Making your own business website: what website builders really cost over three years

Making your own website: what does it cost over three years?

Making your own website with a website builder costs roughly €200 to €560 over three years for a simple business site, excluding VAT and excluding email, with the four website builders that charge in euros. On 16 October 2026 we went through the pricing pages of the five website builders in our comparison: Wix, Squarespace, Jimdo, WordPress.com and Webflow, which only shows dollar prices. This article is written for businesses in the Netherlands and Belgium that want to build a small site themselves.

We use one example: a site of about ten pages with a contact form, its own .nl domain and two business mailboxes. The monthly price on the pricing page is only part of the story. The domain is usually free only for the first year, email is almost never included and the lowest price only applies if you pay a year in advance.

Prices of five website builders

We list the cheapest plan that lets you connect your own domain without the website builder's ads on your site. All prices are for yearly billing unless stated otherwise.

Jimdo is the only one that shows prices including VAT; for a fair comparison we use the amount without VAT. Squarespace states in its help centre that the prices on its site exclude VAT. Webflow only shows dollar prices. Jimdo is a German website builder from Hamburg.

Worked example: a small business site for three years

For the domain, from the second year we use the renewal price of a .nl domain at Hostnet, from our web hosting category: €0,10 for the first year and then €25,99 per year according to Hostnet's price list. Wix and Squarespace do not state their own renewal price on the pricing page; if you register the domain with the website builder, ask in advance what the second year costs. WordPress.com does not register .nl domains; according to WordPress.com's list, you register such a domain elsewhere and connect it. That is why for WordPress.com and Webflow we also count the first year at Hostnet.

All amounts exclude VAT and assume yearly billing at the prices of 16 October 2026. If you pay monthly, Squarespace Basic costs €612 over three years, WordPress.com Personal €324 and Webflow Basic $900 ($25 per month according to Webflow's pricing announcement). Wix shows no monthly price on its pricing page; Jimdo says monthly billing is possible but does not state the price.

Watch the limits of the cheapest plan. Jimdo Start has exactly ten pages; with an eleventh page you need Grow and pay €645 excluding VAT over three years, including the domain. Wix Light has 2 GB of storage. WordPress.com Personal has no limit on the number of pages.

Email on your own domain

An address such as [email protected] is not included in the cheapest plan of any of the five. Wix and Squarespace refer you to Google Workspace; Jimdo lets you connect an existing email address and only gives forwarding addresses. So budget for a separate mailbox.

Two mailboxes cost €336 over three years with Microsoft 365 Business Basic without Teams (€4,67 per user per month on a yearly subscription) or €490 with Google Workspace Business Starter (€6,80 per user per month with a yearly contract), both excluding VAT and checked on 15 October 2026. You can compare more providers under business email. That brings a small site with two mailboxes, with the four builders that show euro prices, to roughly €530 to €1.050 over three years.

Selling through your site

If you also want to take payments online, look at the transaction fees. Squarespace Basic charges a 2% transaction fee on online store sales, on top of card processing fees starting at 2,0% plus €0,25; from Core onwards that 2% no longer applies. With Wix Light you cannot take payments yet; that starts with Core, at €25 per month billed yearly. If you expect a real online shop, also look at webshop software.

What is hard to change later

Moving to another website builder is manual work with most builders. Know this before you start:

• Wix: according to the Wix help centre, you cannot host a Wix site with another hosting provider. You can take your domain with you, though.
• Squarespace: the export produces a file for WordPress with regular pages, one blog, text and images. Store pages, videos, the design and custom CSS are not included.
• WordPress.com: you export posts, pages and comments to another WordPress site. Downloading a full backup is only possible with the Business plan.
• Webflow: exporting the code is only possible with a paid Workspace plan. According to Webflow's help page, forms and the CMS no longer work after that.
• Jimdo: you can transfer your domain to another provider, but your site's content does not come with it. You move texts and images over yourself.

So preferably register your domain in your own name with a separate provider and connect it to the website builder. Then you can switch later without losing your address and your email.

Build it yourself or have it built?

Building it yourself is cheap in money but costs time: writing texts, choosing photos, building pages and checking everything on a phone. Count your own hours. A fictitious example: if you spend twenty hours on it and an hour of your time is worth €60, the site costs you €1.200 in time, on top of the subscription. In that case, also ask for a quote for a site someone else builds and compare it with the three-year total.

If you want more freedom than a website builder offers, you can also install WordPress yourself with a hosting provider. That gives you more control, but you then take care of updates and backups yourself. You can compare hosting plans under web hosting.

You can compare all website builders in the website builder category.

Frequently asked questions about making your own website

What does it cost to make your own website?

With a website builder, a small business site with its own .nl domain costs roughly €200 to €560 over three years, excluding VAT, with the four website builders with euro prices that we checked on 16 October 2026; Webflow costs $540 plus the domain. With two business mailboxes it is €530 to €1.050.

Which website builder is the cheapest?

In our worked example WordPress.com Personal, at €4 per month billed yearly. Jimdo is the only one that states what the domain costs after the first contract period: €24 per year including VAT.

Is the domain free with a website builder?

Usually only for the first year. Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com give you a free domain for the first year, but WordPress.com not for a .nl domain; after that you pay the renewal. With Jimdo the domain is free in the first contract period and then costs €24 per year including VAT; with Webflow you buy it yourself.

Can I move to another website builder later?

You can always take your domain with you, but usually not the site itself. With Wix and Jimdo you rebuild the site; Squarespace and WordPress.com export part of the content to WordPress.