The short answer
A UK mortgage broker's website has no sourced standard price. Two seller pages read on 5 November 2026 gave £3,000 to £6,000 and £2,300 to £16,550, and neither stated VAT, which GOV.UK sets at 20% where a supplier charges it. The usable number is the first-year total on a written quote, with copy, forms, hosting and changes priced on the same lines.
Key takeaways
- Neither published range names its scope line by line or states VAT, so neither is a benchmark.
- UK law fixes some lines of a broker's site, and a quote should say who keeps them current.
- At 20%, a quote of £4,940 before VAT is £5,928 once VAT is added.
- In the invented example, the cheaper headline became the dearer quote once copy was priced on both.
- The FCA page read for this piece does not say how responsibility divides between a firm and its supplier.
Two UK price pages read on 5 November 2026 put a professionally built business website at £3,000 to £6,000 and a mortgage broker website at anything from £2,300 to £16,550, depending on who builds it. Neither page says whether VAT is included, and the second says its figures rest on its own quotes and benchmarks, with no outside source named. A managing partner or director at a UK mortgage broking practice asking what the site should cost is therefore comparing numbers that cannot be checked against each other. What can be checked is a quote. A written quote either names its lines and its VAT treatment, or it does not. The sections below read both published ranges for what they state and set out which lines UK law and the FCA fix. They then work one comparison of two invented quotes to show how the order of two prices can reverse.
What the published prices state, and what they leave out
Neither source names its scope line by line, states VAT or gives a method a reader can check. The figures below are named quotes as read on 5 November 2026. They are not benchmarks and not the price of any firm's site.
| Source | What it prices | Range | Stated basis | VAT stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whito | Professionally built business website | £3,000 to £6,000 | Own UK research, January to May 2026; no sample size or method on the page | No |
| Whito | Freelancer five-page brochure site | £1,500 to £3,000 | Same | No |
| Whito | Agency five-page brochure site | £3,000 to £5,000 | Same | No |
| Whito | Copywriting, per page | £50 to £150 | Same | No |
| Whito | Annual maintenance | £500 to £2,000 | Same | No |
| Project Cost Estimator | Mortgage broker site, freelancer | £2,300 to £7,350 | Its own quotes and benchmarks, UK multiplier of 1.15; updated July 2026 | Not addressed |
| Project Cost Estimator | Mortgage broker site, agency | £5,500 to £16,550 | Same | Not addressed |
The two sources do not even price the same thing. One is a general business website and the other a mortgage broker site with calculators and forms, so a reader who sets them side by side is comparing scope as much as price. The per-page copy figure is the most usable line: six pages at £50 to £150 each is £300 to £900, which is a check on any quote that bundles copy without a number.
Which lines UK law and the FCA fix
Some lines of a broker's site are fixed before the first quote, and a quote should price keeping them current as well as building them. Regulation 6 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 says a service provider must make certain information available in a form that is "easily, directly and permanently accessible". The list includes the provider's name and geographic address, and contact details that include an email address. It also covers the register entry and number where the provider is on a public trade register, and the particulars of the supervisory authority where the service is subject to an authorisation scheme.
Which of those items apply to an FCA-authorised firm's own site is a question for its compliance contact, and this piece does not answer it. On wording, the FCA's financial promotions page says "All financial promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading regardless of the media type", and names a website as one form a promotion can take. It adds that the FCA can ask a firm to change or remove an advert, or warn or fine the firm.
| Line | What fixes it | Who keeps it current | What the quote should state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity and contact details | Regulation 6 of the 2002 Regulations | The firm | Where the details sit and who edits them |
| Register entry and supervisory authority | Regulation 6, where it applies to the firm | The firm's compliance contact | Who supplies the wording and who updates it |
| Page and calculator wording | FCA: clear, fair and not misleading | The firm | Whether the supplier drafts it and who signs it off |
| Enquiry form and where it delivers | The firm's choice | The firm and the supplier | Where enquiries go and who owns that inbox |
| Hosting and changes | The firm's choice | The supplier or the firm | Annual price, hours included, rate after |
What 20% does to a quote
GOV.UK gives the standard VAT rate as 20%, so a quote of £4,940 before VAT is £5,928 once £988 of VAT is added. The same GOV.UK guidance says a business must register when its taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or when it expects to go over that in the next 30 days. A freelancer under the line may therefore quote with no VAT at all, and an agency over it will not.
Whether a firm can reclaim the VAT it pays depends on its own VAT position, which its accountant can state. For the comparison that matters here, the point is simpler. A quote that does not say whether VAT is included cannot be set beside one that does.
Two invented quotes on the same lines
Put every line on both quotes, including the ones a supplier leaves out, and the cheaper headline can lose. Every figure below is invented to show the method. Quote A leads with a build price of £3,200 and leaves copy to the firm. Quote B leads with £4,200 and includes copy, the form link and eight hours of changes. Both are before VAT.
| Line | Quote A | Quote B |
|---|---|---|
| Design and build | £3,200 | £4,200 |
| Page copy | Firm writes it | £900 |
| Enquiry form linked to the firm's system | £700 | Included |
| Hosting, first year | £480 | £300 |
| Changes, 8 hours assumed | £560 at £70 an hour | Included |
| First-year total before VAT | £4,940 | £5,400 |
The £460 gap rests on Quote A leaving copy to the firm. If the firm pays a writer £900 for the same pages, Quote A becomes £5,840 and Quote B is £440 cheaper. Nothing in either quote was wrong. They were simply not priced on the same lines.
