How to get your small business online for under £100 a year

You don’t need a web designer’s invoice or a monthly subscription to a big website builder to get a small business online. With your own domain name, sensible hosting, free WordPress software and email at your own address, a professional-looking site can cost well under £100 a year, including VAT. This guide shows you exactly how, with real prices.

Prices checked 15 November 2026 on each provider’s own UK website, during Black Friday sales. Prices exclude VAT unless we say otherwise: if you are not VAT-registered, add 20%. DreamHost charges in US dollars. Offers change often, so the price at the provider’s checkout is the one that counts.

What you actually need

Every small business website needs just four things:

1. A domain name, your web address, such as yourbusiness.co.uk.
2. Web hosting, the server space where your website lives.
3. Website software. WordPress is free, and it powers a large share of the world’s websites.
4. Email at your own domain, such as hello@yourbusiness.co.uk.

Everything else, such as premium themes, paid plugins or logo design, is optional. Start lean and add things when the business justifies them.

Three ways to do it for under £100 a year

Option 1: Krystal + a .co.uk – the same low price every year

This is our pick for most small businesses because it stays under £100 a year every year: Krystal doesn’t use introductory discounts on these plans, and its domain prices are the same at renewal. You also get daily backups, cPanel, UK-based phone support and a 60-day money-back guarantee. See Krystal’s plans

Option 2: Hostinger on a four-year plan – the lowest cost up front

This is by far the cheapest route, but you pay four years in one go, and renewal after that is £7.99 a month before VAT (about £115 a year with VAT). If you want three sites, a free domain for year one and two mailboxes per site (free for the first year), the Premium plan is £85.92 before VAT for 48 months. See Hostinger’s plans (affiliate link)

Option 3: SiteGround – cheap first year, then budget for more

SiteGround’s StartUp plan is £23.88 before VAT for the first 12 months (£28.66 with VAT), with a free .com, .org or .net domain for the first year, free email and daily backups. Year one is comfortably under £100. From year two, though, it renews at £13.99 a month: £167.88 a year before VAT, or about £201 with VAT, plus your domain. That’s fine if you’re testing an idea or plan to move later, but it won’t stay under £100. See SiteGround’s plans (affiliate link)

What about 20i and DreamHost?

We like both, but neither fits a strict £100-a-year budget for a typical small business. 20i’s Startup plan is £1 for the first month then £10 a month (about £111 in year one before VAT, plus a domain). DreamHost’s Launch plan is $2.89 a month in year one, but email is only free for three months and renewal is $10.99 a month. See our full hosting comparison for where they shine.

Step by step: getting online

Step 1: Choose and register your domain

• Use .co.uk if you mainly serve UK customers; it’s familiar and inexpensive. Consider buying the .com too, if it’s available, to protect your name.
• Keep it short and easy to say over the phone. Avoid hyphens and numbers where you can.
• Check you’re not treading on someone’s trade mark using the free UK trade mark search on GOV.UK.
• Register it in your own name (or your company’s), not a web designer’s, so you always control it.
• Turn on auto-renew. Losing a domain because a card expired is more common than you’d think.

Step 2: Buy hosting

Pick one of the options above. Keeping your domain and hosting with the same company is simplest, but it’s fine to keep them separate: you just point the domain at your host, which takes a few minutes. Choose a UK or nearby data centre if you’re offered a choice.

Step 3: Install WordPress

All the hosts here install WordPress in one click from their control panel. Then:

• Choose a free, lightweight theme. Every theme in the official WordPress.org directory is free.
• Create the essential pages: Home, About, Services, Contact, and a Privacy Policy.
• Install a security plugin that limits login attempts, such as Limit Login Attempts Reloaded, and use a strong, unique password with two-factor login if you can.
• Install a free backup plugin such as UpdraftPlus and send copies to Google Drive or Dropbox. Your host’s backups are good; a second copy you control is better.

Step 4: Set up email at your domain

Create a mailbox such as hello@ or info@ in your host’s control panel, then add it to your phone and computer. Every host on our main list explains how in its help pages. If you’d rather use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, they cost extra each month and would take you over £100 a year.

Step 5: Get found

• Create a free Google Business Profile so you appear in Google Maps and local searches.
• Add your site to Google Search Console (free) to see how people find you.
• Ask happy customers to leave genuine reviews on your Google profile. Never buy or invent reviews: fake reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025.

Legal basics for a UK business website

• Privacy policy: required under UK GDPR if you collect any personal data, even through a contact form.
• Cookie consent: if you use analytics or advertising cookies, you need consent first under PECR. A free plugin can handle this.
• Company details: limited companies must show their registered name, number and registered office address on their website.

Hidden costs to watch for

• Renewal prices that are several times the introductory rate.
• “Free” domains and mailboxes that are only free for the first year or a trial period.
• VAT: most UK hosting prices are shown without it.
• Paid add-ons offered at checkout, such as extra security or SEO tools. You rarely need them on day one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I really run a business website for under £100 a year?

Yes. At the prices we checked, Krystal’s Amethyst plan plus a .co.uk domain comes to £93.59 a year including VAT, with email included, and stays at that price on renewal.

Is WordPress really free?

Yes. The WordPress software is free and open source. You pay only for hosting, a domain and any optional premium extras.

Do I need a web designer?

Not necessarily. With a free theme and a few hours, many owners build a perfectly good site themselves. If you’d rather hand it over, keep the domain and hosting accounts in your own name.

Should I use a website builder like Wix instead?

Builders are easy, but their business plans usually cost more each year than the options here, and moving away later can be harder. WordPress on your own hosting gives you more control for less money.

Which is best, .co.uk or .com?

For a business serving UK customers, .co.uk is a natural choice and costs less. If you can afford both, buy both and point the .com at your main site.

Our recommendation

If you want to stay under £100 a year without surprises, go with Krystal Amethyst and a .co.uk domain. If you’d rather pay as little as possible and are happy to commit four years up front, Hostinger Single is the cheapest route by a distance. Either way, keep the accounts in your own name, set up a second backup, and put the renewal date in your diary.