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Recruitment websites
How much does a recruitment website cost in 2026?
Thinking about giving your website a glow-up? Or maybe you're launching a brand-new agency and wondering what kind of budget you need?
Most recruitment agencies spend between £1,000 and £45,000+ on their websites. But what are you getting for your money? Will it help you compete in a market where 45% of job seekers use mobile devices for job searches and 67% of recruiters use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook for hiring?
This guide breaks down exactly what recruitment websites cost in 2026, what features matter at each price point, and which investments make sense for your agency's growth stage.
What affects recruitment website cost?
Understanding how much it costs to build a recruitment website starts with knowing what drives the price. Five key factors determine your investment:
- Technical Complexity
A static brochure site costs far less than a dynamic platform with live job feeds, candidate portals, and real-time analytics.
- Design Customisation
Templates start from £300, semi-custom designs range from £1,000–£4,500, whilst fully bespoke solutions begin at £15,000+.
- Integration Requirements
Does your site need to sync with your ATS, CRM, multi-posting tools, and analytics platforms? Integration complexity directly impacts cost.
- Marketing Intelligence
Can your website tell you which campaigns are failing, which job posts convert best, or where candidates drop off? This intelligence layer separates recruitment marketing platforms from basic websites.
- Ongoing Support
One-time builds leave you stranded. SaaS platforms include continuous updates, security, hosting, and feature improvements in their pricing.
Real-time recruitment website analytics
Your recruitment website options: real costs, real trade-offs
1. DIY or Built by a Friend
Cost: £100 – £1,000
You or someone tech-savvy cobbles together a basic site using free tools or cheap templates.
Who this works for:
Solo recruiters testing an idea or very early-stage agencies (under 5 people).
Reality check:
You'll outgrow this in 6-12 months.
What you're missing:
- No recruitment-specific features
- Poor mobile optimization
- Limited SEO capability
- No analytics or conversion tracking
2. Website Builders (Wix, WordPress, Squarespace)
Cost: £0 – £1,000+ annually
Hidden costs add up fast:
- Premium templates: £50-£200
- Job board plugins: £10-£50/month each
- Developer help: £50-£100/hour
- Mobile optimization plugins
- Security and compliance add-ons
Who this works for:
Agencies under 5 people with technical capability in-house.
What you're missing:
- Platforms weren't designed for recruitment
- Clunky job feed management
- Limited ATS/CRM integration
- Poor candidate experience on mobile
- No recruitment-specific analytics
Reality check:
Most agencies cite "lack of recruitment-specific features" as their primary reason for switching to purpose-built platforms.
3. Templated Recruitment Websites
Cost: £1,000 – £4,500
Pre-built designs specifically for recruitment agencies with basic recruitment features.
Pros:
Faster to launch, includes recruitment basics (job listings, applications).
Cons:
Limited customization, risk of looking similar to competitors, may lack advanced features.
4. Bespoke Recruitment Websites
Cost: £2,500 – £15,000+
Custom-built websites designed specifically for your brand and workflow.
Pros:
Completely tailored, unique brand expression, can include advanced features.
Cons:
Significant upfront investment, longer development timeline (2-4 months), ongoing maintenance charged separately.
5. Enterprise-Level Websites
Cost: £10,000 – £45,000+
For large agencies requiring multi-brand or multi-region support, complex integrations, and high-volume traffic handling.
Who this works for:
Agencies with 100+ employees, multiple office locations, or complex compliance requirements.
What to expect:
- Significant project management overhead
- Extended timelines (6+ months)
- Dedicated development team
- Comprehensive training and documentation
6. SaaS Recruitment Marketing Platforms
Cost: £250 – £899+ per month (typically 3-year contracts)
Purpose-built platforms with everything included: hosting, security, updates, support, integrations, and continuous feature improvements.
Why agencies choose SaaS:
- Lower financial risk (monthly payments vs. large upfront investment)
- Continuous innovation (platforms evolve with market needs)
- Predictable costs (no surprise maintenance fees)
- Faster time-to-market
- Built-in best practices from thousands of agency implementations
Who this works for:
Agencies of any size looking for comprehensive solutions without large upfront costs or technical headaches.
What you're actually paying for
Now that you understand the cost ranges, let's break down what actually matters. Not all recruitment websites are created equal. The difference between a £1,000 site and a £10,000 one isn't always obvious from the outside.
