By James Folk, principal software engineer and founder of NJLIGames Ltd (building software on Long Island since 2015). Prices verified August 3, 2026 and re-checked quarterly.
The four ways to get a website, and what each really costs
Every website path on Long Island falls into one of four buckets. The right one depends on your time, your budget, and how much the site needs to do.
| Path | Upfront | Ongoing | Your time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $0 | $16 to $49/mo typical plans, more for ecommerce | 20 to 60+ hours, then forever |
| Freelancer | $1,500 to $8,000 (industry guides, estimate) | Hosting $10 to $50/mo, fixes billed hourly | Low, until the freelancer moves on |
| Local agency project | Roughly $1,000 to $7,000+ (published market guides, estimate; most quote per project) | Maintenance plans commonly $50 to $200/mo | Low |
| Subscription studio (us) | $0 | $175/mo flat, everything included | About an hour, total |
Estimates above marked as such come from published 2026 market guides, not from our own invoices. Our own numbers are exact, because they are published on our pricing page.
Our exact prices (the part most sites will not tell you)
NJLIGames publishes fixed prices. As of August 2026:
- Monthly: $0 down, $175 per month. Custom design, five custom-coded pages, hosting, unlimited edits, direct support, lifetime updates. 12 month minimum, then month to month. Extra pages $100 one time.
- Pro: $275 per month. Everything above plus online booking, member logins, and database-backed features, backend hosting included, no per-booking fees.
- Enterprise: $599 per month. Everything above plus up to 25 pages, up to 5 location pages, a private member portal (documents, announcements, events, voting), a written response within one business day, two development hours a month, and a quarterly strategy call. Built for multi-location businesses and member organizations.
- Own it outright: $3,800 one time plus $25 per month hosting. You own the code.
- Custom apps: from $12,000, fixed-scope quote before any work starts.
The three-year math
Monthly prices look different over time, so here is the honest three-year total for a five page site on each of our plans, next to a typical freelancer path.
| Path | 3-year total | What happens along the way |
|---|---|---|
| NJLIGames Monthly | $6,300 | Every edit, update, and support call included |
| NJLIGames Lump Sum | $4,700 | $3,800 build + $900 hosting; edits add-on optional |
| Freelancer (estimate) | $3,600 to $9,000+ | $1,500 to $8,000 build + hosting + hourly fixes, if the freelancer is still reachable |
What actually drives the price up
Whatever path you pick, the same five things move the number: page count, custom functionality (booking, logins, payments), content creation (who writes the words and takes the photos), ecommerce, and ongoing maintenance. The biggest hidden cost on Long Island is the maintenance contract: a $2,500 project site with a $150 per month maintenance plan costs more over three years than most subscription options.
What if you have several locations, or members to serve?
Two situations blow past the standard five page site, and both have a cost most guides never mention.
Several locations. Each location needs its own page with its own address, hours, and local search presence, or the locations compete with each other in the results. Agencies typically bill per location, and multi-location programs are widely quoted at $2,000 per month and up.
Members to serve. Unions, HOAs, associations, and co-ops need something a brochure site cannot do: a private area where members sign in for documents, announcements, event RSVPs, and voting. The usual answer is membership software at $99 to $199 per month, which does not include a website, so you end up paying a second vendor for the public site on top of it.
Our Enterprise plan covers both for $599 per month: up to 25 pages, up to 5 locations, the member portal, hosting for all of it, a written response within one business day, and two development hours a month. Details are on the Enterprise page. If you are one location with a brochure site, you do not need it, and we will say so.
Watch for these hidden costs
- Per-booking or per-user fees on booking platforms (they scale against you)
- Plugin and theme renewals on WordPress builds
- Hourly "small change" invoices that follow a lump-sum project
- Hosting sold separately after a quoted build
- Ranking guarantees. Nobody outside Google controls Google. A promise of first-page rankings is a promise someone else's product will behave. Budget for a fast, well-built site, which is the input you can actually buy.
Common questions
What does $175 per month actually include?
Custom design, custom-coded development of up to five pages, hosting, unlimited content edits, direct support, and lifetime updates. Nothing down; after the 12 month minimum it runs month to month. Extra pages are $100 one time.
Is it cheaper to build my own website?
In cash, yes: roughly $16 to $49 per month on common DIY plans. The real cost is your time, both building it and maintaining it forever. If you enjoy that work, DIY is a fine choice and we will tell you so. If your hours are worth more in your business, done-for-you usually wins.
Why do most Long Island web agencies not publish prices?
Most local agencies quote each project after a sales conversation, which lets the price match the scope. The tradeoff is you cannot budget before making contact. Our packages are standardized, so we publish the numbers.
What does a website with a members-only portal cost?
Our Enterprise plan is $599 per month, $0 down, and covers up to 25 pages, up to 5 location pages, and a private member portal with documents, announcements, events, RSVPs, voting, a directory, and messaging. The comparison is not another local agency, it is membership software at $99 to $199 per month plus a separate web vendor for the public site. Enterprise care plans from national vendors run $500 to $2,500 per month.
Related reading: how $0 down pricing works and what a redesign costs.
Want The Exact Number For Your Business?
Our full price list is public, no sales call required. And if you want to see what your site would look like first, the design preview is free: you pay nothing unless you love it.
See Our Full Pricing