LEO Website Grant 2026: What Your Local Enterprise Office Pays For

By Berker İkizov, Co-Founder, Evalon Digital Media. Updated 12 October 2026. We checked every rule on this page against the official LEO and Enterprise Ireland pages on that date.

Three searches, three answers

You type "LEO website grant" into Google. One page says the LEO pays for your whole website. Another lists six grants and leaves you to guess which one fits. A third sells you a package before it explains the rules.

This guide gives you one clear answer to the website grant question in Ireland. It follows the official LEO rules and shows the real money in tables. It also tells you where your plan fits before you spend a cent.

Local Enterprise Office grants and State supports in 2026

How the LEO website grant works

1. Book Digital for Business. Contact your LEO and ask for it. A digital consultant looks at the systems you use today, finds the gaps, and recommends what to add. The review is free.
2. Apply for the Grow Digital Voucher. Your application builds on the actions in your Digital for Business report, and that report stays valid for two years. Send the application before you buy anything, because the LEO pays only for costs after it receives your form.
3. Buy and set up. Choose off-the-shelf software that is new to your business, and book any setup and training you need. You pay for the year's subscription first.
4. Claim from your LEO. Once you have paid, the LEO pays its share: 50% of eligible costs, up to €5,000 in total.

Your business qualifies when it:

• has 1 to 50 paid staff, counting any linked companies together
• has traded for at least six months and is registered in your LEO's area
• is a company, sole trader or partnership that pays tax on its trade
• is solvent and holds current tax clearance from Revenue
• is a client of neither Enterprise Ireland nor IDA

What the voucher covers

The voucher pays for off-the-shelf software that is new to your business, for up to one year of subscription. It also pays for expert setup and training, as long as those two together stay at half the project cost or less.

The LEO website grant and custom websites

Here is the line that matters most for this search. The LEO funds a website platform you subscribe to. A website that a team designs and builds only for you sits outside the voucher.

That gives you two routes:

• The subscription route. Pick a website platform that is new to your business. The voucher helps with the first year and with setup.
• The custom route. Hire a team to design and build a site around your business. You fund this part yourself, and you own the result.

Many businesses use both. The voucher covers ready-made tools such as booking or accounting software, and a custom website does the selling.

Where AI fits in 2026

The official list names AI directly: analytics software, including AI systems. So an AI tool has a clear place in the voucher, as long as it is off the shelf and new to your business.

The timing rewards businesses that move now. In 2025, 20.2% of Irish enterprises used AI, according to the CSO. The gap by size is wide: 57.7% of large firms used AI, against 17.2% of small ones. Budget 2027 raised the National AI Office budget to €3.8 million and added a new national AI literacy programme.

If you are new to AI, start with our guide on how to start using AI in your business. Maybe you already know the job you want AI to do, such as answering visitors at 11pm or picking up missed calls. Then see our AI chat assistant and AI voice agent pages.

What it costs you: two worked examples

These are example figures that show how the 50% rate and the €5,000 limit work. Your own numbers come from your Digital for Business plan.

The €5,000 is a total across a maximum of two projects. The second example uses all of it in one go. Your LEO approves a second project only when the first one shows progress against your report. Ask your LEO how VAT is treated on your claim.

Six mistakes that cost businesses the LEO website grant

1. Buying first. The LEO pays only for costs after it receives your application form.
2. Skipping the review. The voucher needs a Digital for Business report from the last two years.
3. Asking it to fund a custom build. Custom websites and custom software sit outside the rules.
4. Topping up old software. Extra licences for a system you already use are excluded.
5. Heavy setup costs. Setup and training together can be half the project at most.
6. Waiting too long. The report is valid for two years. After that, you start again.

Other supports worth a look

• European Digital Innovation Hubs let you test AI before you invest, often free or at a much lower cost.
• Digital Discovery from Enterprise Ireland pays 80% of a digital expert's fee, up to €5,000, for manufacturing and internationally traded services firms. The expert works with you for 3 to 7 days over 8 to 12 weeks.
• The Business Expansion Grant from your LEO goes up to €150,000, typically at 50%, for bigger growth plans.
• The National Enterprise Hub answers grant questions on (01) 727 2100, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

How Evalon fits around the LEO website grant

Evalon designs and builds websites and AI assistants around each business. That is custom work, so it sits outside the voucher, and we say so on the first call. Our prices are published, so you can plan both parts side by side.

Bring your Digital for Business report to the call. We plan our part around it, so the voucher and your own budget each go where they do the most good. You can read how we plan a project before we talk.

Questions people ask about the LEO website grant

Sources

All checked on 12 October 2026.

• Local Enterprise Office: Grow Digital Voucher, who is eligible
• National Enterprise Hub: Digital for Business
• Department of Enterprise: AI and digital supports
• Enterprise Ireland: Digital Discovery brochure
• CSO: Information Society Statistics, Enterprises 2025, Artificial Intelligence
• Department of Enterprise: Budget 2027