Website lease vs buying: which is cheaper over 5 years?

Over five years, a website lease and buying a website outright end up costing surprisingly similar amounts - but they're not the same thing at all. Buying means a big upfront bill and you own the site (plus every update, security fix and problem after). Leasing means one flat monthly fee and somebody keeps it working forever. Here's the honest comparison, so you can see which one is actually cheaper for your business.

What buying a website really costs

A decent one-off website from a professional agency typically starts at £1,500-£3,000. That gets you the build, and then the costs begin:

Hosting and a domain: roughly £10-£25 a month, year after year.
Updates: most agencies charge £40-£75 an hour for content changes. Two hours a month of small changes adds up fast.
Security and maintenance: SSL renewals, plugin updates, backups, the annual "it's broke, please fix" call - each with a bill attached.
Redesigns: after three to five years the site looks dated and needs another build, at another four-figure price.

Suddenly that £2,000 website is a running cost with no ceiling - and it only looks "cheaper" because the bills arrive separately.

What a website lease costs

Our website lease is a flat £85 a month plus VAT - £102 all in. For that single price you get:

The design and build (no upfront fee at all)
Secure, fast hosting with 99.99% uptime
Security managed in the background
Up to 2 hours of content updates every month
A UK team that keeps it current - so it never goes stale

Over 5 years that's about £6,120. A £2,000 build plus hosting, updates and fixes over the same period will comfortably match that - and it'll be your job to manage, chase and coordinate every bit of it.

So which is cheaper?

If you never change anything and never get it touched: buying outright can be cheaper on paper. But that's the website that quietly stops working for you - and the point of a website is to win enquiries, not to be the cheapest thing on the internet.

If you want a website that's looked after, updated and current: the lease wins on cost and effort. You get the updates and maintenance that a one-off build charges you extra for, all wrapped into one predictable bill - the same reason people rent a house rather than manage the boiler themselves.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns the website if I lease it? The design and build remain ours - it's a lease, not a sale. But your domain name and everything you provided (photos, videos, text) always stay yours. This explains the boundary in plain English.

What happens if I cancel? There's a 12-month minimum lease, then it's month-to-month with 30 days' notice. No lock-in beyond the first year, and your domain and content go with you.

Is buying ever the right choice? Yes - if you have a web-savvy team, a big budget, and you want to own and manage everything yourself. For most small businesses and tradespeople, that's a lot of responsibility nobody asked for. Why most small business websites fail is usually a maintenance problem, not a build problem.

What's the difference from a Wix or Squarespace site? A DIY site saves money and costs time - yours. You become the designer, writer, updater and security guard. The lease trades that monthly cost for having it all done for you. It's the difference between building the kitchen yourself and hiring the team.

If you want this done for you

£85 a month buys you a website that's designed, built, hosted, secured and updated for you - which is the comparison above in one line. Read what the lease actually includes, see the pricing in full, or, if you run a trade, check what our tradesman website design offers.

If you want this done for you for £85 a month, book a free 30-minute chat and we'll talk through whether the lease or an outright build is the right call for you - we'll give you an honest answer either way, no obligation. Fully booked right now? Here's why it's still the right time to sort it.