How Much Does a Church Website Cost?
A church website can cost anywhere from $0 to $40,000+. That range is unhelpfully broad, so let’s break it down by what you’re actually paying for and what each option looks like in practice.
The cost depends on which of three routes you take: building it yourself with a generic platform, using a church-specific website builder, or hiring a designer for a custom build. Each has different upfront costs, monthly fees, and trade-offs in time and quality.
Option 1: DIY with a generic website builder
Upfront cost: $0-$100 Monthly cost: $0-$33/month Total first-year cost: $0-$500
Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com let you build a website yourself using templates and drag-and-drop editors. Wix offers a free plan (with Wix branding and a Wix subdomain). Squarespace starts at around $16/month. WordPress.com has a free tier with limited features and paid plans from $4-$33/month.
What you get: A professional-looking website that you design and maintain yourself. You pick a template, add your content, and manage updates. These platforms handle hosting and security.
What you don’t get: Church-specific features. There’s no built-in sermon manager, no integrated giving, no church events calendar. You can approximate some of these with third-party plugins and embeds, but it takes time, technical skill, and ongoing maintenance. Sermon archives become a page of YouTube embeds. Giving links redirect to a separate platform. Events get managed elsewhere and pasted in.
Who this suits: Very small churches or church plants with no budget, a technically capable volunteer, and simple needs (contact information, service times, location). If all you need is a digital business card for your church, this works.
Hidden costs to factor in: Your time. Building a site from scratch takes 20-40 hours if you’ve never done it before. Maintaining it (updates, security, content changes) takes 2-5 hours per month. A custom domain costs $10-$20/year on top of the platform fee. If you want to remove platform branding (the “Made with Wix” footer), you’ll need a paid plan.
Option 2: Church-specific website builders
Upfront cost: $0-$800 Monthly cost: $39-$175/month Total first-year cost: $500-$2,900
This is where most churches land. Church website builders are platforms designed specifically for churches, with sermon hosting, giving integration, events calendars, and mobile-responsive templates built in. The main options include:
SolaSites charges a $500 one-time setup fee plus $50/month. This is a fully managed service: a real person sets up your site, handles the design, and manages ongoing maintenance, security updates, and minor content changes. You don’t need technical skills. SolaSites includes unlimited sermon streaming, online giving integration (Stripe, PayPal, Tithe.ly), an events calendar, unlimited pages, and content migration for up to 10 pages. It’s popular with Reformed and confessional churches but works for any church that wants a professional site without managing the technology. First-year total: $1,100.
Nucleus is a modern platform with polished design tools, a unique “Launcher” feature for next-step actions, and native Planning Center integration. Pricing isn’t publicly listed; you need to book a demo. Expect it to be at the higher end of this category.
Tithe.ly Sites is part of Tithe.ly’s All-Access plan at $119/month (no setup fee), which bundles a website builder with giving, church management, a church app, and messaging. If you need multiple tools, the bundle is good value. First-year total for All-Access: $1,428.
What you get: A website with church-specific features built in. Sermon hosting, giving integration, and event management work out of the box. Templates are designed for churches, not generic businesses. Most include hosting, security, and some level of support.
What you don’t get: Full design control. You’re working within the platform’s templates and customisation options. If you want a completely unique design that looks nothing like any other church website, you’ll need a custom build.
Who this suits: The majority of small-to-medium churches. If your church has 50-500 regular attendees, a church-specific builder covers your needs at a price that fits most church budgets.
Option 3: Custom-designed website
Upfront cost: $1,200-$40,000+ Monthly cost: $50-$295/month for hosting and maintenance Total first-year cost: $1,800-$43,000+
Custom builds range from a freelance designer creating a WordPress site based on your specifications ($1,200-$5,000) to a full agency engagement with strategy, custom design, development, and content creation ($10,000-$40,000+).
