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Believe Websites vs WordPress and a booking plugin: build it yourself, or have it built and looked after?
WordPress is free software, but a booking site on it needs hosting, a domain, a booking plugin and someone to build and update it. We priced each piece from the companies' own pages. Believe Websites is £49 a month flat, £0 to build, 0% commission, with booking built into a site on your own domain that we build and change for you.
·9 min read
The short answer
- The WordPress software is free to download from wordpress.org, but a booking website built on it also needs hosting, a domain and a booking plugin, each paid for separately.
- On 2 November 2026 SiteGround's UK WordPress hosting started at £1.99 a month for the first 12 months, prepaid, renewing at £13.99 a month, excluding VAT.
- The Bookly booking plugin has a free version, and its Pro plan was $39 a year on a sale price for one site on 2 November 2026, with unlimited staff and deposit payments in every paid plan.
- Bookly's text messages are pay-as-you-go, and its pricing page says the rates are only shown inside WordPress after signing up.
- Simply Schedule Appointments charges $99, $199 or $399 a year for one site at introductory prices, and says all annual renewals are at full price.
- WordPress.com's hosted plans were £3, £7, £20 and £36 a month billed annually, or £8, £17, £32 and £55 paid monthly, excluding taxes.
- Believe Websites costs £49 a month flat for any team size, takes 0% commission, and designs, builds and changes a bespoke website with booking built in, on your own domain, for £0 upfront.
- WordPress with a plugin is much cheaper and can take deposits and send texts today. Believe Websites' text reminders and card payments are built but not switched on, it has no marketplace, and it has a 12-month minimum term.
WordPress runs a huge share of the web, and almost every local business owner has been told at some point to "just use WordPress". It is good advice for some people. But WordPress is not one product with one price. It is free software you put together from parts: hosting to run it, a domain, a theme for the design, a booking plugin, and someone to build it and keep it updated.
We do the whole job for you instead: we design and build the website with booking inside, connect your domain and change things when you message. So this comparison prices each WordPress part from that company's own page, then asks who does the work. Every figure below was read on 2 November 2026, and the sources are listed at the bottom.
The short version
A self-built WordPress booking site can cost well under £200 for the first year if you do everything yourself, and the plugins can already take deposits and send texts. That is a real saving if you have the time and the confidence to build it, fix it and keep it updated.
Believe Websites is £49 a month flat, whatever the size of your team. We design and build the site for £0 upfront, with booking inside it, on your own domain, and change it for you. We take 0% of every booking. What the difference pays for is not doing the work.
What the WordPress parts cost
Plugin prices are in US dollars, as shown. Bookly's prices were shown as an autumn sale; its page says plans renew yearly but does not give the renewal price. Simply Schedule Appointments says its prices are introductory and renewals are at full price. SiteGround and 123 Reg state prices exclude VAT; Bookly and Simply Schedule Appointments do not say.
| Piece | Example | Price shown | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| The software | WordPress (wordpress.org) | Free | You install, update and secure it |
| Hosting | SiteGround StartUp, 1 site | £1.99 a monthprepaid for 12 months, ex VAT | Renews at £13.99 a month |
| Hosting, monthly | Krystal Amethyst, 1 site | £7 a monthpaid monthly | Page does not say if VAT is included |
| Domain | 123 Reg, .co.uk | £3.99 for the first yearnew customer offer, ex VAT | Renewal price not shown in the page text |
| Booking plugin | Bookly Pro, 1 site | $39 a yearsale price; $99 before it | Texts pay-as-you-go, rates shown after signup |
| Booking plugin | Simply Schedule Appointments Professional, 1 site | $199 a yearintroductory; $249 full price | Texts sent through Twilio, at Twilio's rates |
| The build | You, or a developer | Your time, or a quote | No standard price exists |
Both plugins have free versions too. Bookly lists unlimited staff, deposit payments and Stripe and PayPal in every paid plan, and says it offers no free trial of the paid plans but refunds within 30 days. Simply Schedule Appointments puts text reminders and Stripe and PayPal payments on Professional, and scheduling team members on Business at $399 a year introductory.
