Quick answer: Most Canadian small businesses pay somewhere between CA$1,500 and CA$5,000 for a one-off website build, plus CA$150–500 a year in hosting and upkeep after that — or a single monthly rate with nothing upfront if they choose a managed subscription. The route matters more than the budget: the build price is the part everyone quotes, and the ongoing part is the one that actually decides what the site costs you.
Every figure below is in Canadian dollars and before GST/HST, which is how most quotes arrive.
DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace and similar)
Typical cost: CA$150–500 a year, once a paid plan and a domain are included.
Cheapest in dollars, by a distance. What it costs is time — a first-time build usually eats two to four weekends, and that is before learning what makes a site show up when someone in your city searches for what you do. Plans are often priced in USD, so the CAD figure moves with the exchange rate; check the currency on the pricing page before you compare.
Cheap designers
Typical cost: CA$400–1,500 one-off, for a template customised with your branding.
This is the tier most "cheap web designer" searches land on, and it is a real option for a simple site you will not touch again for a while. The catch is everything that is not in the quote — hosting, domain, updates, fixes, and whose name the accounts are in. We wrote that up separately: cheap web designer vs website subscription.
Freelancers
Typical cost: CA$1,500–5,000 for a straightforward small-business site; simple four-to-six-page builds often land in the CA$2,000–3,500 range.
An experienced freelancer is the right call when you need something specific — a booking flow, a particular layout — and are happy to manage the relationship yourself. Hosting, domain and upkeep are quoted separately, usually CA$150–500 a year on top. Expect two to six weeks from brief to launch.
Agencies
Typical cost: CA$3,000–15,000+, with fully bespoke or larger builds going well past that.
More process, more people, more polish — and the price reflects it. Ongoing hosting and maintenance are still billed separately, commonly CA$75–400 a month, after the build fee.
Managed subscriptions
Typical cost: one flat monthly rate, covering the build itself, not just what comes after.
This is the route that gets misread against the others, because the numbers above are build prices with the running costs bolted on afterward. A subscription folds the build, hosting, domain and updates into one figure from the first month, with nothing paid upfront, and the site is usually live in days rather than weeks. It is what we do, and our Canadian pricing is in CAD.
A straight comparison
| Route | Typical cost (CAD) | What's usually included | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | CA$150–500/year | Template, hosting, domain — you build it | Your weekends |
| Cheap designer | CA$400–1,500 one-off + hosting/domain | Template reskin; nothing after handover | 1–2 weeks |
| Freelancer | CA$1,500–5,000 one-off + CA$150–500/year | Custom build; upkeep separate | 2–6 weeks |
| Agency | CA$3,000–15,000+ one-off + CA$75–400/month | Larger custom build; upkeep separate | Weeks to months |
| Managed subscription | One monthly rate, nothing upfront | Build, hosting, domain and updates together | Days |
Three Canadian specifics
Tax. Quotes are almost always before GST/HST. Add your province's rate before comparing one quote with another, and ask whether any monthly figure is before or after tax.
.ca or .com. Either is fine. A .ca tells a Canadian customer you are local; a .com is safer if you also sell across the border. The registration is a small annual cost either way, and should be in your name, not your designer's.
Quebec. If you sell into Quebec, the province's language law requires a French version of your site — and it applies to businesses outside the province too. Factor that in before you get a quote for an English-only build.
Which route is right for you?
If you want full control and have the weekends, DIY is genuinely fine for a simple site. If you need something built once and are comfortable owning the hosting and updates afterward, a freelancer or agency makes sense — just budget for year two. If you would rather the whole thing be one predictable line, live this week, with someone still answering when it needs a change, that is what a managed subscription is for.
You can read more about how we work with Canadian small businesses, or book a call — you will speak to the person who would actually build the site.