WordPress website: build it yourself or hire, what it costs

The short answer, based on public sources verified on October 27, 2026: a WordPress website you build yourself costs $33 to $87 per year (domain, hosting and maybe a theme) plus 20 - 40 hours of work the first time, according to the Design Creator Lab guide. A WordPress website built for you starts at $65 in labor in the cheapest published Romanian offer and reaches about $850 for a design built around your brand. The real difference between the options is not the day-one price, it is who keeps the site updated after launch.

Our position, first, so you know where we stand: Digital U does not build presentation websites on WordPress. We build them on our own code (React and Next.js), with a CMS where you edit the copy yourself, starting at $650, with the domain and hosting in your name (pricing). We also migrate sites off WordPress when a WordPress site has become slow or hard to maintain. If WordPress is the right choice for you, the article below says so plainly, with sources.

Why almost everyone starts with WordPress

WordPress is the most widely used content management system in the world: it runs 39.6% of all websites and 58.3% of websites whose CMS is known, according to W3Techs, as of October 27, 2026. The same source shows that 31.5% of WordPress sites use Elementor as a visual editor and 19.7% use WooCommerce for a store.

That popularity has two practical consequences for your business. The good part: it is easy to find someone to work on a WordPress site, and almost any feature already exists as a plugin. The less discussed part: a WordPress site is assembled from pieces written by different authors (core, theme, plugins), and each piece needs to be updated separately for the whole life of the site.

A WordPress website you build yourself: the real cost

A WordPress presentation website you build yourself costs 150 to 400 lei per year (about $33 - $87), according to the Design Creator Lab guide from June 2026. Broken down, from the same source:

Cost	Published price	In US dollars (approx.)
.ro domain	45 - 60 lei per year	$10 - $13 per year
Shared hosting	15 - 35 lei per month	$3 - $8 per month
Free or premium theme	0 or €50 - €70 one time	$0 or $55 - $77
WordPress license	free	$0
Your time, the first time	20 - 40 hours	not billed, but spent

Prices published in lei and euros are converted to US dollars at October 2026 rates and rounded, so the whole article reads in one currency.

The bottom row is the one everyone underestimates. The same guide says installing WordPress takes 10 minutes, but a 5-page site with your own copy, prepared photos, a contact form that actually sends email and decent speed takes 20 - 40 hours the first time, spread over two or three weeks. For a business where your hour is worth something, “free” means you pay in time instead of money.

Building a WordPress site yourself is the right call when you have the time, you enjoy learning the tool and the site does not need to bring in customers from Google next month. It is a weak call when your time is worth more than a done-for-you offer, or when you do not want to deal with updates every few weeks.

A done-for-you WordPress website: market prices

A done-for-you WordPress website in Romania costs between $65 and about $850 in labor, based on offers published and verified in October 2026. Our position first, as a reference point, then the market:

Source	Published price	What you get	What stays with you
Digital U (us)	from $650	site on our own code (not WordPress), design made for you, copy written by us, PageSpeed score before launch, 2 rounds of changes (pricing)	domain and hosting, in your name
IeftinSite	300 lei (about $65) labor	WordPress site, pay after delivery, site in your name	domain and hosting, about 100 - 150 lei ($22 - $33) per year
Novaweb, Essential	1,799 lei (about $390)	WordPress and Elementor Pro, adapted premium template, up to 5 pages, 1 revision round, delivery in 5 - 7 business days	the copy, sent in final form
Novaweb, Start	3,900 lei (about $850)	design built on your brand identity, 5 pages, 2 revision rounds, delivery within 14 business days	the copy
Professional, market estimate	from about 2,000 lei (about $435)	simple presentation site, according to Design Creator Lab	varies with pages, copy and features

The gap between $65 and $850 does not come from WordPress, which is free for everyone. It comes from three things you can check in every offer: template or custom design, who writes the copy, and how many revision rounds are included. We covered those variables in business website: what it includes and what it costs, and the lowest offers in cheap website: what you get and what you pay for later.

Not sure WordPress is the right fit for you? Tell us what the site needs to do in a free 30-minute call and we will tell you straight, even if the answer is “build it on WordPress”. If you already have a WordPress site, ask for a free audit: you will see which plugins are outdated and how fast it loads on a phone.

The costs of a WordPress website after launch

The costs of a WordPress website do not stop at launch, whether you built it yourself or bought it done for you. There are three categories, all with public sources:

Paid plugin and theme licenses. Many done-for-you offers include paid licenses for a limited time. Novaweb states plainly that after the Elementor Pro license included in the package expires, the site keeps working, but future updates require renewing the license or an active maintenance plan. That is a fair and transparent practice, and it is also a cost to put in the budget from day one.

