Website builders for tradesmen, compared: who does the work, and what's in the box

Search for a website builder for tradesmen and the top results are written by people who sell one, comparing themselves with the competition and coming out ahead. This is one of those, so read it with that in mind: I run grafter.ly, which sells websites at £15 a month. Every competitor fact here was read off the vendor's own page on 14 October 2026, and where a vendor doesn't say something, neither do I.

If what you want is the three-year sum — what each route costs once the first-year prices run out, and what you own at the end — that's the website cost post. This one is about something the price doesn't show: who does the work.

The question that sorts them

Every option on this page will put a few pages on the internet with your number on them. Where they differ is what happens around that. Somebody has to write the words, choose the photos, add a page when you start doing boiler swaps, and change the number when you get a new phone. Somebody has to read the enquiry when it comes in, and it has to arrive somewhere you'll see it.

So for each kind of option, the useful questions are the same three. Who writes it? Who keeps it up? And where does an enquiry end up?

General builders: Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy

These are the big names, and they're good at what they do: drag-and-drop editors, decent templates, hosting and a padlock included.

• Squarespace is £16 a month for its Basic plan billed monthly, or £12 a month billed annually. There's a 14-day free trial with no card, and annual plans include a domain free for the first year.
• Wix has a free plan to try it on, and from the UK it shows its prices in US dollars, with the sterling price at the checkout. Paid plans come with a domain free for the first year and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
• GoDaddy lets you start free with no card, builds a first draft from a description of the business, and includes a free domain with any paid plan. Its builder prices didn't load for me from the UK, so check them yourself.

What they leave to you is everything specific to your trade. The template doesn't know that people searching for an electrician want a number to tap before anything else, or that a page per service and town is how you show up in the next town over. You write every line, and most people write it once and never go back. An enquiry from the contact form arrives as an email.

Suits: someone who enjoys this, has a free weekend, and will keep the site up because they want to.

Trade builders: TradeBolt, VioTrade

These are built for trades and sold as more than a website. You answer questions about the business, a site is drafted from the answers, and enquiries go into a dashboard alongside quotes and invoices.

• TradeBolt is £39 a month or £390 a year after a 14-day free trial, which starts without a card. That covers the website, enquiries, your own domain, analytics, a chat box that answers visitors, quotes and invoices, and customer records. If you don't pay at day 14, the site and the tools are paused.
• VioTrade is £20 a month or £200 a year, with a 14-day free trial and no card. It's a whole job app with a website in it: quotes, invoices, job management, online payments, expenses and VAT reports, with a .co.uk domain free for the first year. Each extra team member is £10 a month. It says there are no long-term contracts.

What they leave to you is checking what was written, and the photos. What they do that the general builders don't is put the enquiry next to the quote you'll send for it. If you have no job software yet, that's worth more than the website. If you already have job software you like, you'd be paying twice.

Suits: a sole trader who wants the site and the paperwork in one place and is happy to set it up themselves.

Pay monthly, built by a person: Hyperlinked, MyTradeSite

At this end a person builds the site for you, and you pay monthly for them to host it and keep it up. There are dozens of these firms; these two are run by one person each and publish their prices and terms in full.

• Hyperlinked builds sites for trades from £19 a month on its one-page plan, £49 for five pages and £79 with a logo and branding. Those are launch prices, held for life if you join now; they're listed as rising to £39, £69 and £99. Domain, hosting and the padlock are included, there's no contract, and each plan includes small changes every month — one on the cheapest, four on the dearest. It will write the copy and source photos if you don't have any.
• MyTradeSite is £99 a month, with no VAT on top, no setup fee and no contract. You see the site before you pay. For that you get a page for every service and town, a domain registered in your name, a business email address, your Google Business Profile set up and looked after, quotes and invoices, and the person who built it on WhatsApp. It takes one business per trade within ten miles.

