YEAR-TWO BILL
The year-two bill starts with the renewal price
The intro price on a website builder is a sticker, not a bill. Your second invoice is where the real number shows up, and it is almost always higher.
Builders advertise the first term. Renewal prices, domain renewals, and paid add-ons arrive after that, often without a reminder. For a plumber, salon or cleaner who needs a site that books and takes quotes, the honest figure is what you pay in year two and every year after.
| Line item | Intro (year one) | Renewal (year two) |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Premium | $2.99/mo on a 48-month prepay ($143.52) | $10.99/mo |
| GoDaddy Basic | $9.99/mo, first term only | Near the $16.99/mo list rate |
| Domain (.com) | Free for year one on annual plans | About $20 to $23 a year |
| Business email | Free for year one (Hostinger, GoDaddy) | Auto-renews at full rate unless cancelled |
Annual billing hides the monthly figure. A plan shown at $17 a month is charged as $204 on day one, so the cash you pay in year two is a single large payment you may not have planned for.
See the ranked builders on year-two cost
Domain, email and paid apps: the recurring lines
The builder plan is only the first line on your statement. Domain renewal, business email and paid apps often bill on their own dates, so they can land on your card long after you thought the site was paid for. Itemize them before you buy, and you will know your real monthly figure.
- Domain renewalYour .com address is usually billed separately from the builder and renews on its own anniversary. Check the renewal figure on the registrar or builder checkout page, not the first-year promo. Wholesale .com registration sits near $10 a year, so a fair retail budget is $10–15 a year.
- Business emailMatching email such as name@yourtrade.com is a separate monthly or annual line per mailbox. Some builders bundle it free for year one and then auto-renew at the full rate. Confirm the renewal date and cancel it there if you use another provider.
- Paid apps for booking and formsAppointment booking, extra form fields and payment features are often locked behind a higher plan or a second subscription. A booking tool sold as a separate product can add a monthly line on top of the builder, so check which features your trade needs before you pick a tier.
- Totalling the recurring linesAdd the builder renewal, domain, each mailbox and every app you will need into one monthly figure. Compare that total on the Best Builders ranking, and use the monthly cost guide for the full line-item math.
Payment fees and designer fixes you did not budget
The builder plan, domain and email are the fixed lines. The two variable lines are the ones that catch owners out: the processing fee taken from every booking deposit, and the designer invoice that arrives when a template breaks. Neither shows up in a headline price.
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1
Payment processing fees come off every transaction
Taking a deposit or a paid booking means a processing fee on each one. The percentage depends on the builder and the plan tier, so check it before you assume a deposit lands in full. On a $100 deposit, a 3% fee is $3 gone per booking; across 40 bookings a month that is $120 a month you never budgeted. Plans that take payments at all are often the higher tier, which is why the Wix Core upgrade to $29 a month matters for any salon taking deposits.
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Fees grow with booking volume, not with your plan price
A flat plan fee does not scale with sales, but a percentage fee does. A cafe taking 10 small pre-orders a week pays very little; a plumber taking $300 call-out deposits on 15 jobs a month pays noticeably more. Run the sum on your real monthly bookings before you pick a builder, not on the plan's sticker price.
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Designer fixes arrive as one-off invoices
When a template breaks after a builder update, or you need a booking button moved or a new service page added, the work goes to a designer. Ad hoc fixes are commonly billed per job, and a single fix can easily run to $100 to $300 or more depending on the designer. None of that appears in the builder's pricing page, so it never lands in the monthly figure you were quoted.
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Why the true bill is hard to predict
Processing fees move with your sales and designer fixes arrive when something breaks, so neither can be read off a plan page. Set aside a fixed monthly allowance for fixes and total the processing percentage against your expected bookings. That gives you a year-two figure you can actually defend, and it is the number to compare when you weigh one builder against another on the Best Builders ranking.
Renewal traps checklist before you pay
Before you enter a card, check these five traps against the renewal figure, not the intro figure. Each one is a place where a builder's headline price and your real year-two bill part ways.
Annual lock-in charged up front
Annual plans are charged in full before the site is live: Wix Light at $17 a month is a $204 charge on day one, so check the total you pay at signup.
Renewal rate jumps
Intro rates often roughly double at the first anniversary. Hostinger's $2.99 becomes $10.99 once the four prepaid years end, about 3.7 times the intro rate.
Domain and email billed separately
A free first-year domain expires into a renewal, often $20 to $23 a year, and business email can auto-renew at full rate after year one. Both sit outside the builder's headline price.
Paid app upgrades for booking and payments
A feature you need can sit behind a higher tier: Wix Light takes no online payments, so a salon taking deposits needs Core at $29 a month, and Squarespace booking through Acuity starts at $16 a month as a second subscription.