Pricing Guide 2026
How Much Should a Caterer's Website Cost in the UK? (2026 Pricing)
In 2026, a caterer's website in the UK typically costs £150–£360 a year on a DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace, £800–£3,000 as a one-off from a freelancer, or £2,500–£8,000 from a design agency. Domain, hosting and email are extra. Brightray sits apart: a fixed £500, done-for-you catering website, live in about seven days, with WhatsApp enquiries built in as standard.
- A caterer's website costs £150–£360/year to run yourself on a builder, or £800–£8,000 as a one-off if someone builds it for you.
- Freelancers typically charge £800–£3,000; agencies £2,500–£8,000 for a small catering brochure site in 2026.
- Ongoing costs are separate: domain £10–£15/year, hosting £60–£360/year, and business email around £5 per user per month.
- Monthly "free website" deals at £30–£70 a month can cost £1,080–£2,520 over three years — and you never own the site.
- —A caterer's website costs £150–£360/year to run yourself on a builder, or £800–£8,000 as a one-off if someone builds it for you.
- —Freelancers typically charge £800–£3,000; agencies £2,500–£8,000 for a small catering brochure site in 2026.
- —Ongoing costs are separate: domain £10–£15/year, hosting £60–£360/year, and business email around £5 per user per month.
- —Monthly "free website" deals at £30–£70 a month can cost £1,080–£2,520 over three years — and you never own the site.
- —A fixed-price build turns an endless monthly rental into a one-off asset you own outright.
Ask three companies what a catering website should cost and you will get three wildly different answers. One quotes £500, one quotes £3,000, and one offers a "free" site for £49 a month. They look like the same thing — a few pages showing your menus, your food photos and a way to enquire. So why the gap? This guide gives you the real 2026 UK numbers, explains what actually drives the price for a food business, and shows why the headline figure is rarely the true cost.
What a caterer's website costs in the UK in 2026
Here is how the main routes compare for a typical catering site — a home page, your menus or packages, a gallery, an about page and an enquiry form.
| Option | Typical UK cost (2026) | What you get | Time to live | Who does the work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy) | £150–£360 per year | Templates, hosting and domain bundled | Days to weeks | You |
| Freelancer | £800–£3,000 one-off | Custom-ish build, quality varies | 2–6 weeks | Freelancer |
| Design agency | £2,500–£8,000 one-off | Bespoke design, project management | 6–12 weeks | Agency team |
| Brightray | £500 fixed, one-off | Done-for-you catering site, WhatsApp enquiries built in | About 7 days | Brightray |
Those DIY figures assume you pay monthly. Squarespace plans in the UK sit around £16–£30 a month and Wix around £11–£33 a month, before you add a domain at £10–£15 a year. Multiply it up and you are paying £150–£360 every year, forever — and you are still the one building it, editing menus and wrestling the gallery into shape between event bookings.
What actually drives the price of a catering website
A catering site is not quite a plain brochure site, and that changes the quote. The things that push the price up or down are:
- Menus and packages. How many, and do they change seasonally? A Christmas party menu, a wedding package and a corporate buffet list all need laying out clearly.
- Photography. Food sells on the image. A gallery of your own dishes always beats stock, but agencies often bill separately for arranging or editing photos.
- Enquiry handling. An event enquiry form that captures date, headcount, venue and dietary needs is worth more than a bare "contact us" box.
- Number of pages. Every extra service page (weddings, corporate, funerals, private dining) is more design and copywriting time.
- Who writes the words. Copywriting is often quietly excluded from agency quotes, then added as an extra.
The more of this a builder wants you to supply yourself, the lower the headline number — because you are doing the labour.
The three ways to get one — and the catch with each
DIY builders look cheapest at a glance, but the real cost is your time. Evenings spent nudging a template into shape are evenings not spent quoting for weddings. And the fee never stops.
Freelancers span a huge range. A good one at £800–£3,000 can be excellent value; a cheap one can vanish mid-project or leave you with a site you cannot update. Always check who owns the site and the domain when the job ends.
Agencies deliver polish and project management, but £2,500–£8,000 for a small catering site is a lot when your core need is "look professional and let people enquire". You are often paying for a process built for much larger clients.
