For a NZ cafe, a pay-monthly website at NZ$45/month with a free build costs about NZ$1,620 over three years, all updates included. A "cheaper" NZ$749 one-off build typically reaches NZ$2,500–3,700 over the same three years once hosting and per-change update fees are added — but a one-off build with a genuinely static site and free hosting can come in under NZ$1,000. The deciding variable isn't the model. It's how often your website needs to change.
There's a small genre of NZ articles arguing subscriptions are a rip-off, complete with Year 1–3 tables showing NZ$5,000+ against a NZ$1,800 one-off. Those tables aren't wrong — for the sites they describe. They compare a NZ$150+/month generalist subscription against a static brochure site that never changes. Swap in a NZ$45 cafe-specialist subscription and a cafe whose menu changes with the seasons, and the same table flips. So here's the maths done honestly, from both directions. (For every NZ route priced side by side — DIY, template, freelancer, agency — see how much a cafe website costs in NZ.)
The three-year table, done properly
Assumptions, stated so you can argue with them: a typical cafe makes 6–10 site changes a year (seasonal menus, summer/winter hours, public holidays, new photos, price updates). One-off route: NZ$749 build, NZ$30/month hosting, NZ$80 average per update. Subscription route: NZ$0 build, NZ$45/month inc GST, updates included. Domain (~NZ$30/year) is identical on both sides so it's left out.
| One-off build | Pay-monthly (NZ$45) | |
|---|---|---|
| Build | NZ$749 | NZ$0 |
| Hosting, 3 years | NZ$1,080 (NZ$30/mo) | included |
| Updates, 3 years (8/yr × NZ$80) | NZ$1,920 | included |
| Total, 3 years | NZ$3,749 | NZ$1,620 |
| Total if the site never changes | NZ$1,829 | NZ$1,620 |
When the one-off build genuinely wins
Honesty cuts both ways, so: a one-off build is the better deal if your site truly never changes (a fixed menu, year-round hours, no seasonal anything), if you're comfortable making small edits yourself and the builder hands over an editable site, or if you find cheap static hosting and a builder who charges nothing monthly. In that world the one-off site costs NZ$800–1,000 over three years and the subscription costs NZ$1,620. The anti-subscription articles are describing this cafe. If it's yours, take the one-off build with our blessing.
The catch is that "never changes" is rarer than it sounds. The cafe that swears its menu is fixed still changes hours for Christmas, adds a summer drink, replaces the photo with the old signage. Each of those is a NZ$60–160 invoice or a favour to ask — and sites that cost money to touch are sites that don't get touched. That's how NZ ends up with cafe websites showing 2023's brunch menu.
When pay-monthly wins
The subscription wins the moment your site is a living thing: seasonal menus, chalkboard specials worth photographing, hours that shift, events. Under a flat fee, updating is a text message — "new winter menu attached, ta" — instead of a purchasing decision. The site stays true, which is the entire point of having one: Google and customers trust a site that matches what's actually behind the counter. (If you're still deciding whether you need a site at all: does my cafe need a website?)
It also wins on risk. The one-off model asks for NZ$749–7,000 before you've seen what you're getting. The free-build subscription model reverses that: you see the finished site first and pay nothing until it's live and you've approved it. Worst case, you've lost nothing but a look at what your cafe could have.
The three questions that decide it
How many times a year will the site need to change? Zero to two: one-off maths probably wins. Six or more: subscription wins, usually by thousands. Who owns the domain? Under either model the only acceptable answer is you — a subscription where the provider holds your domain isn't a subscription, it's a hostage situation, and the same goes for one-off builders who register it in their name. Can you leave cleanly? No contract, no exit fee, content exportable. Any provider, either model, who fails this question fails the whole test.
For the record, ours: NZ$45/month inc GST, free build, no contract, domain yours, cancel with a message. Full plan details on the pricing page.
Run your own numbers
Count last year's menu changes, hours changes and photo swaps — or just paste the quote you've been given into the calculator below. Every field is editable. Then, because the free-build model means you don't have to decide on maths alone, get a free mockup of your cafe's site and judge the actual thing. If the one-off route still wins for you, take it. At least the table you decided from was straight.
Type in the quote you’re comparing — every field is editable. All figures NZ$.
On these numbers the subscription saves NZ$2,129 over 3 years.