Costs
How much does a website cost per year?
Short answer
After launch, a website's yearly costs consist of six items: the domain name, hosting, licences (such as plugins or a CMS subscription), maintenance and updates, security and backups, and further development. For a simple site, domain and hosting are the main costs; for a business site that has to generate enquiries, maintenance and further development are the largest items.
Domain name
A fixed yearly fee at a registrar. Often the smallest item. Make sure the domain is registered to your own company, not your web developer.
Hosting
The server your site runs on. From shared hosting to managed hosting with monitoring. Speed and reliability depend on it directly.
Licences and subscriptions
Website builders charge a monthly subscription; with WordPress you often pay for premium plugins and themes. Include tools too, such as form or booking software.
Maintenance, updates and security
Software updates, backups, security monitoring and fixing outages. Skip this and costs often rise later, for example after a hack or a broken update.
Further development
New pages, improvements based on data, landing pages for campaigns. A website that has to generate enquiries is never quite finished.
How it works at FOR3
At FOR3, the build, Hosting & Care and any ongoing growth work are listed separately in the proposal, with fixed amounts upfront. You see what the site costs per year before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
Is a website builder like Wix cheaper per year?
In subscription costs, often yes. You give up flexibility, and moving to another platform usually means a new website.
Can I do maintenance myself?
For a simple site, yes, if you do updates and backups consistently. For a site with integrations and forms, professional maintenance is safer.
What does the build itself cost?
See our guide 'How much does a website cost?'.
More questions about costs
- How much does SEO cost?SEO costs depend on four things: the size and technical state of your website, the competition for your search terms, how much new content is needed and whether the work is one-off or ongoing.
- How much does Google Ads cost?With Google Ads you set your own budget.
- What is SEO?SEO stands for search engine optimisation.
- How do I rank higher on Google?You rank higher on Google by creating a page per service that answers the search query better than the pages currently at the top, by getting the technical basics right and by being visibly trustworthy, with a complete Google Business Profile and links from relevant websites.
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