What does a small-business website really cost to run?

A website's running cost is the money and time needed to keep it useful, available and under your control. The initial build fee does not tell you that total. Neither does the name of the platform.

A modest site with occasional edits needs a different arrangement from an online shop or a site with daily publishing. Start with the work your website must do, then compare quotes against that same list.

Write a short requirements list

Record the number of pages, who edits them, how often information changes, how enquiries arrive and whether bookings or payments happen on the site or elsewhere. Include accessibility checks, recovery after a failure and a usable handover.

Ask each supplier to price this same brief. Otherwise a basic hosting account can look cheaper than a managed service simply because you are comparing different responsibilities.

Use this running-cost worksheet

For each row, record the supplier, amount payable, billing frequency, renewal date, what is included and who is responsible. Mark a bundled item as included rather than counting it twice. Mark an unknown amount as a question for the quote, not zero.

Also record setup charges, minimum terms and cancellation notice. Ask suppliers to show whether VAT is included and use the same basis throughout your comparison. This is a budgeting worksheet, not tax advice.

Calculate cash cost separately from your time

First-year cash cost equals one-off setup and migration charges, plus that year's subscriptions, usage and paid support. A three-year comparison adds years two and three at their applicable renewal rates, plus any planned exit costs. Do not multiply an introductory first-year offer by three.

Keep owner hours alongside the cash total. DIY editing may be the right choice, but it is not time-free. If you give those hours a notional value, label that calculation separately from money actually paid.

A fictional arithmetic example

Suppose two fictional quotes cover the same small brochure site, contact form, quarterly text changes, backups and support. All figures below are invented total cash amounts, inclusive of any applicable tax. They are not market averages, vendor tariffs or More Hands prices. Assume recurring charges stay unchanged for the example only.

The lower build price is not the lower three-year total in this example. That alone does not make A better. Support quality, access, editing effort and an eventual move may matter more than the £60 difference. Neither example includes owner time, future extras or an exit charge.

Compare responsibilities, not platform loyalties

• WordPress can suit businesses that want an established editing system or existing integrations. Ask who maintains the actual installation and which paid licences, if any, your chosen setup needs. Do not assume every site requires premium plugins.
• A static site can suit information that changes infrequently. Astro, for example, pre-renders pages by default but also supports on-demand server rendering. Ask about the specific build, editing arrangements, forms and outside services rather than assuming the framework makes everything free.
• A hosted builder can be worth considering when you want editing and hosting arranged together. Verify the particular plan's features, limits, renewal terms and export options.

No label guarantees low cost, speed, security or search visibility. A cheap hosting line can sit beside expensive editing; a higher subscription may include useful work you would otherwise buy separately.

Check recovery and exit before signing

Ask for an explanation of how your site would be recovered. WordPress's documentation says a typical full restoration needs both files and the database. Other setups need an appropriate copy of their source, assets, configuration and any external data. A promise of “backups included” is not the same as knowing what can be restored.

Keep business access to the domain and essential accounts. Agree the handover format and check what happens to forms, email and booking links during a move. Do not cancel the old service before the replacement works.

If you are considering More Hands by Foundry Works as a free-website starting point, use the same worksheet. Check the current terms for domains, hosting, changes and optional paid help. Free build does not, by itself, establish the cost of every future requirement.