Or WordPress.com, where the hosting is done for you
WordPress.com is the hosted version run by Automattic. Its UK page showed Personal at £3, Premium at £7, Business at £20 and Commerce at £36 a month billed annually, or £8, £17, £32 and £55 paid monthly, all excluding taxes, with a free domain for the first year on annual plans. Every paid plan lists installing plugins, so you could add a booking plugin to it. You still build and run the site yourself, and WordPress.com also sells having its team build it, without a price on the plans page.
What a year costs
£1.99 × 12, prepaid, ex VAT
£3 × 12, ex taxes
£7 × 12
£13.99 × 12, ex VAT
£49 × 12: build, hosting, domain, booking, changes
Figures read from each company's own page on 2 November 2026. Add a domain (from £3.99 for the first year at 123 Reg, ex VAT), a booking plugin (Bookly Pro $39 a year on sale, or free versions), any paid theme, text-message credits, card fees and the build itself. Believe Websites' figure includes designing and building the site, hosting, the domain and changes.
On parts alone WordPress wins by a long way. Even after SiteGround's renewal price and a Bookly licence, a year is a fraction of our £588. The comparison only gets close when you put a value on the hours, or pay someone else to build and look after it.
Who builds it, and who keeps it running
A WordPress site is yours to build: choose and set up a theme, write every page, install and configure the booking plugin, add your services, prices and team, connect payments and test the whole booking journey on a phone. Then it is yours to look after. WordPress, the theme and each plugin release updates, and keeping them current, and fixing anything an update breaks, is part of owning it.
If you hire a developer or an agency instead, the price is whatever they quote, and changes after launch are usually charged too. Ask what is included for updates and edits before you agree.
With us, you send your photos, services and prices, or we take them from what is already online about you, and we design the site around your business. Hosting, updates and the booking system are ours to run. When a price, opening hours or a member of the team changes, you message us and we do it. Unlimited small changes, fair use.
What the £49 pays for with us
- A bespoke website, designed around your business: your photos, services, prices, reviews and area.
- Your own domain, something like www.yourbusiness.co.uk, bought and connected for you.
- Booking inside the site for unlimited team members, with email confirmations and reminders.
- Changes done for you. Message us; unlimited small changes, fair use.
- Analytics, a monthly report and an AI Search Readiness score, so you can see what is in place and how the site is doing.
- A new article every month about your town and your services, written to be read by search engines and AI assistants.
- 0% commission on every booking, from anyone.
The whole offer is on our home page. After the 12-month minimum term it carries on month to month, and the website can become yours.
Being found on Google and by AI
WordPress can be set up very well for search, usually with an SEO plugin, but it does nothing by itself: someone has to fill in the business details, write a page for each service, add structured data and keep publishing. Every site we build is set up with structured data, a page for each service, clear business details and a monthly article, and your dashboard shows an AI Search Readiness score so you can see what is there.
Where WordPress genuinely wins
- It is much cheaper. Hosting from £1.99 a month in the first year and a booking plugin from free, against our £49.
- Deposits and texts are available today. Bookly lists deposit payments and Stripe and PayPal in every paid plan, with pay-as-you-go texts, and Simply Schedule Appointments sends texts through Twilio. Our card payments and text reminders are built but not switched on, so we cannot take a deposit or send a text reminder for you yet.
- You own and control everything. You can move host, change any line of the site and add any of thousands of plugins.
- No minimum term. Plugins and hosting are paid by the year or month, while we have a 12-month minimum term because we build the site for £0 upfront.
- It can do almost anything. Shops, memberships, courses and events, if you have the skills or the budget to add them.
We have no marketplace of people browsing for somewhere to book, and neither does a WordPress site. If that is what you want, see how marketplaces charge for it in Believe Websites vs Fresha. If you like the idea of doing it yourself but want a simpler builder than WordPress, read Believe Websites vs Wix.
