Cost comparison
What your website really costs, including your time.
Three worked examples with typical published prices, compared over three years: two existing sites, and one built from scratch. The largest cost is often not on any invoice: it is the hours spent briefing, chasing and waiting for simple changes.
Typical published prices
Plans, plugins and hourly rates from vendors and 2026 pricing guides, in US dollars, before tax.
Your time at $75 an hour
A modest value for the hour of whoever handles the website at your business.
Fictional businesses
Illustrations, not quotes. Your own figures depend on your site and how often it changes.
Example 1 · fictional
A law firm on WordPress, with an agency care plan
A ten-page site with lawyer profiles, practice areas and a contact form. About three changes a month: a new associate, an updated bio, a notice, a revised practice page. The agency makes the changes; someone at the firm briefs them and checks the result.
| Today, per year | On Replit, per year | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and platform[1],[2] | $420Managed WordPress hosting at $35 a month | $240Replit Core plan at $20 a month |
| Plugins and add-ons[4],[5],[6] | $238SEO, forms and caching plugins, renewed every year | $0Built into the site, nothing to renew |
| Care plan[7] | $1,800Updates, backups and security checks at $150 a month | $0No plugins or themes to keep patched |
| Usage beyond the plan[3] | $0Included above | $300Allowance for traffic and Agent requests beyond monthly credits |
| Paid change requests[8] | $3,00024 developer hours a year at $125 an hour | $500About 4 hours a year of professional help for larger jobs |
| Your time, valued at $75 an hour | ||
| Your time on changes | $4,05036 changes at about 1.5 hours each: briefing, chasing, checking | $67536 changes at about 15 minutes each: describe, preview, publish |
| Per year | $9,508 | $1,715 |
| One-time rebuild[11] | NoneYou keep the current site | $6,000Example rebuild of a ten-page site. Published guides put small-business redesigns at $3,000 to $15,000; yours is quoted on scope. |
| Three years in total | $28,524 | $11,145 |
Over three years, including your time
61% lower
$17,379 less in total. Invoices alone come out 44% lower, and after the one-time cost, each year costs $7,793 less.
Today$28,524
On Replit, with the rebuild$11,145
Money paid out Your time
- Request to live[12]
- Today: 3 to 5 business daysOn Replit: The same day, often minutes
- Who has to be involved
- Today: You, an account manager and a developerOn Replit: You, plus a quick check of the preview
Example 2 · fictional
A clinic on a website builder, with a freelancer on call
A practitioner site on a builder plan with booking and form apps. About two changes a month: hours, a new practitioner, a seasonal notice. The team is too busy to learn the editor, so a freelancer makes the changes.
| Today, per year | On Replit, per year | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and platform[9],[2] | $468Builder business plan at $39 a month | $240Replit Core plan at $20 a month |
| Apps and add-ons | $240Booking and form apps, about $20 a month | $0Forms built in; your booking system stays linked |
| Usage beyond the plan[3] | $0Included above | $300Allowance for traffic and Agent requests beyond monthly credits |
| Paid change requests[8] | $1,80018 freelancer hours a year at $100 an hour | $300About 3 hours a year of professional help |
| Your time, valued at $75 an hour | ||
| Your time on changes | $1,80024 changes at about 1 hour each: explaining, waiting, checking | $45024 changes at about 15 minutes each |
| Per year | $4,308 | $1,290 |
| One-time rebuild[11] | NoneYou keep the current site | $4,000Example rebuild of a smaller site. Published guides put basic five-to-ten-page redesigns at $3,000 to $7,000. |
| Three years in total | $12,924 | $7,870 |
Over three years, including your time
39% lower
$5,054 less in total. Invoices alone come out 13% lower, and after the one-time cost, each year costs $3,018 less.
