The Three Ways to Pay for a Website
Almost every option on the market falls into one of three models, and each trades money against time and quality differently.
- DIY builders (Wix, Squarespace, STUDIO) — typically $15–50/month. Cheapest in cash, most expensive in your evenings. You hit the template ceiling fast.
- One-time custom build — a freelancer or studio designs and builds it; you own everything. Bigger upfront cost, full control.
- Managed monthly plan — a studio designs, builds, hosts, and maintains the site for a flat monthly fee with little or nothing upfront.
What a Managed Website Plan Costs
Our Managed Website plan is $299/month with $0 upfront on a 12-month agreement. Over the first year that totals about $3,588 — in the same range as a one-time build, but spread out, and with the running costs already inside.
Included in that price:
- Up to 5 core pages, custom-designed
- Managed hosting, security, and software updates
- Small monthly content changes
- Analytics and form tracking
- Google Business Profile support
- Replies within one business day
What a Custom Build Costs
Our custom builds start from $3,900 as a one-time project, and the final number depends on a handful of drivers — the same ones any honest studio will quote you on:
- Page count and design scope
- Integrations: booking systems, payments, CRM, email tools
- Bilingual EN/JA structure and translation needs
- Content readiness — whether you provide text and photos or need help creating them
- Custom features like member portals, search, or e-commerce
Add-Ons and What They Cost
Most "surprise" costs in web projects are features that were never scoped. Here is what common add-ons cost with us, so you can budget before you talk to anyone:
- Online booking setup — from $300, plus the booking software's own fees
- Content editor (CMS) so your team can update the site — from $750
- Member portal or gated content — from $500
- Online store — quoted by scope
- Monthly SEO after launch — from $500/month
- EN↔JA multilingual support — quoted by scope
The Costs Nobody Mentions
A few line items appear in every project regardless of who builds it. None are large, but unbudgeted is unbudgeted:
- Domain name — usually $10–25 per year
- Business email (Google Workspace or similar) — typically a few dollars per user per month
- Photography and copywriting — your time, or a budget for help
- Doing nothing — an outdated, slow site quietly costs leads every month
So Which Should You Choose?
If you run a service business, want a professional site without a big upfront bill, and would rather never think about hosting or updates — a managed monthly plan is built for exactly that.
If you need custom functionality, stronger branding, or want to own the code outright, a one-time custom build is the right tool. Budget from $3,900 and be suspicious of anyone dramatically cheaper who cannot show you their work.
And if your needs are simple and your budget is genuinely zero, a DIY builder is a legitimate start. Build it, get customers, upgrade when the template starts costing you business.