A Wix website usually costs less in cash and more in time. Expect to pay a DIY builder roughly $30 to $80 a month, plus a domain, any paid apps, and the hours you spend building, writing and maintaining it yourself. A custom site built for you costs more on paper, from $1,500 upfront or $250 a month ex GST with Media Giant, but the writing, photos, speed work and support are done for you. The right choice depends on what your time is worth and how much the website needs to sell.
This guide sets out the real costs on both sides, including the ones that do not appear on a Wix plan page.
What a Wix site really costs
Wix is a popular drag-and-drop website builder. You choose a template, edit it in your browser, and pay a monthly or annual subscription that includes hosting. It is a genuinely good product for some jobs. The subscription is only the first line of the bill, though.
The subscription
Wix sells several premium plans, with the higher tiers adding things like online payments and more storage. Prices change and are shown on Wix's own site, so check the current plan before you budget. Across the DIY builders, our pricing page uses $30 to $80 a month as the typical range.
Apps and add-ons
Booking systems, extra forms, advanced SEO tools, reviews and email marketing often come from the Wix App Market, and many charge their own monthly fee. A site that needs three or four of them can end up costing noticeably more than the plan itself.
Your domain and email
A custom domain is a yearly cost, and professional email on your domain is a separate subscription with Google or Microsoft. Both apply whichever way you build. Our guides to registering a domain and setting up business email cover them.
Your time
This is the cost most owners underestimate. Choosing a template is quick. Writing every page, sourcing photos, making it work on a phone, setting up the metadata, connecting analytics and keeping it current takes many hours, usually at night after the real work is done. If your time is worth $80 an hour to your business, a site that takes 30 hours to build has cost $2,400 before the first subscription payment.
The cost of a site that does not convert
The biggest cost is invisible. A template site with stock photos, generic copy and a slow mobile load can look fine and still produce very few enquiries. You never see the jobs that went to a competitor whose site answered the question faster.
What a custom site costs with Media Giant
All prices ex GST, from our pricing page:
- Entry Website: $1,500 once, then $50 a month for hosting, SSL and support. Built in 7 days.
- Standard Website: $2,500 once, then $50 a month. Full design process, free content writing and a free photoshoot.
- Website Only, monthly: $250 a month, nothing upfront. Content writing, photoshoot, hosting, updates, support and a reporting dashboard included. 12-month minimum, then open term.
The build is AI-assisted, which is why it takes days rather than months. Then Andy, Ryan and the team rework the copy, photography and SEO, and nothing goes live without your sign-off. Every site is tested on Google PageSpeed Insights before handover, with typical launch scores in the high 90s.
Side by side over the first year
| Wix (DIY) | Media Giant Entry | Media Giant monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront | $0 | $1,500 | $0 |
| Monthly | $30 to $80 typical, plus apps | $50 | $250 |
| Who writes the copy | You | You supply it | Us, included |
| Photos | Stock or your own | Your own | Free photoshoot |
| Speed and SEO setup | You | Us | Us |
| Support when it breaks | Help centre | Us | Us |
| Your time | Many hours | A few hours of feedback | A few hours of feedback |
In cash alone, Wix usually wins in year one. Once you add a fair value for your time and the copy and photos you would otherwise have to produce, the gap narrows quickly, and the custom site is the one built to bring in work.
When Wix is the right choice
We would rather you choose well than choose us. Wix makes sense when:
- You are testing an idea and want something live this weekend.
- Your website is a digital business card and enquiries come mainly from referrals.
- You enjoy building it and have the time.
- Your budget is genuinely tight and you can write good copy yourself.
When a custom site pays for itself
A built-for-you site makes sense when:
- Customers find you on Google, so speed, structure and content affect how many enquiries you get.
- You are competing for local searches, such as "electrician Lower Hutt" or "physio Wellington".
- You plan to run Google Ads, where a fast, relevant landing page lowers your cost per click.
- Your time is worth more running the business than learning a website editor.
There is also a portability point. Wix sites run on Wix. You can move your domain elsewhere, but you cannot take the site itself to another host, so leaving usually means a rebuild. With us, your domain and content are yours, and if you leave after the open term, we help you move.
A middle path
If the budget is tight but you do not want to build it yourself, there is a middle option. Our Entry Website is $1,500 once, then $50 a month ex GST, built in 7 days with hosting, SSL, support and a reporting dashboard. It leaves out the photoshoot and has fewer design revisions, so it suits a smaller business that already has decent photos and can supply its own wording. You get a fast, properly built site without the monthly plan, and you can add marketing later on an open term.
If you are still weighing up a builder against a done-for-you site, our post on choosing between a DIY builder and AI website design walks through the decision in more detail.
Talk to us
Send us your current Wix site, or just your idea, and we will show you what a custom version could look like and what it would cost. Every option is listed on our pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Wix website cost in NZ?
Wix charges a monthly or annual subscription for its premium plans, and DIY builders typically run $30 to $80 a month. On top of that you pay for a domain, business email, any paid apps, and your own time to build and maintain the site.
Is Wix good for SEO?
Wix covers the basics: editable titles and descriptions, sitemaps and mobile layouts. What it cannot do for you is write useful content, earn links or make a heavy template fast. Those depend on the work you put in, whichever platform you use.
Can I move my Wix site to another platform later?
You can transfer your domain, but the site itself stays on Wix. Moving platforms usually means rebuilding the pages and setting up redirects so you keep your Google rankings.
Is a custom website worth the extra cost?
It is when your website is a main source of enquiries. A faster site with real copy and photos usually converts more of the visitors you already have, which matters more than the difference in monthly fee.
Do you rebuild Wix sites?
Yes. We rebuild existing sites on our own stack, keep your rankings with proper redirects and audit your current site free first.