What you're really buying

WordPress powers a huge part of the web, and its plugins can do nearly anything. But "free" describes the software, not the experience. What you actually run is a pile of parts. Hosting, a theme, a page builder, an SEO plugin, a security plugin, a backup plugin, a forms plugin. Each one has its own bill, its own settings and its own updates. You're not running a website. You're running a machine that needs care.

What it costs

• · Hosting: $10 to $40 a month for anything you'd trust a business to ($120 to $480 a year). Managed hosts cost more.

• · Paid theme and page builder: $60 to $200 a year.

• · Plugins for SEO, forms, speed and security: often $200 to $1,000 a year.

• · Upkeep means updates, conflicts and backups. Your own hours, or $75 to $300 a month to pay someone.

• · A realistic small-business total: over $1,000 a year before anyone writes a page. Mevin: free plan, or $84 your first year with your own domain. Everything included.

Why people pick Mevin

Mevin replaces the whole pile. Hosting, design, blog, forms and SEO are built in, cared for by us, at one flat price. No update ever breaks a plugin that breaks your layout, because there are no plugins to break.

Publishing is where the difference grows. On WordPress, keeping a blog healthy is a part-time job. On Mevin, it's just writing. Unlimited posts, each with its own page. Free edits forever. When you need something custom, you ask the founder. Not a plugin company's help desk in another timezone.

Which one should you pick?

If you need a special plugin or want to run everything yourself, and you have the time to care for it, WordPress is still the tinkerer's kingdom. If you want to publish, get found and grow without running servers and updates, Mevin gives you all of it for less than most people's hosting bill alone.