DIY Site Builder vs Hiring a Freelancer or Agency: What Each Actually Costs
A site plan is a recurring subscription. Webflow lists plans from $15 per month and Squarespace from $19 per month, both billed annually, and neither includes professional design work. Hiring a freelancer or agency adds a project fee, and every route carries ongoing hosting and maintenance costs.
Plan fees are not project fees
Three different costs get mixed up in this decision:
- Platform fees: the recurring plan you pay a builder such as Squarespace or Webflow. It covers the software and, on hosted plans, the hosting.
- Project fees: a one-off (or phased) charge from a freelancer or agency for planning, design, build, content and launch work.
- Ongoing costs: hosting, updates, security, small changes, domain renewals and anything else that continues after launch.
A $19 monthly plan tells you what the tool costs. It does not tell you what a redesign costs, because a redesign is mostly labour: deciding what the site should say, structuring it, designing it, building it and moving the old content across. On the DIY route that labour is your time. On the hire route it is the project fee.
For price ranges on the project side, see how much a website redesign costs.
Route 1: DIY on a hosted builder
You pay a plan fee and do the work yourself, or hand it to someone in your team.
What you pay for:
- A plan. Webflow lists plans from $15 per month and Squarespace from $19 per month, both billed annually. Higher tiers add features such as ecommerce or larger content needs.
- Anything outside the plan: paid extensions or apps, a custom email service, stock photography, copywriting or a logo. Check what your chosen plan includes before assuming it is all-in.
What the plan does not include: professional design work, a content strategy, copywriting, or someone to check that the finished site works well for visitors. Templates and editors reduce the effort, but the decisions are still yours.
Who is responsible: you. That covers page structure, writing, images, mobile checks, accessibility basics, redirects from old addresses and testing forms. The W3C notes that accessibility is most efficient when it is built in from the very beginning, which is easy to miss when you are working alone.
The real cost: your hours, plus the risk of a site that launches but does not do its job. Value your time before calling this route cheap.
Route 2: Freelancer or agency project
You pay a project fee to a person or team, and the site still has to live somewhere, usually on a hosted platform or a CMS with hosting.
What you pay for: the project itself, and separately the platform plan, hosting and maintenance. Ask the quote to say who pays for each and in whose name accounts are held.
Why prices vary so much: the same word, 'redesign', covers very different jobs. Forum posts show the spread. One small-business owner reported estimates of $4,000 to $8,000, with a few bids between $13,000 and $17,000. Another poster described quoting $3,200 including a 20% discount. A designer in another thread said they had built similar sites for as little as $5k and as much as $60k. These are anecdotes, not market averages, but they make the point: scope, content, functionality and who does the work explain the gap, not page count alone.
Who is responsible: whoever the quote says. That is the useful part of the route. A clear scope assigns design, build, content, redirects, testing, training and launch to named parties, so nothing is assumed.
A note on Webflow: Webflow lists site plans (which run a site) separately from workspace plans aimed at freelancers and agencies (which cover the people building sites). If you hire a Webflow builder, ask which plan covers what, and who pays for the site plan once the site is live.
To line up quotes, use how to compare website redesign quotes.
Route 3: Platform or CMS migration
Sometimes the question is not 'redesign or not' but 'stay or move'. A migration means moving an existing site from one platform or CMS to another, with or without a new look.
What you pay for: the new platform's plan or hosting, plus the work of moving content. Migration cost depends on how much content you have, how much of it needs reformatting, and which features must be rebuilt (forms, bookings, ecommerce, integrations).
What is easy to overlook:
- Redirects from old page addresses to new ones, so existing links and search visibility are not lost.
- Content that does not transfer cleanly and has to be rebuilt by hand.
- Features that exist on the old platform but have no direct equivalent on the new one.
- Cancelling or downgrading the old plan at the right time, and keeping your domain access.
Who is responsible: on DIY, you. On a hired migration, the quote should list each of the items above. There is no honest single price for migration, so be wary of any figure given before someone has looked at your site.
Next step: write your scope
Whichever route you take, the same document helps. A written scope lets you price DIY honestly (what will I have to do myself?), brief a freelancer or agency, and compare quotes that would otherwise look unrelated. The redesign scope checklist lists what is usually included and what often costs extra.
Which route suits which situation
- DIY tends to fit when the site is small and mostly static, you already have the text and images, you can spend the time, and a plain template would serve your visitors well.
- Hiring tends to fit when the site needs custom structure, new content or messaging, integrations, or careful handling of existing search visibility, or when your time is better spent running the business.
- A migration scoped separately tends to fit when your current platform is the problem (cost, limits or support) and the design is largely acceptable.
- A mix is common: a professional handles structure and design on a hosted platform, and you maintain content afterwards. Agree in writing which tasks stay with you.
If you are unsure, price the DIY route with your own hours included and compare it to a written quote on the same scope.
| Option | DIY on a hosted builder | Freelancer or agency project | Platform or CMS migration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main cost type | Recurring plan fee, plus your own time | One-off or phased project fee, plus platform, hosting and maintenance | Project or DIY effort, plus the new platform's plan or hosting |
| Price signal | Squarespace plans from $19 per month and Webflow plans from $15 per month, billed annually (USD) | No single figure. Forum posters report anything from about $3,200 to $60,000 for similar-sounding work, depending on scope | No single figure. Depends on content volume and features to rebuild |
| Includes professional design? | No. The plan is the software | Yes, if the quote says so | Only if scoped; a migration may keep the existing design |
| Skills needed from you | Page structure, writing, image handling, testing, basic accessibility | Briefing, giving feedback, supplying or approving content | Knowing what content and features must survive the move |
| Time | Your hours; depends on how ready your content is | Set in the quote; ask for a schedule and what you must supply, and when | Depends on content volume and complexity; ask for a schedule |
| Who handles redirects and testing | You | Whoever the quote names | Whoever the quote names, or you |
| Ongoing costs | Plan renewal, extensions, domain, small changes by you | Plan or hosting, maintenance, and any retainer or hourly changes | Plan or hosting on the new platform, plus maintenance |
Plan prices are the starting prices listed by Squarespace and Webflow, billed annually in USD. Platforms change plans and prices, so confirm on their pricing pages before you decide. Forum figures are anecdotal reports, not averages. The table does not rank providers or routes and does not cover taxes, domains, extensions or payment-processing fees.
Questions
Is a site builder plan the same as the cost of a redesign?
No. A plan is a recurring subscription for the platform. A redesign also involves planning, design, content, build and launch work, which is either your own time or a professional's project fee.
Does a Squarespace plan include design help?
A plan gives you access to the platform and its templates and editing tools. It does not include professional design work. If you want a designer to plan or build the site, that is a separate arrangement and a separate cost.
Why does Webflow have separate plans for freelancers and agencies?
Webflow lists site plans, which run a published site, separately from workspace plans for the people building sites, such as freelancers, agencies and teams. If you hire a Webflow builder, ask which plans are needed and who pays for the site plan after launch.
What recurring costs apply even if I hire someone?
Expect the platform plan or hosting, domain renewal, maintenance and updates, and any paid extensions. Changes after launch may be billed hourly or through a retainer. Ask your quote to list these and say who pays.
When is DIY likely to be enough?
DIY is most likely enough for a small, fairly static site where you already have the text and images, can spend the time, and a template layout suits your visitors. It gets harder with custom functionality, large content moves or a need to protect existing search visibility.