Pricing · 8 min read
The build is the smallest part of what a website costs
Nobody buys a website once. You buy a build, then hosting, then licences, then the changes nobody scoped, then a rebuild — and the build is routinely the smallest line on that list.
Updated 27 August 2026 · GoDesign build team
The short version
- On typical settings the build comes out at under 10% of what a website costs over three years.
- Small changes are usually the largest single line, and they collapse to nothing if someone in-house can edit the site.
- Year-two licence renewals are the most common surprise: bundled into the build quote, then charged at full price.
- A comparison that ignores the rebuild is flattering rather than useful. Sites do not last forever.
Every website cost tool answers the question 'what does building it cost'. It is the wrong question, or at least a small part of the right one, because nobody buys a website once. You buy a build, then hosting, then plugin licences, then the small changes nobody scoped, then a rebuild about three years later — and across that period the build is routinely the smallest number on the list.
This matters because it is the only way to see why a cheap quote is frequently the expensive option. A build at half the price that needs a developer for every text change, sits on a platform taking a cut of your sales, and gets replaced in eighteen months because it was never maintainable is not cheaper. There is simply no way to see that from two build quotes side by side.
A worked example
A WordPress marketing site, built at a realistic mid-market figure, over three years, with two small changes a month:
| Line | 3-year total | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Build, once | AED 2,050 | 8% |
| Small changes, 2/month | AED 11,880 | 48% |
| Care and maintenance | AED 5,940 | 24% |
| Platform, hosting and apps | AED 3,780 | 15% |
| Licence renewals | AED 1,320 | 5% |
| Total | AED 24,970 | 100% |
The lines people leave out
Small changes. Every site needs them and almost no quote prices them. On a platform nobody internal can edit, each one is a paid request forever. This is the single largest hidden line, and it is also the one that collapses to almost nothing if the answer to 'can we edit it ourselves' is yes.
Year-two renewals. Plugins, themes and tools bundled into the build quote that quietly renew at full price once the first year ends. Nobody hides this deliberately; it simply never comes up during a sale.
The rebuild. Sites do not last forever, and a three-year comparison that assumes yours will is not a comparison. Setting a replacement interval is what makes a five-year figure honest rather than flattering.
Your own time is why DIY looks free
Most people leave their own hours out of the comparison, which is exactly why a do-it-yourself plan always wins on paper. If you are comparing doing it yourself against paying somebody, put a value on those hours or the comparison is not a comparison. If you are choosing between two suppliers, leave it out, because it is the same either way.
Three questions worth more than the build price
- Who can make a text change without paying you? This decides the largest line in the whole table.
- What renews in year two, and at what price? This is where the bundled licences surface.
- What happens to the code and the hosting accounts if we leave? This decides whether the rebuild is optional.
Those three answers move the total more than the build price does. Ask them before you sign, take the monthly average to whoever approves the budget — a one-off build price gets approved and forgotten, a monthly figure gets scrutinised — and then run the same numbers against the second quote. Very often the expensive build has the lower total, and the conversation stops being about price and starts being about what you are actually buying.
Questions people ask
How much does a website really cost over three years?
On typical settings for a small marketing site, around AED 25,000 all in — of which the build is roughly AED 2,000. The build is under 10% because everything else recurs monthly for the life of the site.
Should I compare over three years or five?
Three is roughly how long a site lives before it is rebuilt, so it is the fairest single comparison. Five is more honest about the rebuild and punishes platforms with recurring cuts. Run both: if the ranking changes between them, the reason it changes is the real finding.
Why are small changes so expensive?
Because they are billed as individual requests with a minimum increment, and because they never stop. Two a month for three years is 72 paid requests. On a platform your own team can edit, that line is close to zero.
Does this apply to an online store?
Yes, and the gap widens. Stores carry heavier hosting, more app subscriptions and on some platforms a cut of every sale, so the build is an even smaller share of the total than it is for a brochure site.
Is a cheaper build ever the right choice?
Often — when it comes with a platform your team can edit and clear ownership of the code and accounts. The cheap builds that turn expensive are the ones that lock those two things away.
Built by GoDesign FZE, who build WhatsApp and CRM automation for UAE businesses.
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