WordPress is free software you can bend any way you like, and the upkeep is yours or your developer’s. For $95 a month, I build, write and run your site for you.
+100 business owners like you 
Self-hosted WordPress $0for the software
Plus hosting. One example: DreamHost, $11.99 a month on monthly billing, after $4.99 for the first 3 months.
WordPress $95/month
$0 to build. No contract. Cancel anytime.
Patrick
Patrick
Patrick
Yes, it’s my comparison, so every WordPress fact links to where it comes from. Checked .
Self-hosted WordPress, the free software from WordPress.org on a host you choose, next to my one plan. WordPress.com is a different, hosted product, covered further down.
| What you’re comparing |  Do it yourself | Done for you |
|---|---|---|
 Price What the monthly bill says | The software is free. Hosting is extra: DreamHost’s Launch plan, as one example, is $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $11.99 a month, billed monthly. | $95 USD a month, billed monthly. One plan. |
 Building the site Pages, layout, photos | You or a developer find a host, install WordPress, then pick a theme and plugins and build the pages. YYou | I research your business and build it. No questionnaire. You review before launch.
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 Writing the words Headlines, pages, calls to action | You write it, or pay someone to. YYou | Included. I write the pages, you approve them.
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 Changes after launch New photo, new price, new page | Anything, any time, in the WordPress dashboard. Nobody to wait on. YYou | Included. Routine edits have a 72-hour target. You can edit blog posts and FAQs yourself.
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 Who you talk to When you need something | No dedicated support. The WordPress.org forums, your host, or a developer you hire. YYou | Patrick, directly, by phone, text or email. No call center.
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 Plugins Adding features | Over 73,000 free plugins. Each one you add is one more thing to keep updated. YYou | No plugin library. Forms, bookings, reviews and CRM connections are built into the plan. |
 Updates and security Core, themes, plugins | Minor and security releases install themselves on most sites. Major releases, themes and plugins wait for you unless you turn on auto-updates. Hosts cover the server, not the software you install. YYou | Custom-coded, so there are no plugins to patch. Hosting and upkeep are mine. |
 Backups If something breaks | A full backup is the files and the database. Some hosts include them, like Hostinger’s weekly backups. YYou | Nothing for you to set up. I host and look after the site, and every file is yours. |
 SEO Getting found on Google | Pick readable page addresses in Settings, then handle titles, descriptions and redirects page by page. YYou | On-page SEO is included and done for you. Ongoing local SEO is a separate $995/month service.
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 If you leave What you walk away with | Easy. Copy the files and database to any host, or export the content as a file any WordPress site can import. | Every file of the website, and help moving it. It’s custom-coded, so later changes need a developer. |
I moved my own clients from Weebly to WordPress years ago (here’s why), and later to custom-coded sites, so I’ve looked after both kinds of site for small businesses.
Self-hosted WordPress is free, open-source software you can run for any purpose, change and share. The plugin directory lists over 73,000 free plugins. Want a new feature tonight? You install it yourself, without asking anyone.
My sites are custom-coded. They’re built for speed and there’s no plugin to patch, but you can’t install one either. You can edit blog posts and FAQs yourself, and everything else goes through me. If you want to tinker with every part of your site, WordPress is the better fit.
Free software, 73,000+ plugins, total control.
Custom-coded. You edit the blog and FAQs, I do the rest.
With self-hosted WordPress, you find and pay for a host, install WordPress, then build and maintain the site yourself. There’s no dedicated support, only the WordPress.org forums and your host.
Upkeep mostly means updates. On most sites, minor and security releases install themselves, but major releases wait for a click, and plugins and themes only update on their own if you switch that on, one by one. Older versions don’t get security fixes.
Then backups. A full one is the files and the database, because your pages and posts live in the database. For a smaller site, back up weekly and keep 3 to 5 copies in different places.
Updates, security and backups, done by you or your developer.
No plugins to patch. Hosting and upkeep are mine.
A managed WordPress host can take part of the load. Hostinger’s plan, for example, includes automatic updates and weekly backups. But hosts look after the server, not the application you install on it. And trying new themes and plugins on a live site can cause functionality issues and even downtime.
Running WordPress well takes intermediate technical knowledge. If that’s not you, you’ll want a developer, and a written agreement on who does updates, backups and fixes. Rates vary, so get that quote before you commit.
Or you hand the whole thing off. On my plan, I build it, host it, keep it fast and make your changes, and you talk to the person who built it.
