Free quiz · Website and Cost
Website Platform Chooser.
Tick what the site has to do and compare every platform on total cost over three years, with the ones that cannot do the job ruled out rather than ranked cheap. Plan prices, app spend and each platform's cut of your sales included.
Changes the build cost, not the platform's own subscription.
Tick only what you genuinely need. Every extra need narrows the field, and a platform that scores zero on anything you ticked is removed rather than ranked, because cheap and incapable is not a trade-off.
Only matters for platforms that take a cut of each sale. Squarespace takes 3% below its Commerce plan, and at real volume that single line can exceed everything else combined.
One month tells you nothing. Three years is roughly how long a site lives before it is rebuilt, and it is long enough for the app subscriptions and the transaction cuts to overtake the build cost.
Best fit over 3 years
WordPress
AED 5,830 all in over 3 years, at 89% fit for what you ticked. Build, subscriptions and any platform cut of sales included.
You own everything and nothing is metered. The largest plugin ecosystem there is, and any developer anywhere can pick it up.Somebody has to maintain it. Updates, backups and security are yours, and an unmaintained WordPress site is the most commonly compromised thing on the web.
The cheapest option here is Framer at AED 3,878, which is AED 1,952 less over 3 years but only 78% fit against 89%. Worth taking if you can live without what it misses, and expensive if you cannot.
Ruled out by what you ticked
- Custom build (Next.js or similar) — cannot do edit it ourselves.
Platform prices are published list prices, read 2026-08-27, on annual billing. Payment processing fees are excluded because you pay those on every platform; only a platform's own additional cut is counted. Fit and cost are scored separately on purpose, because the cheapest platform that cannot do the job is not a saving.
Estimate done
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An estimate works from typical scope. A quotation works from yours. Send this breakdown over and you get a fixed price back, from the person who would do the work, within one business day.
What this tool measures
Platform choice is the decision that comes before every cost question, and it is usually made by comparing monthly plan prices, which is the one comparison guaranteed to mislead. The platforms are cheap in different places: Shopify's plan is modest and its app subscriptions are not, WordPress is free software that charges you for hosting and attention, Squarespace takes a percentage of every sale below its Commerce plan, and a custom build has no platform bill at all and the highest build cost by a distance.
Over one month those differences are invisible. Over three years they reorder the ranking completely, which is why this compares totals rather than plans, and why the default period is three years — roughly how long a site lives before somebody rebuilds it.
How to use it
Tick only what you genuinely need. Every extra requirement narrows the field, and the field narrowing is the useful part: most people arrive believing they have six options and leave with two, because four of them cannot do something they took for granted.
A platform that scores zero on anything you ticked is removed from the ranking entirely rather than shown as a cheap option with a footnote. Cheap and incapable is not a trade-off worth surfacing, and a comparison that ranks it third teaches you nothing.
Set the sales volume honestly if you sell online. The transaction percentage is the line that changes the answer at scale: a three percent cut on thirty thousand a month is nine hundred a month, which is more than every subscription on this page put together.
How to read the result
Fit and cost are scored separately and shown separately. When the best fit is not the cheapest, the tool says so and quantifies the gap, because that is the actual decision: whether the capability you lose is worth the money you save.
The strength and the trade-off lines matter more than the ranking. Every platform here is a reasonable choice for somebody, and the trade-off is what you will be living with in year two — Wix cannot be exported, Shopify's app bill compounds, WordPress needs somebody to maintain it, custom cannot be edited by anyone who cannot code.
Payment processing fees are deliberately excluded, because you pay roughly the same processor cut on every platform. Only a platform's own additional cut is counted, since that is the part that actually differs.
What to do next
Run the total cost of ownership tool with the platform you land on. This compares platforms; that one adds the lines a platform comparison cannot see, chiefly the small changes and the rebuild.
Then ask one question of whoever will build it: can somebody in our office change a paragraph without paying you. That answer is worth more than any feature comparison, because it decides whether the largest hidden cost in the next three years exists at all.
Questions people ask
Is WordPress still the right default?
For a content-led site where you want to own everything, usually yes, and it is the most-requested platform by a wide margin. The honest caveat is that it transfers a maintenance obligation to you: an unmaintained WordPress site is one of the most commonly compromised things on the web, and the care cost is real rather than optional.
Why does Shopify rank lower than its reputation?
It does not, for a store. It ranks lower for everything else, because it is a commerce platform being asked to be a website. The app subscriptions are also the sleeper cost: fifty to two hundred a month is normal and it is rarely in anyone's comparison.
Is a custom build ever worth it for a small business?
When the website is the product rather than a brochure for it. If what you need is pages, a form and a blog, custom is the most expensive way to get them and the hardest to change. The tool ranks it low for exactly that reason and high the moment you tick something genuinely custom.
Can I move platform later?
Content, usually. The build, rarely. Wix in particular cannot be exported, so leaving is a rebuild rather than a migration, which is why ownership is one of the needs you can tick — and why it removes some options entirely when you do.
Where to go from here
- Website Total Cost of Ownership — once you have picked a platform, this adds the lines a platform comparison cannot see.
- Website Cost Calculator — prices the build itself in detail, on whichever platform you land on.
- E-commerce Store Cost Calculator — if you are selling online, this prices the store side properly.
Built by GoDesign FZE, who build on all of these platforms.
Get in touch
Want someone to just do this part?
The tool is free and stays free. If you would rather hand the work over, tell us what you are dealing with and you get a straight answer on scope, cost and timeline.
- You own everythingRepository, hosting and domain credentials sit in your name from day one, not handed over at the end.
- A written timelineMilestone dates are agreed in writing before work starts, so you always know what ships next.
- One business dayEvery enquiry gets a reply from the person who would scope the work, not a sales sequence.
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