What moves the order
Copy and VAT each reverse the order, and a quote should be read with both on the table. The next table reruns the two invented quotes four ways. The last row supposes Quote A comes from a freelancer under the £90,000 line who charges no VAT, while Quote B charges 20%.
| Case | Quote A | Quote B | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| As written, before VAT | £4,940 | £5,400 | A by £460 |
| Copy of £900 added to A, before VAT | £5,840 | £5,400 | B by £440 |
| Copy equalised, 20% VAT on both | £7,008 | £6,480 | B by £528 |
| Copy equalised, A charges no VAT, B charges 20% | £5,840 | £6,480 | A by £640 |
Read the rule off the table, not the winner. Compare first-year totals, with copy and changes priced on both, and on the same VAT basis. Then ask the firm's accountant which of the last two rows describes the money that actually leaves the account.
What to ask each supplier to write down
Ask for the lines in the sheet above, in writing, before comparing any total. A supplier who cannot fill a line has told you something about the quote. Five questions cover it:
- Is copy included, and if so for how many pages?
- Where do enquiry forms deliver, and who owns that inbox?
- What does the first year cost for hosting, and what does the second cost?
- How many hours of changes are included, and what is the rate after?
- Is VAT included, and what is the total with and without it?
The second and third answers tell you what leaving would cost, and our article on what a recruitment agency should pay for a new website reads another sector's quotes the same way.
When the lines are on paper
Want a specialist to quote against the sheet?
Free to your firm. The agency pays us, and only if the relationship works, so we gain nothing by recommending one whose quote leaves lines blank.
Get a recommendationWhere an agency helps and where it does not
An agency can build and price the site, and it cannot sign off the FCA wording for the firm. That sign-off sits with the firm and its compliance contact. What an agency can do is make the line visible, so the quote says who drafts and who approves each page. How brokers find clients once the site exists is a separate question, and our article on how insurance brokers find clients beyond price comparison sets out the routes. What we look at for professional services firms like yours is on the brokerages page.
When not to buy a website yet
Wait until the firm has named who signs off page wording and who owns the enquiry inbox. Without those two names, any quote prices a site nobody at the firm can approve or receive enquiries from. Wait too if the compliance contact has not said which regulation 6 items apply, since the quote cannot price lines nobody has defined. A quote that arrives before those answers will be revised, and a UK firm that signs it first pays for the revision.
Frequently asked questions
What UK brokers ask about website cost.
How much does a mortgage broker's website cost in the UK?
No sourced standard price exists. Two seller pages read on 5 November 2026 gave £3,000 to £6,000 for a professionally built business website and £2,300 to £16,550 for a mortgage broker site, and neither said whether VAT was included. The usable figure is the first-year total on a written quote, with every line and the VAT treatment shown.
Does a mortgage broker's website quote include VAT?
Only if the quote says so. GOV.UK gives the standard rate as 20%, and a supplier must register for VAT once its taxable turnover passes £90,000. A freelancer under that line may charge none, so ask each supplier to state the VAT treatment and show the total both ways.
What does UK law require a broker's website to show?
Regulation 6 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 lists information a service provider must make easily, directly and permanently accessible. It includes the provider's name and address, with contact details that include an email address. Which items apply to an FCA-authorised firm is a question for its compliance contact.
Who is responsible for the FCA wording on a broker's website?
The FCA page read for this piece says all financial promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading whatever the medium, and that a website can be one. It addresses firms and does not set out how responsibility divides between a firm and its supplier, so the quote and the contract should say who drafts and who signs off.
Should a broker pick the cheapest quote?
Not on the headline. In the invented example here the cheaper headline became the dearer quote once copy was priced on both, and the order reversed again when VAT was added to one only. Compare first-year totals on the same lines and the same VAT basis.
Sources and useful reading
Six pages were opened and read on 5 November 2026 for this article. The two price pages are quoted as named sellers' figures and are not benchmarks. Both quotes and every figure in the worksheet are invented.
- Whito: mortgage broker marketing costs, for the website, copy and maintenance ranges and their stated basis.
- Project Cost Estimator: mortgage broker website cost, for the UK freelancer and agency ranges and the stated method.
- GOV.UK: VAT rates, for the standard rate.
- GOV.UK: Register for VAT, for the £90,000 registration line.
- legislation.gov.uk: Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 6, for the information a service provider must make available.
- FCA: financial promotions and adverts, for the clear, fair and not misleading standard.
This article is commercial decision support and is not legal, financial or tax advice. Both quotes and every price in the worksheet are invented to show the method and describe no real supplier or firm. The seller figures are as read on 5 November 2026 and may change. Check the FCA and GOV.UK pages before relying on any rule, rate or threshold.