The range, and what moves it
A childcare setting website costs from a free page on your nursery software to several thousand, and what moves the number is whether the site shows the rooms honestly, explains fees and funding so parents stop phoning about them, and takes the viewing, the waitlist and the enrolment without a voicemail. A nursery with four rooms and funded hours needs more of that than a babysitting service. Here are the bands, in dollars with sterling alongside.
Band 1: the software's parent page, or a DIY builder
Famly, Blossom and ClassForKids give settings a public enquiry, waitlist or booking page. Wix and Squarespace give a template.
Cost: nothing to low hundreds, plus the software you already pay for.
You get: a way to enquire or book, an address and a phone number.
You do not get: your own domain ranking for "nursery [town]", photographs of every room, the inspection rating linked to the report, a fees and funding page written in plain language, or a viewing slot a parent can book at 10pm.
Right for: a new childminder or babysitter in the first year, or a class provider running one venue.
Band 2: a template site, $800 to $2,500 (roughly £650 to £2,000)
A nursery theme or a builder template with your logo, a handful of photos and a contact form.
You get: a presentable site with your name on it.
Usually missing: speed on a phone; real photos of every room and the garden rather than a stock shot of paint-covered hands; the inspection rating and staff qualifications laid out; a fees and funding page rather than "contact us for fees"; viewing booking and a waitlist form; enrolment wired to your nursery software; a safeguarding page; hosting in your name.
Right for: a setting full from word of mouth with a long waitlist already.
Band 3: a purpose-built childcare site, $2,500 to $6,000 (roughly £2,000 to £4,800)
Built around how a parent chooses. A page per room with real photographs, the age range, the ratio and the key person approach. A day-in-the-life page. The inspection rating linked to the report, staff qualifications and vetting stated. One plain fees and funding page: sessions, fees, what is included, how funded hours or subsidies apply, how to claim. Viewing slots booked online. A waitlist form that lands in Famly or Blossom. Enrolment through the software. A safeguarding page. Fast on a phone, structured data for a local childcare provider, tracking of viewings and waitlist joins, everything in your name.
You get: a site that ranks for "nursery [town]" and "holiday club [town]", answers the fees question before the call, and turns visits into viewings booked in the evening.
Not usually included: photography (a half day for the rooms and garden is worth arranging), copy unless specified.
Right for: nurseries and daycare, holiday clubs, and any setting that wants a full register from search rather than only from the school gate.
Band 4: groups and multi-site, $8,000 and up
Several settings under one brand, each with its own rooms, fees and waitlist; a nanny agency with separate family and candidate routes wired into a CRM; a franchise.
After launch
- Hosting: managed WordPress at $20 to $50 a month, or often free on a framework host, in your name.
- Domain: small, annual. Yours.
- Nursery or class software (Famly, Blossom, ClassForKids, Sawyer): whatever you pay now; the site does not add to it.
- Maintenance: a care plan at a modest monthly fee, or hourly when something breaks.
- Photography: a half day, with written consent for any child in shot, repeated when a room is redecorated.
Where the band 3 money goes
- Room pages as records, so each room has its photos, age range and ratio, and adding a room is filling in a form.
- The fees and funding page, written once in plain language and edited by you when fees change in September.
- Viewing booking and the waitlist, wired to your software and tested on a phone.
- Proof. Inspection rating linked, qualifications, vetting, ratios, safeguarding policy.
- Speed, because parents look at nurseries on a phone during a 3am feed.
- Search foundation and structured data for a local childcare business.
- Tracking of viewing bookings, waitlist joins and calls by page.
- Ownership. Domain, hosting, content: yours.
By type of setting
A nursery needs the full band 3 set. A holiday club needs programme pages by week and booking with registration stored once, which is also band 3. A baby class, babysitting service or nanny agency usually fits a smaller build: a reassuring set of pages, fees stated, and one booking or enquiry route.
Judging a quote
Ask: is there a page per room with real photos; is the inspection rating linked; is fees and funding one plain page I can edit; can a parent book a viewing and join the waitlist online; does enrolment go into my software; what is the speed target; what is tracked; whose name is the domain in. A quote that answers "contact form" to the viewing question is band 2 however it is dressed.
What we charge
Our childcare sites are band 3 at a fixed price; the scope is on the childcare business website page. If your site is in band 1 or 2 and the office still spends the morning returning voicemails about fees and viewings, the number that matters is how many of those parents booked a viewing with you and how many booked with the nursery whose site let them.