The monthly number feels fine. The 5-year number doesn’t.
Here’s what the most popular website builders actually cost a small business owner over 5 years — not including the time you spent building it or the updates you pay for later:
| Platform | Monthly cost | Annual cost | 5-year total | What you own at year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace Basic | $16/mo | $192 | $960 | Nothing |
| Squarespace Business | $23/mo | $276 | $1,380 | Nothing |
| Wix Core | $17/mo | $204 | $1,020 | Nothing |
| Wix Business | $36/mo | $432 | $2,160 | Nothing |
| GoDaddy Basic | $10/mo | $120 | $600 | Nothing |
| Custom build (Cohoon Consulting 7-Day Liftoff) | $0/mo after build | ~$15/yr (domain only) | Build cost + ~$75 | Everything — site, code, domain, hosting |
The “nothing” in the last column is the number that matters. If you cancel Squarespace, your site disappears. If you want to switch to a different platform, you start over. There is no equity, no asset, no exit ramp. You’ve been renting.
The math for a typical local business in Michigan
Let’s run the real numbers for a plumber in Waterford or an electrician in Rochester Hills who’s been on Squarespace Business since 2021:
Squarespace Business — 5 years (2021–2026)
Custom build (7-Day Liftoff) — same 5 years
Over 5 years: a $115 difference in total cost. One option leaves you with a business asset you own outright. The other leaves you with nothing and the same $23 bill coming next month.
The hidden costs that make the gap even wider
The monthly plan is just the start. Here’s what Squarespace and Wix users often discover after the first year:
- The domain renewal trap. Both platforms offer a free domain the first year, then charge $20–$30/year after that — more than the $12–$15 you’d pay at Namecheap or Google Domains directly.
- Feature tiers. The $16/month plan doesn’t include everything you need. You hit a wall (more products, advanced analytics, remove platform branding) and upgrade to the next tier. That upgrade often costs as much as the original plan.
- The SEO ceiling. Both platforms give you limited control over technical SEO — schema markup, page structure, canonical tags, site speed optimization. You’re paying a developer or SEO consultant to work around the platform’s constraints, which is an extra cost on top of the subscription.
- Redesign cost. Squarespace and Wix update their template systems periodically. If you want to move to a newer template, you’re rebuilding from scratch inside their system — with their UI, their limitations, and your time.
When a website builder still makes sense
I’m not going to pretend subscription builders are always wrong. There are cases where they make sense:
- You’re testing a business idea and don’t know if it’ll last 6 months
- Your budget is truly zero and you need something live today
- You run a non-local business that doesn’t depend on Google Maps rankings
For a trades or service business in Oakland County or Genesee County that needs to rank locally, serve existing customers, and look credible on a phone? A custom site is the better math and the better asset.
The question to ask yourself
Five years from now, do you want to have spent $1,500 on a site you own outright, or $1,500 on a subscription that you’re still paying and can walk away from with nothing?
If you already have a Squarespace or Wix site and want to evaluate whether switching makes sense for your business, book a free conversation. I’ll look at what you have, tell you what it would take to migrate, and be honest with you about whether the switch is worth it for your specific situation. See the full website design services and pricing here.