The short answer: a website builder is right if you want something live this week and are happy to pay a plan for as long as the site exists. A web designer is right if you need something properly bespoke and have agreed, in writing, who owns what. There is a third route, which is what we sell: a fixed price, paid once, with every account in your name.
That third route exists because both of the usual ones can turn into the same thing, which is renting your own website. This is the plain version of each, including when each is the right call. If you are still deciding whether to pay anyone at all, is it worth paying someone to build a website starts one step earlier.
Website builder vs web designer: the quick comparison
Most people weighing a website builder vs a web designer are really asking two things: what will it cost, and what do I have at the end of it. Here is the plain version.
- A website builder (Wix, Squarespace and similar) costs a monthly plan, starts quickly, and the site lives inside the builder’s system. You can edit it yourself. At the time of writing, you can take some of your content with you, but not the site as it runs.
- A web designer or developer costs a one-off fee, takes weeks, and gives you something made for you. What you own at the end depends entirely on what was agreed.
- Onlineify is a printed price, paid once, built to be edited by you and owned by you from day one, with no Onlineify subscription.
The builder route: quick to start, and the plan never stops
A builder is the fastest way to get a site live. You pick a layout, drop in your words and photos, and publish. For a side project, a one-off event or a test of an idea, that is exactly right, and we would not talk you out of it.
The cost is a plan that runs for as long as you want the site. At the time of writing, Wix lists its Light plan at £9 a month and Core at £16, moving up to £25 for Business and £119 for Business Elite. Those are monthly equivalents of a yearly plan, paid in full, and Wix says they exclude taxes. Squarespace lists Basic at £12 a month and Core at £17, billed annually, rising to £29 for Plus and £79 for Advanced.
None of that is unreasonable for what you get. The catch is the shape of it. At the time of writing, Wix says a site built in its editor needs to be hosted and operated on Wix’s servers, and Squarespace’s export is a partial, WordPress-format file of some of your content rather than a site that runs elsewhere. So if you stop paying, you lose what the plan pays for: on Wix your own domain and an ad-free site, on Squarespace the site itself goes private. You can usually take some of your content with you. Wix also documents how to transfer a domain you bought from it to another host. You are also working inside the builder’s structure, which suits some sites and constrains others.
When a builder is the right answer
- You need something live this week, and it may not live long.
- The site is a placeholder while you work out the business.
- You are happy to treat the plan as a utility bill, for as long as the site exists.
Website builder vs designer: when the designer route is right, and what to ask
A good web designer or developer builds something that fits you rather than something you fit into. If you have a distinctive brand, an unusual structure or a real design problem, that is worth paying for, and a builder will not solve it. This is what people mean when they compare a website builder vs a developer: the builder is a tool you operate, the developer is someone who builds you the thing.
On price, one UK guide, MoneyMagpie, puts a four to six page brochure site from a freelancer or small agency at £1,500 to £3,500. That is one guide rather than the whole market, so treat it as a sense of scale. What UK web designers charge goes through what pushes the number up and down.
The trouble with the designer route is not the build fee. It is what comes after. Plenty of designers are straightforward: you pay, they hand over, you own it. But some sites end up as rent in a different form: a pay-monthly plan that never ends, hosting and the code held in the designer’s account, a content system only they can log into, a domain registered in their name. If the relationship ends, so can the site.
The test is simple, and it applies to anyone you hire. Five accounts decide who owns your website: the domain, the hosting, the code, the content system and your Google profiles. Ask whose email address is on each one before you sign anything.
When a designer is the right answer
- Your project is genuinely one of a kind and needs a person thinking about it.
- You want an ongoing relationship with someone who knows your business.
- You have agreed, in writing, that every account is in your name.
The third route: a product with a printed price
Onlineify is neither a builder nor a designer. It is a named product, built to a fixed scope, at a published price. The idea is simple: you should not have to rent your digital assets. Once it is yours, it is yours.
Our Lite build is £1,950 and Business is £3,950, both excluding VAT and paid once. Plus, the larger build, is £5,250, and all three prices are on the costs page. Domain, hosting, code, content system and Google accounts are all registered to you from day one, and we are added as collaborators, never owners.
Like a designer, you get a site made for you rather than a layout you fill in. Like a builder, you get a price printed up front, and a content system you can edit yourself. What you do not get is a monthly bill from us, because there is no Onlineify subscription. Hosting and the content system both sit on free tiers in your accounts, and the one running cost you are guaranteed is renewing your own domain, at cost.
What it does not do
We build to a fixed scope. If you want something truly bespoke, a custom application or a one-off design project, that is a job for a designer or developer, and we would send you to one. And if you want it live tonight, a builder is quicker. We are for the person who wants a proper site, a clear price and the keys.
How to choose between the three
Ask yourself three questions.
- How long will you need the site? A few months, a builder is fine. Years, add up the plan over that time and compare it with a one-off build.
- How different does it need to be? If the answer is “very”, hire a designer. If “a proper site, built well” is enough, a fixed product is usually cheaper and quicker, and the costs page below shows by how much.
- If the supplier vanished tomorrow, would your site keep working? This is the question that matters most, and the one the other two answers should not override.
If you want the numbers laid out, here is what a website costs to build and to run, and the FAQ covers what happens after launch, who owns what and what we do not do.