I don't automatically charge clients a monthly website hosting fee because, for many of the small-business sites I build, the underlying hosting cost can be extremely low or effectively zero.
If there is a genuine ongoing cost or service, I am happy to charge for it.
If there is not, I do not think it should be invented.
That sounds obvious.
In web design, it often is not.
Hosting became part of the traditional sales model
For years, websites commonly ran on rented servers.
A designer or agency would build the site, host it on their infrastructure and charge the client every month or year.
That made sense.
Then the technology changed.
Static websites can now be distributed through global cloud platforms at enormous scale.
Cloudflare Pages currently charges nothing for static asset requests, even on its free tier.
Yet the commercial habit of attaching a monthly "hosting" fee to every project has not disappeared.
That is the bit I question.
I am not saying every hosting fee is a con
There are legitimate recurring costs.
A WordPress site may need managed hosting.
A business may want active maintenance.
A custom application may use paid server resources.
A provider may include support time, backups, security work or software licences.
Those are all real things.
If somebody is doing work every month, they should be paid.
The problem is when the word hosting is used as a catch-all explanation for a recurring fee that bears little relationship to what the site actually costs to operate.
Gavin's take
I want to be precise about this because there is a difference between criticising unnecessary recurring charges and pretending infrastructure has no value. If a website genuinely needs managed hosting, maintenance or support, charge for it and explain it. My objection is to turning a low-maintenance website into a permanent subscription simply because that is commercially convenient for the provider.
The incentive is obvious
Recurring revenue is attractive.
If a web studio charges €50 a month to 100 clients, that is €5,000 of predictable monthly revenue.
From the provider's perspective, that is a fantastic business model.
From the client's perspective, it may or may not be fantastic value.
The question is whether those 100 clients are receiving something worth €50 every month.
If they are, good.
If the only ongoing service is keeping a very lightweight website online on infrastructure that costs next to nothing, the client deserves to understand that.
I would rather charge for the website
My model is simpler.
You pay me to design and build the website.
Every Built by Gavin site is custom-built for the business. I do not use off-the-shelf website templates and then put a premium price on top.
Once the site is live, I prefer the ongoing costs to remain as close as possible to the real costs.
The domain still renews.
A booking service may have a subscription.
Business email may have a subscription.
If the client later wants changes, those changes are work.
But I do not automatically need a slice every month merely because the website exists.
Why Cloudflare makes this possible
For many straightforward websites, Cloudflare is an excellent fit.
Static files can be served through its global network.
Cloudflare Pages currently makes static asset requests free and unlimited on both free and paid plans.
Cloudflare also provides DNS services and automatically issued Universal SSL certificates for activated domains.
That combination removes several costs that small businesses were traditionally told were unavoidable.
It does not eliminate every possible website cost.
It simply means the base infrastructure for a certain class of website can be remarkably inexpensive.
I explain the platform more fully in Cloudflare for small-business websites.
What happens if the website needs something dynamic?
Then I add what it needs.
A contact form can use a function or specialist service.
A booking system can use a dedicated platform.
Payments can use a payment provider.
A more involved application can use Workers or other backend services.
The important thing is to avoid taking the most complex possible architecture as the starting point.
Complexity should be added because the business requires it.
Not because it gives the provider more infrastructure to manage.
What about maintenance?
This is separate.
If a client wants regular updates, new pages, support or ongoing technical attention, that is an ongoing service.
There is nothing wrong with a monthly maintenance arrangement when it reflects actual work.
But I prefer to call things what they are.
Hosting is hosting.
Maintenance is maintenance.
SEO is SEO.
Content work is content work.
Software licences are software licences.
Combining everything into one vague recurring "website fee" makes it harder for the client to understand what they own and what they are paying for.
Read more in which monthly website fees are actually necessary.
What if the client wants me to look after everything?
That is fine too.
Some businesses do not want to think about domains, hosting or updates.
Convenience has value.
A managed arrangement can be completely reasonable.
The distinction is transparency.
The client should know they are paying for management and support, rather than being told the underlying website simply costs that amount to stay online.
Why this matters more than €30 or €50 a month
It is partly about money.
But it is also about ownership.
I do not like web arrangements where clients feel afraid to leave because they do not know who owns the domain, where the website lives or whether it disappears when the subscription ends.
A small-business website should not feel like a hostage situation.
The client should understand the setup.
If they want another designer to work on it in the future, that should not become a drama.
Is low-cost hosting the main selling point?
No.
A cheap website that looks poor is still a poor website.
The design, content and user experience matter much more to the customer.
Built by Gavin's aim is not:
Cheapest possible website.
It is:
A strong custom website without unnecessary agency overhead or unnecessary ongoing costs.
The low hosting requirement is one consequence of building the technology sensibly.
Where I think the industry gets this wrong
There are excellent web designers and agencies.
There are also businesses paying thousands upfront for websites that are little more than modified templates, then paying significant monthly fees indefinitely.
Sometimes the work underdelivers relative to the price.
I do not think pretending otherwise makes Built by Gavin more credible.
Small businesses deserve to ask harder questions.
What is custom?
What do I own?
What costs money after launch?
What happens if I leave?
What work happens every month?
A supplier who provides good value should be comfortable answering all of those.
What I'd do
If I were comparing two website quotes, I would calculate the three-year cost, not just the build price. A €1,000 site with €75 a month attached to it is a very different purchase from a €1,000 site with only a domain renewal and genuinely optional support. I think clients should see that total clearly before they agree to anything.
The bottom line
I do not automatically charge monthly hosting because I do not automatically incur a meaningful monthly hosting cost for the type of sites I often build.
If a real recurring requirement exists, I will explain it.
If it does not, I would rather leave the money with the client.
That is a fairly simple philosophy.
Want to see the actual pricing?
My website options and prices are published here.
Or tell me what you need and I can explain both the build cost and the likely ongoing costs before you commit.
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