$99 to launch a real, professionally built website — and that price won't last.
Right now, during the Hands Free Sites public launch, you can get a fully built, live website for your business for $99. After the launch window closes, that setup fee goes to $299. No fake countdown timer here — just an honest heads-up that the launch pricing is finite, and once it's gone, it's gone.
But before you decide anything, let's do something most marketing pages won't: compare every realistic option side by side, including where Hands Free Sites doesn't win. You're busy, you've probably already been burned by one of these options, and you deserve a straight answer.
Option 1: DIY Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress)
When people search "hands free sites vs wix" or "hands free sites vs squarespace," they're usually small business owners who tried a DIY builder, hit a wall, and are looking for something better. That tracks — because the DIY path has a specific, underreported cost: your time.
Wix and Squarespace are genuinely impressive tools. They've gotten better every year, and in 2026 they both have AI-assisted setup flows that can stub out a basic site in minutes. Their monthly fees are reasonable — typically $16–$45/mo depending on the plan.
Here's what the pricing page doesn't show you:
- 10+ hours to build something you're not embarrassed by. Picking a template is fast. Getting your colors, fonts, photos, copy, contact form, and mobile layout to actually look professional? That's evenings and weekends you don't have.
- You're the IT department. When something breaks, when you want to update a photo, when a plugin stops working, when you log in after six months and nothing looks right — that's your problem to solve.
- No built-in content strategy. A static site that never changes sends a quiet signal to both Google and potential customers: nobody's home. Wix and Squarespace don't write your blog posts for you.
The honest verdict: DIY builders win on price if your time is free. If you have design skills, enjoy tinkering, and can commit the hours, Squarespace in particular can produce something beautiful. But for most small business owners — a plumber, a salon owner, a fitness studio — those hours simply don't exist.
Option 2: Hiring a Web Designer or Agency
At the other end of the website builder comparison sits the traditional web designer. And to be fair: a great designer or agency can build something extraordinary. Custom brand identity, pixel-perfect layouts, complex integrations — if you have the budget and the time, this is the premium option.
The real-world friction:
- Cost. A credible freelance designer in 2026 typically runs $1,500–$5,000+ for a small business site. Agencies start higher. Most small businesses simply can't justify that spend.
- Timeline. Six weeks is optimistic. Revisions, approvals, back-and-forth on copy — a realistic custom project runs 6–12 weeks from first call to launch day.
- Handoff problem. Once the designer delivers the site, you own the maintenance. SSL renewals, security patches, plugin updates, hosting decisions — congratulations, you now have a part-time IT job.
The honest verdict: Hiring a designer wins on pure quality ceiling. If you're building a flagship brand site and have $3k–$5k to spend plus six weeks to wait, a good designer is worth it. For most of the small businesses we built Hands Free Sites for, that scenario doesn't apply.
Option 3: Hands Free Sites — The $99 Launch Special
Here's where Hands Free Sites sits in this comparison, honestly:
Setup: $99 during launch (rises to $299 after the launch window closes). That's a one-time fee for a fully built, professional website — real domain, real SSL, real hosting on AWS infrastructure. Not a template you still have to fill in. A done-for-you site.
Ongoing cost: $10/mo platform fee, plus AWS hosting passed through at cost — typically $1–3/mo on top, so most customers pay $11–13/mo total. No renewal price that triples in year two. No premium plan upsell you need to survive. What you see is what you pay.
Time to launch: As little as one day. Compare that to 10+ hours wrestling a DIY builder or six-plus weeks waiting on a designer. You sign up, we build it, your site goes live.
Maintenance: Zero. This is the part that separates Hands Free Sites from every other option in this website builder comparison. Once your site is live, you never need to log in to fix anything. SSL renewals, security patches, hosting failover — it all happens silently in the background. A website should be a service you buy once, not a project you babysit. That's the whole design philosophy.
Content: Every week, Hands Free Sites automatically publishes fresh blog content for your business. That means Google sees an active, growing site. Visitors see a business that's alive and credible. You see traffic and authority compound over months — without writing a single word. No DIY builder does this for you. No designer stays on retainer to blog for you every week.
Want to see what the sites actually look like? There are live showcase examples at handsfreesites.com/showcase — a handyman site, a bakery, a gym, a real estate site, and more. Real sites, not mockups.
The honest verdict: Hands Free Sites wins on total cost of ownership when your time has value. The $99 launch setup is the lowest barrier to entry of any option here. The $11–13/mo ongoing cost is competitive with DIY builders — but you're not doing any of the work. The auto-blog compounds your Google presence over time in a way static sites (whether DIY or designer-built) simply can't match.
Where Each Option Actually Makes Sense
Choose a DIY builder if: You genuinely enjoy building websites, have design skills, and have 10–20 free hours to invest up front — plus the ongoing time to maintain it yourself.
Choose a designer if: You have $3,000–$5,000+ to spend, can wait 6–12 weeks, and need a highly custom solution that goes beyond what a professional template can deliver.
Choose Hands Free Sites if: You want a real, professional website — live in as little as a day, maintained forever, with weekly content being published automatically — and you'd rather spend your time running your business than building a website.
The Launch Window Is Real
The $99 setup price exists because we're in the public launch of Hands Free Sites, and launch pricing is how we're welcoming the first wave of customers. When the launch window ends, the setup fee goes to $299. The $10+/mo platform fee stays the same either way — but the $200 you save right now is real money.
There's no artificial deadline on this page, no "offer expires at midnight" pressure. It's just a straightforward fact: launch pricing is temporary, and this is what it costs right now.
If you've been putting off getting a real website because every option felt too expensive, too slow, or too much work — this is the moment to do it. Visit handsfreesites.com, see the showcase, and get your site started for $99 before the launch window closes.
