The short answer
Website as a service means a customer pays a monthly fee for a site that's built, hosted and kept up to date, usually with little or nothing up front. It suits small businesses short on cash and sellers who want repeat revenue. It only works if you recover your build cost and keep cancellations low.
What it is
The idea is simple. Instead of paying a few thousand dollars for a site and then wondering who'll look after it, the owner pays a monthly fee that covers all of it. You'll also hear it called a monthly website subscription, a pay-monthly website or website subscription service.
Here's how it sits beside the alternatives.
| One-off build | Do it yourself | Maintenance plan | Website as a service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up front | A few thousand dollars | Nothing or little | Whatever the build cost | Little or nothing |
| Each month | Hosting, if you arrange it | The builder's fee | A monthly fee | A larger monthly fee |
| Who makes changes | You pay per change | The owner | The provider, within a cap | The provider, within a cap |
| Who owns the site | Usually the client | The owner, on that platform | Usually the client | Depends on the contract |
The last row is the one to read twice. Many subscriptions are closer to renting, and an owner who assumes otherwise will be upset when they leave. It's different from a maintenance package in one way that matters. There, the site was already paid for. Here, the monthly fee pays for the build as well, so you're lending the client the first few months.
Prices vary widely. Sellers commonly advertise somewhere around $50 to $350 a month in the US, depending on what's included, and setup fees run from nothing to a couple of thousand dollars. Those are rough ranges, so check what's being offered in your own market.
The math
The appeal is that each client keeps paying. The risk is just as simple, because you pay to win and build each site before you've earned anything. These examples use made-up inputs, so run them with your own.
What each client leaves you
Say you charge $99 a month with no setup fee, and value your time at $60 an hour.
| Each month | Example |
|---|---|
| Client pays | $99 |
| Card fee at 2.9% plus 30 cents | $3.17 |
| Your builder's cost per site | $8 |
| 30 minutes of changes and support | $30 |
| Left over | About $58 |
How long until you're paid back
Say winning and building the site takes 6 hours, including the sales call, the first draft, the owner's changes and the launch. At $60 an hour that's $360, so at $58 a month the client pays you back in a little over 6 months. A client who leaves in month 4 has cost you money.
A setup fee changes this quickly. At $299 up front, you've got most of your $360 on day one, and you're paid back in a little over a month. That's why many sellers keep a small setup fee, or a 12-month minimum, even when they advertise a low monthly price.
Why cancellations decide everything
Your client count stops growing when the number leaving each month matches the number joining. To find that level, divide new clients a month by the share who leave each month.
| New clients a month | Leaving each month | Where the count levels off |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5% | 40 clients |
| 2 | 3% | About 67 clients |
| 2 | 2% | 100 clients |
These aren't predictions, and the cancellation rates are only there to show how the math behaves. Yours will depend on your trade and your service. What matters is the shape. Halving cancellations can do as much as doubling sales, and it's usually far less work.
Then check the ceiling on your tool's side. On Shingle, for example, the plan is $49 a month with 1 live site, and each more is $7 a month, so 10 live sites are $112 and 25 are $217. Whatever you use, work out the cost per site at the size you're aiming for.
What the math leaves out
- Your time on sales. It doesn't stop, because canceled clients need replacing.
- Late payers and failed cards. Expect some of each month's charges to fail and need chasing.
- Quiet growth in support. Thirty minutes a month is an average. Some clients will use three hours.
- Sales tax. Rules for web services differ by state. Washington began taxing custom website development in 2025, so ask your accountant.
Run your own version in the web design pricing calculator.
Who it suits
It suits owners who:
- Can afford $100 a month more easily than $3,000 at once
- Want someone to call when something changes
- Don't care to own the code, and would rather not think about it
- Have a simple site that doesn't need custom work
It's a poor fit for owners who:
- Want full ownership and no ongoing fee
- Have the cash to buy, and plan to stay put for many years, where a one-off may cost less overall
- Need a large or custom site, or a store with lots of products
It suits sellers who:
- Have a repeatable build, ideally for one trade
- Can carry a few months of cost on each new client
- Like looking after people for years, and don't mind small requests
It's a poor fit for sellers who:
- Need cash now, since a one-off fee pays sooner
- Prefer big, creative one-time projects
How to set it up
Most problems here come from things nobody wrote down. Decide these before your first client.
- Set a term. A 12-month minimum protects your build cost. If that scares buyers off, take a setup fee and go month to month.
- Define what's included. State the number of pages, and what a small change is. Our maintenance guide has a list you can use.
- Cap the changes. "Up to an hour a month" is easy to explain and easy to keep.
- Put the domain in the client's name. Have them buy it in their own account. They should keep their address, however things end. Custom domains connect with a couple of DNS records.
- Say who owns what. Write down what the client gets if they leave. Some sellers hand over the files after a minimum term, and others keep the design and let the client take only the content and the domain. Either can be fair, as long as it's clear up front.
- Take payment automatically. Card on file, charged monthly. You'll need a payment tool for this, because many builders don't bill your clients for you, and that includes Shingle today.
- Write the exit. Say how much notice, how long you'll keep the site up, and what happens to it after that. Our contract checklist has sample wording. Have a lawyer look at yours.
If you build on a platform, check what leaving involves before you promise anything. On Shingle, the plan can download a site's code as a project that builds as a static site, though forms and visit counts need its hosting, so you'd want to explain that to a client who's leaving.
How to pitch it
Lead with what it takes off the owner's plate, and be upfront about the terms.
It's $99 a month, and that covers the site, hosting and small changes. There's nothing to pay up front, and the minimum is 12 months. After that, you can stop with 30 days' notice. Your domain stays yours either way.
Saying the minimum out loud costs you a few sales, and it saves you from the clients who'd have left angry in month three.
What goes wrong
For the seller:
- Early cancellations. With no setup fee and no term, you've paid for a site that left.
- Scope creep. "Small changes" grows into new pages, new logos and a Saturday phone call, unless you've capped it.
- Chasing cards. A plan with no automatic payment turns into a monthly round of awkward emails.
- Everything on one platform. If your builder raises prices or changes terms, it affects all your clients at once. Know your way out.
- Forever clients at old prices. Say up front that prices may change with notice, and review them yearly.
For the owner:
- Finding out they don't own it. The contract said so, and nobody read it.
- A domain in the seller's name. This is the worst one, because it takes the address that customers know. Never agree to it.
- Paying for silence. Months go by, nothing changes and no one sends a note.
- A seller who disappears. If they go out of business, who has the access? Ask before you sign.
If you're the owner buying one
Ask these before you sign, and get the answers in writing.
- Whose name is the domain in? It should be yours.
- What's the minimum term, and what does it cost to leave early?
- What can I take with me if I leave: the words, the photos, the design, the files?
- What exactly is included each month, and what costs more?
- How quickly do you answer, and how do I reach you?
- Can I see a site you've run for at least a year?
Do the math too. Over three years, $150 a month comes to $5,400, so compare that with a one-off build and hosting. A subscription can still be the right choice. Just make sure it's one you've made on purpose.
