Part of: Static vs Dynamic Websites for Small Businesses - For help choosing the right type, see our complete decision guide.
You’re getting quotes for your SME, startup, or small business website. The numbers are all over the place:
- DIY website builder: $200/year
- Freelancer: $2,500
- Agency: $15,000
- “Friend who knows WordPress”: $800
Who’s ripping you off? Or are you getting what you pay for?
The real question isn’t “what should a website cost?” It’s “what should THIS type of website cost over 3-5 years?”
This guide breaks down actual costs by approach—no fluff, just numbers and what you’re buying.
TL;DR:
- DIY Builders (Wix, Squarespace): $0-$500 upfront, $150-$600/year ongoing → Good for simple brochure sites if you have time
- Static Professional (Hugo, Eleventy + developer): $1,000-$5,000 upfront, $200-$1,000/year ongoing → Best value for most SMEs and startups
- Dynamic Professional (WordPress, custom): $3,000-$30,000 upfront, $1,000-$6,000/year ongoing → Justified for apps, e-commerce, daily publishing
- 3-year TCO: Static typically 3-5x cheaper than dynamic with similar quality
- Hidden costs: Maintenance, security, migrations, opportunity cost of your time
The Three Cost Profiles
Let me show you what you’re actually buying with each approach.
DIY Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Weebly)
Who this is for: Solo founders, bootstrapped startups, micro-businesses, very tight budgets, simple brochure needs.
Upfront costs:
- $0-$500 if you do it yourself
- Template/theme: $0-$200 (most platforms include free templates)
- Your time: 10-40 hours (worth $500-$2,000 if you value your time at $50/hour)
Annual ongoing costs:
- Platform subscription: $150-$600/year
- Wix: $16-$45/month ($192-$540/year)
- Squarespace: $16-$49/month ($192-$588/year)
- Webflow: $14-$39/month ($168-$468/year)
- Domain: $15/year
- SSL: $0 (included)
- Maintenance: $0 (you do it)
3-year total: $450-$2,300
What you get:
- Drag-and-drop builder
- Hosting included
- Templates and themes
- Basic SEO tools
- Support from platform
What you don’t get:
- Custom functionality
- Full design control
- Easy migration off platform (vendor lock-in)
- Advanced performance optimization
Hidden costs:
- Opportunity cost: If you spend 40 hours building instead of selling, that’s real money
- Limitations: When you outgrow the builder, migration costs $3,000-$15,000
- Platform fees creep: Advanced features often require higher-tier plans
Best for: Testing an idea, very simple sites (5-10 pages), non-technical solo founders.
Static Professional Site (Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy + Developer)
Who this is for: Most SMEs and startups—consultancies, agencies, local services, B2B companies, SaaS marketing sites.
Upfront costs:
- $1,000-$5,000 for professional build
- Freelancer (5-10 pages): $1,000-$3,000
- Small agency (custom design): $3,000-$8,000
- Domain: $15
- Initial setup (analytics, forms): $0-$500
Annual ongoing costs:
- Hosting: $0-$120/year (Cloudflare Pages free, Netlify Pro $20/month)
- Domain: $15/year
- Maintenance/updates: $200-$1,000/year (2-10 hours developer time)
- Forms/services: $0-$200/year (Tally free tier, premium if needed)
3-year total: $1,600-$8,500
What you get:
- Professional design
- Fast performance (CDN-served)
- High security (minimal attack surface)
- Full control and portability
- Can add headless CMS later
What you don’t get:
- Non-technical content editing (unless you add headless CMS for $500-$1,500/year)
- Complex user accounts or personalization
- E-commerce beyond simple checkout
Hidden costs:
- Content updates: If you need weekly changes, budget $100-$200/month for developer time, OR add headless CMS
- Redesign: Major redesign in year 3-5 costs $2,000-$5,000
Best for: Service businesses, consultancies, marketing sites, blogs, portfolios.
