Do you really have to pay monthly for a website?

The short answer

Not necessarily. A monthly fee is justified when it buys a real running service: a booking system, active management, a mailbox. It is not justified for simply keeping a static site online, which today costs close to nothing. Know which one you're paying for before you renew.

The guide

What builder fees actually buy.

With the big site builders you're renting software. The monthly fee is the rent, and the site exists only while you pay it. That's not evil; it's just a rental, and it should be judged like one.

What keeping a site online really costs.

A well-built static site (pages that don't run a live system) costs pennies to serve. When a fee is charged "for hosting" a simple site, the fee is for the company, not the electricity.

When monthly is fair.

When something is genuinely running for you: reservations being taken, calendars being synced, a mailbox receiving, edits being handled by a human. Real service, real fee, and it should be cancelable without taking your web presence down with it.

Four questions for any provider.

Is my domain registered in my name? What exactly does the monthly buy? What happens the month I stop paying? And what do I walk away with if we part ways? Clear answers to those four tell you everything about who you're dealing with.

Commercial note

Commercial note. This is why Essential has no monthly fee, and why Complete's $49/month buys live engines you can cancel while every page keeps working. Details on the pricing page.

See pricing

Questions

Questions people actually ask about this.

Is website hosting really free?

Serving a static site costs so little that many providers include it at no monthly charge. Your domain is the recurring cost that stays real: you renew it with your registrar, usually for about $10 to $20 a year.

What happens to my site if I stop paying a builder's monthly fee?

With rented software, the pages usually go offline when the rent stops. Ask that exact question in writing before you sign anything, and ask what you receive if the arrangement ends.

When is a monthly fee worth paying?

When a named service runs every month: reservations coming in, calendars syncing, a mailbox receiving, edits handled by a person. If nobody can name what the fee runs, it is not running anything.

Should the domain be registered in my name?

Yes. The domain carries your customers, your email, and your search history. Whoever builds the site, the registration belongs in your name, and you should be able to log in and see that for yourself.

Keep reading

The other guides.

All guides