About
A small studio that
ships real software.
Aelis is an independent web studio. We build new websites and rebuild tired ones for small businesses across the UK — fixed-price between £500 and £1,000, with SEO baked in and zero hidden fees.
Why we exist.
Most small businesses end up with one of two websites: a clunky template stitched together by someone's cousin, or an over-engineered agency build that costs four figures to change a phone number.
We started Aelis because there's a gap in the middle — a place for websites that are genuinely well-made but also honestly priced. Professional design without the agency invoice. Clean code without the freelancer rot. Real SEO without the monthly "consultant" retainer.
So we priced ourselves accordingly. Every project we take on is a fixed £500 to £1,000. No hidden fees, no hourly creep, no "oh and this part costs extra." We strip everything small businesses don't need out of the bill — and nothing out of the work. It's simply the cheapest high-quality web development you'll find in the UK, and we're happy to let the sites do the talking.
Principles
Four rules that shape every project.
Built by hand, not dropped in
We don't ship the same template twice. Every site is designed and coded for the business it serves — no recycled block libraries, no unused plugin cruft.
Performance is a feature
A site that loads in 500ms converts better than one that loads in 3 seconds. We treat Google speed scores and page-load benchmarks as shipping criteria, not nice-to-haves.
Accessible by default
WCAG 2.2 AA is the floor, not a retrofit. Keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and sensible colour contrast come with every build.
Own your content
When we ship a CMS, you get admin access — editable on your laptop, from your phone, at 11pm the night before a launch. No per-seat fees, no vendor lock-in.
Our stack
We pick tools based on the job, not the hype cycle.
Build
- Astro
- Svelte
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
Behind the scenes
- Cloudflare Workers
- Hono
- KV
- Stripe
SEO & analytics
- Search Console
- Google Analytics 4
- Schema.org
- Core Web Vitals
Design
- Figma
- Illustrator
- Custom iconography
- WCAG 2.2 AA
Working with us
What it actually looks like.
- 01
Conversation
You tell us what you're building and why. We ask questions until we understand the problem, the constraints, and the people who'll actually use the thing. No jargon, no up-sell.
- 02
Honest proposal
A scoped, fixed-price proposal with a clear timeline. We'll tell you if we think a different approach would serve you better — even if it means less work for us.
- 03
Build, in the open
Every project lives on a private staging URL you can open on your own phone and click through yourself — no Zoom screen-shares, no passive watching. Feedback welcome at any point.
- 04
Ship, then care
Launch day, handover, and optional ongoing support. You own the code — if you want to take it in-house, or hand it to another team, we leave you everything you need.
Want to work together?
We take on a small number of projects each quarter so we can give every one the attention it needs. Get in touch and let's see if we're a fit.
Start a project