Websites without the monthly bill.

£12 a month sounds like nothing. That is the point of pricing things at £12 a month. But a website is not a gym habit — it is three pages of words that mostly do not change. Here is the honest maths on monthly website fees, and when they are (and are not) worth paying.

The three-year maths

In the prices we checked in August 2026 (the dated table is in our cost guide), the done-for-you monthly plans came to £864 to £2,183 over three years. Building it yourself on an entry builder plan paid yearly came to about £270, plus your evenings. 3 Wee Pages is £149 to launch, then £49 a year: £198 over two years, £247 over three. So against a monthly done-for-you plan, paying once to launch costs a fraction; against a builder the money is close, and a builder can cost less in the first two years. What the monthly fee doesn't buy you is anything to keep: stop paying and, on some plans, the site stops too.

What the monthly fee is actually for

Builders are real businesses with real costs — but the plan you are on mostly pays for things a simple local business never uses: online stores, booking engines, member areas, "premium blocks". If your site's job is be found, look legit, get the call, you are paying every month for features designed for someone else.

When monthly genuinely makes sense

Fair is fair: if you run an online shop, take bookings, or change your site weekly, a subscription platform earns its keep — and if you need quotes, payments and job management, that is a different tool again (our sister product ServicePay is being built for that, and isn't open yet). This guide is about the plain marketing site that most local businesses need — where a monthly fee can add up to far more than the site needs. For what monthly done-for-you plans cost over three years, see how monthly plans compare, and how to get cheap website design that doesn't look cheap.

What a fair ongoing cost looks like

Websites do have two honest running costs: hosting and your domain renewal. For a simple site that should be roughly £50–£150 a year, all in — not £40 a month with a "maintenance" retainer for a site nobody has touched since spring. And whatever you pay, the domain must be registered in your name so you can leave whenever you like.

The pay-once alternative

Our model is deliberately boring: £149 once to build your three pages from your answers, checked by a person, your .co.uk registered in your name, and your first year included — then £49 a year for hosting and the domain. No contract to stay (it's £25 to release your domain when you leave), no upsell ladder. You update your hours and services yourself, and two reviews a year by your Pal are included, with no monthly fee for the privilege. Do the maths for your own case — that is all we ask.