How much does a website really cost?
A website has two separate costs that almost everyone blurs together: what it costs to build, and what it costs to keep running. Build-it-yourself platforms are cheap or free to build but charge a fee every month forever; a custom build costs more upfront but almost nothing to run, and you own it. Over five years the two often land closer than the sticker prices suggest.
The honest answer to "how much does a website cost?" is "it depends on which of the two costs you mean." Once you separate them, the real picture becomes clear, and so does which option is actually cheaper for you.
The two costs nobody separates #
When someone asks what a website costs, they usually get one number. There are really two, and they behave completely differently.
Making it exist
A one-off. Either your own time (on a build-it-yourself platform) or a fee to a professional. You pay it once, at the start.
Keeping it live
A monthly or yearly fee to keep the site online. On most platforms this never stops, for as long as the site exists you keep paying.
The trap is judging a website on the build cost alone. A site that is free to build but $40 a month to run costs you almost $2,400 over five years, and at the end you still own nothing and still pay. That is the part the monthly price hides.
And "build it yourself" isn't free either #
The build-it-yourself platforms cost nothing in cash to build. That is not the same thing as free. Building your own site takes real time, usually much more than people expect: learning the tool, wrestling the layout, writing the words, then fixing what breaks. For a site you would be happy to put your name to, that is commonly several full working days, often more. There are three costs hiding inside "I'll just do it myself."
- The hours themselves. A decent site is days of your time, not an afternoon. Time is the one thing you cannot buy more of.
- What those hours were worth elsewhere. Every evening spent nudging a logo three pixels left is an evening not spent winning or doing paid work. For a busy owner, that lost work is usually the biggest cost of all, and the one never counted.
- The result you settle for. A self-built site tends to land sub-optimal: slower, harder for Google and AI to read, and converting fewer visitors into enquiries. Unlike the hours, that gap does not end at launch, it quietly costs you every month afterwards.
So do the quick sum before you reach for "free": put what an hour of your time is worth against the days a good site takes, add the work you would set aside to build it, and factor in a result that may bring in less than a professional one. If you genuinely enjoy the process, or the business is brand new and every dollar counts, doing it yourself can absolutely be the right call, go in with eyes open. But if your time is better spent on the business itself, a "free" build is often the most expensive option once the lost hours and the softer result are counted.
What each platform actually costs #
The monthly fee to run it, what it takes to build, and the question that matters most at the end: do you own it, or are you renting it forever? Monthly figures are AUD for a typical small-business plan on annual billing (Oct 2026).
| Platform | To run (monthly) | To build | Own it at the end? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | ~$17–$37Forever, while you use it | Your own timeNo cash cost to build | NoRented; stops working if you stop paying |
| Wix | ~$21–$55Forever, while you use it | Your own timeNo cash cost to build | NoYou cannot take the site with you |
| Weebly | ~$0–$45Cheapest to run | Your own timeNo cash cost to build | NoRented, and barely developed now |
| Webflow | ~$28–$75Climbs on bigger plans | Your time, or a designerReal learning curve | NoHosted on their platform |
| Framer | ~$15–$45Forever, while you use it | Your time, or a designerSome learning | NoHosted on their platform |
| WordPress | ~$15–$80+Hosting + premium add-ons | Developer usually neededFor anything beyond basic | YesYou own it, but must maintain it |
| Shopify | ~$42–$114Plus apps + a fee on each sale | Your own timeBuilt for shops | NoRented; built for selling, not services |
| Custom on Cloudflare | ~$0Just a domain, about $20/yr | A pro build, upfrontOne-off professional fee | YesYou own the code outright |
Notice the pattern: everything that is cheap or free to build charges you every month and leaves you owning nothing. The one option with almost no running cost, and that you actually own, is the one that costs more to build.
The number that matters: the five-year total #
A monthly fee feels small. Stretched over the life of a site, it is the real cost. Here is roughly what you hand over in running fees alone across five years, before counting your own time or any add-ons.
How these are worked out: a typical small-business plan held for 60 months at the annual-billing rate, in AUD. Add-ons, premium tiers, price rises and your own time are extra, and Shopify also takes a fee on every sale, so a real shop lands higher. The custom build's bar is tiny because once it is made, it costs almost nothing to keep live, just the domain. Its one-off build fee is a separate, upfront number, but set that fee beside the two to three thousand dollars a rented platform quietly collects over the same five years and the gap is far smaller than it first looks, and at the end you own what you paid for.
What about a bespoke, professionally built site? #
If you pay a professional in Perth to build a custom site, here is the lay of the land, and where we fit. Perth prices for a professionally built custom site span a wide range. A solo developer or small studio will do a custom design for roughly $3,000 to $8,000. A premium agency, with full strategy, custom development and photography, runs $8,000 to $25,000 and up. The gap mostly reflects how much strategy, custom work and support comes with the build, not just the number of pages.
