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Website Builder Cost Calculator

The price on the plan card is the floor, not the bill. Add the commerce tier, the apps you will actually install, and your domain to see the real monthly cost.

Enter your numbers

$/mo
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The gap between the commerce plan and the equivalent brochure plan on the same builder.
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Booking, forms, pop-ups, live chat - most sites accumulate 2-3 paid apps within a year.
$
Free first-year domains renew at 15-25. Budget the renewal price, not the teaser.

Effective monthly cost (everything included)

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Compare this against the plan card price. The gap is usually 40-80 percent.

Cost per year including domain

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Total cost over the period

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Estimates only. Vendor pricing and contract terms vary - always confirm figures on a written quote. Results update as you type and nothing is sent to a server.

Website builders are marketed on a headline monthly price, but almost nobody runs on the base plan alone. The commerce upgrade typically costs 60-90 percent extra, apps are billed separately, and the annual discount only applies to the core plan - not to the add-ons.

Run the numbers with everything switched on and the effective monthly cost usually lands 40 to 80 percent above the sticker price. That gap is exactly where budget surprises come from.

How to use this calculator

  1. Write down the plan card price, then find the price of the plan one tier up - that gap is the commerce upgrade you are being sold.
  2. List the apps you expect to install in year one and price them monthly.
  3. Check whether the annual discount applies to add-ons. On most builders it does not.
  4. Judge builders on the effective monthly figure, never the headline.

Want design quality without hiring anyone?

Squarespace bundles templates, hosting and commerce on one plan structure, so the effective monthly number is closer to the sticker than on builders that nickel-and-dime apps.

See Squarespace pricing

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Need the widest app marketplace instead?

Wix's app market lets you start on the cheapest plan and add capability only when you need it - the model this calculator rewards if you keep the app list disciplined.

See Wix premium plans

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Frequently asked questions

Is annual billing worth it for a website builder?
Usually yes: 25-35 percent off the base plan is standard. The catch is that the discount applies only to the core plan, so the more add-ons you run, the smaller the discount looks as a share of your real bill.
Why is the commerce tier so much more expensive?
Commerce plans bundle payment processing features, abandoned-cart recovery, shipping integrations and removed transaction fees. For a store doing any real volume they pay for themselves - for a three-product brochure shop they are pure upsell.
Do free website builders actually cost nothing?
Free tiers put the builder's brand in your domain, show ads, and lock the features that make a site useful. The realistic floor for a working business site is the first paid tier plus a domain - which is exactly what this calculator models.

Next steps

Builders compete on the plan card and recover margin on tiers and apps. Price the whole stack - commerce, apps, domain - and the cheapest-looking option often changes.