A pay monthly website sounds simple: no big bill up front, a small amount each month. But there are two very different deals hiding behind those words, and the difference only shows up when you want to leave.
Renting
With a rental deal you pay every month for as long as you want the website. You never own it. The design, the code and sometimes even the domain name stay with the company that built it. Stop paying and the site usually goes offline, and you start again from nothing.
Renting is not always wrong. It suits a business that wants everything handled and never plans to move. But over a few years you can pay far more than the site would have cost to buy, and you are tied to one supplier for as long as you want a website at all.
Paying it off and owning it
The other kind works like spreading the cost of anything else you buy. The website has a price. You pay a deposit, split the rest into monthly payments, and when the last payment goes out the site is yours: the design, the content, the code and the domain.
That is how ours work. An Essential website is £749. Pay a £200 deposit, then spread the rest over 6, 9 or 12 months, with no interest. Over 12 months that is £45.75 a month, and then you own it outright. Every build price and every monthly figure is on our pricing page.
The bit to ask about: hosting
Every website needs hosting, the service that keeps it online, so ask what happens about that while you are paying and afterwards. With ours, while the payments run, the site is hosted on our Hosting plan at £44.99 a month, or on a care plan, which includes hosting and your content changes. Once the site is paid off you choose: carry on with a care plan from £79.99 a month, or take the site anywhere you like, and we will help you move it.
Questions to ask before you sign anything
- Do I own the website once it is paid for? Get it in writing: the design, the content, the code and the domain.
- Whose name is the domain registered in? It should be yours.
- What happens if I stop paying? With a rental, the site usually goes. With a pay off deal, you should only owe what is left.
- Is there interest, or any fee for paying monthly? Paying monthly should not cost more than paying up front.
- What does hosting cost, and is it separate? Make sure you know the full monthly figure.
- Can I take the site to someone else later? If the answer is no, you are renting.
Our view
A website is something your business uses every day for years. We think you should own it once it is paid for, which is why every site we build is yours at the end, whether you pay in full or monthly. If you would like to see what yours could look like first, we design a free concept of your site before you spend anything.