"Free" Website Builders Are Actually Costing You Thousands

It starts with a tempting offer: "Build your own website for free!" or "Get online for just $29/month!"

For a small business owner in Darwin watching their budget, this sounds perfect. You sign up, pick a template, and figure you’ll knock it out on a Saturday afternoon.

But fast forward three weeks: You are still fighting with the "drag-and-drop" editor, the mobile version looks broken, and you’ve spent 40 hours building a site that… frankly, looks like you built it yourself.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: "Free" and "Cheap" website builders are often the most expensive option for small businesses. Here is the math on why!

1. The Hidden Cost of Your Own Time

What is your hourly rate? Whether you are a plumber, a consultant, or a cafe owner, your time is worth money. Let's conservatively say your time is worth $100/hour.

Most non-tech people spend at least 20 to 30 hours trying to build, write, and fix a DIY website.

  • The Math: 20 hours x $100 = **$2,000**.

That "free" website just cost you $2,000 in lost productivity. And the result usually isn't even what you wanted.

The Fast Website Alternative: We charge a one-time build fee of $799. You spend 0 hours building. You save money, and you get your weekend back.

The 12-Month "Hidden" Cost Math

Expense Item DIY Builder (Wix/SQ) Fast Websites Build
Initial Setup Time (20hrs @ $100/hr) $2,000 $0
Monthly Subscription ($40/mo) $480 $0
Build / Design Fee $0 $799
Hosting & SSL (Year 1) Included above Included
TOTAL YEAR 1 COST $2,480+ $799
2. The "Rent vs. Own" Trap

This is the biggest secret of the DIY industry. When you use platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify, you do not own your website. You are renting it.

If you stop paying their monthly subscription fees, your site disappears. You can't download it, move it, or take it with you. You are locked in forever. Over 5 years, a "cheap" $40/month subscription costs you **$2,400**—and you still don't own the asset.

The Fast Website Alternative: With our packages, you own the website 100%. It is your digital asset. If you ever want to move hosting, you can take the files with you. No handcuffs.

Split-screen illustration titled 'The True Cost of Your Website'. The left side shows a stressed user struggling with a messy, broken DIY website labeled 'Hidden Costs'. The right side shows a confident professional pointing to a clean, completed website labeled 'Value & Ownership'.
3. The "Amateur Tax"

First impressions happen in 0.05 seconds. If a potential customer lands on your site and sees broken layouts, blurry images, or a generic template, they click "Back" immediately.

A DIY site often signals: "This business is new or struggling." A Professional site signals: "This business is established and trustworthy."

If your DIY site causes just one customer to leave per month, that could be thousands of dollars in lost revenue over a year. That is the "Amateur Tax," and it costs way more than a web designer does.

4. Google Hates Bloated Code

DIY builders are famous for "bloated code." To make those drag-and-drop features work, they load massive amounts of junk script in the background. This makes your site load slowly.

Google penalizes slow websites. If your site takes 5 seconds to load on a mobile phone in Darwin, Google simply won't show you in the search results. You are invisible.
 
The Fast Website Alternative: We build on clean, SEO-ready frameworks designed for speed. We create the foundation Google loves so you can actually get found.
 

The Bottom Line

You don't build your own house, and you probably shouldn't build your own business website. The "savings" are an illusion.

At Fast Websites, we stripped away the agency jargon and the high prices. We offer a professional, mobile-ready website, built by humans, live in 72 hours.

  • No monthly build fees.

  • No lost weekends.

  • 100% Ownership.

Stop struggling with the builder. Let us get you online by this weekend.

Check out our $799 Package →