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Web design and software companies in the Reading area

1,422 web design and software companies have a registered office in the Reading area (RG postcodes), and 414 of them were formed in 2025 or 2026. In their latest accounts, the typical one held £29,947 in cash and owed £16,742 at year end.

Companies House register, 1 September 2026, and accounts filed in the last twelve months. Compared with the official category “Business and domestic software development” (SIC 62012), which also covers software or saas product. Covers companies with a registered office in RG postcodes, including Reading, Basingstoke, Newbury.

The numbers

Web design and software companies in the Reading area (RG postcodes) compared with the same category across the UK. Typical figures are medians.
MeasureReadingUK
Registered companies1,42296,921
Formed in 2025 or 2026414 (29%)42%
Being struck off or in liquidation51 (3.6%)6.4%
Typical cash at year end£29,947258 accounts£25,881
Typical amount owed at year end£16,742665 accounts£15,248
Typical number of employees1687 accounts1

What this means if you’re starting one

Most of your competition will be other newcomers

29% of the 1,422 web design and software companies in the Reading area (RG postcodes) were formed in 2025–26, against 18% of all companies in the Reading area (RG postcodes). Nationally, that share of new companies is higher than 98% of UK industries.

New rivals are arriving faster than in most trades, so your customers already have fresh options. Being new is not a difference on its own.

You can start without much equipment

The typical web design and software company in the Reading area (RG postcodes) carries £2,301 of equipment and other fixed assets after depreciation, lower than 90% of UK industries.

Most of the cost of entry is time and running costs rather than kit, so a small test is cheap.

Most of these businesses are run by one or two people

The typical web design and software company in the Reading area (RG postcodes) reports 1 employee; the top quarter has 2 or more (687 filings).

You are mostly up against owner-operators. Your own hours are likely to be your biggest cost, and the easiest one to undercount.

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What these figures can’t tell you

Companies are counted where their registered office is, which may be an accountant or a home address rather than a shop. Sole traders and partnerships are not on the register, and electronically filed accounts cover roughly 60–75% of accounts filed each year. The figures describe companies that exist; they cannot prove demand for your idea or predict whether it will work. How the figures are built.

Web design and software in other places

Other businesses in Reading

All business benchmarks in Reading