When you compare website quotes, the build price is only the first number. The monthly fee — the one required to keep the site online once it’s built — is the number that changes the real Year-1 cost. It’s also the number many quotes leave off the pricing page.
The clearest current example is the £999 build tier, where the headline is accurate but the £15–£30/month hosting fee is usually published only on a separate FAQ page. The same pattern shows up at other price points — the maths in this post applies to any quote where the build fee and the monthly fee aren’t on the same page.
Quick answer. A “£999 website” with mandatory £15–£30/month hosting works out at £1,179–£1,359 in Year 1, before any add-ons. By comparison, a £600 GrantOps Brochure with £20/month hosting is £840 in Year 1, all-in — build, 12 months of hosting, content updates, business email, daily backups, and security monitoring included. The maths principle (headline build + 12× monthly fee = real Year-1 cost) applies to any quote, not just £999.
The pattern to look for in website quotes
Most “website from £X” pages share a structure:
- A headline build price (£299, £499, £999, £1,500 — varies by tier)
- “Hosted on premium servers” or similar
- “Unlimited support” or “premium care” included in vague terms
- Domain included for the first year
- A 5-star Trustpilot or Google review wall
What you usually have to find on a separate page — often the FAQ rather than the pricing page — is one of these monthly figures:
- £15/month basic hosting
- £20–£25/month with a “care plan”
- £30/month at the higher tier
The build fee is real. So is the monthly fee. They just don’t appear on the same page.
This isn’t a single-provider problem — it’s a common pattern on the platform-built website tier, and it shows up at other price points too. The build fee is the headline because it converts; the monthly fee is the recurring revenue that funds the rest of the operation.
Why does hosting cost money?
Hosting is what keeps your website online — running on a server somewhere, accessible to anyone who types the address. Real costs underneath:
- The server itself — a computer in someone’s data centre, drawing electricity, with hardware that wears out and gets replaced.
- Bandwidth — every visitor who loads your site downloads files; the data centre charges per gigabyte that flows in or out.
- Software upkeep — security patches, version updates, SSL certificate renewals, uptime monitoring.
- Backups — separate storage so the site can be restored if something breaks.
- Support — someone available when something goes wrong.
The cheapest end of this market — bare-bones shared hosting — runs around £3–£8/month and gives you the server only, with no managed backups, no maintenance, no support. Managed hosting at £20–£50/month bundles all the upkeep into one fee.
One thing the market gets wrong: “free hosting” claims. If a builder advertises hosting as free, someone is still paying for it. Real running costs don’t disappear — they get hidden in one of two ways:
- Loss leader. The builder absorbs the hosting cost themselves to win the build, and recoups it from the headline build fee or from upsells elsewhere. You’re not getting it free — you’ve already paid for it inside the build price.
- You’re paying through another channel. Sometimes “free hosting” comes with a longer contract, a higher build fee, mandatory add-ons, or a referral arrangement with the underlying platform. The cost is real; it’s just not on the line item that says “hosting”.
Free hosting at real running cost would be a charity, not a business. The honest question to ask: “If hosting is free, where does the money for the servers come from?” The answer reveals the actual shape of the deal.
For a deeper comparison of what the cheap-hosting tier gets you versus managed AWS hosting, see shared hosting vs managed AWS hosting.
The Year-1 maths
Worked example using common published price points in this tier (sources kept on file; not surfaced here to avoid naming individual operators):
| Provider type | Build | Monthly hosting | Months in Year 1 | Year 1 all-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £999 platform-built website (low end of monthly) | £999 | £15 | 12 | £1,179 |
| £999 platform-built website (typical) | £999 | £20 | 12 | £1,239 |
| £999 platform-built website (high end) | £999 | £30 | 12 | £1,359 |
| GrantOps Brochure (launch) | £600 | £20 (included) | 12 | £840 |
| GrantOps Business | £1,299 | £30 (included) | 12 | £1,659 |
A £999 build with the typical £20/month hosting fee is £1,239 in Year 1 — about £400 more than a GrantOps Brochure at £840, before either side adds anything else. From Year 2 onwards, both charge similarly per year for hosting, so the gap settles. What stays different is what’s included in that monthly fee, and what you own if you stop paying.
The same calculation works at any price point. A £499 build with a £25/month required fee is £799 in Year 1. A £1,500 build with £35/month is £1,920. Headline build + (12 × monthly fee) = real Year-1 cost.
