The short answer
In 2026 a professional website for a small Irish business typically costs €250 to €5,000 as a one-off, plus €10 to €100 or more a month in running costs. Where you land depends almost entirely on who builds it and how much custom work it needs. Webby AI builds a 5-page, SEO-ready site with Google Business Profile setup for €250 and a full e-commerce site for €500.
Here is the realistic 2026 market picture for Cork and Ireland.
| Option | Typical price (Ireland, 2026) | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | €150 to €400 a year | Your evenings, for weeks | Hobby projects, testing an idea |
| Freelance designer | €800 to €2,500 | 3 to 8 weeks | Simple brochure sites, if you find a good one |
| Traditional Cork agency | €2,500 to €10,000 or more | 6 to 12 weeks | Large companies with complex needs |
| AI-powered studio (Webby AI) | €250 to €500 fixed | 5 to 10 days | SMEs that want agency quality at SME prices |
What actually drives the price of a website?
1. Number of pages and content
A 3-page site (home, about, contact) is a very different job to a 15-page site with a service page for every town you cover. More pages means more design, more copywriting and more SEO work. This is why fixed-price packages are usually structured by page count. Our own packages run from 5 pages at €250 to a full e-commerce site with up to 10 pages plus products at €500.
2. Custom design or template
A template site is faster and cheaper but looks like a thousand other sites. Fully custom design at a traditional agency is where the €5,000 quotes come from. The 2026 middle ground: AI-assisted workflows let studios produce custom-designed sites at template-level prices. It is the biggest shift in web design pricing in a decade.
3. Copywriting and SEO
Words sell, and someone has to write them. If a quote does not mention content, assume you are writing it yourself. Proper SEO (keyword research, page structure, meta data, local landing pages, Google Business Profile setup) can add €500 to €2,000 at an agency, or be built in from the start. In 2026 you should also ask about GEO and AEO, meaning whether the site is built so ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers can find and recommend you. Most Irish agencies have not caught up yet. Ask specifically.
4. Features: booking, e-commerce, portals
Online booking, customer portals, payment processing and product catalogues each add complexity. A booking system alone can add €1,000 to €3,000 at traditional rates. At Webby AI a full online shop is €500 and booking systems and portals are quoted per project as custom apps.
5. Ongoing costs, the part nobody mentions
- Domain: €10 to €25 a year (.ie domains cost a little more than .com)
- Hosting: €5 to €30 a month for a typical business site
- SSL certificate: should be free. Walk away if someone charges €100 a year for it
- Maintenance or care plans: €50 to €150 a month for updates, security and small content changes
Real price ranges in Cork in 2026
Based on what we see Cork businesses being quoted every week:
- Basic brochure site (3 to 5 pages): €800 to €2,500 from freelancers and small studios; €2,500 to €4,000 from established agencies.
- Business site with SEO and booking: €2,000 to €6,000 from agencies, often with 6 to 10 week lead times.
- E-commerce: €3,000 to €10,000 or more depending on catalogue size and integrations.
Those prices are not dishonest. A traditional agency carries office costs, project managers and manual design hours. But most Cork SMEs do not need that overhead. They need a fast, professional, Google-friendly site that makes the phone ring.
Why AI-powered web design changes the maths
Webby AI builds websites using AI-assisted design and development tools, then a person checks every page. The quality bar does not drop. The hours do. That is how we deliver a professionally designed Cork website for:
- Basic Website, €250: up to 5 pages, mobile-first design, contact form and WhatsApp button, Google Business Profile setup, SEO, GEO and AEO keyword optimisation, live in 5 days.
- E-commerce Website, €500: everything in Basic plus a full online shop with Stripe checkout, up to 10 pages plus your product catalogue, product schema for Google Shopping, live in 10 days.
An optional Care Plan at €99 a month covers hosting, security updates, content changes and support. And you own everything: domain, hosting and site are transferred to your name once the final invoice is paid.
Rule of thumb: if a quote comes with no SEO, no Google Business Profile and no ownership of the site, question what you are getting. If it is over €3,000 for a standard small-business site, question the overhead.
Do not forget the grant: the Trading Online Voucher
Cork business owners can apply for the Trading Online Voucher Scheme, which can cover up to 50% of the cost of getting your business online, to a maximum of €2,500. It applies to website development, online booking systems, e-commerce and related digital costs, and it is open to small businesses (generally under 10 employees and under €2m turnover) that have been trading for at least 6 months.
The process is straightforward: attend a short information session with LEO Cork North & West (or your local LEO), submit the application with a quote from your web designer, and get approval before the work starts. For a €500 e-commerce build, the voucher can cover half the bill.
Five questions to ask before you pay anyone
- "Do I own the website, domain and hosting?" The answer must be an unqualified yes. Lock-in is the most common trap in Irish web design.
- "What exactly is included, and what costs extra?" Content, SEO, revisions, images. Get the list in writing.
- "When will it go live?" A professional will commit to a date. "A few weeks" usually means a few months.
- "Will it be mobile-first and fast?" Over 60% of Irish local searches happen on phones, and Google ranks slow sites lower.
- "What happens after launch?" Maintenance costs, support response times, and what a content change costs.
The bottom line
A website for a Cork small business in 2026 should cost €250 to €2,000, be live within two weeks, and be owned by you outright. Anything dramatically cheaper is usually a template with your logo on it. Anything dramatically dearer is usually paying for someone else's office.
And remember why you are buying it: a good website is not a cost, it is the cheapest salesperson you will ever hire. One extra job a month covers a €250 site many times over, especially if you pair it with an AI receptionist or missed-call text-back so no enquiry goes cold.
Want a fixed quote instead of a guess?
Book a free 20-minute call. We will tell you exactly what your business needs, what it costs and when it will be live. Websites from €250, delivered in 5 days, from Freemount, Co. Cork. No obligation, no jargon.