Enter your business details to see what each option would cost you. Prices are live from our database and shown in Australian dollars.
A tradie's website exists to turn a search for a sparky in your suburb into a phone call or a filled-in quote form, and to make the person who found you believe you are licensed, local and real. The differences between builders that cost you money are whether it keeps your invoicing beside the site, whether it bills in Australian dollars, which plan your own domain sits on, and whether you can leave. Every figure here is read live from the same database as the table below.
How we chose
The picks are ordered by fit, not by price or rating, and commission never changes which builders appear or where. We read each vendor's own pricing page, store the true month to month price where one is published (Wix publishes an annual price only, and the table says so), and record the plan a feature sits on rather than a plain yes. The table on this page costs 14 builders at your own numbers, and the full comparison and buyer's guide explains the method.
The chat-driven app builders in our table, which price by AI credits, are left out of the picks on purpose. Their pricing model reads like Lovable's (pricing model row: Base plan plus AI credit consumption), so the plan price is a floor that every edit adds to, and they build custom applications. A tradie's site does not need a database. They remain in the full comparison.
What a tradie actually needs from a website
Being found locally comes first, and a website only does half of it. A free Google Business Profile is what shows the map pin, the reviews and the call button when someone searches for your trade near them; set it up before you pay anyone for anything, and point it at your site once the site exists. The site itself needs four things: your licence number and the trades you are licensed for, the suburbs or regions you cover, photos of your own finished work, and a quote or contact form that lands somewhere you will see it on the tools. That is the whole brief.
A tradie who quotes, does the job and invoices afterwards also needs the paperwork to live somewhere. That is either a builder that keeps a customer list and invoicing beside the site, or a plain site plus the software you already use for your books.
Where each pick fits
Durable is the pick when the website and the paperwork should be one subscription. It generates the site and keeps a customer list and invoicing beside it (integrations row: Built-in CRM and invoicing, limited third-party), which suits a sole trader who invoices after the job and is not yet running accounting software. It has no online store on any plan (online store row: No). Its AI allowance is published (10 AI chats/mo (Free), 1,000 (Launch), unlimited (Grow)), and its templates row reads AI-generated, limited manual control. The Australian edition of Durable vs Wix walks through the service-site decision.
Wix is the pick for a tradie who wants to start without paying and might sell later: filters, consumables, a branded cap. Its free plan publishes a live site (free plan row: Yes, publishes live on a wixsite.com subdomain with Wix branding), your own domain needs a paid plan (custom domain row: Paid plans only (Light and above)), and a store is gated by plan (online store row: Core and above). It publishes its own Australian-dollar price with GST included (local pricing row: Yes, genuine AUD including GST). Editor seats are capped per plan (team members row: 2 (Light) to 100 (Business Elite), hard caps), so count everyone who will edit.
Squarespace is the pick for a tradie who wants to pay month to month and be able to stop. It bills with no commitment (contract: None, monthly or annual), your own domain comes with every paid plan (custom domain row: All paid plans), it publishes its own Australian-dollar price (local pricing row: Yes, genuine AUD rate card), and selling is open on every paid plan, with a commission on the entry plan that drops away from the next rung (online store row: All plans, commission-free from Core). Its AI allowance is published per plan (10 one-time (Basic), 20/mo (Core), 120/mo (Advanced)). There is no free plan (free plan row: No, 14-day trial only).
Hostinger is the pick for a tradie who wants the hosting and the builder on one Australian-dollar bill. One subscription covers several sites (sites per plan: 3 (Premium), unlimited (Unlimited)) where Wix covers one (sites per plan: 1 per plan), it publishes its own Australian-dollar price (local pricing row: Yes, genuine AUD on the Australian site), and hosting is included (hosting row: Yes, it is a hosting plan). The domain is included at first and then renews at a fee (custom domain row: All plans, free for the first year). There is no free plan, and editor seats are not published (team members row: Not published).
WordPress.com is the pick for a tradie who wants to keep the site if they ever leave. The site can move to another WordPress host (export row: Yes, it is WordPress), editors are unlimited (team members row: Unlimited on every plan, including free), and it publishes its own Australian-dollar price (local pricing row: Yes, genuine AUD rate card). The AI builder works on its free plan (free plan row: Yes, publishes live on a wordpress.com subdomain with ads), and selling online needs its top plan (online store row: Commerce plan, bundles WooCommerce).
Invoices: a site that bills, or a site plus your books
This is the decision that separates Durable from the rest. Durable's bundled customer list and invoicing suit a sole trader who is not yet running accounting software and wants one login for the lot. But a tradie already on Xero, MYOB or Reckon has invoicing in accounting software built for Australian tax; a second invoicing system inside a website subscription is then a duplicate, not a saving. In that case any of the other picks plus a quote form that emails you is the cleaner setup, and our guide to accounting software for builders and tradies covers the books side.
One more point on Durable: the customer list a tradie builds over a year sits inside the website subscription, and there is no export (export row: No). Export the customer list regularly.
What it costs in Australian dollars, and GST
Wix, Squarespace, Hostinger and WordPress.com each publish their own Australian-dollar price, so the figure in the table is the vendor's own. Durable does not (local pricing row: No, US dollars only): its entry plan is about $35/mo (Launch) in Australian dollars, converted from a US-dollar price at a recorded rate, the amount on your statement is set by your card's rate on the day, and your bank may add an international transaction fee.
GST follows the vendor. Wix's price includes it. An overseas supplier selling to an Australian business may charge GST on a digital subscription unless you give it your ABN and tell it you are GST registered, so give the vendor your ABN where its account settings allow, and check the invoice before you claim anything on your BAS: a US-dollar receipt with no GST shown is not something to claim GST on.
The billing term matters as much as the currency. Wix bills a year at a time (billing basis: Annual only; contract: Annual, paid in full up front), so the monthly figure is a year's fee spread across the year and the charge lands once. The other picks are stored on the basis Squarespace's row shows (billing basis: True monthly). Hostinger's contract row reads None on monthly, up to 48 months to get the advertised rate: the headline on its front page assumes a long prepayment, and the table shows the real monthly price. WordPress.com's contract row reads None on monthly, up to 3 years for the advertised rate, and its committed terms are introductory rates that renew higher.
Before you pay: your own domain, who can edit, and getting out
A site on a vendor address does not belong on a quote beside your ABN and licence number, so settle the domain first. Wix and WordPress.com have free plans that cannot take one, and each connects your own domain on a paid plan (custom domain rows: Wix Paid plans only (Light and above); WordPress.com Paid plans, free for a year on annual and longer terms). Durable's free plan is owner-only, with the domain arriving on its first paid plan (custom domain row: Launch and above). Squarespace connects your own domain on every paid plan (custom domain row: All paid plans) with no free plan beneath, and Hostinger has no free plan and includes the domain at first, then renews it (custom domain row: All plans, free for the first year). Register the .com.au in your own name where you can and keep the renewal in your diary: the domain is the one part of the site that moves with you.
The pages mostly do not. Export is unavailable on most of the picks (export rows: Wix No; Squarespace No; Hostinger No; Durable No); WordPress.com is the pick whose site comes with you.
The verdict
Decide by how the money arrives. If you invoice after the job and are not yet on accounting software, take Durable, accept the US-dollar bill, and export the customer list often. If your books are already in Xero, MYOB or Reckon, skip the bundled invoicing and pick on billing and currency: Squarespace to pay month to month in Australian dollars, Wix for a free start and a possible store later with a year paid up front, Hostinger for one AUD bill covering hosting and a second trading name, WordPress.com if you want a site you can take with you. Set up the free Google Business Profile first, then run the calculator below at your own numbers.