You, or a developer you hire and manage.
Me, for $95 a month, changes included.
WordPress is easy to move. Keep the same domain and you can move by copying the files and database to a new host. The export tool saves your posts, pages and comments as a file any WordPress site can import. Any WordPress developer can pick it up from there.
My sites are yours from day one, and you get every file if you leave. The catch: it’s custom-coded, not WordPress, so it won’t open in a WordPress dashboard, and bigger changes later need a developer.
Any host, any WordPress developer, any time.
Every file is yours. Later changes need a developer.
WordPress.com runs the same software, but its paid plans include managed hosting: updates, backups and SSL are handled for you, and you can install plugins on any paid plan. You build the site yourself.
Or it builds one for you. WordPress.com Express is a 5-page site for $499 plus a WordPress.com Premium plan, delivered within 4 business days of receiving your content. Revisions aren’t included, and after launch the edits are yours.
If you love WordPress and hate the upkeep, WordPress.com is worth a look before you hire anyone. If you’d rather hand off the writing and the changes too, that’s what my plan is for.
Upkeep handled. You bring the content and make the edits.
Built, written and run for you.
Self-hosted WordPress is cheaper in cash. Here’s one real hosting price, with your time counted separately.
| Cost | | |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress software The platform | Free | Not needed. The site is custom-coded. |
 Hosting Keeping the site online | Example: $4.99 a month for 3 months, then $11.99 a month, billed monthly | Included |
 Build, writing and upkeep The work itself | Your time, or whatever you pay a developer | Included |
 Domain yourname.com | Whatever your registrar or host charges for it | You keep the domain you have, at whatever you pay for it now |
$4.99 to $11.99 Example hosting. Plus your time or a developer’s. Who does each job, week to week.
| The job | | |
|---|---|---|
| Building the site | Host, install, theme, plugins, pages YYou | I build it, you review it
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| Writing the pages | Every headline and page YYou | I write them, you approve them
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| Updates | Core, themes and plugins, from the dashboard YYou | No plugins to update
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| Backups | Files and database, and a test restore now and then YYou | Not a job you have
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| Changes after launch | Anything, in the dashboard YYou | Text or email me. Blog posts and FAQs you can edit yourself.
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WordPress is free software, not a company, and one bad experience isn’t a pattern. These themes come from owners of self-hosted sites, on the WordPress.org support forums, in host reviews and in a security report. Each one links to where it comes from.
Update trouble is a regular topic on the WordPress.org support forums. One owner’s pages started showing the wrong content after a WordPress update, until they restored a backup. Another’s site stopped loading after plugin updates. WordPress.org’s own advice when a release breaks something: don’t panic, and update your plugins and themes first. Forum volunteers can’t help with paid themes and plugins, so those go to the seller.
“I restored a backup from before the WordPress update, and everything immediately worked normally again.”
Before you sign up: Take a full backup before every update, and ask your host or developer whether they test updates on a copy of the site first.
Forum threads describe owners finding 4 new administrator accounts they never made, or malware that came back after a full cleanup. Security firm Patchstack’s 2026 report found 91% of new WordPress security holes were in plugins, and only 6 in WordPress itself. WordPress.org has a guide for hacked sites, and its hardening guide notes that hosts look after the server, not the software you install.
“I’ve been dealing with a persistent WordPress infection for the past four days.”
Before you sign up: Keep a recent clean backup somewhere other than your host. After a hack, the first advice on the forums is to restore one.
Owners post about sites that turned very slow over a single week, or pages that take about 5 seconds to start loading on a fast server. Volunteers often suggest switching plugins off one at a time to find the cause. WordPress.org’s optimization guide says hosting, settings, software versions and image sizes all play a part, and points to caching as the quickest fix.
“My website has been extremely slow for the last week.”
Before you sign up: Ask your host what caching comes with the plan, and test the site on a phone after you add any plugin.
Hosting for WordPress is often sold at a low first-term price. On Trustpilot, Bluehost customers describe a renewal of about $265 for one year, and email split out as an extra charge at renewal. Another got a much lower rate by calling. Host pages show the gap too: DreamHost’s Launch plan goes from $4.99 to $11.99 a month after 3 months, and WordPress.com warns about introductory pricing.
“Bluehost was going to charge me around $265 for a single year of hosting.”
Before you sign up: Before you sign up with any host, find the renewal price, not the intro price, and put the date it starts in your calendar.