Why ongoing "care plans" bite
Here is the part the headline price hides. Many "free" or low-cost website offers are really monthly rentals. You pay £30–£70 a month, and the moment you stop paying, the site goes dark. You never own it.
| Deal type | Monthly fee | 3-year total | Do you own the site? |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Free website" monthly lock-in | £49/month | £1,764 | No |
| Care plan on top of a build | £30–£70/month | £1,080–£2,520 | Usually yes, but locked to them |
| DIY builder subscription | £13–£30/month | £468–£1,080 | No — you rent the platform |
| Fixed one-off build | £0 ongoing to Brightray | £500 total | Yes — it is yours |
A genuine maintenance plan for security updates and small edits is fair enough. What is not fair is a "free" site that quietly costs £1,764 over three years and leaves you with nothing to show for it. Read any monthly deal carefully: ask what happens if you stop paying, and whether you keep the site and the domain.
The fixed-price, done-for-you alternative
This is the gap Brightray was built for. Instead of a monthly rental or an open-ended agency quote, you pay a fixed £500 once, and the site is yours. Our websites from £500 are done-for-you: we build it, write it, lay out your menus and load your food photos, and it goes live in about 7 days. WhatsApp for Business click-to-chat is built into every site as standard — so an enquiry about a wedding buffet is one tap away, straight to your phone.
For the full picture of what a catering site should include and how the process works, start at our catering websites hub. If you also cook for offices, weddings or events under a separate brand, the same fixed-price approach covers professional service businesses too.
Working out the true three-year cost
The honest way to compare is over three years, because that is roughly how long a small-business site should serve before a refresh.
| Route | Build cost | Ongoing over 3 years | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | £0 | £468–£1,080 | £468–£1,080 |
| Freelancer + care plan | £800–£3,000 | £0–£2,520 | £800–£5,520 |
| Agency + care plan | £2,500–£8,000 | £1,080–£2,520 | £3,580–£10,520 |
| Brightray fixed | £500 | Domain/email only (~£75–£150) | ~£575–£650 |
The domain (£10–£15/year), hosting where it is not bundled (£60–£360/year) and business email (around £5 per user per month) apply to every route — so they are not what separates the options. What separates them is the build fee and whether you are still paying it in year three.
For a caterer, the maths usually points one way: a professional site you own outright, built once, for a price you agreed upfront, with no monthly bill hanging over your next booking. If you want to see more plain-English pricing guides before deciding, our guides library breaks down costs, timelines and what to look for.
Asked and answered.
How much does a catering website cost in the UK in 2026?+
For a typical catering brochure site — home, menus or packages, a gallery, about and an enquiry form — expect £150–£360 a year on a DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace, £800–£3,000 as a one-off from a freelancer, or £2,500–£8,000 from an agency. Brightray builds a fixed-price £500 done-for-you catering website that goes live in about seven days.
Is Wix or Squarespace cheaper than paying someone to build my catering site?+
It looks cheaper up front, but the fee never stops. Wix runs around £11–£33 a month and Squarespace around £16–£30 a month in the UK, which is £468–£1,080 over three years — and you do all the building, menu updates and photo work yourself. A fixed one-off build is often better value over three years because there is no recurring build fee and no time cost to you.
Why are "free" catering websites often more expensive?+
Most "free" website deals are monthly rentals. You typically pay £30–£70 a month, and if you stop paying, the site goes offline because you never owned it. At £49 a month that is £1,764 over three years for a site you cannot take with you. A one-off fixed build costs less over the same period and leaves you owning the asset.
What ongoing costs come with a catering website?+
Separate from the build, budget roughly £10–£15 a year for a domain, £60–£360 a year for hosting if it is not bundled, and around £5 per user per month for business email. SSL certificates are usually free now. A genuine maintenance plan for updates and small edits is optional — just check what you are paying for.
Do I really need a website if my catering business is busy on Instagram?+
Instagram is great for showing your food, but you rent that audience and cannot control how enquiries reach you. A website is the one place you own — it ranks on Google for searches like "wedding caterer near me", displays your full menus, and captures enquiries with the date, headcount and dietary details you need. Many caterers use both, with the website as the professional home base.