Here is the part worth sitting with, though. A one-off build in that range buys you something the monthly platforms never do: a site you own, that runs for almost nothing, and that is built to do exactly what your business needs. Set the upfront fee against five years of platform rent, plus the add-ons and the fact that you own nothing at the end, and a professional build stops looking expensive and starts looking like the cheaper long-run option, with an asset to show for it.
"What does a website cost?"
A one-off price for a set of pages, then a monthly fee to keep them live, on a platform you rent.
"What is it worth to win more work?"
An owned system, built to get you found and turn visitors into enquiries, that keeps earning long after it is paid for.
That reframe is where we sit. We do not sell a website on its own, we build an owned growth system, of which a fast, conversion-built site is one part. Entry starts from $5,500, adding the system to the site you already have, and a full build that includes a new, owned conversion site sits higher, inside the range a Perth premium agency charges for the website alone, except you own it, it runs for almost nothing, and it is built to bring in work rather than just look good. Ongoing support, if you want it, starts from $1,500 a month. Every price is on our site.
Prefer a low upfront cost? The same owned build can be paid over 12 or 24 months, and you still own it at the end. The point is never the cheapest sticker. It is the lowest true cost for a site that actually earns its keep.
The costs that creep in #
The monthly plan is rarely the whole bill. These are the extras that catch people out.
- Transaction fees. If you sell, some platforms take a small cut of every sale on top of the monthly fee and the payment processor's own charge. On a busy shop this adds up fast.
- Premium add-ons and plugins. The feature you need is often not in the base plan. On WordPress especially, the useful add-ons are paid, and several of them stack into a real monthly figure.
- Paying to be found. Some booking, pop-up or marketing tools are locked behind the dearer tiers, so getting the basics often means jumping up a plan.
- Moving house later. If you outgrow a platform, you usually rebuild from scratch, because most do not let you take the site with you. Wix is the strictest on this. That rebuild is a hidden future cost of a cheap start today.
- Looking after it. A site you own, like WordPress, needs regular updates and security attention, which is either your time or a developer's.
So what should you actually budget? #
A quick way to match the cost shape to your situation.
The honest trade-off, in one line #
Cheap to build usually means paying forever. Costly to build can mean owning it and paying almost nothing.
There is no free website. You either pay a little every month for as long as the site lives and never own it, or you pay more once, own it, and run it for next to nothing. For a site you will keep for years, the second path often works out cheaper in total, and it leaves you with an asset instead of a subscription. Which is right depends on how long you will keep the site and whether owning it matters to you.
Common questions about website cost #
How much does a website cost per month?
For a build-it-yourself platform, roughly $15 to $55 a month in Australia for a typical small-business plan (for example Squarespace around $28, Wix around $42), and more if you sell products or need premium features. A custom-built site you own costs almost nothing to run, usually just a domain of about $20 a year, because the hosting can sit on a free tier.
Is it cheaper to build a website yourself or pay someone?
Building it yourself is cheaper in cash upfront, but not necessarily cheaper overall: you spend days of your own time, you give up the work you could have done in those hours, and the result is often slower and converts worse. Paying a professional costs more at the start, but a custom build runs for almost nothing, you own it, and the result usually performs better. The right answer depends on what your time is worth and how much the site matters to the business.
Is building my own website really free?
No, it is only free of a cash invoice. It still costs you the hours it takes (usually several full days for a site worth showing), the work you did not do while building it, and often a weaker result that brings in fewer enquiries month after month. For a brand-new business or if you enjoy it, that can be a fair trade. For a busy owner, the "free" build is frequently the most expensive one.
Why is a custom website more expensive to build?
Because a professional makes it to your exact needs rather than you filling in a template. The upfront fee buys speed, better odds of being found, full ownership of the code, and almost no running cost after that. It is a one-off, not a monthly bill.
How much does a custom website cost in Perth?
A solo developer or small studio will build a custom-designed site for roughly $3,000 to $8,000. A premium agency, with full strategy, custom development and photography, runs $8,000 to $25,000 and up. The right number depends less on page count than on how much strategy, custom work and ongoing support is included, and whether you end up owning the result.
What are the hidden costs of a website?
The common ones are transaction fees on sales, paid add-ons or plugins for features not in the base plan, being pushed to a dearer tier to unlock basics, rebuilding when you outgrow a platform that will not let you move, and the time or developer cost of maintaining a site you own.
Do I keep paying for a website forever?
On most platforms, yes. Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Webflow, Framer and Shopify are rented: stop paying and the site goes offline. A custom build you own is different, you pay to make it once, then only a small domain fee to keep it live.
How much does a website cost over five years?
Running fees alone on a rented platform typically add up to roughly $1,300 to $3,000 or more across five years, before add-ons, and an online shop lands higher once sales fees are counted. You own nothing at the end. A custom build you own costs its one-off fee plus about $100 of domain renewals over the same period. That comparison, not the monthly price, is the one worth making.