How Much Does It Cost to Start a Business? A Startup Costs Overview

The money you need to start a business ranges from about $2,000 to more than $400,000 in 2026 guides. Most of that gap comes from the type of business. But even for one type, the guides disagree. Homebase says a restaurant can open for about $100,000. SoFi puts a small restaurant or coffee shop at $275,000 to $425,000.

So the first answer depends on what you plan to open. In 2026 guides from Homebase, Xero and SoFi, the rough ranges look like this:

• home-based, online or service business: from about $2,000 to $3,000 up to tens of thousands
• retail store: about $50,000 to $150,000
• restaurant: from $100,000 to $175,000, depending on the source, and often much more

These ranges give you a useful first answer. But the guides disagree with each other, sometimes by more than $100,000.

How much money to start a business: why the numbers disagree

You put the three guides side by side. All three come from companies that publish business guides next to their own products. None of the figures comes from a government agency.

The gaps make more sense once you see who publishes these numbers. The SBA (the US Small Business Administration) publishes a method for estimating startup costs, but its guide gives no dollar figures. The numbers people quote come from software companies, lenders and media sites. Each one samples different businesses.

That's why the low end for a restaurant moves so much. Homebase starts at $100,000 and Xero at $175,000. SoFi starts at $275,000.

You'll also notice a few figures that travel from article to article. "About $40,000 in the first year" shows up in SoFi and Nolo. It comes from Shopify data on online stores, so it describes e-commerce, not all businesses.

Nolo (2022, also citing Shopify) gives about $18,000 for the first year of an online store with no employees. Stripe (2025, citing business.org) gives about $35,000 for an online-only business. It puts a storefront at about $100,000 in the first year.

So these ranges tell you the order of magnitude for your type of business. They can't be your budget. For that, you have to build your own list line by line.

Your first list: what counts as a startup cost

You open a blank page and start writing. A startup cost is money you spend to get the business ready to open. It also includes the money you need to keep it running until sales cover the bills. The SBA lists the common categories:

1. office space
2. equipment and supplies
3. communications
4. utilities
5. licenses and permits
6. insurance
7. lawyer and accountant
8. inventory
9. employee salaries
10. advertising and marketing
11. market research
12. printed marketing materials
13. making a website

LivePlan, a business planning software company, sorts the same money into three groups. Startup expenses are paid once, like the state filing fee, a logo or legal help. Startup assets are things you buy and keep, like equipment or inventory.

The third group is operating costs until break-even. That means rent, software, insurance and other monthly bills before income equals costs. Many first budgets cover only the first two groups. But the third is often the largest, because it repeats every month until the business pays for itself.

Putting a price on the one-time costs

Now you want a rough price next to each line. The ranges below come from vendor and media articles, and each line names its source. Your real figures will depend on your state and your industry. They'll also depend on how much of the work you do yourself.

In the table, business registration covers the LLC filing, a DBA and permits. A custom app means software built from scratch.

State filing fees differ by state, so check the exact amount on your state's official fee page. How to Start a Business in the US: What Comes First and What It Costs gives the bigger picture of what a launch involves.

The bills that come back every month

The one-time costs are only half the page. The other half is the bills that arrive again and again.

Some bills come once a quarter or once a year. The SBA suggests dividing them to get a monthly figure. So a yearly bill shows up in your budget as one twelfth each month.

Insurance is one of those bills that's easy to guess wrong. Homebase puts first-year insurance at $500 to $2,500. Xero gives $400 to $1,500 a year for general liability. That's the basic policy that covers claims from customers and other third parties. Which policies you need depends on your work and whether you have employees.

Then there's professional help. Homebase puts the state filing at $100 to $250 and a registered agent at $50 to $150 a year. A lawyer costs $150 to $500 an hour. A registered agent is a person or company with an address in the state that receives official mail for the business.

Put an accountant in the budget from the start too. You'll want one for tax questions like the start-up cost deduction further down. How to Choose an Accountant for a Small Business explains how to pick one.

By now your page probably has dozens of lines. Based on the SBA list, five of them show up in nearly every startup budget:

• formation and legal fees
• licenses and permits
• insurance
• equipment or inventory
• marketing, including a website

Getting found: what a website and online presence cost

That last item is where many budgets get vague. The SBA list includes a website and marketing, but cost guides rarely break them down. Most give online presence one line called "website". In practice that line covers several separate items, each with its own price:

• a website or a landing page
• a logo and basic brand design
• a Google Business Profile, the business listing on Google Search and Google Maps
• listings on general and industry directory sites
• business pages on the social networks your customers use
• business email on your own domain
• a press release announcing the launch to media and news sites

A landing page is one page that explains what the business does and how to reach it. A full website has several pages. What Is an Online Presence and What Does a Small Business Need explains each item and why a new business needs it.