Security updates. The State of WordPress Security in 2026 report from Patchstack shows that 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities in 2025 were in plugins, 9% in themes and only 6 in WordPress core. The median time to mass exploitation for the most attacked vulnerabilities was 5 hours, and in a test of popular hosting companies only 26% of attacks were blocked by the host. The practical takeaway: a WordPress site with many plugins and nobody updating them is a risk, not a saving.

The hosting PHP version. WordPress.org recommends PHP 8.3 or newer. Cheap hosting on an old PHP version still works, but it is slower and falls out of security support. Ask about the PHP version before you pick a hosting plan.

We listed market maintenance prices, between $22 and $330 per month, in website maintenance: what it includes and what it costs.

The three-year math

A WordPress website should be compared over three years, not on the first invoice. The math below uses only the published prices cited above and keeps maintenance as a separate variable, because it depends on who does it:

Option	First year	After 3 years	Plus
Built yourself, free theme	$33 - $87	$99 - $261	20 - 40 hours of your time, plus the updates you do yourself
IeftinSite	$87 - $98	$131 - $164	who updates the plugins after delivery
Novaweb Essential	$390 + domain and hosting	$390 + domain and hosting	Elementor Pro license renewal or maintenance
Digital U (us)	from $650 + domain and hosting	from $650 + domain and hosting	no plugins to update

The cheap option stays cheap only if someone handles the updates. If that someone is you, you pay in hours. If it is a maintenance company, you pay monthly. If it is nobody, you pay when the site gets hacked or stops working.

When WordPress is the right choice and when it is not

WordPress is the right choice for your business in a few clear situations:

1. You publish content often (blog, news, articles) and want an editor most people already know.
2. You need a feature that already exists as a plugin (bookings, online courses, memberships) and do not want to pay for custom development.
3. You want to be able to switch providers easily, because anyone who works with WordPress can take the site over.
4. You have someone doing the updates, in house or through a maintenance plan.

WordPress is a weaker choice when the site has 5 pages that change twice a year and you want no technical worries after launch. Then you pay, in updates and licenses, for flexibility you do not use. Likewise, if mobile speed is critical (paid ads, mobile traffic from Google), a site built on a theme and a visual editor usually starts heavier than one built without them. We explained how speed turns into lost customers in why a slow website loses customers.

Five questions before you order a WordPress website

1. Whose name are the domain, hosting and admin account in? The right answer is yours.
2. Which paid plugins and licenses do you use, and when do they expire?
3. Who does the updates after launch, and what does it cost?
4. Which PHP version does the proposed hosting run? The official WordPress recommendation is 8.3 or newer.
5. What is the mobile PageSpeed score of a WordPress site you have already delivered?

Frequently asked questions

How much does a WordPress website cost? $33 - $87 per year if you build it yourself (domain, hosting and maybe a theme), according to the Design Creator Lab guide from June 2026. Done for you, a WordPress presentation website costs from $65 in labor (IeftinSite) to about $850 (Novaweb, design built on your brand identity) in Romanian offers verified in October 2026, excluding domain and hosting.

How much does it cost to have a WordPress website built? Between 300 lei (about $65) and 3,900 lei (about $850) in labor in offers published in Romania and verified on October 27, 2026. Novaweb’s Essential package costs 1,799 lei (about $390) for up to 5 pages on a premium template, with WordPress and Elementor Pro, and Design Creator Lab estimates a simple professionally built site from about 2,000 lei (about $435).

Can I build a WordPress website myself? Yes, with 20 - 40 hours of work the first time for a 5-page site, according to the Design Creator Lab guide from June 2026. You do not need code for a presentation site, but you do need patience, and updates to core, theme and plugins stay your job after launch.

How much does WordPress hosting cost? 15 - 35 lei per month (about $3 - $8) for basic shared hosting, plus 45 - 60 lei per year (about $10 - $13) for a .ro domain, according to the Design Creator Lab guide from June 2026. Before choosing a plan, check the PHP version: WordPress.org recommends PHP 8.3 or newer.

How much does WordPress maintenance cost? Between $22 and $330 per month in Romanian maintenance offers verified in September 2026, depending on included hours and response time. Maintenance matters on WordPress because 91% of new vulnerabilities in 2025 were in plugins, and the most attacked ones were mass-exploited within a median of 5 hours, according to the 2026 Patchstack report.

Can I build an online store on WordPress? Yes, through the WooCommerce plugin, used by 19.7% of WordPress sites according to W3Techs as of October 27, 2026. A WooCommerce store has more plugins than a presentation site (payments, shipping, invoicing), so there are more updates to track after launch.

Why is WordPress so popular? 39.6% of all websites in the world run on WordPress, which is 58.3% of websites whose CMS is known, according to W3Techs as of October 27, 2026. WordPress is free, has an editor many people already know and almost any feature already exists as a plugin, which makes it easy to start and easy for another provider to take over.

Want a website that brings in customers, on WordPress or not? See what a site from us includes on the pricing page, ask for a free audit of the site you already have, or book a 30-minute call directly.