Honest comparison
Website builder vs studio: counting the real cost over 3 years
An AI website builder genuinely assembles a landing page in an evening — and for some tasks that is the right choice. So we compare without bias: platform fees, build cost, legal compliance, ongoing support and risks over three years.
Total cost of ownership
What is actually in the price over 3 years
| Builder (DIY)Wix, Squarespace, AI builder | Builder + freelancerTypical small business path | NOREMOLaunch + monthly support plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform & hosting over 3 years | ≈ $400–900 in subscriptions | ≈ $400–900 in subscriptions | Included in support plan |
| Building the site | Your evenings and weekends | ≈ $300–700 one-off | Fixed launch price — includes structure and copy guidance |
| Legal pages, consents, cookie layer | DIY — risk of non-compliance | Usually "not my scope" — quoted separately | Included in every launch package |
| Post-launch edits | DIY within platform block limits | Per-task invoices, if the freelancer is still available | Covered in monthly support plan |
| Domain, SSL, backups, monitoring | Partly on the platform — you track the rest | You track it yourself | Fully covered in support — we manage it |
| Who owns the site | The platform: code is locked in | The platform: code is locked in | You: domain, code and data are fully portable |
| Total over 3 years | ≈ $500–1 200 + your time and compliance risk | ≈ $900–1 800 | Transparent — launch + support plan, all-inclusive |
Against the cheapest DIY plan we are more expensive — roughly by the cost of one compliance issue. Builder and freelancer figures are based on published rates at time of writing and shown as ranges. Our prices are fixed and published on the pricing page.
What the price difference covers
Four things hidden in a builder subscription
Platform dependency
A site on a website builder is tied to its subscription. Cancel it and the site goes dark. Platform pricing keeps rising, and moving away means rebuilding from scratch. With NOREMO, the domain, code and database are always yours.
Compliance risk erases the savings
A single issue with cookie banners, data consent forms or missing legal pages can result in significant fines or account suspension. Our packages include legal pages, consent flows and a proper cookie layer at launch — not as an add-on later.
Support is a person, not a help centre
A website builder's support covers the platform, not your business. We provide a dedicated contact who knows your site: monitors the domain, SSL and forms, and handles revisions within your monthly plan.
Speed and SEO with no platform ceiling
Website builders load their own runtime and limit site structure. A custom Next.js stack means fast page load, proper semantics and room to grow — blog, catalogue, integrations — without "this block type is not available."
No manipulation
When a builder is the right choice
We make money from development — but we will not sell it where it is not needed. Use a builder if:
Already on Wix or Squarespace?
You don't have to decide in the abstract. We offer a migration package: we move your content, forms and analytics to our own stack, connect the domain and set up the legal layer properly. The site stops depending on a platform subscription.
FAQ