Essential Foundation
Before you even think about advanced features, these basics need to be rock-solid. If a platform doesn't nail these four things, walk away:
- Content Management System (CMS): Easy job posting and content management without developer dependency
- Mobile Optimization: Non-negotiable when over 65% of applications come from mobile
- Hosting & Security: Reliable uptime, GDPR compliance, threat protection
- SEO Toolkit: Features to improve search visibility and organic traffic
Competitive Differentiators
These are table stakes for any recruitment website worth considering. Generic website builders force you to cobble these together with plugins and workarounds; proper recruitment platforms build them in natively:
- Job Board Integration: Multi-posting to job boards from one platform
- ATS/CRM Synchronization: Seamless data flow between systems
- Candidate Portal: Self-service hub for applications and updates
- Application Tracking: Monitor candidate journey and conversion points
- Analytics Dashboard: Measure performance from attraction to conversion
- 48-Hour Smart Alerts: Catch dying campaigns before they waste budget
- Campaign-to-Placement Attribution: Prove which marketing drives actual placements
- Mobile Gap Insights: See exactly where mobile candidates drop off
- Bias Analyzer: Automatically scan job content for biased language
What separates basic sites from revenue-driving platforms
In 2026, the real cost of a recruitment website isn’t what you pay to build it. It’s what you lose when you can’t see what’s working. Too many agencies invest in sites that look good but offer no visibility into campaign performance, mobile drop-off, or placement outcomes. That’s where the gap between spending and results becomes clear.
- Matt Donnelly, Head of Product Marketing, The Access Group
You launch a campaign. You pay for job board posts. You wait. A week later, you check the numbers and discover you've spent £2,000 on a campaign that generated three applications. By then, the damage is done: budget wasted, hiring manager frustrated, and you're scrambling to explain what went wrong.
This is reactive recruitment marketing, and it's expensive.
Make the right choice for your agency with Access Attract Evo
Unlike generic website builders or basic career sites, Access Attract Evo is a recruitment marketing intelligence platform that combines beautiful, conversion-optimised career sites with AI-powered insights that prevent the costly mistakes described above.
What agencies gain:
- 8–13 hours saved monthly with instant Copilot answers
- £2K–£5K monthly budget waste prevented through early campaign alerts
- Boost performance by 35% through proactive optimisation
The conversion tool looks brilliant! When can we do a 1:1 demo with Arpero data?
- Sharon McDonagh, Finance and Operations Lead, Arpero
See Access Attract Evo in action
FAQs
Recruitment website costs in 2026
How much should a small recruitment agency budget for a website?
Based on our research, most small agencies should budget £250–£400 per month for a SaaS recruitment website, or £2,000–£5,000 upfront for a basic template-based build. Ongoing costs such as hosting, security, updates, and analytics should always be factored in.
What’s the difference between a generic website builder and a recruitment marketing intelligence platform?
Generic website builders like Wix, WordPress, and Squarespace are designed to create pages, display content, and collect applications. They focus on how your site looks, not on whether your recruitment marketing actually delivers placements.
A recruitment marketing intelligence platform like Access Attract Evo is built specifically for agencies. It doesn’t just publish jobs but shows what’s working and what’s failing across the entire candidate journey. This includes early alerts when campaigns underperform, mobile drop-off insights, and campaign-to-placement attribution, so marketing spend is tied directly to revenue rather than traffic alone.
Is it better to build a custom website or use a SaaS platform?
For most agencies, SaaS platforms are more cost-effective. They offer lower upfront costs, faster launches, automatic updates, and predictable pricing. Custom builds provide more control but require a higher initial investment and ongoing developer support.
How long does it take to launch a recruitment website?
- DIY/Template builders: Hours to days (limited functionality)
- Template-based SaaS: 4-8 weeks including design customization
- Semi-custom build: 8-12 weeks
- Fully bespoke website: 3-6 months
What ROI should I expect from a recruitment website?
A well-optimised recruitment marketing platform should return 2–5× its annual cost in placement revenue. Platforms with attribution and early-warning features often break even with as few as 5 additional placements per year.
Can I prove which marketing channels actually drive placements with recruitment?
Yes. With Access Attract Evo’s campaign-to-placement attribution, you can see which channels such as job boards, paid ads, or organic search directly contribute to revenue, not just clicks or applications.