Everything side by side
| Believe Websites | WordPress + a booking plugin | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £49 a month flatany team | Hosting, domain and plugin, priced separatelyfrom well under £200 a year if you build it |
| Who builds the website | We do, for £0 | You do, or a developer you pay |
| Who updates and changes it | We do, when you messageunlimited small changes, fair use | You do, or your developer |
| Your own domain | Includedwe buy and connect it | Yes, bought separately |
| Team members | Unlimited, free | Unlimited on Bookly paid plansteam scheduling on SSA Business |
| Commission on bookings | 0% | None listed by either plugin |
| Email confirmations and reminders | Yes | Yes, through the plugin |
| Text reminders | Coming soon | Yes, paid per messageBookly pay-as-you-go; SSA through Twilio |
| Card payments and deposits | Coming soon | Yes, through Stripe or PayPal |
| Monthly SEO and AI article | Yes, written for youabout your town and services | If you write it |
| Monthly report and AI Search Readiness score | Yes | Only what you install |
| Marketplace of browsing clients | No | No |
| Minimum term | 12 monthsthen month to month | None beyond what you prepaye.g. SiteGround's 12 months |
So which one should you pick?
WordPress and a plugin, if
- You, or someone you trust, can build a WordPress site and will keep it updated.
- Keeping the yearly cost as low as possible matters most.
- You need deposits or text reminders this week.
- You want full control of the code and the hosting.
Believe Websites, if
- You want a proper website without building it or looking after it.
- You want one flat price however big the team gets, and no commission on any booking.
- You would rather send a message than log in when a price changes.
- You want a monthly article and an AI Search Readiness score working on how you are found.
- Email confirmations and reminders are enough for you today.
Comparing other ways to build it yourself? We looked at Believe Websites vs Squarespace too.
Common questions
- Is WordPress free?
- The WordPress software is free to download from wordpress.org. Running it as a business website means paying for hosting and a domain, and usually for a premium plugin or theme. On 2 November 2026 SiteGround's UK WordPress hosting started at £1.99 a month for the first year, renewing at £13.99 a month, excluding VAT.
- What is the best booking plugin for WordPress?
- It depends on what you need. Bookly has a free version, and its paid plans list unlimited staff, deposit payments and pay-as-you-go texts, with Pro at $39 a year on a sale price for one site on 2 November 2026. Simply Schedule Appointments has a free version and paid plans at $99, $199 and $399 a year introductory, with texts and payments from Professional.
- How much does a WordPress booking website cost in the UK?
- If you build it yourself, the parts can come to well under £200 for the first year: hosting from £1.99 a month in the first year at SiteGround, a .co.uk domain from £3.99 at 123 Reg (both excluding VAT), and a booking plugin from free. Paying a developer to build it adds whatever they quote. Believe Websites is £49 a month with the build included for £0 upfront.
- Can a WordPress booking plugin send text reminders?
- Yes. Bookly sends texts on pay-as-you-go through Bookly Cloud, with rates shown inside WordPress after signup, and Simply Schedule Appointments sends them through a Twilio account on its Professional plan and above. Believe Websites sends email confirmations and reminders; its text reminders are built but not switched on yet.
- Is WordPress cheaper than Believe Websites?
- Yes, if you build and maintain it yourself. Hosting, a domain and a booking plugin can cost a fraction of Believe Websites' £588 a year. The difference is the work: on WordPress you build, update and change the site, while Believe Websites designs, builds, hosts and changes it for you, with a 12-month minimum term.
- Will WordPress or Believe Websites get me to the top of Google?
- Neither can promise that. WordPress can be set up well for search, usually with an SEO plugin, if someone does the work. Believe Websites sets up structured data, service pages and a monthly article and shows an AI Search Readiness score. No company can guarantee a Google ranking or that an AI assistant will recommend a business.
Sources
- WordPress download (wordpress.org) — checked 2 November 2026
- WordPress plugin directory — checked 2 November 2026
- WordPress.com plans and pricing — checked 2 November 2026
- Bookly pricing — checked 2 November 2026
- Simply Schedule Appointments pricing — checked 2 November 2026
- SiteGround UK WordPress hosting — checked 2 November 2026
- Krystal WordPress hosting — checked 2 November 2026
- 123 Reg domain names — checked 2 November 2026
- Believe Websites pricing and terms — checked 2 November 2026
Competitors' prices change. Every figure here was read from the company's own public pricing page on the date shown. If something is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.