If the domain is yours
Your address survives
You can point it at a new site, so your business cards, van livery and Google listing still lead to you. The website itself usually has to be rebuilt, because closed platforms rarely let you export it.
Free websites
Is a free website for your business really free?
Usually not. A free website is normally paid for later, through a monthly fee that lasts as long as the site is live, and it’s often a site you can’t take with you. Sometimes that’s still the right call. Here’s how to tell.
By Paul Morris · Updated
YOUR 995 WEBSITE · NOTHING HIDDEN
- “FREE” BUILD£0
- MONTHLY FEEEVERY MONTH
- MINIMUM TERMCHECK
- YOUR DOMAINMAYBE
- TAKING IT WITH YOUUSUALLY NOT
AT 995£995
PAID ONCE · NO VAT · YOURS TO KEEP
01 — How “free” gets paid for
Someone always pays for the build.
A website takes days of someone’s time. If you aren’t paying for it upfront, you’re paying for it another way. These are the usual ones.
- 01
A monthly fee
The most common model. The build costs nothing, and the subscription pays for it for as long as the site is live. It’s usually sold as covering your domain and hosting, but those cost a fraction of the fee: the wholesale price of a .co.uk domain is £3.90 a year, and hosting a small business site often costs a few pounds a month, sometimes nothing at all. Most of what you pay each month is markup.
- 02
A minimum term
Some agreements run for a fixed period before you can leave, so “cancel any time” may only start once it ends.
- 03
Paid extras
Changes, extra pages, email addresses or a booking form, charged on top of the monthly fee.
- 04
A shared template
Free builds are quick because they start from the same template as everyone else’s, so your site can end up looking like your competitors’.
02 — Side by side
Free, or yours? What changes when you pay.
The upfront price is the least important column. The last two decide what happens in year three.
| Route | Upfront | Every month | Web address | If you leave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website builder free plan | £0 | £0, with their branding on your site | Theirs, not your own | Copy your words out by hand |
| “Free” website company | £0 | A fee for as long as it’s live | Check who the registrant is | The site usually stays with them |
| Website bought outright | Varies | Hosting, however you arrange it | Yours | You take everything |
| 995 | £995, no VAT | Nothing required; £35 if we look after it | Yours | We zip the lot up and send it over |
For the wider picture, including freelancers and agencies, see how much a small business website costs.
03 — When you want to leave
Leaving is where “free” gets expensive.
Most people only read the exit terms on the day they need them. By then, the answer depends on who owns the domain.
If the domain is theirs
Your address may not
Moving it needs their cooperation. Without it, you can lose the web address printed on everything you own, along with any email addresses that run on it.
The site, the content, sometimes even the domain. If it’s rented, leaving means starting again.
04 — To be fair
Sometimes free is the right call. Here’s when.
- You’re testing an idea
If you don’t yet know whether the business will last, a free builder plan is a cheap way to find out.
- You need it by Friday
If you just need your hours and number online this week, take the quick option and plan the proper site for later.
- You mainly need the map
A complete Google Business Profile is free, and for a local business it covers a lot of what people search for: hours, phone number, photos and reviews. Sort it first, whatever else you decide.
- The fee buys real help
Some subscriptions include updates, support and hosting you’d otherwise pay for. If the domain is yours and the exit terms are fair, that can be good value.
05 — Before you sign
Seven questions for any “free” offer.
If the answers are vague, ask for them in writing. A good provider won’t mind.
Ask before you agree
- Who is the domain’s registrant: you, or them?
- Who owns the design, the words and the photos?
- Is there a minimum term, and what does leaving early cost?
- What happens to the site the day you stop paying?
- Can you export the site, or take the code with you?
- What do changes, extra pages and email cost?
- What will you have paid in total after three years?
For a .uk address, Nominet’s domain lookup shows which company manages it. The owner’s name is often hidden, so the written answer from your provider is the one that counts.
What you get at 995
£995
one amount · 25% deposit to start · no VAT
We’re a team in the North East, and we build websites for anyone, anywhere. One price for everyone, with nothing added on top. Shops, booking systems and customer logins are quoted separately and agreed before we start.
Once it’s live, take it on yourself for a one-off £195, or leave it with us for £35 a month. No contract either way.
Design and build
- 01included
Up to 10 pages, agreed up front
We work out the pages and what goes on each one together, and agree the scope before any design starts — enough to sell what you do properly.
- 02included
A proper design system first
Type, colour, spacing and buttons signed off before any code, so every page hangs together. It’s yours to keep, too: the same system works for signage, social posts, menus, vans — anywhere the business shows up.
- 03included
Modern, mobile-first design
Thumb-sized tap targets and a fast first load, because most customers meet you one-handed.
- 04included
Accessible to everyone
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards: readable contrast, clear text, full keyboard and screen-reader support. Nobody gets shut out — and search engines reward it too.
Words and pictures
- 05included
The words worked out together
We draft, you mark it up, we iterate until it sounds like you.
- 06included
Your photos, properly treated
Cropped, straightened and colour-matched. Good phone photos are genuinely enough.
Found, and yours
- 07included
Structured to be found — by Google and AI
Clean headings, schema, sitemap and fast Core Web Vitals.
- 08included
Google Business Profile tidied
Hours, photos, and the map pin in the right place.
- 09included
Your domain, included
We move yours across or register a new one. The DNS is our problem.
After that, looking after it is optional — do it yourself, or £35 a month and we keep it running.
Yes, with limits. Some website builders, Wix among them, have a free plan, but it shows their branding and puts your site on their web address rather than your own. A Google Business Profile is also free, and for a local business it’s often the best first step: your hours, phone number, photos and reviews, right where people search.
Whoever is listed as the registrant. If the provider registered it in their own name, they control it, even if it’s your business name. Ask them to confirm in writing that your business is the registrant. For a .uk address, Nominet’s domain lookup shows which company manages it, though the owner’s name is often hidden.
With most “free” website companies it goes offline, because the site lives on their platform and the fee is what keeps it there. Some contracts also have a minimum term, so stopping early can cost extra. Read the cancellation terms before you sign, not when you want to leave.
Usually we rebuild rather than move it, because sites on closed platforms can rarely be exported in a usable form. Your words and photos come with you. If you own the domain, we point it at the new site so your web address doesn’t change, and if you don’t, we help you ask for it back.
Over a few years, often. Multiply the monthly fee by the months you expect to keep the site: at £50 a month, for example, that’s £1,800 over three years, and you still don’t own it. £995 is paid once. After that, take the site on yourself for a one-off £195, or leave it with us for £35 a month. No contract either way.
Book your slot
Tell us about the business.
We keep a small number of builds running at once, so the queue is real. No payment now — we’ll come back the same day to confirm and take the deposit.