--- title: "Compare website costs, including your time | AI-Driven Sites" description: "Three fictional examples with typical published prices over three years, including time spent on changes: two sites moved to Replit and one new build." url: https://aidrivensites.com/compare-costs --- 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. A law firm on WordPress, with an agency care plan: yearly and one-time costs, Today, per year and On Replit, per year, in US dollars | | 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. A clinic on a website builder, with a freelancer on call: yearly and one-time costs, Today, per year and On Replit, per year, in US dollars | | 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. A new consulting practice: agency build or ours: yearly and one-time costs, Typical agency and With us, on Replit, in US dollars | | 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 **Build time[10]** Agency: 5 to 7 weeks for a custom WordPress siteWith us: Set in your quote, with Replit Agent drafting while we design and review **Request to live, after launch[12]** Agency: 3 to 5 business daysWith us: The same day, often minutes 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](https://kinsta.com/pricing) · Kinsta · Checked 2026-10-26 - [2] [Pricing and plans](https://replit.com/pricing) · Replit · Checked 2026-10-26 - [3] [Publishing costs](https://docs.replit.com/billing/deployment-pricing) · Replit Docs · Checked 2026-10-26 - [4] [Yoast SEO Premium](https://yoast.com/product/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress) · Yoast · Checked 2026-10-26 - [5] [Pricing](https://www.gravityforms.com/pricing) · Gravity Forms · Checked 2026-10-26 - [6] [WP Rocket pricing](https://wp-rocket.me/wp-rocket-and-rocketcare) · WP Rocket · Checked 2026-10-26 - [7] [How much does WordPress maintenance cost? (2026 guide)](https://scriptoagency.com/website-maintenance-cost) · Scripto Agency · Checked 2026-10-26 - [8] [Web design company pricing guide](https://clutch.co/web-designers/pricing) · Clutch · Checked 2026-10-26 - [9] [Wix premium plans](https://www.wix.com/blog/wix-premium-plans) · Wix · Checked 2026-10-26 - [10] [Web design companies pricing guide](https://www.designrush.com/agency/website-design-development/pricing) · DesignRush · Checked 2026-10-26 - [11] [Small business website redesign: cost, process and SEO (2026)](https://brittcreative.co/website-redesign) · Britt Creative · Checked 2026-10-26 - [12] [Website maintenance packages](https://authenticwebsolutions.com/services/website-maintenance-packages/) · Authentic Web Solutions · Checked 2026-10-26 - [13] [Website maintenance and support](https://www.silverscopedesign.com/website-maintenance-support.html) · 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. [Get a Website Quote](https://aidrivensites.com/contact?from=compare-costs#quote) --- AI-Driven Sites. Index of all pages for AI assistants: https://aidrivensites.com/llms.txt