How much does a tradie website cost in Australia in 2026?
Most Aussie tradies pay somewhere between A$1,000 and A$3,500 for a decent website built for them, and a lot more if they go to a full agency. The price swings because "a website" can mean a one-page template on a subscription or a custom-built site with every service and suburb written up properly.
Australian pricing guides from 2025 and 2026 roughly agree on the bands. Done-for-you template sites start around A$399 to A$1,199. Mid-tier customised builds from smaller studios sit around A$1,000 to A$3,500. Agency builds for small businesses commonly land between A$3,000 and A$10,000, and fully bespoke work can run past A$25,000.
Then there are the tradie website subscription companies, which skip the upfront cost and charge A$99 to A$400 a month instead. That model is very common in Australia, so it gets its own section below.
What do the different options cost?
Here is the quick comparison, in Australian dollars. Most quotes you get will be plus GST, so check whether the figure includes the 10%.
- DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy): about A$25 to A$60 a month on a business plan, roughly A$300 to A$1,500 a year all in, plus 20 to 60 hours of your own time.
- Done-for-you template site: about A$399 to A$1,199 upfront, often with hosting charged on top.
- Freelancer or small studio: about A$1,000 to A$3,500 for a typical 5 to 8 page trade site. Hourly rates usually run A$80 to A$150.
- Local agency: about A$3,000 to A$10,000 for a small business site, charged at A$100 to A$250 an hour, with bigger builds well above that.
- Tradie website subscription: about A$99 to A$400 a month, sometimes with a setup fee, and often a 12 or 24 month minimum term.
- Mago Labs (my offer): A$1,149 one-off for up to 6 pages, no monthly fee.
Is a monthly tradie website subscription worth it?
A monthly subscription can be worth it if you need a site live this week, have no cash for an upfront build, and plan to switch to your own site within a year. Over a longer stretch it is usually the most expensive way to have a website.
Companies in this space typically charge from around A$99 a month for a template site with hosting and basic SEO, and A$200 to A$400 a month once you add extra pages, local SEO or a Google Business Profile service. The catch is what happens when you stop paying. In many contracts the site, and sometimes the domain, belongs to the provider. Cancel and your website goes offline.
Read the minimum term and the renewal clause carefully. Automatic renewals are a known trap in the trade services world. In 2023 the ACCC said hipages (a lead platform, not a website builder) had likely broken consumer law by not clearly telling tradies their subscriptions would roll over for another 12 months with an exit fee. Website subscriptions are a different product, but the lesson is the same: know your exit before you sign.
What are the hidden and ongoing costs of a tradie website?
The build price is rarely the whole bill. These are the costs that turn up after launch, and they are worth asking about before you pay anyone.
- Domain name: a .com.au usually costs A$15 to A$30 a year. You need an ABN to register one, and the domain should be registered in your business name, not the designer's.
- Hosting: A$20 to A$50 a month for shared hosting, A$50 to A$150 a month for managed WordPress hosting.
- Care or maintenance plans: A$50 to A$300 a month for updates, backups and security, mostly on WordPress sites.
- Plugins and licences: A$0 to A$100 a month on WordPress sites with premium plugins.
- Changes after launch: agencies often charge A$100 to A$250 an hour for even small edits like adding a new service.
- Business email: about A$7 to A$12 per user per month through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, if it is not included.
What does a tradie website cost over three years?
The fairest way to compare a one-off build with a subscription is to add up three years. Most tradie sites last at least that long before a refresh, so it shows the real cost of each choice. These are rough totals before GST.
- Subscription at A$99 a month: A$3,564 over three years, and you may own nothing at the end.
- Subscription at A$199 a month: A$7,164 over three years.
- Subscription at A$400 a month: A$14,400 over three years.
- Agency build at A$4,000 plus A$40 a month hosting: about A$5,440 over three years, before any paid changes.
- DIY on a A$40 a month plan: about A$1,440 over three years, plus your time.
- Mago Labs at A$1,149 plus a .com.au domain: about A$1,200 to A$1,240 over three years, plus any changes you choose to pay for after year one.
What should a tradie website include?
A tradie website should make it easy for someone on their phone to see what you do, where you work, that you are legit, and how to get a quote. Fancy animations matter far less than that.
At a minimum look for: a page for each main service (a sparky's switchboard upgrades and EV charger installs are different searches), the suburbs or regions you cover, a tap-to-call button that stays on screen, a short quote form, photos of your own work, and your licence number and ABN where your state requires them to be shown. QBCC, NSW Fair Trading and the VBA all have their own licence rules, so check yours.
Behind the scenes you want proper page titles, local business schema, a sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, fast loading on 4G, and a Google Business Profile that links to the site. Those basics are cheap to do at build time and annoying to fix later.
How does Mago Labs price a tradie website?
I charge A$1,149 once for a custom site of up to 6 pages, with no monthly fee. That covers the design, all the copy written for you, tap-to-call and a quote form, the Google basics (titles, schema, sitemap, Search Console), your Google Business Profile setup, and a full year of edits and support.
You get a free working preview within 48 hours, and the site is usually live in about 14 days. You own the domain, the code and the content. The only other cost is your domain name, paid straight to your registrar.
After the first year you can leave it running and pay nothing, pay A$35 an hour when you want changes, or update photos and services yourself through a light CMS. I work remotely from India in your time zone, so you deal with me directly rather than a local office. It is one option among the ones above, and for some tradies a subscription or an agency will suit better.
Which option is right for my trade business?
If you are just starting out, cash is tight and you are handy with a laptop, a DIY builder is a reasonable first step. If you want a solid site without monthly rent, a one-off build from a freelancer or small studio is usually the best value. If you run several crews, need a big multi-location site or want ongoing ads and SEO management, an agency starts to make sense.
A subscription suits a narrow case: you need something live now and you are confident you can walk away cleanly. Whatever you choose, make sure the domain is in your name. That one detail protects you from most of the horror stories.