01The options compared
| Option | Typical cost | Time from you | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI website builder | Free to tens of dollars a month | Hours | Fast, designed-looking simple sites |
| Template builder (Wix, Squarespace) | Monthly plan | Days | Simple sites, comfortable DIYers |
| Freelance designer | Hundreds to a few thousand dollars | Briefing and feedback | Custom look on a budget |
| Agency | Thousands and up | Workshops and reviews | Strategy, branding, complex sites |
02When to build it yourself
- The site is informational: services, prices, about, contact.
- You can write clearly about your business.
- You are comfortable spending a weekend learning a tool.
- Budget is tight, or you are validating a new business.
- You want to make frequent small updates yourself.
03When to hire someone
- Your website is a main sales tool and must outperform competitors.
- You need branding, copywriting and strategy, not just layout.
- Features go beyond a builder: integrations, member areas, custom booking.
- You have tried DIY and the result does not look trustworthy.
- Your time is worth more than the cost of a professional.
04Counting the real cost of DIY
DIY is not free: it costs time, and time spent struggling with a tool is time not spent on customers. A fair comparison counts your hours at what they are worth to the business. If a site takes you 30 hours and a freelancer would charge less than 30 hours of your earnings, hiring may be cheaper. AI builders change this calculation by reducing the time from days to hours for simple sites.
- 1Estimate your hoursLearning, building, writing, photos, fixes.
- 2Value them honestlyWhat would those hours earn in your business?
- 3Get two quotesFrom freelancers whose portfolios you like.
- 4Compare like for likeIncluding copywriting, revisions and ongoing changes.
05A middle path: DIY now, professional later
Many businesses do both in sequence. Start with a simple site you build yourself so you are online and learning what customers ask. Once the business is steady and you know which pages bring inquiries, hire a designer for a redesign with real data behind the brief. The early site was not wasted: its content, analytics and customer questions make the professional project faster and better.
06Hiring well
If you hire, look at real sites the person has built for businesses like yours, ask who writes the copy, agree how many revisions are included, confirm you will own the domain and site, and make sure you can update text and images yourself afterwards. A short written brief (audience, goals, pages, examples you like) saves money on any project. How to write a web design proposal shows what a good proposal from the designer's side looks like, and AI website builder vs hiring a web designer compares the two routes in more depth.
What people who tried it say
Hacker News commenters generally say simple brochure sites are well served by builders now, while custom functionality, integrations or a design that must stand out still justify hiring a professional; several note that DIY projects often stall behind client work.
- Ask HN: Is there any money in website design for small businesses anymore?Hacker News
Commenters discuss how builders have taken over simple sites, with professionals moving toward custom work, integrations and ongoing services.
- How much did you pay for your website build?Indie Hackers
Founders share what they paid, from DIY tools to agency builds, with an agency owner citing $1,200 to $2,000 for a custom WordPress site.
Looking for more first-hand opinions? Search Reddit for “should i build my own website or hire someone”. We link the live threads rather than summarizing them, so you read them in full.
Our take
try building it yourself first with a good tool for a weekend. If the result looks trustworthy, you saved money; if it does not, you now write a much better brief for the person you hire.
Where this falls short
Prices vary hugely by country, experience and scope, and the figures cited here are individual anecdotes. The right choice also depends on how central the website is to how your business wins customers.
Orlume sits between DIY and hiring: you describe the business, and it makes the design decisions a designer would before building, so a simple site can look professionally designed in an afternoon.
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Sources
- 1.Web Developers and Digital Designers · US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 2.SEO Starter Guide · Google Search Central
Researched and written by the Orlume team · Updated October 2026
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