If you are weighing a managed monthly website plan against a one-time build, the decision usually comes down to three things: what you pay and when, what you own at the end, and who looks after the site once it is live. This guide walks through both models with the same honesty the main cost guide uses — Canadian dollars, sourced where we can, and labelled as our estimate where we cannot find a public benchmark.
A quick note on language. We use "managed" to mean a monthly plan that bundles the build, the hosting, the security, and the small updates for a recurring fee. We use "one-time" to mean a fixed-scope build where the studio finishes the site, hands you the source files, and you (or someone you trust) take over the rest. There are a few things in the middle — partial handovers, hybrid retainers — but those two shapes cover most Canadian small businesses we talk to.
The two shapes, named honestly
A managed website is a service, not just a product. You pay a setup fee, then a monthly fee. In exchange, the studio keeps the site running: hosting, SSL, security patches, the occasional copy fix, the small things that quietly stop working on a website you do not look at for three months. If something breaks, the studio fixes it. If you cancel, the site goes away, the way a subscription does.
A one-time website is a product. The studio designs, builds, and launches the site. When it is done, you receive the source files, the domain, the hosting login, and a short support window. After that, the site is yours. If something breaks, you either fix it, hire someone to fix it, or live with it.
Both shapes can produce a real, working website. They make different bets about how the next three years of your business will go.
What you pay and when
| Managed plan | One-time build | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup / build | CA$399 (Seaway Sites) | CA$899 (Seaway Sites) |
| Recurring | CA$69/month (Seaway Sites) | Hosting, domain, security, updates billed separately |
| Domain | Included on most managed plans (verify before signing) | Typically CA$10–CA$20 per year through a CIRA-accredited registrar |
| Hosting | Included | CA$10–CA$50 per month for typical small-business traffic, more for higher traffic |
| Maintenance | Included (or capped at a small number of requests per month) | Your time, or CA$75–CA$150 per hour with a freelancer |
| What you get at the end | A live site that goes away if you stop paying | The source files, the domain, and a site you run yourself |
A note on the domain row. The CIRA, the .CA registry, sets the wholesale registration fee at $10.50 per year, and most accredited registrars sell a .CA domain for between $10 and $20 per year. The wholesale number is the floor; the public price is what you will actually pay. We have not found a public Canadian source that publishes authoritative small-business website cost ranges across the DIY, freelancer, agency, and managed paths at the granularity this table would need, so the managed and one-time Seaway Sites rows above are Seaway Sites estimates, and the "What you get at the end" row is built from public domain and hosting prices plus our own observations of the small-business sites we have built or audited between 2024 and 2026.
What you own in each model
Ownership is where the two shapes diverge most. With a managed plan, you typically own the domain, the copy, the photos, and the customer data. You do not usually own the design files, the code, or the right to take the site to another host. The studio keeps the design system, the build, and the infrastructure. If you cancel, you have a few options depending on the contract: take the copy and start over, accept a static export, or walk away.
With a one-time build, you own the design files, the code, the domain, and the right to host the site wherever you like. The studio is done. That is a clean form of ownership, and it is one of the reasons some owners prefer it.
There is a middle ground some studios offer, and it is worth asking about before you sign. A one-time build with an optional, paid maintenance retainer gives you the source files and the option to keep paying for security and updates. You can leave the retainer anytime. If the studio does not offer that shape, you are looking at a binary choice.
Who runs it after launch
This is the line item most owners underestimate. A site is not a brochure. It needs security patches, plugin updates, broken-link fixes, the occasional copy change, and a person who notices when something is off. The work is small, but it is weekly, and it is forever.
In a managed plan, the studio does this work. That is the main thing the monthly fee is buying. In a one-time build, you do it, or you pay someone hourly. The most common reason a small-business website "goes to die," in our experience, is not that the build was bad. It is that no one owned the maintenance after the build was paid for.
What happens if you stop paying
With a managed plan, the site goes away when you stop paying. The exact timing is a contract detail: some studios give you a 30-day grace period, some give you a static export, some take the site down on the next billing cycle. Read the offboarding clause before you sign. Ask what happens to your content, your domain, and your customer data.
With a one-time build, the site keeps running because you own the hosting account. If you stop paying the host, the site goes down, but you can move it to another host any time. There is no studio in the middle that can take the site away from you. That is the freedom a one-time build buys you, and it is the freedom a managed plan trades away for not having to think about hosting.
Total cost over three years
This is the number most owners actually want. Below is a back-of-envelope comparison using the Seaway Sites prices for the build, public CIRA rates for the domain, and a typical small-business hosting range. The managed and one-time rows are Seaway Sites estimates built from the sites we have built or audited between 2024 and 2026, and they assume the owner does not pay for premium copy, premium photography, or third-party integrations like booking or payment tools.
| Managed (Seaway Sites) | One-time (Seaway Sites) | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | CA$399 setup + 12 × CA$69/month + CA$15 domain | CA$899 + CA$15 domain + CA$240 hosting + CA$200 maintenance budget |
| Year 2 | 12 × CA$69/month + CA$15 domain | CA$15 domain + CA$240 hosting + CA$200 maintenance budget |
| Year 3 | 12 × CA$69/month + CA$15 domain | CA$15 domain + CA$240 hosting + CA$200 maintenance budget |
| Three-year total (Seaway Sites estimate) | See formula in the row above | See formula in the row above |
The two totals are not wildly different at year three, and that is the point. The managed plan costs more in cash, but the one-time plan costs you the time to run it. Which cost is higher depends on what your hours are worth, and what you would be doing with those hours instead.
For broader Canadian context, a 2019 BDC survey of more than 1,400 Canadian businesses found that small businesses with under $2 million in annual sales spend an average of CA$19,652 on their website over a three-year period, including the design, build, hosting, and ongoing upkeep. The number includes companies at every scale and shape of website, so it is not a target for a single owner to hit, but it is a useful sanity check on the table above. If the three-year total you are looking at is dramatically below the BDC average, something is being left out. If it is dramatically above, the scope is probably larger than a one-page small-business site.
Who each model is for
The managed model is a good fit if you would rather not think about hosting, security, or updates; if your business does not have someone on the team who is comfortable with DNS, SSL, and WordPress plugin updates; or if you expect the site to need small content changes every month. It is also a good fit if you want one phone number to call when something is wrong.
The one-time model is a good fit if you or someone on your team is willing to learn the basics of running a website; if you want full ownership of the design, the code, and the right to move the site at any time; or if you would rather pay once and avoid the recurring line on your books. It is also a good fit if the site is unlikely to need many changes after launch — a brochure-style site for a stable business, for example.
Whichever model you prefer, the proposal should make the operating promises concrete: scope, ownership, hosting, update limits, response times, cancellation, exports, and fees. Use the questions to ask a web designer before signing a contract to turn those points into written answers before comparing totals.
If you are still deciding which way to go, the comparison with DIY builders and freelance designers is in the article on choosing between a website builder and a web designer for a Canadian small business. The two decisions overlap: the builder-versus-designer choice is mostly about who builds the site, and the managed-versus-one-time choice is mostly about who runs it after.