What a website really costs
The sticker price is the easy part. What surprises people is the cost over years - plugins, apps, rebuilds and platform fees that creep up long after launch. Pick a platform, adjust the details, and see the honest 5 and 10-year picture. These are market averages to help you decide, not our official prices.
eCommerce limited
Included = we keep it updated and secure, and the cost grows slowly. Skipped = cheaper now, but on themes, drag-and-drop builders and eCommerce the deferred updates pile into bigger fixes and rising server costs after a few years.
Customise the details
Each field starts at the market average for this platform. Change any of them to match your own numbers.
Same brief, same pages - total cost of ownership over years.
Notice the order flip. Cheap-to-build platforms often overtake custom builds within a few years once recurring costs and rebuilds are counted - which is exactly why the upfront number alone is misleading.
WordPress + bought theme
Cheap, quick start. Costs creep as plugins pile up.
- Cheap and fast to launch
- Huge plugin ecosystem
- You own the site and data
- Easy to find help anywhere
- Theme bloat slows the site
- Plugin conflicts and breakage over time
- Updates pile up and need managing
- Costs creep as you bolt on plugins
WordPress + page builder
Edit it yourself - but heavy, and pricier to keep fast.
- Edit layouts yourself, no code
- Quick visual changes
- Large template library
- Familiar to many freelancers
- Heavy code, poor Core Web Vitals
- Builder lock-in - content tied to shortcodes
- Licence plus plugin stack adds up
- Hardest to keep fast, especially eCommerce
Custom WordPress
More upfront, cheap and stable for years. Our default.
- Fast and lightweight, clean code
- Edit content easily, no lock-in
- Scales without a rebuild
- Low, stable running cost
- Higher upfront cost
- Needs a capable developer to build
- Overkill for a tiny brochure site
React / headless
Top speed and scale. Best for ambitious builds.
- Top-tier speed and UX
- Scales to almost anything
- Great for apps and integrations
- Future-proof architecture
- Highest upfront cost
- Needs developers to change
- Overkill for simple content sites
Laravel application
For custom systems and complex business logic.
- Custom logic and workflows
- Built for complex, business-critical systems
- Full control and ownership
- Stable, low platform cost
- Highest build cost and time
- Developer-dependent
- Not for simple marketing sites
Shopify
Fast store setup. Watch the monthly app costs.
- Fast to launch a store
- Payments, checkout and inventory built in
- Reliable, hosted and secure
- Huge app marketplace
- Monthly cost adds up - plan plus apps
- Transaction fees unless on Shopify Payments
- App creep gets expensive
- You rent the platform, you don’t own it
Webflow
Designer-friendly hosted builder. Subscription lock-in.
- Designer-friendly, clean output
- Hosted and maintained for you
- Good performance for a builder
- Visual CMS
- Subscription lock-in
- eCommerce is limited
- Costs rise as you scale
- Harder to migrate off
Wix
Easiest DIY start. Hits a ceiling fast.
- Cheapest, easiest DIY start
- All-in-one hosted
- No technical skill needed
- Quick for very small sites
- Performance and SEO ceiling
- Locked in - you can’t export the site
- Costs climb with apps and plans
- Outgrown fast by serious businesses
These figures are market-average estimates to help you weigh options - not a quote and not Green Wire Media’s prices. Real costs depend on your specific requirements, traffic, integrations and how the build is done. Want a real, fixed number for your project?
Get an honest quote →