Five years of $99 a month is $5,940, and in most monthly-fee arrangements you own nothing at the end of it. That is not automatically a bad deal, and for some businesses it is the right one. But the monthly framing hides the total, and almost nobody does the arithmetic before signing.

Worth saying plainly: we build websites for a living, so we have an obvious interest in how you answer this question. Read the arithmetic and the contract questions below and check them yourself. If a monthly plan is the right fit for your situation, it is the right fit, and we would rather you sign one knowing what it contains than sign anything without reading it.

The arithmetic nobody does

$99 is priced to feel like a phone bill. It is small enough that it never gets scrutinised the way a four-figure invoice does, which is precisely the commercial logic of the model.

Here is the total, before any price increases or extra charges:

TimeTotal paidWhat you own
1 year$1,188Nothing
2 years$2,376Nothing
3 years$3,564Nothing
5 years$5,940Nothing
10 years$11,880Nothing

The "nothing" column assumes a typical proprietary-platform arrangement, which is most of them. Some providers are different, and that is exactly what to confirm before signing.

Where the break-even actually falls

Being fair about this: a monthly plan is genuinely cheaper at the start. If a custom build costs $4,000 once, then in year one the subscription has cost $1,188 and looks like a bargain. That is a real advantage and it matters to a business watching cash flow.

The crossover usually lands somewhere between year two and year four depending on the build price. After that, one side keeps paying and the other side owns an asset with modest annual running costs.

So the honest version is not "monthly plans are a rip-off". It is that they are a rental, and rentals make sense for short stays. Most trades businesses are not short stays. If you have been in business eleven years, you will very likely still be trading in five, and that changes which column you should be reading.

Six costs that are not in the monthly fee

1. You cannot take it with you

Most monthly-fee websites are built on a proprietary platform. The pages are not files you can copy to another host. There is nothing to export in a usable form.

This is the single biggest difference between renting and owning, and it is rarely stated in the sales conversation because it only becomes relevant on the day you want to leave.

2. Cancelling usually means the site goes dark

People often assume cancelling works like ending a maintenance plan: you keep the site, you just stop getting help. In a subscription model it typically means the site comes down. Your web address stops resolving to anything.

That is a meaningful difference and it is worth having in writing rather than assumed.

3. The domain may not be in your name

Some providers register the domain on your behalf. It sounds like a convenience and it is, right up until you want to move, at which point the party you are leaving controls the asset your customers type into their phones.

Your domain should sit in a registrar account in your business name that you can log into today. If you cannot log in, that is worth resolving regardless of who builds your site.

4. Your content is inside someone else's system

Job photos, service descriptions, testimonials, and years of small edits accumulate inside the platform. Even where the underlying photos exist on a phone somewhere, the assembled version is what has value, and reassembling it is the cost you pay to leave.

5. Rebuilding elsewhere can cost you search rankings

If you eventually move and the page addresses change without proper redirects, whatever search visibility you had accumulated can go with them. This is fixable, but it is work that has to be done deliberately, and it is a real cost that shows up years after the decision that caused it.

6. There is no asset when you sell the business

A trades business with a strong web presence and a domain with history has something transferable. A business renting its web presence month to month has an expense the buyer inherits. It is not the largest factor in a sale, but it is the difference between an asset and a liability line.

When a monthly plan is genuinely the right call

This part matters, because the answer is not always "buy a custom site".

If two or more of those describe you, sign the monthly plan with a clear head. Just sign it knowing it is a rental.

Ten questions to ask before signing anything

These apply to any provider, including us. A straightforward provider will answer all ten without hesitation, and how they respond tells you most of what you need to know.

That last one is not hypothetical. Small web providers close, retire, and disappear, and the businesses affected usually find out when the site stops loading.

The one-line version

A monthly-fee website is not expensive and it is not a scam. It is a rental, and rentals are the right choice for short stays and the wrong choice for long ones.

If you have been trading for a decade and expect to be trading for another, you are on the wrong side of that arithmetic and have probably been there for a while. Total up what you have paid so far, then ask what you would keep if you stopped tomorrow. The gap between those two numbers is the real cost.

Related reading: what a plumber's website actually needs, which covers what the site itself should contain regardless of how you pay for it.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a $99 per month website cost over five years?

$5,940, before any price increases or add-on charges. Over three years it is $3,564 and over ten years it is $11,880. The monthly figure is small enough that most owners never total it, which is the main reason the model works commercially.

Is a monthly-fee website cheaper than a custom build?

It depends entirely on how long you keep it. In the first year or two a monthly plan is usually cheaper. Somewhere between year two and year four the totals typically cross, and after that the monthly plan costs more each year while still leaving you owning nothing.

Do you own a website you pay monthly for?

Usually not. Most monthly-fee providers build on a proprietary platform, which means the site cannot be exported and moved elsewhere. When the payments stop the site normally goes offline rather than transferring to you. Always confirm in writing what you keep if you cancel.

What happens to my website if I stop paying?

In most monthly-fee arrangements the site is taken offline. This is different from cancelling a maintenance plan on a site you own, where the site continues to run and you simply stop receiving support. The distinction is worth confirming before signing.

Who should own my domain name?

You should, in a registrar account registered in your business name that you can log into. A domain registered by a vendor on your behalf is a common source of difficulty later, because moving providers can require the cooperation of the party you are leaving.

When is a monthly-fee website actually a good choice?

When cash flow matters more than ownership, when the business is new and unproven, or when the realistic alternative is having no website at all. Something professional online this month often beats a better site that never gets built.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. builds websites for trades and service businesses across Canada. Terms vary considerably between providers; the points above are questions to verify in your own agreement rather than claims about any particular company.

Want to know what you actually own?

We build sites you keep, on your own hosting, with your domain in your name. Happy to answer all ten questions above before you commit to anything.

Start a Conversation