Our company website, which we had paid another web design firm to build, was not loading properly, and eventually crashed after only a few months of operation. We discovered the website was poorly constructed and needed to be rebuilt. After just paying a company to design our website, it was difficult to trust another company to do the same thing again, but Patrick was reliable, easy to work with, well priced, and delivered all that he promised!
The goal: nobody who finds you today hits a dead end tomorrow. Here’s the order I do it in.
Before touching anything, I look at which pages bring in your visitors and leads. With your Search Console access, I protect those first.
Take a full backup, the files and the database, and export your content as a WordPress file. That keeps every post and page, and it means you could always go back.
You don’t have to transfer your domain. It stays with whoever registered it, your host or a separate registrar, and I only change where it points. If it came free with your hosting, check when it renews.
If your mailboxes live with your WordPress host, they depend on DNS records there. I copy every record before anything changes, so mail keeps arriving.
WordPress addresses follow your permalink setting, like /?p=123 or /post-name/. Each one gets a permanent (301) redirect to its new page, and your business name, address and phone stay exactly the same.
Save any entries your form plugin keeps. Then forms are rebuilt and tested end to end, and bookings move to the plan’s built-in calendar booking. A store gets its own quote.
You review the new site before it goes live. Once it’s live and the forms, email and redirects check out, you cancel the hosting. Don’t cancel anything that still holds your domain or email.
No build fee, no contract, no upsells. Here’s every feature the monthly price covers.
One plan, because you should not have to study a comparison table to buy a website. Every feature below is included from day one.
$95/month
$0 to build. No contract. Cancel anytime.
Your website is yours from day one.
Imagine what you could accomplish with more than just a Home, About and Contact page.
Hand-coded and served from data centers around the world, not a page builder dragging its own weight around. Fast on any phone, on any connection.
No junky stock photos or cookie cutter icons here.
Great copywriting is the difference between a website that sells and one that doesn't.
Essentially this means making it as easy as possible for Google and AI to find you.
Forms that actually convert visitors into leads.
Plain, simple, straightforward, valuable analytics anyone can read.
Local SEO requires hyper-local intent targeting. Almost every service-based business needs this!
Blogs are awesome if they are used authentically. The age of purely info-based content is over.
We can integrate your social media content directly into your website. Strategically, of course. We don't want visitors getting distracted!
Automatically add new reviews from review platforms (Google, Yelp, etc) directly into your website.
Let visitors book meetings, sessions and appointments directly through your site.
Email newsletters help turn your visitors into subscribers.
Your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions are generated by a specialist legal-policy service and update automatically as privacy laws change. Included, with nothing for you to maintain.
We connect your forms to the CRM you already use: HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho and most other software that connects with outside apps. A custom system gets its own scope.
Automations that send each new lead to the right person, log it in your spreadsheets and handle the follow-up.
Not all hosting is created equal. If you want the Taco Bell of web hosting, Bluehost is waiting for you.
Changes to hours, photos, text and services are included. Routine edits have a 72-hour target; larger requests get an agreed scope and completion date.
No call centers, no offshoring, just your friendly neighborhood Patrick. Based in North America, native English speaker, and fluent in Spanish if that is easier for you.
The software is. WordPress is free and open source. You pay for hosting and a domain, plus any premium theme, plugin or developer you use. DreamHost’s Launch plan, as one example, is $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $11.99 a month on monthly billing.
Hosting. WordPress.com includes managed hosting on paid plans, with updates, backups and SSL handled for you. WordPress.org is the free software you install on a host you pick and look after yourself. This page compares the self-hosted kind.
Not as WordPress. I rebuild it as a custom-coded site, reuse your text and photos, and redirect every old page. Your WordPress backup stays yours, so you can always put it back on a host.
Nobody can promise rankings won’t move at all. What protects them: every old page gets a permanent (301) redirect, your business name, address and phone stay identical, and I submit the new sitemap and watch Search Console after launch.
No. The site is custom-coded, so there’s no plugin library. Forms, bookings, reviews and CRM connections are part of the plan. If you need something else, ask me and I’ll tell you what it takes.
Yes. You get every file of the site. It’s custom-coded, so it won’t open in a WordPress dashboard. Going back to WordPress means a rebuild, and bigger changes to the custom-coded site need a developer.
In cash, yes. The software is free, and hosting can cost $5 to $12 a month. The difference pays for someone else doing the design, writing, updates and changes. If you or your developer enjoy that work, WordPress is the better deal.
