Comparison
Managed agency vs DIY tools
The tools are genuinely cheap. The question is whether you are the right person to be configuring them at 10pm on a Sunday.
Context
The honest starting point
A DIY stack for a small business typically means a website builder, a chatbot platform, an email and SMS tool, a scheduling app and a CRM. Headline cost: somewhere between £80 and £250 a month.
That is real, and for some businesses it is the right answer. But the honest comparison has to include the part nobody puts in the spreadsheet: the twenty to forty hours of setup, the ongoing maintenance, the integration work between five tools that were not designed to talk to each other, and the fact that when something breaks, the person who fixes it is you.
Side by side
The comparison
| DIY stack | Managed plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly software cost | £80–£250 | Included |
| Setup time | 20–40 of your hours | 2 hours of your time |
| Who writes the knowledge base | You | We do, with you |
| Who fixes broken integrations | You | We do |
| Who reviews transcripts monthly | Nobody, realistically | We do |
| Website included | Extra tool, extra cost | Yes |
| Improvement over time | Only if you find the time | Built into the fee |
| Year one true cost | £960–£3,000 + 40 hrs | £750 + £3,564 |
| Best for | Technical owners with time | Owners who want the outcome |
Verdict
So which should you pick?
If you genuinely enjoy this work and have the hours, DIY wins on cash cost. If you are the person who also does the actual revenue-generating work, the DIY stack tends to end up half-built and quietly abandoned — which is the most expensive outcome of all.
Plans
One plan, everything included
Website, AI, automation and ongoing management in a single monthly fee. No contracts — 30 days' notice.
Plan 01
Starter
Sole traders & micro businesses
£750 setup
+ £297/month
- ✓3–5 page professional website
- ✓AI chatbot trained on your business
- ✓Lead capture + instant alerts
- ✓Automated enquiry follow-up
- ✓Missed call text-back
- ✓Online booking & monthly reporting
Most popular
Plan 02
Growth
Established SMEs, 2–10 staff
£1,500 setup
+ £497/month
- ✓Everything in Starter
- ✓5–8 page website with live chat
- ✓AI voice receptionist — 200 mins/mo
- ✓Full lead & sales pipeline
- ✓Client onboarding automation
- ✓Invoice chasing & weekly reporting
Plan 03
Full Managed
Busy SMEs & scaling businesses
£2,500 setup
+ £897/month
- ✓Everything in Growth
- ✓Unlimited page website
- ✓AI voice receptionist — 400 mins/mo
- ✓Staff onboarding automation
- ✓Social scheduling & knowledge base
- ✓Priority support & strategy calls
All plans include hosting, edits, updates and ongoing management. Cancel any time with 30 days' notice. Full pricing details →
FAQ
Common questions
Yes, and plenty of clients do. We will happily take over a stack you have already built if it is sound, and tell you honestly if starting again would be cheaper than untangling it.
Missed call text-back and an instant auto-response to website enquiries. Those two alone recover a surprising amount of work and can be set up in an afternoon on almost any platform.
Not with ours. Rolling monthly, 30 days' notice, and your content, domain and CRM data are exported to you on request.
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