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, STUDIO, Peraichi), typically ¥1,000 to ¥5,000 a month. They cost the least in cash and the most in your evenings, and you reach the limits of the template quickly.
- A one-time custom build, where a freelancer or studio designs and builds the site and you own all of it. It costs more upfront and gives you full control.
- A managed monthly plan, where a studio designs, builds, hosts and maintains the site for a flat monthly fee with little or nothing to pay upfront.
What a Managed Website Plan Costs
Our monthly plans run on a 12-month agreement. Light is ¥6,000 a month for a one-page site, with ¥20,000 setup, so the first year is ¥92,000. Standard is ¥15,000 a month for up to five pages with no setup fee, so the first year is ¥180,000. Both come close to the price of buying the same site outright, spread across the year and with the running costs included.
Included in that price:
- One page on Light, up to five on Standard, all custom-designed
- Managed hosting, security, and software updates
- One small content change a month on Light, two on Standard
- Analytics and form tracking
- Google Business Profile support
- Replies within one business day
What a Custom Build Costs
Our custom builds start from ¥300,000 as a one-time project, and the same sites are available as one-time builds at ¥100,000 for Light and ¥200,000 for Standard. The final price depends on a few factors, and any honest studio will quote you on the same ones:
- Page count and design scope
- Integrations: booking systems, payments, CRM, email tools
- Bilingual EN/JA structure and translation needs
- Whether you'll provide the 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 come from features nobody scoped. These are our prices for common add-ons, so you can budget before you talk to anyone:
- Online booking setup: from ¥20,000, plus the booking software's own fees
- A content editor (CMS) so your team can update the site: from ¥40,000
- Member portal or gated content: from ¥50,000
- An extra page: from ¥15,000, and an English version of a page from ¥10,000
- Online store: quoted by scope
- Local search support (MEO) after launch: from ¥10,000/month
- Google Business Profile setup: ¥15,000
The Costs Nobody Mentions
A few costs come with every project, whoever builds it. None of them is large, but each still needs a place in the budget:
- Domain name: usually ¥1,500 to ¥3,500 per year
- Business email (Google Workspace or similar): typically a few hundred yen per user per month
- Photography and copywriting: your own time, or a budget for help
- Doing nothing: an outdated, slow site loses you leads every month
So Which Should You Choose?
A managed monthly plan suits a service business that wants a professional site without a big upfront bill and would rather not think about hosting or updates.
If you need custom features or stronger branding, or want to own the code outright, choose a one-time build. Budget from ¥100,000 for a single page, ¥200,000 for a small site and ¥300,000 for a custom project, and be wary of anyone far cheaper who can't show you their work.
If your needs are simple and your budget really is zero, a DIY builder is a reasonable place to start. Upgrade when the template starts costing you business.