Tool
First-Year Website Cost Calculator
Headline plan prices leave out much of what a website can cost. Enter your own figures, or start from a published plan, and see every line of the first-year total.
Your first-year figures
First-year estimate
| Line | Formula | Amount |
|---|
An estimate from your inputs and published plan prices checked November 4, 2026. It leaves out taxes, discounts and price changes.
The formula
The calculator adds these lines for the first twelve months:
- Plan: plan price per month × 12
- Hosting: separate hosting per month × 12 (for self-hosted software)
- Domain: the yearly domain cost
- Email: email per month × 12
- Apps and plugins: per month × 12
- Theme: the one-off theme or template cost
- Design and build: the one-off cost of design and build work
- Maintenance: hours per month × hourly value × 12
- Platform fee on sales: yearly online sales × platform fee %
- Payment processing: yearly online sales × processing % + number of orders × fixed fee, where number of orders = yearly sales ÷ average order value, rounded to the nearest whole order
The first-year total is the sum of all lines, and the monthly equivalent is that total divided by 12.
About the presets
Each preset fills in a plan price and a platform fee on sales from the official pricing page, read on November 4, 2026, using the yearly-billed price where the platform offers one. Shopify presets also fill in Shopify's published online card rate. Where a platform does not publish a processing rate on its plan page, the processing fields keep a default of 2.9% plus 30 cents, which is an assumption you should replace with your provider's actual rate.
Questions about the cost calculator
Why count maintenance time if I do it myself?
Your time has a cost even when no invoice changes hands. Putting a value on it makes a fair comparison between a hosted plan that includes upkeep and self-hosted software where you do the work.
Does the calculator include sales tax?
No. Plan prices on pricing pages are generally shown before tax, and the tax you pay depends on where your business is. Add it separately if it matters for your budget.
Why is my second year cheaper?
One-off costs such as design, build and a paid theme fall in the first year only. To estimate a second year, set those fields to zero and run the calculator again.
Where do the processing defaults come from?
The 2.9% plus 30 cents default matches Shopify's published online card rate on its Basic plan and the top of WooPayments' published range. It is only a starting point; use your own provider's rate.
Sources for this page
- WordPress.com (Automattic): WordPress.com Pricing. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
- Webflow: Our pricing. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
- Wix Blog (updated October 20, 2026): Wix Premium Plans: Which Plan to Pick for Your Site. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
- Squarespace: Squarespace Pricing Plans & Features. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
- Shopify: Plans & pricing. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
- WooCommerce: WooCommerce Pricing Puts You In Control. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
Questions
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Send the shortlist and what the site has to do. We answer questions about choosing a CMS by email, and we check any price or fact you report.