The guide
Care home websites are priced one of two ways: a recurring subscription that continues for as long as the site exists, or a one-off project cost where you pay once and own the result, with ongoing support optional. Neither model is automatically better. They simply behave very differently over three to five years, and knowing which one you are buying matters more than any single number.
Updated August 2026
Pricing a care home website is mostly about which model you are buying. In brief:
The two models
A subscription buys access. A project cost buys an asset.
One-off build
With a one-off project cost, you pay once for design and build, and afterwards you own the files, the content and the domain. Hosting is a small separate cost and support is a choice.
The appeal is ownership and no lock-in. The catch is a bigger single decision.
Side by side
Neither model is automatically better. They behave very differently over three to five years, and knowing which one you are buying matters more than any single number.
| Subscription | One-off build | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Access to a site | An asset you own |
| Cost over 5 years | Predictable, continuous | Front-loaded, then small |
| If you stop paying | Site usually goes | Site stays |
| Ability to move | Usually means rebuilding | Move host freely |
| Best for | Testing, very small budgets | Homes that intend to keep the site |
What moves the price
Scope, almost entirely. The main variables are page count, whether photography or film is included, whether you need extras like a vacancies feed or a fees explainer, how many homes are covered if you are a group, and how much of the writing is being done for you rather than supplied by you.
The last one surprises people. A home that can supply good photographs, current fees and a clear sense of what makes it different will always pay less than one that needs all of that discovered and produced. That is not a penalty, it is just where the work is.
The standard list
A website that does not do these things is not finished, whatever it cost. For the wider picture, see what a great care home website contains.
Before you sign
Five questions, and the answers should be immediate.
If any answer is vague, that vagueness is the product. Ask again in writing.
Why homes get this wrong
A monthly figure and a project figure are not comparable until you decide how long you intend to have the website. Over a year the subscription usually looks cheaper. Over five, it usually does not, and at the end of five years you still own nothing.
The other common error is buying more site than the home can maintain. Care England and Log my Care found 97 per cent of families described arranging care as difficult, and 30 per cent said they did not know where to start.
A ten-page site that is current and clear serves those families far better than a thirty-page site that is half out of date.
With Heritage
It depends on scope, which is why we do not put figures in guides. We offer three builds.
A refresh of what you already have.
A bespoke build, written around your home.
A showcase that includes a day capturing your home properly.
The care home websites page sets out what each includes and what each costs, and we walk through the specifics on a call rather than leaving you to guess from a table. For how the design and build process runs, see care home website design. You own the result either way. Support is available and never compulsory.
Common questions
Two models dominate. A recurring subscription, where you pay monthly for a platform or a managed site and payment continues for as long as the site exists. Or a one-off project cost, where you pay once to have the site designed and built and own it afterwards, with support optional. Neither is automatically better, but they behave very differently over three to five years.
Scope, mostly. Page count, whether photography or film is included, whether you need a vacancies feed or a fees explainer, how many homes are covered, and how much writing is being done for you rather than supplied by you.
No. Support is genuinely useful and many homes want it, but it should be a choice rather than a condition of having the site. If support is compulsory and cancelling it means losing the site, you are renting rather than buying, and you should price it as rent.
You should. Ask directly whether you own the files, the content and the domain, whether you can move to another host without permission, and what happens to the site if you stop paying. Get the answer before design starts, not after.
Not necessarily. A tidy, fast, honest site made cheaply beats an expensive one that says nothing. The false economy is paying for something nobody maintains, or paying repeatedly for a site you will never own.
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