01 / Insights
Where a website builder is the right choice
Wix, Squarespace and the Hostinger Website Builder do one thing well: they get something respectable online fast. Hosting, SSL, templates and updates are included, plans run roughly €10–40 per month, and you can go from nothing to published in a weekend without touching code.
If you are testing a business idea, need a page for a side project, or simply want an address on the internet while you figure things out, a builder is the rational choice. As a studio that earns its money building custom websites, and as a verified Hostinger partner, we still recommend a builder when the fit is right.
02 / Insights
Where builders cost you
The problems rarely show up in week one. They show up in month six, when you start caring about Google. Builder pages carry more code than they need, which drags on Core Web Vitals, the loading and interaction metrics Google uses as a ranking signal. You can tweak titles and descriptions, but you cannot control the underlying structure the way a developer can.
Then there is sameness: your template is live on thousands of other sites, so your brand starts with zero visual authority. And there is lock-in, because the design you built cannot be exported. Leave the platform and you take your texts and images with you, mostly by hand, while the site itself stays behind. In effect you rent the site rather than own it.
03 / Insights
The moment a business outgrows its template
There is usually a specific moment when the numbers flip. It tends to look like one of these:
- You want to rank for keywords your competitors also want, and you are stuck on page three.
- Traffic grows but enquiries stay flat: people visit, hesitate and leave.
- You spend evenings fighting the template instead of running the business.
- Your site looks interchangeable with three competitors using the same theme.
- You need things the platform resists: multilingual content, integrations, structured data.
04 / Insights
What a studio does that a template can’t
A template answers the question of what your website should look like. A studio answers a harder one: why someone should choose you. Custom work starts with your offer, your audience and the decision you want visitors to make; design, content hierarchy and the technical build follow from that.
In practice that means a visual identity that is yours alone, pages structured around search intent instead of a theme’s sections, performance budgets that keep Core Web Vitals green, and technical SEO (semantic markup, structured data, clean URLs) built in from the start. A studio is also smaller than an agency: at Tanomedia you work directly with the three seniors who do the strategy, the design and the code.
05 / Insights
The real cost over three years, all-in
Builder route: a business-grade plan costs roughly €200–500 per year, plus domain, business email and the odd paid app. Over three years that is €900–2,000 in subscriptions, before the biggest cost, which is your time. Building and maintaining the site yourself takes 30–60 hours. Value your working hour at €50 and the three-year total lands somewhere between €2,400 and €5,000.
Studio route: a focused landing page starts at €1,500; complete small-business websites typically run €3,000–8,000 across the European market. You pay once, own the result, and hosting costs a few euros per month. From year two onward the custom site is often the cheaper option, and it is the only one of the two that gains value over time, because content and rankings build on an asset you control.
06 / Insights
A decision framework in five questions
Answer these five questions and the choice usually makes itself. If search matters, customer value is high and trust drives the decision, custom work pays for itself. If none of the five point that way, take the builder and spend the savings on your product.
- Do new customers find you through Google search, or through referrals and social media?
- What is one new customer worth to you over a year: €50 or €5,000?
- Will this site still be the right size for the business in 18 months?
- Do you have 30–60 hours to build and maintain it yourself, and is that the best use of them?
- Does your market decide on trust and presentation, or purely on price and availability?
07 / Insights
Hybrid paths: start small, upgrade deliberately
Builder versus studio is not a lifetime commitment; the smart move is often sequential. Start on a builder, but set yourself up for a clean upgrade: register the domain in your own name, keep your texts and original photos in your own folders, and write content about the questions customers ask you instead of filler.
When the numbers flip, because search starts to matter and enquiries start paying for the site, you migrate deliberately: the content and the domain come with you, the template stays behind. Done properly, with 301 redirects mapping old URLs to new ones, you keep the rankings you earned.
08 / Insights
How to brief a studio if you decide to switch
A good brief is short: what you sell, who buys it, the three pages that matter most, the keywords you care about, and access to your analytics if you have them. You do not need a finished sitemap or design opinions; that is the studio’s job.
For reference: at Tanomedia most projects launch in 2–6 weeks, with a fixed quote before we start, 50% on kickoff and 50% at launch, and support after go-live. The first step is a free 15-point audit of your current site, builder or not.
FAQ
Common questions
01Is a website builder good enough for a small business?
Yes, if customers come from referrals and the site just needs to confirm you are real. No, if you need to win customers through Google search: then structure, speed and content depth decide, and builders cap all three.
02Can a Wix or Squarespace site rank on Google?
It can, especially for local or low-competition searches. The ceiling appears in competitive niches: heavier code hurts Core Web Vitals, and you cannot fine-tune site structure the way a custom build allows.
03How much does a professionally built website cost in 2026?
The European market runs from roughly €1,500 for a focused landing page to €3,000–8,000 for complete small-business websites. At Tanomedia, landing pages start at €1,500 with a fixed quote and a 2–6 week timeline.
04Can I move my website away from a builder later?
Your domain and content, yes; your design, no. Texts and images are usually exported by hand, the layout is rebuilt on the new platform, and 301 redirects preserve the Google rankings you have earned.