Should you hire a designer for your restaurant website, orbuild it yourself?
Hire a designer when you need something truly one of a kind and have the budget for it. For most restaurants, a builder made for hospitality gives a professional site for a fraction of the cost, live the same day, and you can change it yourself whenever the menu changes.
- A bespoke site typically costs €2,000 to €6,000 to build, plus yearly care.
- Octablò Essentials costs €190 a year before VAT, with hosting and changes included.
- With Octablò, you make changes yourself in seconds instead of waiting for a developer.
At a glance.
| Hiring a designer | Octablò | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to build | €2,000 to €6,000 | €0 to start |
| Yearly cost | €300 to €1,000 hosting, care and updates | €190 a year (Essentials) |
| Each small change | €50 to €100, or waiting for a free slot | Free, done by you in seconds |
| Time to launch | 3 to 8 weeks | Under an hour |
| Menus, hours and bookings | Built to order | Built in |
| A one-of-a-kind design | Yes | Designs made for restaurants, in your style |
| Security and updates | Usually extra | Included |
Designer prices vary. These are typical figures.
The true cost, time and control ofyour restaurant website.
The quote you get is usually for the build: the design, the pages and the launch. After that come the costs nobody puts on the first page.
Hosting: the server your site lives on, paid every year. Care and security: updates, backups and fixes to keep the site safe and working. Changes: a new menu, new photos or a holiday notice, each a small job with a small bill. Redesign: most bespoke sites look dated after three to five years and start again.
Over five years that reaches about €4,500 to €10,000. Octablò Essentials costs €950 over the same five years.
A bespoke project runs on briefs, drafts and rounds of changes, and the menu and photos are usually the last thing to arrive. Expect several weeks from the first meeting to launch.
With Octablò you choose a design, add your menu, hours and photos, and publish the same day. Most of the time goes into your own content, which you'd have to gather for a designer anyway.
This is the question that decides it for most owners. Restaurants change all the time: a new dish, a seasonal menu, new hours, a sold-out special, a closure for a private event.
With a bespoke site, each change means an email and a wait, unless you've learnt the system yourself. With Octablò, menus and hours go live the moment you save, from your phone, and a sold-out dish takes one tap.
A good designer and Octablò both give you a professional, mobile-friendly site on your own domain, with secure HTTPS and the basics for Google. The difference is what's built in for restaurants, and who's in control afterwards.
With Octablò, these come as standard: menus with allergens and dietary tags, opening hours with seasons and holidays, booking requests, multiple locations, events, privacy and cookie pages, and structured data for search.
You want a completely unique brand experience, with custom illustration, animation or interactive features. You need an online shop, a members' area, or a link to your own systems. You have the budget for ongoing care, and someone on hand to make changes.
If that's you, a good designer is worth every cent. If you want a beautiful, reliable site you can run yourself, start with Octablò.
Build your new site on your free octablo.site address, while your current site stays live. Oblò can bring over your pages, menu, hours and best photos, or you can copy them in. Connect your domain when you're ready, and your new site goes live at the same address.
Questions? Answers.
Yes, for most. The fine dining designs are dark, elegant and spacious, and you choose the fonts and colours.
Yes. On Pro and Group, invite them as a team member. You keep the site, and control of it, afterwards.
Keep the same domain and the same page names where you can, and most of your ranking carries over.
The same as the first: €190 a year for Essentials, or €19 a month, before VAT. Free stays free.