We make custom-built websites, so you can guess where we land for ourselves. But there are plenty of situations where a website builder is the smartest choice, and we should be honest about that. Here is a way to think about it.
When a website builder is right
- The budget is tight. Wix's cheapest paid plan costs around 17 dollars a month on an annual plan. That is hard to beat.
- You enjoy it. If you like finding photos, writing text and moving things around, you will get a lot out of a good template.
- You want to change the site often, yourself. If you post news every week or change offers every day, going through someone else every time is impractical.
- You need an online shop. Shopify, Wix and similar have ready-made solutions for payment, shipping and stock. That is a lot of work to build yourself.
- You are testing an idea. If you do not know whether the business will exist in a year, starting simple makes sense.
When a website builder is not right
- You do not have the time. The most common reason a site turns out badly is not the tool. It is that nobody has time to finish it, and it never gets updated afterwards.
- You do not want to look like everyone else. The templates are good, but they are the same for everyone. In trades where many use the same tool, the sites start to look alike.
- You want someone else to be responsible. With a website builder the platform keeps the servers running, but you are responsible for the site being correct, up to date and working as it should.
- You want to be able to switch provider. A site made in a website builder usually cannot be moved out of it. If you switch, you rebuild.
Side by side
| Website builder | Custom-built with us | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From around 17 dollars a month | From NOK 1,490 a month excl. VAT |
| Who makes the site | You | We do |
| Design | A ready-made template you adapt | Designed for your business |
| Changes | You make them yourself, when you like | You send an email, we make them |
| Responsibility for it working | The platform handles servers, you handle the rest | We handle all of it, and monitor the site every five minutes |
| Online shop | Yes, in most | No |
| Lock-in | Often an annual plan for the best price | None |
| If you want to switch | The site usually has to be rebuilt | Domain and content are yours, the code is ours |
Five questions to ask yourself
- How many hours do I realistically have for the website over the next three months?
- How often does the content need to change: weekly, monthly or a couple of times a year?
- Do I need to sell products directly on the site?
- Is it important that the site looks different from my competitors'?
- Who will notice if the site stops working on a Friday evening?
If you answer "many hours", "weekly" or "yes" to the first three, a website builder is probably right for you. If you answer "hardly any", "rarely" and "no", and think the last two matter, that is a good argument for having someone make it.
What we are not good at
Since we have been clear about the limits of website builders, it is only fair to be just as clear about ours. You cannot log in and change the site yourself; everything goes through us. We do not build online shops. And we own the code, so if you leave us, you take the domain and the content with you, but not the site itself.
If that suits you, read more about how renting a website works with us, or see what the different options cost.
Sources (retrieved October 2026):