What the starting price covers
A site at the $4k mark is a small one: a handful of pages, designed for your brand rather than adapted from a template, and built so you can run it yourself. Every website we deliver includes the same things, whatever the size:
- Custom design. Drawn for your business, reviewed with you before anything is coded.
- Inlay on every page. Sign in and your live site becomes the editor. Text, images, posts, menus, and events, with drafts and previews before anything goes live.
- Hosting, included. On Cloudflare's global network. Nothing for you to configure or renew.
- SEO setup. Titles, descriptions, structured data, a sitemap, and fast load times from day one.
- Accessibility. Built to WCAG 2.2 AA, which also keeps you clear of the complaints that follow inaccessible sites.
- Training. A walkthrough with your team, and a work-order button inside Inlay for anything that needs a developer later.
What moves the number
Four things account for nearly every price difference between one project and the next:
- How many pages, and how different they are. Ten pages that share three layouts cost far less than ten pages that each need their own design.
- Integrations. Booking tools, payment processors, donation platforms, CRMs, and email systems each add connection work. If a tool has an API we can connect it, but it is work that has to be scoped.
- Content migration. Moving a large blog, a product catalog, or years of events from Wix, WordPress, or Squarespace takes time, and plugin-driven features sometimes have to be rebuilt.
- Custom features. A member area, a searchable directory, a quote calculator, or anything else that is really a small piece of software. When a project tips into that territory it is quoted as software, where scope varies too much for a starting price.
Things that do not change the price: how many edits you make after launch, how often you post, or how many people on your team sign in to Inlay.
What it costs after launch
Hosting is included, so there is no monthly bill from us unless you ask for one. Your domain name renews with your registrar, usually for under $20 a year. Everyday changes are free because your team makes them. When you want a developer, you file a work order from inside Inlay and it is quoted before anyone starts. Some clients prefer a flat care plan that covers a set amount of work each month, and we are glad to set one up.
How that compares with Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress
A do-it-yourself builder is cheaper in year one. At the time of writing, business plans on Wix and Squarespace run roughly $16 to $50 a month, and you do the design work yourself. If a template fits and your time is free, that is a fair trade.
Agency-built WordPress sites usually land in the same range as ours or higher, and often come with a monthly maintenance fee for plugin updates and security patches, plus hourly billing for changes. That is the pattern we built Inlay to avoid: there are no plugins to patch, and routine edits never generate an invoice.
The honest summary: if you need a brochure site and have the hours to build it, use a builder. If you need a site that looks like your business, that your team can run, and that will not need rebuilding when the business grows, the $4k starting point is where that begins. We lay out the differences in detail in Inlay vs. WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.
How to get an exact number
Tell us what you are building through the Start a project form or on a 15-minute call. We reply within two business days with an itemized proposal in plain language, covering scope, timeline, and price. Nothing starts until you have read it and agreed.