A few examples from actual church web agencies:
Ekklesia 360 charges $500-$12,000+ for setup depending on the level of customisation, plus $85-$295/month for hosting and support.
MyChurchWebsite.com charges $1,200-$2,400+ for setup depending on church size, plus monthly hosting fees.
Sunday Best charges $9,999-$24,997+ for custom website projects.
What you get: A website designed specifically for your church with no template constraints. Custom layouts, unique visual identity, and features tailored to your needs. Agencies typically include strategy, content migration, and SEO setup.
What you don’t get: Speed or simplicity. Custom builds take 4-12 weeks. They require significant input from your team (content, photos, feedback on designs). And you’re dependent on the agency for future changes unless the site is built on a CMS you can manage yourself.
Who this suits: Larger churches (500+ attendance) with a communications team, a meaningful technology budget, and specific design requirements that templates can’t satisfy. Also churches with multiple campuses, complex ministry structures, or unique functional needs.
Cost comparison at a glance
Here’s what a typical small-to-medium church can expect to pay in the first year and over three years:
DIY (Squarespace Business plan): $33/month + $20 domain = $416 first year, $1,208 over three years. Plus 5+ hours/month of your time.
SolaSites (managed): $500 setup + $50/month = $1,100 first year, $2,300 over three years. Zero hours of your time on maintenance.
Tithe.ly All-Access: $119/month = $1,428 first year, $4,284 over three years. Includes ChMS, app, and giving alongside the website.
Custom (mid-range agency): $5,000 setup + $100/month = $6,200 first year, $8,600 over three years.
What most churches should spend
For a church of 50-300 people, $500-$1,500 in the first year and $50-$120/month ongoing is the sweet spot. That gets you a professional, church-specific website with sermon hosting, giving integration, and reliable support.
Spending less than that usually means spending more time. A “free” website costs hours of volunteer labour every month and often results in a site that looks amateur, goes stale, or breaks without anyone noticing.
Spending significantly more only makes sense if your church has specific design needs that templates can’t meet, or if you’re large enough that your website serves as a major outreach and communication hub requiring custom functionality.
The most common mistake churches make is treating the website as a one-time expense rather than an ongoing cost. A $5,000 custom site that nobody maintains for three years looks worse than a $50/month managed site that stays current. The monthly cost matters more than the upfront cost because it determines whether the site stays alive.
Getting started
If you want a professional church website without managing the technology yourself, SolaSites handles everything for $500 setup and $50/month. Your site includes sermon hosting, online giving integration, and ongoing maintenance and support. Get started at solasites.com.
FAQ
How much does it cost to build a church website from scratch? Anywhere from $0 (using a free website builder like Wix) to $40,000+ (hiring an agency for a fully custom build). Most churches spend $500-$1,500 in setup costs and $50-$120/month for hosting and maintenance.
Can I get a church website for free? You can build a basic website for free using Wix’s free plan or WordPress.com’s free tier. The trade-offs are platform branding on your site (a “Made with Wix” footer), a non-custom URL (yourchurch.wixsite.com instead of yourchurch.com), limited features, and no church-specific tools like sermon hosting or giving integration.
Is it worth paying for a church website? For most churches, yes. A paid church website builder gives you sermon management, integrated giving, mobile-responsive design, and ongoing support for $50-$120/month. The time you save compared to managing a free site yourself is worth more than the cost, particularly for pastors whose time is better spent on ministry than troubleshooting website issues.
How much should a small church budget for a website? Budget $500-$1,000 for the first year and $50-$60/month ongoing. This covers a managed church website builder like SolaSites ($500 setup + $50/month) with all the features a small church needs.
What’s the difference between a website builder and a custom website? A website builder gives you templates and tools to create a site within the platform’s design system. A custom website is designed from scratch by a designer/developer to your exact specifications. Website builders cost $0-$800 upfront with $39-$175/month. Custom sites cost $1,200-$40,000+ upfront with $50-$295/month for hosting and maintenance.