Buy your website outright or pay monthly? A plain comparison

The difference in one paragraph

With a one-time purchase you pay for the design and build, usually in two or three instalments, and the website is yours once it is paid for. Hosting and changes are then separate. With a monthly plan you pay a fixed fee that covers the build and the ongoing work of keeping the site online, secure and up to date. Some monthly plans end with you owning the site. Others never do.

What it looks like with real numbers

Here is our own Harbour package (up to 7 pages, one booking integration) priced both ways. These are our published prices, in Canadian dollars before tax, so you can check the maths.

In year one, Managed costs $948 more than Build. That difference pays for monitoring, backups, technical maintenance and up to an hour of content changes every month. Both include the first year of hosting, but Build only includes 30 days of support after launch; changes after that are paid separately. For comparison, a year of Harbour Care, which covers the same upkeep after a Build, is $948.

From year two the options are the same for both: keep hosting only for $149 a year, move to a care plan, or take the site elsewhere.

When buying outright makes more sense

• You have the budget now and would rather not have another monthly bill.
• Your details (services, hours, prices) change a few times a year at most.
• Someone on your team can handle small changes, or you are happy to pay for them as needed.
• You want the files in your hands as soon as the site launches.

When a monthly plan makes more sense

• Paying a lump sum would strain cash flow, especially in your first year.
• You expect to update menus, prices, staff or photos most months.
• You would rather email a change and have it done than learn a website editor.
• You want one predictable cost that includes hosting, security updates and backups.

Five things to check in any monthly website contract

1. Ownership. Do you ever own the website, and when? If the answer is never, you are renting, which can be fine, but price it as a rental.
2. Early exit. What do you owe if you leave in month three or month nine? A fair plan charges the unpaid part of the build, not every remaining month of service.
3. The domain. It should be registered in your name on an account you can log in to, whatever happens to the plan.
4. What “changes” means. How much time or how many edits are included each month, and what counts as new work rather than a change.
5. After the term. Does the fee drop once the build is paid off? It should. Ask what the month-13 price is.

Our own answers are on the pricing page and in the working terms. Managed runs for 12 months, early exit costs only the unpaid build balance, and the site is yours at the end.