UK Marketing Costs 2026: What 47 Providers Actually Publish

Data last verified: 12 October 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.

Last Updated on October 21, 2026

UK marketing costs by channel

The other five prices in the file are monthly website plans (median £44 a month), which is why the rows above add to 123 of the 128. VAT follows each provider’s own page: some quote prices plus VAT.

Published SEO prices cluster in three bands: £99 to £300 a month (budget), £350 to £1,000 (mainstream) and £1,500 to £5,000+ (established agency). The £799 median sits in the mainstream band.

These bands describe prices on providers’ own pricing pages. The £1,250 to £3,500 a month on our agency retainers page is higher because it describes single-channel agency retainers only, from rate cards and surveys collected January to May 2026, using mid-range tiers and leaving freelancers out.

Why marketing cost guides disagree

Most marketing cost guides give you a number with no working. You cannot check a number with no working, which is why so many of them disagree with each other.

They also mix three different numbers, set out below. The rest of this page is the method note for the UK Marketing Cost Index. It shows exactly how every band and median on the index is calculated, so you can check the working yourself.

How these figures are calculated: one file, one calculation

Whito calculates market prices in one place: the UK Marketing Prices Study, a June 2026 collection of 128 published prices from 47 UK providers, taken directly from their public pricing pages. Every other Whito cost page, the index included, is a reading of that file. No page is allowed to invent a second sample.

The formula

1. Collect. Published prices only: a number a provider has put on its own public pricing page. Quotes given in private do not enter the file.
2. Take the median, unrounded. For each channel, the median of its published prices. SEO £799 a month across 45 prices. We do not round these figures.
3. Set the band edges where the prices cluster. The SEO file clusters at £99 to £300 (budget), £350 to £1,000 (mainstream) and £1,500 to £5,000+ (established agency). Bands are read from the file, not chosen.
4. Cross-check against the major UK rate surveys. Surveys never override the file. They flag where the published market and the quoted market diverge, and the index says so when they do.
5. Refresh quarterly. The index is re-read against its sources on a rolling programme, and the date shown on the index is the date that check ran.

Three labels, never one figure

A published price is on a public pricing page and lives in the file. A quoted retainer is what one provider offered one buyer. A planning budget is what a business decides to spend. The index labels every number with one of the three. If you find a Whito page presenting them as one figure, that is a defect: tell us.

One collection date

The file was collected in June 2026. Where the index shows a later verification date, that is a re-check of the same figures against their sources, not a new collection.

What this does not prove

• These are published prices only. The file holds 128 prices from 47 UK providers, read from their own pricing pages. Private quotes do not enter it, and providers that publish no price are not represented.
• One collection, June 2026. A later verification date is a re-check of the same figures, not a new collection, so the file cannot show how prices have moved.
• Some channel counts are small. The medians rest on 45 SEO, 28 website build, 24 PPC and 26 social media prices. A few more prices in a channel could move its median.
• Not every price is like for like. Some PPC plans include ad budget, so the PPC median mixes management fees with plans that bundle spend. VAT follows each provider’s own page, and some quote prices plus VAT.
• A price is not a measure of quality. Nothing in the file says what any provider delivers for the money.

Before you spend

A price only means something if the basics are in place. Run the free Visibility Check first: if your site scores under 40, do not spend money on marketing yet, because every failed check can be fixed for nothing.

Already holding a quote? Check it against these published ranges with the free marketing cost calculator. Working out what to spend in total is a planning budget, not a price: see how much marketing should cost a UK business.

The full file, every price with its provider, page and capture date, is the UK Marketing Price File. It is built to order at a fixed price agreed in writing, with nothing to pay until you order: request the Price File or see the fixed-price files. The medians on this page stay free.

Common questions

How much does marketing cost for a UK business per month?

In the Whito file of 128 published UK prices (June 2026), the median monthly price was £799 for SEO, £470 for PPC management and £357.50 for social media management. A website build had a median one-off price of £520. Your total depends on which channels you actually need.

How much does SEO cost per month in the UK?

The median published SEO price was £799 a month across 45 prices from UK providers in June 2026. Published prices cluster at £99 to £300, £350 to £1,000 and £1,500 to £5,000+ a month.

How much does a website cost in the UK in 2026?

The median published price for a website build was £520 one-off, across 28 published build prices in June 2026. Five providers instead published monthly website plans, with a median of £44 a month.

Why do marketing cost guides give such different numbers?

Most mix three different figures: a published price on a pricing page, a quoted retainer offered to one buyer, and a planning budget a business chooses to spend. Whito labels every number with one of the three.

Is £500 a month enough for SEO?

£500 a month sits in the mainstream band of published UK SEO prices (£350 to £1,000), below the £799 median. Whether it is enough depends on whether your foundations are in place first, which the free Visibility Check shows.

How much should a UK business spend on marketing?

That is a planning budget, not a price, and it depends on your stage and margins. Whito’s guide to how much marketing should cost covers budgets; this page covers what providers publish.

The takeaway: a cost page you cannot audit is an opinion. The index is a calculation, and this page is the working.

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research publisher. We publish research on how UK businesses are found, trusted and priced: what they cost to market, how their sectors work, and who actually gets recommended. Studies are free to read, every figure carries the date it was checked, and nobody pays to appear.

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