Every builder advertises the first bill. Nobody advertises the fourth year. This calculator adds up what a standard site (your own domain, no online store) really costs over time, including the parts the pricing pages whisper: renewal jumps, domain renewals after the free first year, and what it costs to give a partner edit access.
Assumptions: prices verified against each vendor's pricing page on September 22, 2026, annual billing, standard site without ecommerce. Domains ~$15/yr after first-year freebies. Hostinger's best rate requires 48 months paid upfront, so its 1-3 year figures here use that same upfront purchase. Partner editing: Framer needs a paid seat ($20/mo); Wix, Hostinger, and Durable include collaborator access, and Squarespace Basic includes two contributors; hand-edited static files effectively can't be shared with a non-technical partner.
How to read the numbers
The cheapest option and the right option are usually different rows. Static files win on price every single time, and they're what this site runs on, but the moment a non-technical partner needs to edit, that stack fails; flip the "who edits it" switch above and read the notes. Hostinger's number looks unbeatable in years one through four because it is, as long as you're comfortable paying $143.52 upfront for a site you might redesign in two. Framer's number is rarely the lowest and it's still my pick, because it's the one where the site looks designed and the pricing never plays games. The reasoning is in the full comparison.
What changed in these numbers this year
Three of the six rows moved since this calculator went up, which is the entire argument for a tool like this. Hostinger's teaser went from $1.99 to $2.99 a month, turning the four-year prepay from $95.52 into $143.52. Framer's extra editor seat dropped from a $20-to-$40 range to a flat $20, which makes the partner scenario meaningfully cheaper. And Durable started including a custom domain on its Launch plan, so it no longer carries a domain charge here. Squarespace joined the table because leaving out the builder half the internet uses was an omission, not an opinion.
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Try Framer freeQuick answers
Why do website builders get more expensive after the first year?
Teaser pricing. The advertised rate usually covers a long prepaid first term, then renewal lands at the real price. Hostinger is the clearest case: $2.99 a month requires 48 months paid upfront, then renews at $10.99 a month, about 3.7 times the teaser.
What's the cheapest way to have a website?
Plain static files on free hosting plus a ~$15 a year domain. It wins on price every time, with one honest catch: it's a solo-operator stack, and a non-technical partner can't edit it.
Are the free plans from Framer or Wix enough?
For learning and for a project you're testing, yes. Framer's free tier is a real editor on a framer.website subdomain, capped at 30 pages; Wix's free tier puts Wix branding on your site. Squarespace has no free tier at all, only a 14-day trial. For anything with your own domain, budget for the paid tier.
Keep reading
The prose answer: how much a website really costsThe builders comparedThe renewal-math warning in full