- €79 a month, where our care plans start
- No lock-in on monthly care
- 65 enquiries in a month, a client, from its website
Pay monthly or pay once: what is actually different?
With a pay monthly website you pay little or nothing up front and a fixed amount every month, usually for a minimum term; the agency keeps the site on its own system and the fee covers the build, the hosting and small changes. With a one-off build you pay for the site as a project, quoted in writing, then pay separately for hosting, the domain, updates and any ranking work. The first route feels cheaper because the first month is cheaper. The second is dearer on day one and usually cheaper over the life of the site, because you are not paying for the build again every month.
Neither label tells you what matters. Two monthly plans at the same price can be different products: one is a hosting bill with a template behind it, the other is a site plus the pages and ranking work that bring in calls.
What each one gives you, and what it takes
A pay monthly website
Low or no upfront cost, a fixed monthly figure, and the upkeep included, which suits a new business that needs to look established before the work is steady. The catch is in the agreement: a minimum term, the site held on the agency's platform, and nothing to show for the payments if you leave. Before you sign, find out what you keep at the end of the term and what a change to a page costs.
A one-off build
You pay for the project once, quoted in writing, and the site, the domain and the content are yours. The ongoing costs do not vanish: hosting, the domain renewal, security updates and any new pages are still paid for, by you or through a plan you choose. The upside is control. You can change supplier without losing the site, and every month after launch is a decision rather than a debt.
What a monthly website fee is really buying
Hosting and upkeep
The server the site sits on, the domain, the security certificate, software updates and backups. This is the floor. On its own it keeps the site alive and does nothing for the phone, and it is what most pay monthly plans are, whatever the brochure says.
Content and ranking work
New service and area pages, photos of finished jobs, the Google Business Profile kept current, titles and descriptions written so a person clicks. This is the part that adds enquiries, and the part to ask about by name: how many pages a month, written by whom, and how the results are reported.
The build itself, in instalments
On a pay monthly plan a share of every payment is paying off the build. That is fine if the agreement says so and says when it ends. It is a problem if the fee never falls and the site is never yours. Ask which of the two you are being offered.
Websites we have built for trade businesses
What to ask before you sign either agreement
Put these to any agency, us included, and get the answers in writing. A good supplier answers all six without blinking, and the answers tell you more than the price does.
- Who owns the domain, the site files and the content, now and when the agreement ends
- What the minimum term is, and what notice is needed to pause, change or leave
- What the monthly fee covers, page by page, and what counts as extra
- Whether the site can be moved to another host or agency, and what that costs
- How enquiries are counted and reported, with the month named
- What happens to the site, the pages and the reviews if the payments stop
Built once and quoted in writing, looked after monthly with no lock-in
We quote the build per project, in writing, before anything starts, and we do not publish setup prices because no two trade sites have the same scope. The ongoing work sits on a monthly care plan, and the five tiers are public on the pricing page: from €79 a month for hosting and maintenance to €999 a month at the top, with what each tier includes listed beside it. There is no lock-in on the care plans, and you can pause or change tier on notice. We judge a plan the way you should: by enquiries.
- One client's site took 65 enquiries in one month, counted as phone taps, WhatsApp taps and quote forms
- Another client took 40 enquiries in a month from its website, counted the same way
- Our guide to website costs in Ireland covers what moves a build quote; the maintenance cost guide covers what each monthly band should include
The websites we build for trade businesses are planned the same way, and how long SEO takes for a trade business sets out what the monthly work does in its first months. If your current site is on a plan and you are not sure what you are paying for, the free website audit reads it from the outside and tells you.
Questions about pay monthly websites
Is a pay monthly website cheaper than paying once?
In the first few months, yes. Over the life of the site, usually not: a share of every payment is paying for the build again, and the fee rarely falls when that is done. Add up the monthly figure across the minimum term and set it beside a one-off quote plus a care plan. Then ask what you own at the end of each.
Do I own a pay monthly website?
Often not, and that is the point to check. Many plans keep the site on the agency's own platform and the agreement ends with nothing to transfer. Some do hand the site over after the term. Ask who owns the domain, the files and the content, and get the answer in writing before the first payment.
How much should a trade business in Ireland pay for a website?
The build depends on the scope: how many kinds of work and how many towns the site has to rank for, the photos and the content it needs. That is why we quote it per project rather than from a price list. The ongoing part is easier to size: our care plans run from €79 to €999 a month, and each tier says what it includes. Set either figure against what one job is worth to you.
Can I move a pay monthly website to another company?
Only if the agreement allows it and the site is built on something another company can host. Many are not, which is how a plan turns into a lock-in. If moving matters to you, ask before you sign how the site would be exported, what it would cost and how long it would take.