Cost Guide
What a website actually costs over three years.
A $30 monthly Wix subscription and a $200 monthly Planted Sky retainer are not the same line item. They cover different things, deliver different outcomes, and produce different value over time. Here is the actual math, grounded in projects we have built.
About these numbers.
The figures below are illustrative ranges grounded in our typical project shape, not quotes for any specific engagement. Hosting tiers, retainer hours, and plugin licensing all vary. The point is the relative shape of cost across platforms over three years, not a guarantee of any specific dollar amount.
Why $30/mo looks cheaper than $200/mo (and why that is misleading).
The first instinct is to compare the numbers. $30 is less than $200, end of debate. The problem is that a $30 Wix subscription and a $200 Planted Sky retainer are not the same product.
$30/mo on Wix is a platform subscription. It buys you continued access to Wix, basic hosting, and the right to keep editing your site within the platform's bounds. It does not buy you developer hours, design help, accessibility audits, integration work, or new features. Anything beyond what Wix offers natively is unavailable at any price - or hidden behind expensive third-party apps with limited reach.
$200/mo on a Planted Sky headless retainer bundles hosting, software updates, security patching, a few hours of real developer work each month, design support, accessibility and performance care, and on-call response. The retainer hours compound on a codebase that is yours forever.
Comparing them is like comparing a gym membership to a personal trainer. Both involve fitness. They are not the same purchase.
What each subscription actually buys.
The honest line-by-line of what is and is not included.
Site Builder
$30 - $50 / month
Included
- Platform subscription
- Hosting + SSL
- Limited template customization
- Basic forms + email
- Their support team
Not included
- Custom features
- Design evolution beyond templates
- Accessibility or SEO audits
- Performance optimization
- Integrations beyond their app store
- The hours to actually build any of the above
WordPress + Builder
$200 - $500 / month retainer (typical)
Included
- Managed hosting
- Plugin licenses + updates
- Security patching
- A few hours of dev / design work per month
- Bug fixes
- Backup + uptime monitoring
Worth weighing
- Plugin churn (replace 3 - 5 over five years)
- Heavier DOM and slower performance baseline
- Plugin debt accumulates as features layer on
Headless
$200 - $1,000+ / month retainer
Included
- Hosting + CMS tier (free for most small/mid sites)
- Real dev hours each month
- Design, accessibility, SEO, performance care
- New components added to your library
- Custom integrations (CRM, ERP, scheduling)
- On-call support
Worth weighing
- Per-seat editor pricing on Sanity (free up to 3, then ~$15/seat/mo)
- Initial build cost is higher than WP or builder
- Smaller talent pool if you ever switch agencies
The 40-hour scenario.
Imagine your team has 40 hours of post-launch work in year one. A new content type, a testimonial flow, a CRM integration, a microsite for an event. Here is what 40 hours produces on each platform.
Site Builder
~10% structural value, ~90% tweaks
Most of the 40 hours goes to template tweaks, app installs, and configuration of features that already exist in the platform. New content types are impossible. CRM integrations are limited to whatever apps are in the marketplace. The work fills the time without producing compounding value.
After 40 hours: minor improvements to the same site you started with.
WordPress + Builder
~50% structural value, ~50% maintenance
40 hours can install a custom plugin integration, build a custom block, configure a third-party tool. Real new functionality ships. Some technical debt accumulates as plugins layer on top of plugins. Future-you will spend time managing the plugin chain.
After 40 hours: real progress, plus future maintenance you did not have before.
Headless
~95% structural value
40 hours adds new reusable components, custom integrations, new content types, micro-experiences, and performance improvements. Each piece becomes part of your long-term library. The work compounds because the codebase is yours and the architecture is designed to extend.
After 40 hours: a meaningfully more capable site, with structural improvements you keep forever.
Forty hours is forty hours. The platform decides whether those hours produce drag-and-drop tweaks or genuine new capability. That is the math hiding behind the maintenance retainer.
Three-year total cost of ownership, over time.
Most cost comparisons stop at what the agency bills. That is the cheap version of this question. The real total includes the time your own team spends wrangling the platform - editing content, fighting builders, cleaning up brand drift. Pick a scenario below to see what each platform actually costs once that hidden line is on the table.
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Once internal team time is in the picture, the chart flips. Site Builders are still cheapest if the site genuinely never changes - that case is rare. The moment you start editing, the page-builder tax shows up: hours your team burns wrangling layouts, fixing brand drift, working around platform limits. Headless costs more upfront and pays it back in time you do not lose.
Assumptions behind this chart
Directional ranges grounded in our experience, not quotes. The chart updates as you change the inputs above. Internal team time is valued at $100/hr - the loaded cost of a marketing manager or operations person (salary plus benefits and overhead, divided by working hours). The numbers below recompute for the selected combination.
| Platform | Initial build | Monthly platform/agency | Internal hours / mo | One-time shocks (over 3 yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site Builder Wix · Squarespace · Shopify | — | — | — | — |
| WordPress + Builder Bricks · Elementor · ACF | — | — | — | — |
| Headless Astro + Sanity | — | — | — | — |
- Functionality is the dominant lever. Brochure work is roughly tied across platforms. As features grow - integrations, gated areas, real product work - Site Builders force expensive workarounds and WordPress accumulates plugin debt. Headless flexes because the architecture is built to extend.
- Hands-on level shapes the slope, not the launch. Heavier ongoing involvement raises monthly platform/agency cost and internal team hours, which steepens every line. Functionality sets where each line starts and how badly shocks hit it.
- Why internal hours differ. Site builders are DIY by design - someone on your team spends real hours dragging blocks, fixing mobile breakpoints, and pasting content into rigid templates. Headless with structured content keeps content edits as content edits, not layout exercises.
- What this leaves out. Lost revenue from features you cannot ship, slow page speed, and accessibility risk are not on this chart - real but harder to defend with a number. The hourly rate we count is conservative; in many companies the real loaded rate is higher.
How to evaluate cost honestly.
1
Compare three-year totals, not month one.
Year-one cost lies. The cheapest first year is often the most expensive third year. Map every recurring fee, license, and retainer expectation across thirty-six months before deciding.
2
Account for what is not included.
If a low monthly fee does not include developer hours, you will pay for them somewhere else. Either as project work outside the retainer, as your own team's time, or as features you never ship. Make those costs visible in the comparison.
3
Weigh compounding work versus ephemeral edits.
Forty hours that builds a reusable component library is worth more in year three than forty hours of template tweaks. Both consumed forty hours. Only one accumulates value.
4
Include the cost of features you cannot ship.
If your platform caps what you can do, the features you never ship are the largest hidden cost. Name them out loud during evaluation. They are real.
5
Factor in exit costs.
How hard would it be to leave this platform in three years? If the answer is "very hard," the platform is charging you a premium for lock-in that does not show up on the invoice.
"$200 a month on a Planted Sky retainer buys you four to eight hours of real product work on a codebase that is yours forever. $50 a month on Wix buys you the right to keep using Wix. They are not the same product."