There are four common ways to get a website: build it yourself, hire a freelancer, hire an agency, or buy a fixed-price build from a studio like ours. Each suits a different business. This is a plain guide to the trade-offs, with realistic price ranges for Australia.
The short version
| Route | Typical cost | Who does the work | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | About $15 to $60 a month | You | Time-rich owners, simple sites |
| Freelancer | About $800 to $3,500 | One person | Custom needs, a direct relationship |
| Typical agency | From about $5,000 and up | A team | Bigger budgets, strategy and branding |
| Straight Up Web | $500 + GST, then from $49 a month | Us | Simple 5-page sites, fast, fixed price |
The ranges for builders, freelancers and agencies are rough guides based on what Australian small businesses commonly report, also covered in our full cost guide. Quotes vary a lot. All figures exclude GST.
Building it yourself with a website builder
Wix, Squarespace and Shopify let you build a site with no code. You pay a monthly subscription and you do the work. The cheap price is real, and so is the time.
Pros: low cash cost, total control, instant changes. Cons: it takes many hours, the result depends on your design and writing skill, and the site stays tied to the builder. We compare two of them in detail in Straight Up Web vs Wix and vs Squarespace.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How many hours can I really give this, and what is my time worth?
- Who writes the words and takes the photos?
- What does the plan cost after the first year, including the domain and apps?
- Can I take my site with me if I leave the platform?
Hiring a freelancer
Freelancers range from students on Fiverr to experienced designers you find through Airtasker, a local referral or a quick search. A budget job might be a few hundred dollars. A proper small business site from a skilled freelancer usually lands somewhere between $800 and $3,500.
Pros: a direct line to the person doing the work, flexible scope, often a good eye for design. Cons: quality and reliability vary widely, and if they get busy or disappear, you may be stuck. Platforms like Fiverr and Airtasker add their own fees and rules, so check the total.
Questions to ask a freelancer:
- Can I see two or three live sites you built, and can I contact those owners?
- Who will own the domain and the hosting account?
- What is included, and what costs extra?
- What happens if I need a change in six months, and what will it cost?
- What if you are unavailable? Is everything documented so someone else can take over?
- Is payment staged, and what do I get for the deposit?
We go deeper on this one in Straight Up Web vs hiring a freelancer.
Hiring a typical agency
A full-service agency brings a team: strategist, designer, developer, copywriter and project manager. That can be worth it for a larger business with a bigger budget, a brand to build or a complicated site. Custom builds commonly start around $5,000 and can reach five figures.
Pros: depth of skill, process, and someone accountable. Cons: cost, slower timelines, and a lot of meetings. For a small local business that needs a clean five page site, it can be far more than you need.
Questions to ask an agency:
- What is in the fixed price and what triggers extra charges?
- How long will it take, and who is my day-to-day contact?
- Who owns the design files, the code and the domain when we finish?
- Is there a minimum contract for hosting or maintenance, and how do I cancel?
- Do you outsource any of the work?
Buying a fixed-price build from us
We sit between a builder and a freelancer. You pay $500 + GST. We build up to 5 pages in 7 days, set up your contact form, Google Business Profile and Search Console, add the on-page SEO basics, and include one round of changes. You own the site and the domain, and the first 3 months of Care hosting are included. After that, Care is $49 a month, month to month, with no lock-in.
The trade-off is scope. It is a simple site, not a custom build. See exactly what is covered on the websites page and in what a $500 website includes.
Questions to ask us, or anyone offering a fixed price:
- What are the limits on pages and changes?
- What costs extra? (Ours has no add-ons, as the pricing page shows.)
- What do I need to supply?
What do all four have in common?
A few things matter no matter which route you take. Make sure the domain is registered in your name, on your own account. Ask what the ongoing cost is in month two and month thirteen, not just on day one. Find out whether you can leave, and what you take with you. And check that the site works well on a real phone, because most of your visitors will use one.
None of these routes is wrong. They suit different people. A builder rewards time, a freelancer rewards careful vetting, an agency rewards a bigger budget, and a fixed-price studio rewards a simple brief. Match the route to your situation, not to what sounds most impressive.
How to choose
- Choose a builder if you have time, enjoy it and want to change things yourself.
- Choose a freelancer if you want a custom look or a particular feature and can vet the person well.
- Choose an agency if you have the budget and need strategy, brand work or a complex build.
- Choose a fixed-price studio if you want a clean, working site quickly without a big bill.
Whoever you pick, get the answers in writing, and read the red flags to watch for. If you want to see whether we fit, get started or read the FAQ.