When you look for prices, you find a few for design and websites. Xero's bundle figure covers branding, a website and first marketing together.

For the rest, we found no neutral price data. That covers Google Business Profile work, directory listings, social media setup and press releases. Prices depend on the provider and on what the package includes. So get several quotes and compare what each one covers. Do You Need a Website for a Small Business? Website vs Landing Page covers the choice between a full website and a landing page.

As the quotes come in, you'll see the price move mainly with four things:

• a custom design costs a lot more than a template
• more pages mean more writing and more build time
• more directory listings mean more work than a handful
• one-time setup costs less than ongoing monthly support

At some point you'll ask yourself whether to do this work yourself or pay someone.

If you hire help, check that the website, the domain and the profiles are in your name or your company's name.

If you're forming from abroad

Most cost guides are written for people living in the US. If you live abroad and form a US company, your page gets a few more lines.

A registered agent is a yearly cost, and Homebase puts it at $50 to $150 a year. The agent's address is for official mail. Some foreign owners also pay for a virtual business address to use as the company's address. Prices depend on the provider and the city.

A foreign-owned single-member LLC also has its own IRS filings, like Form 5472. So budget for an accountant who knows them. Can a Non-US Resident Own a US LLC? What It Involves gives the wider picture.

Reserve money for when something goes wrong

Even a careful list misses some costs. A machine breaks, or a client pays two months late. That's why the sources suggest keeping two kinds of reserve money.

Contingency is a buffer for costs you didn't plan for. The SBA suggests adding "a little extra, say 10%". Stripe, Homebase and Xero suggest 10% to 20% of the budget.

Runway is the number of months the business can pay its bills before sales cover them. The sources disagree more here:

Estimates of how long it takes to turn a profit vary too. Xero says most small businesses take 18 to 24 months, and SoFi mentions three to five years. Your own estimate, based on your costs and expected sales, is more useful than either one.

Your number on one page: how much money you need to start

Now you can bring all of this together. Use this table as a startup costs calculator on paper. Fill in your own figure on each line, and write 0 where a line doesn't apply. Deposits mean rent and utility deposits. Online profiles covers your Google Business Profile, listings and social pages.

To get the total, add up three things:

1. the one-time costs
2. the monthly costs times the months until sales cover expenses
3. the contingency

This follows the SBA method. You list your costs and estimate each one. Then you split them into one-time and monthly costs and add them up. The runway part comes from LivePlan's idea of cash runway.

Tax time: getting part of the money back

Once the money is spent, part of it can lower your taxes. You can generally deduct startup costs. The SBA says some one-time costs "may be tax-deductible", and it advises talking to an accountant. Its examples include equipment and a logo designer. Permits, licenses and fees are on the list too.

Under Section 195 of the federal tax code, a business can choose to deduct a limited amount of start-up costs in its first year. The rest is generally spread over 180 months, or 15 years. That's called amortization. IRS instructions for corporations say amortization that starts in the current year goes on Form 4562.

Starting a business with less money than the total

Maybe you add it all up and the number is bigger than your savings. You can bring it down in a few ways. Working from home at first takes rent and deposits out of the budget. Online and service businesses have the lowest ranges in every source above.

Things you already own can cover the first months: a laptop, a phone or a car. Used equipment can replace new where safety and warranty allow.

Pre-selling also cuts the money you need up front, because orders or deposits come in before you buy inventory. You can also phase the budget. Pay for what you need to open now, and schedule the bigger costs for later months.

Mistakes that break a first budget

Even with the worksheet, a few mistakes come up again and again. The most common one is counting only the one-time costs. The monthly bills before break-even are often the bigger part of the budget. Next comes a budget with no reserve, where one late client payment or a broken machine can stop the business.

Other mistakes come up often too:

• leaving out yearly costs like registered agent renewals and some licenses
• guessing insurance and license costs instead of getting real quotes and checking city, county and state rules
• putting off marketing, so a business with no website or online profiles is harder to find in its first months
• building the budget on one article's average, when the sources above differ by tens of thousands of dollars

What to do this month

Start with the worksheet and fill in every line, even the small ones. Then replace the published ranges with real quotes from providers wherever you can. Add the reserve before you decide whether you can afford to open.

When the numbers work, the next question is how customers will find the company. That launch side is our work with new owners, and it covers the Google profile, directory listings and a simple landing page.

If you live outside the US, budget for an accountant who knows the IRS filings for foreign owners. The bigger picture of a launch is in How to Start a Business in the US: What Comes First and What It Costs.