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Stop renting your revenue.

See exactly when owning your website pays back vs renting—and how much you keep over 1–5 years. Edit the estimates or paste your real numbers. The chart updates as you type.

Central PA expertise Weekly updates No platform lock-in

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What is this tool?

An interactive ownership vs rent calculator for local businesses. It compares builder subscriptions, plugins, domains, and edit fees against the true cost of owning—build once, host lightly, update with intent.

Find the exact breakeven month within 60 months.
See cumulative totals and savings at 12, 24, 36, 60 months.
Generate a copy-ready summary for partners or owners.

Input your real-world spend

Choose the subscription you pay today. All fields are editable.

A. Rental platform

Wix GoDaddy Website Builder WordPress.com Other builder

B. Rental plan costs

Platform monthly ($/mo)

Your builder subscription before taxes/promo.

Setup (one-time)

Any initial setup/onboarding fee you paid or expect.

Apps/add-ons ($/yr)

Add-ons are things like advanced forms, booking, analytics upgrades, or SEO plugins.

Domain ($/yr)

Typical domains are ~$12–20/yr.

Hosting ($/yr)

Usually $0 on builders, but leave editable.

Edits/overages ($/yr)

What you expect to pay for extra edits or overages.

Contract (months)

If your builder locks you for a term (optional, for context only).

C. Own-it (custom) costs

Build price ($)

Your custom site build quote. Default 2,500.

Hosting (own, $/yr)

AWS Lightsail baseline. Default 120/yr.

Maintenance (own, $/yr)

Optional. If you prefer, we'll hand off the site and you maintain it.

Add-ons (one-time, $)

APIs, custom flows, etc. Default 0.

D. Business impact (optional)

Leads/month

Average qualified leads/month today.

Uplift (%)

Conservative % improvement after ownership + SEO.

Close rate (%)

How many leads become paying work.

Revenue/job ($)

Typical revenue per sale/job.

Discount rate (%)

The time value of money—how we value costs spread across time. 5% is a common default.

E. Horizon

Custom month

Ownership advantage

Live

Breakeven month

Owning costs less than renting starting in month 31.

Cumulative cost chart

At month 31, the own line crosses below the rent line.

Totals and Savings

NPV on

Using editable estimates. Enter your real numbers for accuracy.

Horizon	Rent total	Own total	Difference
12 mo	$1361	$2909	$-1548
24 mo	$2655	$3298	$-642
36 mo	$3887	$3668	$219
60 mo	$6173	$4355	$1819

You keep over 36 months.

Share summary

Based on your inputs, owning your site pays back in month 31. Over 36 months, owning saves $219 compared to renting on Wix. With a revenue uplift of $350 per month, the extra work covers the cost gap in about month 6. Copy this into an email or proposal.

Request a Free Build Plan See Local Results

Why ownership beats renting

Builders look cheap monthly—but add apps, edits, and years, and you can pay more than a site you fully own. This calculator shows your breakeven month and long-term savings, with optional revenue impact if you add business numbers.

Ownership for us means you control the code, infrastructure, and data. Your content lives in Git, hosting runs on AWS Lightsail by default, and you can migrate at will. There is no platform rent and no forced upgrade path.

What you own

Your code and repository.
Your accounts and analytics.
Your hosting choice (AWS by default).
Portability—take it anywhere.
No monthly site rent.

Need the details? Review our Privacy Policy and Terms.

Web Development

See how we build high-performance sites that ship faster and convert harder.

Explore builds

SEO Sprints

Grow beyond the build with technical fixes, local signals, and content velocity.

See SEO playbooks

Google Ads Systems

Blend in-demand campaigns with owned conversions for a full-funnel plan.

Activate paid strategy

Results & proof

Teaching in PA

Migration from a builder saved $4.5k in annual plugin fees and doubled qualified education leads in six months.

Read the case study

1776 Plumbing & Drains

Philadelphia emergency service funnels moved off Wix and hit breakeven in nine months with owned SEO + ads.

See the turnaround

FAQ

Is renting cheaper to start?: Sometimes. But the totals over 2–5 years can be higher than a build you own. This calculator shows the difference in dollars so you can decide.
Do I need a CMS?: Only if it’s useful. Many small sites don’t change daily; we keep editing simple and fast with light content workflows.
What about SEO?: Owning lets us optimize performance, internal links, and schema without plugin limits. That means faster load times and richer local signals.
What if I can’t pay all at once?: We offer installments and milestones that align to value delivered. The calculator helps you plan cash flow before we even scope.

Stop renting your revenue. This calculator shows, in dollars and months, when owning your website pays back and how much you keep over the years.

Use the numbers above to brief your partners, or click through and we’ll build a custom ownership plan with payment schedules matched to your cash flow.

Request a Free Build Plan Talk Through My Numbers

Next steps

If you’re browsing from Central PA, explore nearby launchpads like Harrisburg, Montgomery County, and Allentown.

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