Trading Online Voucher 2026: closed, and what replaced it

Search for the Trading Online Voucher today and you will still find web design pages promising up to €2,500 towards a new website in 2026. That money is not available. The scheme closed for applications at 5pm on 13 December 2024, and the Louth Local Enterprise Office application page says so in its first line.

What replaced it is a different kind of grant, with a different way in and different rules about websites. If you were planning to have half your website paid for, read this before you ask anyone for a quote.

What the Trading Online Voucher actually paid for

For ten years the voucher was the first grant most small Irish businesses heard about. It covered 50% of eligible costs excluding VAT, up to €2,500. You needed 10 or fewer employees, turnover under €2 million and at least six months of trading. You attended an information seminar, submitted three quotes and waited for approval before spending a cent.

One rule rarely made it into agency marketing. The voucher never paid for a brochure website. The LEOs defined that as a site that shows your products or services but doesn’t sell online or take bookings, so customers still have to contact you to order. A tradesman’s site with a phone number and a contact form didn’t qualify on its own. Neither did a solicitor’s practice pages. The money was meant for online selling, booking and payments.

What replaced it: two steps instead of one

The LEOs now run two linked supports, and the second only opens once you’ve done the first.

Digital for Business is a consultancy project. A consultant looks at the systems your business already uses, finds the gaps and gives you a plan for what to adopt next. It runs for a few days of consultancy: the CIF describes up to three days, an Interreg Europe case study three to five. LEO Wexford calls it fully funded. Ask your own LEO whether that applies where you are.

The Grow Digital Voucher is the grant. It pays 50% of eligible costs, with a minimum grant of €500 and a maximum of €5,000. You can get up to two projects approved, but together they can’t exceed €5,000, and the second depends on showing progress against your Digital for Business report.

To be eligible for both, a business needs:

• between 1 and 50 paid employees
• at least six months of trading, registered and operating in the LEO’s area
• solvent accounts and current tax clearance from Revenue
• no existing client relationship with Enterprise Ireland or IDA

The Digital for Business report must be from the last two years when you apply for Grow Digital. The six-month trading rule is the one thing that carried over unchanged from the old voucher.

Why Grow Digital probably won’t pay for your website

Grow Digital is a software grant. The eligible costs are subscriptions to off-the-shelf business software that is new to your business, for up to one year. You pay the annual subscription first, then claim. Adding more licences to a system you already use doesn’t count. The LEO’s examples are e-commerce software, online booking and payments, CRM, stock control, accounting moved to the cloud and cyber security tools.

Websites are on the list, with a condition. Website development qualifies only as a software subscription that is new to the business, and the LEO adds that the voucher does not support bespoke website development.

A website designed and built for you is, in most cases, exactly that. A hosted website builder you subscribe to can fit the rules. A WordPress site a designer builds around your business usually can’t. If you think your project is an exception, ask your LEO before you plan around it.

There is a second category: training and IT configuration, where you need expert help to set up or integrate the new software. Training and configuration together can’t be more than 50% of the project cost. So if the plan from Digital for Business recommends an online booking system, the subscription can be funded, and part of the work to connect it to your existing website may count as configuration. That decision sits with the LEO, not with the supplier.

If you want to use it, the order matters

1. Contact your Local Enterprise Office and ask about Digital for Business. You apply to the LEO for the area your business operates in.
2. Complete the Digital for Business project and keep the report. It decides what Grow Digital will fund later.
3. Apply for the Grow Digital Voucher before you commit to, order, purchase or start any part of the project. The LEO’s terms say that committing early can make the project look like it would have gone ahead without the grant, and then it may be ineligible. As a precaution, wait for approval before spending money, so you know which costs have been accepted.
4. Once approved, buy the subscription, pay for it, and claim.

Step 3 is where people lose the grant. A deposit paid to a supplier or an annual plan bought “to get started” counts as the project starting.

Planning a website without a grant

For most small businesses that need a straightforward site, the realistic plan in 2026 is to pay for it yourself. That changes the question from “what does the grant cover” to “what do I actually need, and what will it cost to keep running”.

Start with what the site has to do. A site that brings in phone calls and enquiries needs less than a shop, and what a small business website actually needs covers the difference. Then set a figure you can live with: how much to spend on a website in Ireland splits it into the build and the yearly running costs.

If a funded software subscription matters to you, weigh a hosted builder against a designed site honestly. Website builder or web designer goes through what you gain and give up with each. Whichever way you go, prepare these details before asking for a quote, so the prices you get are comparable.

Questions people ask

Is the Trading Online Voucher still available in 2026?

No. Applications closed at 5pm on 13 December 2024. Pages that still offer it for 2026 are out of date.

Can I get a grant for a new website in Ireland?

Not for a custom-built brochure site through the LEO digital supports. Grow Digital can part-fund website software that is a new subscription for your business, after you have completed Digital for Business.

Do I still need six months of trading?

Yes. Both Digital for Business and Grow Digital require at least six months of trading.

Can a sole trader apply?

The rules accept self-employed individuals, but also ask for between 1 and 50 paid employees. Whether a sole trader with no staff counts is not clear from the published terms, so ask your LEO.

I got a Trading Online Voucher before. Can I apply for Grow Digital?

The published eligibility rules don’t exclude previous voucher recipients. You still need a Digital for Business report first.

Why I’m telling you this

I build websites for small businesses, and under the current rules that work is not something a Grow Digital Voucher pays for. I’d rather you know that before we talk about a quote than find out after you’ve planned around half the cost disappearing.

If the grant fits what you need, use it. If it doesn’t, a site sized to what it has to do, with running costs you know up front, is a better plan than waiting for a scheme that has already closed.