Real example: One developer documented $7/month hosting cost on AWS for static site.
Dynamic Professional Site (WordPress, Custom CMS, Web App)
Who this is for: E-commerce, SaaS products, membership sites, organizations with content teams publishing daily.
Upfront costs:
- $3,000-$30,000+ depending on complexity
- WordPress with custom theme: $3,000-$10,000
- WordPress with e-commerce (WooCommerce): $5,000-$20,000
- Custom web app: $15,000-$100,000+
Annual ongoing costs:
- Managed hosting: $240-$2,400/year ($20-$200/month)
- Budget hosting (risky): $60-$120/year
- Proper managed (Kinsta, WP Engine): $300-$1,200/year
- High-traffic: $1,200-$2,400/year
- Domain: $15/year
- Premium plugins/themes: $100-$500/year
- Backups (if not included): $60-$240/year
- Security monitoring: $100-$300/year
- Maintenance (updates, patches, fixes): $600-$3,000/year (5-10 hours/month)
3-year total: $6,000-$45,000+
What you get:
- Full CMS for non-technical editing
- User accounts and personalization
- E-commerce capabilities
- Complex functionality
- Large ecosystem of plugins/themes
What you don’t get:
- Peace of mind (more things break)
- Low maintenance burden
- Simple hosting
Hidden costs:
- Security incidents: Breach cleanup costs $5,000-$50,000+
- Performance degradation: Sites slow down over time, fixes cost $1,000-$5,000
- Plugin conflicts: Can cause downtime, each incident $300-$1,500 to fix
- Platform migrations: Switching hosts or redesigning: $5,000-$20,000
Best for: E-commerce, web apps, SaaS platforms, large content teams.
3-Year Total Cost of Ownership Comparison
Here’s what you’ll actually spend over 3 years:
| Approach | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | 3-Year Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIY Builder (Squarespace) | $400 | $200 | $200 | $800 |
| Static Professional (Hugo + freelancer) | $2,500 | $500 | $500 | $3,500 |
| WordPress Managed (proper hosting) | $6,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 | $10,000 |
| WordPress Budget (cheap hosting) | $4,000 | $1,500 | $3,000* | $8,500* |
| Custom Web App | $25,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $35,000 |
*Year 3 includes likely security incident or performance crisis from budget hosting
Key insight: Static professional is often cheaper than budget WordPress over 3 years when you factor in the inevitable crisis.
What’s Sane to Spend by Business Stage
Pre-Revenue Startup (Validating Idea)
Sane budget: $0-$1,000
Recommended: DIY builder (Carrd, Webflow free tier) or static landing page via freelancer on Fiverr ($200-$500).
Don’t: Build custom app before validating demand.
Micro-Business (1-5 People, <$500K Revenue)
Sane budget: $1,000-$5,000
Recommended: Professional static site. Fast, reliable, represents your brand well without operational overhead.
Don’t: Pay $15K for WordPress when $3K static site does the job.
Small Business (5-20 People, $500K-$5M Revenue)
Sane budget: $3,000-$15,000
Recommended: Static if simple brochure, WordPress if content team needs daily publishing, custom if website IS the product.
Don’t: Cheap out on hosting—budget $50-$100/month minimum for dynamic sites.
Growing Company (20-50 People, $5M-$20M Revenue)
Sane budget: $10,000-$50,000
Recommended: Custom solution if website is core to business, professional WordPress with proper infrastructure, or hybrid (static marketing + dynamic app).
Don’t: DIY anything at this stage.
Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions
1. Opportunity Cost of Your Time
If you spend 40 hours building a DIY site, that’s time not spent on sales, product, or operations.
At $50/hour value of your time: 40 hours = $2,000 hidden cost.
A $2,000 professional site that launches in 2 weeks is often cheaper than “free” DIY taking 2 months of your evenings.
2. Security Incidents
WordPress sites account for 4 out of 5 hacked websites.
