What "buying outright" really means
You pay a freelancer or agency once — a few hundred to a few thousand pounds — and the site is yours. That part is true. What the word "outright" hides is that a website is never finished: it needs hosting every month, a domain every year, and changes every time your prices, hours or van change. Those are extra, and they're billed by the hour or on a retainer, usually by the same people who built it.
So "outright" is really "a big bill now, then smaller ones forever, from someone you have to chase". That's fine for a business with a marketing person. It's a poor fit for a plumber.
What pay-monthly really means
You pay one monthly fee and the service builds the site, writes it, hosts it, and makes the changes. Nothing upfront. The catch to check is in the small print: some pay-monthly deals tie you in for a year or two, some charge extra for changes after the first few, and some keep the domain in their own name so leaving means starting from scratch.
Side by side
The three-year total
Take a one-page site for a tradesperson with a handful of changes a year. Bought outright from a freelancer: about £800 to build, £500 in hosting and domains over three years, £600 for ten hours of changes, and your own hours briefing, chasing and renewing — roughly £1,900 before your time is counted. On our £40 plan: £1,440 over the same three years, with the words written, the Google profile set up, the changes done, and none of your evenings. On our £80 plan with a page per service and a quote form, £2,880 — more than the freelancer, for a bigger site that someone is paid to look after.
The money is close. What's not close is the effort: on one road you're the project manager for three years; on the other you send a message and see it done within three working days. And you see the finished site before the first payment, which no freelancer or agency offers.
What you keep if you leave us
Cancel any time, for any reason, with no notice period and no exit fee. Your web address is registered in your name and handed over to you; your site's files are yours to take. If we ever change a price you get at least 30 days' notice first, never inside a period you've already paid for. That's written into our terms, not just this page.
What we'd do in your boots
- A business with a marketing person and a few thousand pounds to spend now: buy outright, and budget for hosting, the domain and changes by the hour.
- A trade or salon that wants a good simple site with nothing upfront and every change included: pay monthly. Our £40 plan is the one-page site; the £80 plan adds a page per service, a quote form with photos and your reviews; the £150 plan adds online booking.
- Not sure: ask anyone you talk to, including us, the three questions above. Is there a tie-in, are changes included, whose name is the web address in?