How to find the monthly fee in any website quote
Three places to look, in order of likelihood:
- The FAQ page — search the text for “hosting”, “monthly”, “care plan”, or “support”
- A “care plan” or “support” page linked from the footer
- The terms of service if both of the above are silent
If you can’t find a number after looking in those three places, ask directly: “What does it cost per month to keep this site live, and is that fee mandatory or optional?”
If the answer comes back as mandatory and the fee isn’t published on the same page as the build price, that’s information.
Why this pattern is so common
A few reasons it’s settled into the market shape it has:
- Headline price wins clicks. “£999” converts; “£999 + £25/month for as long as you keep the site” doesn’t.
- Monthly is recurring revenue. A one-off build fee is a single payment; a £20/month fee across 200 clients is £48,000/year of revenue that doesn’t depend on selling a new build.
- Lock-in compounds. On the platform-built tier, the site can’t usually be lifted off the platform — leaving means rebuilding from scratch, so the monthly fee keeps compounding for years rather than capping at the build cost.
- The builder is also paying for the platform. When the build sits on a platform like Flock or Lovable, the agency is themselves a paying customer of that platform — they pay a subscription, the platform handles the hosting and tooling, and the agency adds their margin on top of yours. Part of your monthly fee is funding their platform subscription. Hand-coded builds don’t have this layer — the £20/month goes to one provider, not two.
None of this is dishonest. The prices are usually published somewhere. The complaint is structural — the headline doesn’t match the all-in.
What “all-in” should look like in any quote
A transparent quote covers, on a single page:
- The build fee
- The monthly fee for as long as you stay
- What the monthly fee includes (hosting, updates, email, support — and what’s billed extra)
- Year-1 total
- Year-2 onwards annual total
- What you own if you stop paying
If any of those is missing, ask for it. A reputable builder doesn’t mind itemising.
What we charge at GrantOps
Our Brochure is £600 at launch pricing (normally £800) with £20/month Starter hosting. Year 1 all-in: £840. Year 2 onwards: £240/year (12 × £20). No mandatory care plan; content updates and business email are included in the £20/month.
For more sophisticated needs, Business is £1,299 with £30/month Professional hosting included; Online Stores start at £1,800 with £45/month Online Shop hosting included.
The build fee and the monthly fee live on the same page because buyers should be able to compare the all-in cost without hunting.
Further reading
- What ‘Bespoke’ Actually Means in 2026 — the four ways a “bespoke” site gets built, and why £999 quotes usually sit in the platform-built website tier.
- How Much Does a Website Cost in Scotland? — broader cost survey across the Scottish market.
- What’s Really Included in Your Website Quote? — checklist for vetting any quote.
View packages or get a free quote.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the monthly fee matter when comparing website quotes?
The build price is the headline; the monthly fee is the recurring cost that determines what you'll actually pay over Year 1, Year 2, and beyond. A £999 build with a £20/month required hosting fee is £1,239 in Year 1 — roughly £400 more than the headline suggests. Many quotes don't add this up for you, so it's worth asking directly.
What's a typical 'mandatory monthly hosting' fee on a £999 build?
£15–£30/month across visible UK providers in this tier we reviewed. £15 is the low end, £20–£25 is most common, £30 is the high end. The fee is usually listed on a separate FAQ or 'care plan' page rather than the homepage or pricing page.
How do I find the monthly fee if it's not on the homepage?
Three places: (1) the FAQ page — search for 'hosting' or 'monthly'; (2) a 'care plan' or 'support' page linked from the footer; (3) the terms of service if both of the above are silent. If you can't find it after that, ask directly: 'What does it cost per month to keep this site live, and is that fee mandatory or optional?'
What's the difference between £999 + £20/mo and £600 + £20/mo?
Year 1: £1,239 vs £840 — about £400 difference. From Year 2 onwards both charge £240/year for hosting, so the gap settles. The bigger differences are usually what's included in the £20/mo (content updates and business email are often add-ons on the £999 tier), and what you own if you stop paying — hand-coded builds travel with you, platform-built sites usually don't.
Is this a scam?
No — the prices are real and they're usually published somewhere. The complaint is structural: the build fee is on the headline, the monthly fee is on a quieter page, and Year-1 all-in is rarely added up for the buyer. Asking for the all-in figure on one page is a reasonable thing to do, and a transparent builder will give it without resistance.