Website Monthly Fees, Explained Line by Line
Your website quote says $X a month. Here is every line that usually hides inside that number, and what each is genuinely worth.
Nobody explains the monthly bill. You just get one, and it grows!
Here's every line that shows up on a small business website, what it does, and roughly what it's really worth. Some are unavoidable! A couple are pure margin.
Domain: about $12 to $20 a year
Your address. yourbusiness.com. You rent it annually from a registrar and it's genuinely very cheap!
Register it in your own name, not your web person's. This one really matters! If they own your domain and you fall out, you can lose your address and every link pointing at it.
Hosting: $0 to $30 a month, and usually nearer zero
The computer your site lives on. A brochure site needs almost nothing, so the modern platforms host it free or very close to it!
If you're paying $30 a month to host five pages, you're paying 2010 prices! That's the line to question first.
SSL: should be free
The padlock in the address bar. It's been free since 2016 and it comes standard with any really decent host.
Anyone billing you separately for SSL is charging you for something the internet gives away free. It's a really good signal to look at the rest of that invoice!
Platform fees: $16 to $50 a month
This is the builder subscription. It bundles hosting, the editor and support, and it's easily the biggest line on most bills!
It's also rent. Stop paying and the site goes away, however many years you've paid. That's the part worth understanding before you sign up rather than after!
Plugins and maintenance: the one that creeps
On a self-hosted site this is where the money quietly goes! A form plugin, a booking plugin, a backup plugin, and somebody to update them all.
None are expensive alone. Together they're often more than the hosting, and they're the reason a $10 site quietly becomes a $60 one over two years!
What we charge, and what we do not
Brennan Builds is a one-time payment. Hosting and SSL are included and there's no platform fee, so a brochure site costs you the domain and nothing else per month.
Care Plans are separate and completely optional, for people who want somebody watching the site and making changes. Full refund if you cancel before we start building, so you're never locked into finding out.