The three ways to get a website
Every option comes down to who does the work and how you pay for it. You can build it yourself on a website builder, pay an agency or freelancer to build it once, or pay someone monthly to build it and keep it running.
Do it yourself: $17 to $40 a month, plus your time
Squarespace and Wix both list plans in this range, with business plans higher. The price is low because you are the web designer: you pick the template, write the words, take the photos, set up your Google listing and keep it all current.
It works when you enjoy that kind of thing and have the evenings for it. It goes wrong when the site is built in a weekend and never touched again, so the hours are wrong by spring and the phone number is the old one.
Hire an agency: $2,000 to $9,000 up front
A 2024 Forbes estimate puts a designed small business site at $2,000 to $9,000, with roughly $1,200 a year to maintain it. Local agencies tend to sit inside that range. You usually get a strong design and a site you own outright.
Ask two questions before you sign: who makes changes after launch, and what does each change cost? A site that costs $50 every time the hours change tends to stop changing.
Pay monthly: about $80 to $450 a month
Pay-monthly providers build the site and then host, update and fix it for a monthly fee. Local plans start around $79 to $99 a month; national companies run higher (Hibu One is listed at $449 a month, and Thryv customers report $190 to $360).
The catch is usually in the contract, not the price. Read for three things: a minimum term, whether it renews on its own, and whether you own the site and the domain if you leave. Many of the complaints filed against the big providers are about exactly those clauses.
What Jabeco Studio charges
I build on the pay-monthly model because it keeps the site current, and I publish every price. Get Found is $89 a month with $499 setup (or $42 a month spread over a year). That includes the custom site, hosting, your Google Business Profile, search setup and two small edits a month, done within a business day.
It’s month to month, nothing auto-renews, and you own the domain, the site and the content in writing. Online booking and automatic texts are $179 a month on Get Booked.
Which one fits you
- You like doing it yourself and have the time: a website builder is the cheapest honest answer.
- You want a showpiece and have the cash up front: an agency build, with a written price for changes.
- You want it done, current and off your plate: pay monthly, on terms you can walk away from.
See every plan and what it includes.