Most website builders are hesitant to put their pricing out in the open because the work varies so much from project to project and no business owner wants to be undercut. For me though, transparency is key, and it’s crucial that my clients understand exactly what they’re paying for.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably taken a look at the Pricing & Timeline Simulator on my website. I’ve done my homework to construct it, keeping in mind the costs of similar services as well as what I personally believe my work is worth.
But whether you choose to go through me for the design and development of your site or not, and regardless of the type of website you need for your business, you’ll need to include two additional items in the budget for your new website:
- a domain name, and
- a hosting plan.
Without both of these, your website is essentially useless, because it simply won’t be visible online.
This article is intended to guide you through the purchase decision as you consider many existing alternatives.
Domain Names
Average cost: $10-15/year
Your domain name is your website’s address on the web. It’s what web-goers type into their browsers to access your website (think Google.com, Facebook.com, Cat-Bounce.com… etc.). But with over 365 million domain names currently registered on the web, many of the names you might want to give your site will already be taken.
Now, there are different schools of thought on whether or not your domain name really matters… Some will tell you that it’s the most important decision you’ll make in your entire life (not surprisingly, oftentimes the authors of these sorts of articles happen to be in web hosting business), others will tell you it’s nowhere near as important as it used to be thanks to the latest search engine algorithms and given the fact that most web searches don't begin by explicitly typing out URLs anymore...
It’s a bit beyond the scope of this article, but my advice is just to do your best to get a strong top-level domain (.com, .net, .org, etc.) and to not stress too much about the rest - there’s usually a way to find a domain name that makes sense for your business without even coming close to breaking the bank, as long as you’re willing to be flexible and think outside the box a bit.
If after looking into alternatives you're not fully convinced that you need a custom domain, as long as you go through me for the development of your website, there is a way to get a domain name for free. Webflow users automatically gain access to a public web destination, using the domain "webflow.io". Your website's web address would look something like "yourbusiness.webflow.io".
Going this route, I'd only charge you what it costs me to upgrade my personal account and make room for your website - $5/mo. - which includes the domain name AND web hosting (see below).
It's not an ideal a long-term solution, but it's a valid option that can work for some and that's definitely worth putting out there.
Web Hosting Plans
If the domain name is your website’s home address, the hosting represents the space you need to actually put your stuff. Put otherwise, in order to occupy a spot on the web, you need to pay the guys that make the real estate.
Hosting providers own and maintain the servers that store and deliver all the components that make up a website to each visitor pulling up a webpage. They are who you pay subscription-style once a month, because without them your website simply isn’t accessible to visitors.
However, depending on your needs, there are many different options to choose from, each with their respective sets of trade-offs.
Free Hosting
Average cost: FREE
Building a website is notoriously expensive, but there are solutions out there to help you cut costs, one of which is free hosting. There are tons of free hosting providers out there, some of which apparently aren’t so bad.
In general though, free hosting isn't recommended for many reasons. Beyond the fact that websites hosted by free providers are not properly secured, you’ll also be left for dead if anything ever goes wrong.
What’s more, business is business and these guys have to make money somehow… Usually, free hosting providers either employ the “freemium model”, generating revenues when free users switch to their premium, paid service, or they use your website as free advertising space to fill with banners, pop ups, or popunders.
Even if you manage to find one of the better providers, there’s not a free hosting provider out there that compares to even the cheapest paid hosting services... but hey, it’s free.
Non-Webflow Providers
Average cost: $5-30/month
If you’d rather not have your website bombarded by ads so that people can actually view your content, I hear you. But once you’ve made the decision to move forward with a paid-for service, there are still many providers to look into and choose from.
CNET recommends considering their 4 S’s, speed, support, security, scale to select the best provider, but if all you’re interested in is something cheap, you can also look into any one of the countless lists of cheap hosting providers.
Webflow Hosting
Average cost: $12-36/month
They say that you get what you pay for… Admittedly, Webflow hosting isn’t the cheapest possible option, but it's the one I typically try to get my clients to use, and for good reason.
Since Webflow is my platform of choice for web development, Webflow hosting allows for both the hosting and the actual development of your website to be managed through the same platform, meaning that any changes that we might need to make down the road are quick and easy, and publishing these modifications can also be done instantaneously.
In summary, Webflow hosting is like an insurance plan and a speed dial function to your own personal web assistant (me), offering you greater flexibility and the capacity to adapt if needed, for literally just a couple extra bucks a month.
But still that's not all. Webflow hosting also outperforms competitors in terms of functionality and network capability:
Webflow hosting is powered by Amazon Web Services and Fastly - AWS provides a powerful global infrastructure and Fastly is what works to deliver your content in milliseconds (which improves the experience for your users AND boosts your ranking on search engines).
So, if you’re convinced that Webflow hosting is the way to go, the next and final step is to select the type of plan that’s best for you, depending on the content and functionality of your website. The table below outlines each of the Webflow hosting plans, their characteristics, and their respective prices:
In the end, the choice you make is up to you. I’m here to help, and I promise you won’t hurt my feelings if you choose to go with a non-Webflow hosting provider.
Happy browsing :)
