Website subscription or one-time payment: which is better?

Website quotes come in two shapes: "$X a month, everything included" or "$Y, once". The first looks cheaper and the second looks more expensive, and the real difference shows up two or three years later, or on the day you want to switch providers. Below is how to compare them and what to check in the contract. Market prices are in our guide to how much a website costs.

The three options

None of them is wrong. They differ in who carries the risk and who ends up owning the site.

What a subscription actually includes

"Everything included" means different things at every agency. Before you sign, find out:

• the minimum term and what it costs to leave early;
• which changes are included: how many, what kind, how fast;
• what isn't included: new pages, new features, a redesign;
• whose name the domain is in;
• what happens when the contract ends: you get the site, the code, a copy of the content, or nothing.

Many subscription sites are built on the agency's own platform and stay with the agency when the contract ends. You're effectively renting. That isn't necessarily bad, but you should know it before you sign, not after.

What it costs over three and five years

Compared on the first month, a subscription always looks cheaper. An example with round numbers for a small business site:

The numbers are only an example; put your own quotes in their place. Add maintenance and paid changes to the one-time option if you'll need them, and add the cost of rebuilding the site to the subscription if you might leave. What maintenance includes and costs is in website maintenance cost, and hosting in website hosting cost.

Who owns the site: four things to check

Whatever you choose, four things should belong to your business:

1. The domain. The registrant is the legal holder of the domain. If the agency registered it in its own name, it can keep it or let it lapse. How to check and transfer it is in how to register a domain name.
2. The hosting. The hosting account in your business's name, or at least access to it and to the backups.
3. The copyright. Under the US Copyright Act, a site built by an independent contractor usually isn't a "work made for hire", so the designer owns the copyright, and a transfer is valid only in writing, signed. Ask for a written assignment of the design, text and code made for you, on full payment. Themes and plugins you bought stay under their own licences.
4. The accounts. Google Business Profile, Search Console, Google Analytics and social media: your business is the owner; the agency only has access.

When a subscription makes sense

A subscription is the right choice when:

• you can't pay up front and need a site now;
• the site is temporary: an event, a campaign, a market test;
• you want someone to handle every change for a fixed fee, and you know you'll use it;
• the contract has a buyout clause: after a set period or for a set fee, the site and domain become yours.

A one-time payment is the right choice when the site is meant to last years, when you want to be able to change providers without losing anything, and when changes are rare.

What to ask for in the contract

1. The total price over three years, with every yearly cost.
2. Whose name the domain and hosting account are in.
3. A written assignment of copyright in the site.
4. Which changes are included, and the price of those that aren't.
5. What you get when the contract ends: code, content, backups.
6. Who has owner access to your Google accounts.

The full list of questions for an agency is in questions to ask a web designer.

At Manvro, a website is paid for once, with no required subscription. We take care of the domain and hosting, and the written quote shows what hosting costs per year. The domain and accounts are in your business's name, the rights to the site pass to you on full payment, and the warranty is 24 months. Details are on our web design agency page.