Today$12,924
On Replit, with the rebuild$7,870
Money paid out Your time
- Request to live[13]
- Today: A few days to a weekOn Replit: The same day, often minutes
- Who has to be involved
- Today: You and a freelancer, when they are freeOn Replit: Whoever spots the change
Example 3 · fictional · starting from scratch
A new consulting practice: agency build or ours
Two partners opening a consulting practice need a ten-page site: services, team, articles and a contact form. Once it is live, about two changes a month: a new article, an updated bio, an event. On the left, a typical agency builds it on WordPress and looks after it. On the right, we build it on Replit and hand it over.
| Typical agency | With us, on Replit | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and platform[1],[2] | $420Managed WordPress hosting at $35 a month | $240Replit Core plan at $20 a month |
| Plugins and add-ons[4],[5],[6] | $238SEO, forms and caching plugins, renewed every year | $0Built into the site, nothing to renew |
| Care plan[7] | $1,800Updates, backups and security checks at $150 a month | $0No plugins or themes to keep patched |
| Usage beyond the plan[3] | $0Included above | $300Allowance for traffic and Agent requests beyond monthly credits |
| Paid change requests[8] | $2,25018 agency hours a year at $125 an hour | $375About 3 hours a year of professional help for larger jobs |
| Your time, valued at $75 an hour | ||
| Your time on changes | $2,70024 changes at about 1.5 hours each: briefing, chasing, checking | $45024 changes at about 15 minutes each: describe, preview, publish |
| Per year | $7,408 | $1,365 |
| One-time build[10] | $10,000Custom WordPress build of 8 to 15 pages, a typical agency budget in published guides | $6,000Example new build of a ten-page site, designed and built on Replit; yours is quoted on scope |
| Three years in total | $32,224 | $10,095 |
Over three years, including your time
69% lower
$22,129 less in total. Invoices alone come out 64% lower, and after the one-time cost, each year costs $6,043 less.
Typical agency$32,224
With us, on Replit$10,095
Money paid out Your time
The cost of slow changes
Why your time belongs in the sum
Hosting and plugins are easy to see on a statement. The time around each change is not, yet in every example it is one of the largest lines.
Briefing and chasing
Every change starts with an email that explains what you want, then a reply, a draft, a correction and a final check. An hour or more disappears into a ten-minute edit.
Waiting
While a change waits in a queue, your site shows last month’s hours, a departed colleague or an expired offer to everyone who visits.
Changes you never make
When every edit costs a fee and a week, small improvements stop being asked for. The site slowly falls behind the business it describes.
Reading these fairly
- The totals leave out enquiries lost to an outdated page, so the real difference is likely larger, not smaller.
- If your site rarely changes, the time lines shrink and so does the difference.
- Money already spent on your current site is not counted; only what you would pay from here.
- Replit usage depends on traffic and how much you ask of Replit Agent, so we show an allowance rather than a fixed figure.
- Our build and rebuild amounts are examples. We quote each project on its scope.
Sources
- [1]WordPress hosting plans · Kinsta · Checked 2026-10-26
- [2]Pricing and plans · Replit · Checked 2026-10-26
- [3]Publishing costs · Replit Docs · Checked 2026-10-26
- [4]Yoast SEO Premium · Yoast · Checked 2026-10-26
- [5]Pricing · Gravity Forms · Checked 2026-10-26
- [6]WP Rocket pricing · WP Rocket · Checked 2026-10-26
- [7]How much does WordPress maintenance cost? (2026 guide) · Scripto Agency · Checked 2026-10-26
- [8]Web design company pricing guide · Clutch · Checked 2026-10-26
- [9]Wix premium plans · Wix · Checked 2026-10-26
- [10]Web design companies pricing guide · DesignRush · Checked 2026-10-26
- [11]Small business website redesign: cost, process and SEO (2026) · Britt Creative · Checked 2026-10-26
- [12]Website maintenance packages · Authentic Web Solutions · Checked 2026-10-26
- [13]Website maintenance and support · Silver Scope Design · Checked 2026-10-26
See the numbers for your own site.
Tell us what you pay today and how often your site changes. We reply with a comparison based on your figures, and a quote.