible business expenses, such as hosting, builder plans and domain renewals, while larger build costs may be treated differently, for example spread over several years. The ATO has guidance on digital business costs, and your accountant can confirm the treatment.
Why do agency quotes vary so much?
Agencies price design time, copywriting, photography, features such as bookings or a store, project management and ongoing support. Two quotes for a five page site can differ several times over depending on what is included. Ask each one to list the pages, features and support in writing.
What is the cheapest way to get a professional site?
Write a clear brief, use a builder that generates a tidy first draft, replace stock photos with real ones, connect your own domain and keep the site short and accurate. Most of the professional look comes from good photos, consistent details and plain, specific words.
How much should I budget each year?
Add up the domain renewal, the builder or hosting plan, email mailboxes and any payment fees at your expected sales, then add a few hours a quarter to update prices, hours and photos. That yearly total is more useful than the launch cost alone.
Written by
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
Works across the builders and the export paths: how a form becomes a PDF, how a flyer canvas becomes a print file, and how a signed document carries its audit trail.
LinkedIn profileWritten and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .
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