Cost of breach response: $5,000-$50,000+ (forensics, cleanup, customer notification, reputation damage).
Prevention: Budget $300-$500/year for proper security monitoring on dynamic sites.
3. Platform Migrations
Outgrow your DIY builder? Migration costs:
- Wix → WordPress: $3,000-$8,000
- Squarespace → Custom: $5,000-$15,000
Prevention: If you might outgrow a platform in 2 years, don’t start with it.
4. Performance Degradation
WordPress sites slow down over time (plugins, database bloat, theme conflicts).
Cost to fix: $1,000-$5,000 (performance audit, cleanup, optimization).
Prevention: Static sites don’t have this problem.
5. Plugin/Theme License Creep
Start with 5 premium plugins at $50/year each. Within 2 years you have 15 at $100/year each = $1,500/year just for licenses.
How a Fractional CTO Saves You Money
Here’s where I come in.
Common scenario:
- Agency quotes $18,000 for WordPress with custom features
- You’re not sure if that’s fair or inflated
What I do:
- Review the scope and quote
- Identify what’s actually needed vs. nice-to-have
- Recommend right-sized approach (often static + SaaS integrations for 1/3 the cost)
- Oversee implementation to ensure you’re not overpaying
Real example: Client was quoted $25,000 for WordPress e-commerce site. I identified:
- 80% of functionality achievable with static site + Stripe checkout: $5,000
- Remaining 20% didn’t justify the cost yet
- Saved $20,000, launched in 3 weeks instead of 3 months
Another example: Client had budget WordPress site ($1,000 build, $5/month hosting). Site was slow, getting hacked, costing $500/month in fixes.
I migrated to static + proper hosting: $2,500 migration cost, $10/month hosting, zero maintenance issues.
ROI: Saved $6,000/year in firefighting.
Book a 30-minute consultation – I’ll review what you actually need and give you a realistic budget range.
What to Ask Before Signing a Contract
For Developers/Agencies
- “What’s the 3-year total cost of ownership?” (not just build cost)
- “What happens when I need changes?” (hourly rate, retainer, included updates?)
- “Who owns the code and content?” (can you take it elsewhere?)
- “What’s your typical response time for urgent fixes?”
- “What’s included in hosting/maintenance costs?” (backups, security, monitoring?)
For DIY Platforms
- “What happens if I outgrow this platform?” (migration options, costs)
- “What features require higher-tier plans?” (hidden upgrade costs)
- “Can I export my content and design?” (vendor lock-in check)
- “What’s the real total annual cost?” (platform + plugins + premium features)
Next Steps
If You Have a Quote
- Book a consultation with me to review it
- I’ll tell you if it’s fair, overpriced, or missing critical components
- You’ll get a second opinion with no sales pressure
If You’re Just Starting
- Read Static vs Dynamic Websites for Small Businesses to understand which type fits your needs
- Get 2-3 quotes from different providers (DIY, freelancer, agency)
- Compare on 3-year TCO, not just upfront cost
- Ask the questions above before signing
If You’re Overpaying Now
Contact me if:
- Your website costs >$500/month to maintain
- You’re constantly fixing things that break
- Your developer quotes seem inflated but you’re not sure
I’ll audit your current setup and show you where money is being wasted.
Key Takeaways
Budget ranges by approach:
- DIY builders: $150-$600/year ongoing
- Static professional: $1,600-$8,500 over 3 years
- Dynamic professional: $6,000-$45,000+ over 3 years
Most common mistake: Choosing based on upfront cost instead of 3-year TCO.
Second most common mistake: Skimping on hosting for dynamic sites ($3/month shared hosting = future crisis).
Best value for most SMEs and startups: Professional static site ($2,000-$5,000 build, $500/year maintenance).
When dynamic is worth it: E-commerce, web apps, daily content publishing by non-technical teams.
Remember: The cheapest option upfront is rarely the cheapest long-term. Budget for 3-5 years, not just launch day.
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