This is where you get the most done for you. A real person writes the words, makes the changes and, at MyTradeSite, looks after your Google listing as well, which none of the cheaper options on this page do. What it costs is the monthly figure, and a dependence on one person, which MyTradeSite answers directly: the domain is in your name and your records can be downloaded at any time.

Suits: someone who wants it handled and would rather pay than spend the evenings.

An agency or freelancer, paid once

A designer builds the site and hands it over. For a small trade site, Bark's 2026 price guide has freelancers charging £300 to £1,000 for something basic and agencies £2,000 to £7,000. You own the files at the end, which no monthly option gives you, and every change after that is a new invoice. Hosting and the domain are yours to pay for. The cost post has what those add.

Suits: a business that needs something the templates can't do: a large portfolio, an online shop, or a particular design.

A free profile instead

Two free things do part of a website's job. A Google Business Profile puts your services, area, photos, hours, reviews and a number to tap in front of people searching Google and Maps, and for a lot of local trades it brings in more than a website would. Checkatrade's free profile lives on Checkatrade, and its terms say you're visible only when someone searches for you by name, with no leads unless you pay for membership. Website or Checkatrade profile goes through that one properly.

Neither is a website. There's no address of your own, and you can't add a page for the work you want more of. But if you haven't set up the Google one, do that before paying for anything on this page.

Ours: grafter.ly Websites

grafter.ly Websites is £15 a month, with no contract and no setup fee. You build it on a phone by answering questions: your name and town, one of six looks, photos from your camera roll, a voice note or a few lines about the business, and the services you do. The words are written from what you said, and you can change any line. Nothing is claimed that you didn't tell us, so no years in the trade or accreditations appear unless you add them. Each service you do gets its own page for each town you cover, up to six services across five towns, and an enquiry from the site arrives in grafter.ly as a job, with an email and a text to say so. You also get a review link and a QR card for the van.

The site goes live at yourname.findagrafter.com, and it answers on a domain you already own once you connect it. The first month includes grafter.ly's quotes and invoices. After that you can still read every enquiry, and the £35 plan keeps the job software on.

Where others do more. We don't register a domain for you or provide an email address on it, which MyTradeSite does. Nobody here looks after your Google listing; MyTradeSite does that too. Nobody designs a logo; Hyperlinked's top plan does. There's no online shop or blog, which the general builders do well. And VioTrade's £20 includes its job software, where ours is £35 with the site. What ours has going for it is that you can see your site with your name on it before you give anyone a card number, and that it's written from what you tell it, a page for each service and town, for £15.

If you already have a website and want to know whether it's doing its job, the free health check scores it for speed on a phone, whether a customer can call from it, and whether Google can find it, before you decide anything.

Side by side

Prices read off each vendor's own page on 14 October 2026. Some add VAT and some don't say; MyTradeSite says it doesn't.

Which one, for which business

• You've no website and no job software. A trade builder, or a website with job software alongside it. One place for the enquiry and the quote is worth more than the website alone.
• You've job software you're happy with. Pay for a website on its own, and check that the enquiry form sends somewhere you'll see it the same day.
• You'll never touch it again once it's up. Pay a person monthly. A site nobody updates still says what it said in 2019.
• You're busy enough already. Set up the free Google Business Profile, collect reviews, and leave the website until you want work from further away or a kind of job you aren't getting.
• You need a shop, a big portfolio or a particular design. An agency, or a general builder if you've the patience.

Whichever you pick, ask the five questions in the cost post before you pay: whose name the domain is in, the minimum term, what you keep if you stop, whether VAT is on top, and what's included. And if you'd like to see what yours would look like first, type your name and town here and it appears, before any account or card.

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Sources. All checked 14 October 2026 on the vendor's own page: Squarespace pricing; Wix plans; GoDaddy Website Builder; TradeBolt; VioTrade pricing and home page; Hyperlinked; MyTradeSite pricing; Checkatrade's product terms for free profiles (last updated 4 October 2025); and Bark's web design price guide (2026). grafter.ly Websites from our own page. Prices change often, especially launch prices; check them again before you buy.