Most of the small business owners I talk to assume a website comes with website monthly fees, the way a phone contract does. It doesn't have to. There is exactly one cost that comes round every year whoever builds your site, and it is small. Everything else is a decision about how you are billed, and you are allowed to say no to it.
What genuinely costs money every year
Your web address. The domain name, like yourbusiness.co.uk, is rented from a registry a year at a time. A .co.uk costs around £10 to £20 a year to renew, and that is the only cost a simple website has to carry. It should be registered in your name, not the designer's, so the renewal comes to you and the address stays yours. Nominet runs the .uk registry if you want to see how that side works.
Hosting. The website has to live on a computer that is switched on all the time. Some designers charge for that monthly. Some, like me, include it in the one-off price for a site of normal size, because a five-page site for a local business costs pennies to serve.
Email, if you want it. An address like hello@yourbusiness.co.uk is separate from the website and usually a few pounds a month through Google or Microsoft. Plenty of businesses are happy with the Gmail address they already have.
That is the whole list. Nothing else is a must.
Where website monthly fees come from
Website builders. Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy's builder and the like are free until you want your own web address, no adverts and a site that looks right on a phone. Then it is a subscription, typically £10 to £30 a month, for as long as the site exists.
Websites as a service. This is the offer most small businesses get through the door or over the phone: a low setup fee, then £30 to £100 a month for "the website, hosting, updates and support". It feels cheap in month one. Over three years it is often more than a site would have cost to buy outright, and in many of these deals the site is never yours. Stop paying and it disappears.
Maintenance plans. Agencies sometimes sell a monthly plan for updates and security. On a big site with a shop and plugins there can be a case for it. On a simple site built properly, there is very little to maintain.
When paying monthly is fine
I'll be fair about this. If you want nothing to pay up front, change the site constantly, and you have checked that you can take the site and the web address with you if you leave, a monthly plan can suit you. The problem is rarely the monthly figure. It is what the small print says about ownership.
Three questions before you say yes to a monthly fee
- What does this cost over three years? Multiply it out. £40 a month is £1,440.
- Who owns the website and the web address? Ask for it in writing. If the web address is registered to the company, you are renting your own name.
- What happens if I stop paying? If the answer is "the site comes down", you are not buying a website. You are subscribing to one.
If any of the answers are vague, walk away.
How I do it
One price, £595, paid once you have seen the finished site and love it. Hosting is included. The web address is registered in your name, and you pay the renewal directly, which is the £10 to £20 a year above. You get a simple back end so you can change prices, photos and opening hours yourself without paying anyone. There are no monthly fees, no contract and nothing hidden. The full list is on the pricing page, and how the free demo works explains the order things happen in.
If you are weighing a monthly offer against a one-off price, the website cost guide puts the numbers side by side.
Questions
Is hosting really included for nothing?
For a site of normal size, yes. A five-page site for a local business costs very little to serve, so I include it rather than bill you £10 a month for it. If you later want something heavy, like a shop with hundreds of products, we would talk about it first.
What if I want changes after the site is live?
Small changes, like prices, photos, opening hours and news, you do yourself in the back end. Bigger changes, like a new page or a redesign, I price up front so you know the cost before you say yes. Nothing is charged monthly.
Can I move my site somewhere else later?
Yes. The web address is yours, and the site is yours once you have paid. If you ever want to take it elsewhere, you can.
Want to see a site with no monthly fees before you pay a penny for it? Tell me about your business and I'll build your free demo this week.
