Pricing
Clear starting points, without the website guesswork
Armature gives creative people and organisations a managed website they can actually keep using — without wrestling with fragile plugins, sprawling page builders or a fresh custom build every time their work changes.
Prices below are starting points. Setup, migration, domains, email and ongoing care are explained separately so you can see what to budget for before we scope anything properly.
Armature plans and starting prices
Armature Core
From £125 setup + £15/month
A managed creative website for artists, illustrators, comics creators, writers and independent creatives who need work, updates, contact details and core pages in one calmer system.
Includes:
- Core pages
- Projects / Work section
- Featured or selected work
- News / updates
- Contact and social links
- Template-led visual setup
- Managed hosting and SSL
- Updates and backups
- Basic support
Armature Extended
From £225 setup + £25/month
For creatives who need a richer site with extra routes for selling, enquiries, publications, events, workshops or a broader creative practice.
Includes:
- Everything in Armature Core
- Publications / books / comics support
- Events or workshops
- Additional sections for publications, events, workshops, shop routes and enquiries
- Contact form or enhanced enquiry route, scoped where needed
- Shop links, buy buttons or simple selling routes, scoped where needed
- Light onboarding
- One small help request per month
Need something more organisational?
Armature Community is scoped separately for collectives, festivals, funded initiatives, networks and community organisations that need resources, events, signposting, partner content or managed listings. Builds usually start from £3,000–£4,000, with ongoing care quoted separately.
Need a lighter first step?
For very simple sites or early-stage projects, we can quote a smaller scoped start with fewer moving parts. Email us at armature@mathewkeller.com and we’ll help work out the simplest sensible route.
Can I have a shop?
Yes, Armature Extended can support simple selling routes, such as shop links, buy buttons, product enquiry routes, or links to existing platforms like Etsy, Shopify, Ko-fi, Gumroad, publisher pages, ticketing platforms or your own external checkout.
That is often enough for artists, writers, makers and comics creators who need to sell prints, books, workshops, commissions or tickets without turning their website into a full ecommerce system.
Full ecommerce, stock management, postage rules, tax setup, complex checkout flows or bespoke payment integrations are not included as standard. If you need those, we can scope them separately.
What the monthly care covers
The monthly care plan is separate from any setup or build fee. It covers the managed infrastructure and routine support that keeps the site running properly after launch.
- Managed hosting
- SSL certificate
- WordPress and plugin updates
- Scheduled backups
- Basic security checks
- Contact route checks
- Basic support
- Template and system maintenance
For Armature Core and Armature Extended, the monthly care price is shown in the plan. For scoped Community projects, ongoing care is quoted separately, typically from £39–£75/month depending on what needs maintaining after launch. As a rough planning figure, that usually means allowing around £468–£900 per year after the initial build.
Setup and migration
Setup covers configuring the Armature system, applying the chosen template, preparing the main pages and getting the site ready to launch. Migration or import covers the work of moving existing content into the new structure. The bands below are starting points and may vary depending on content volume, cleanup and extra functionality.
Armature Core setup/import | £125–£195 | For straightforward creative sites with core pages, a manageable body of work, images and updates. |
| Armature Extended setup/import | £225–£350 | For sites with publications, events, workshops, shop routes, enquiry flows or more content mapping. |
| Complex creator setup/import | £350+ | For larger, messier or more structured creator sites with substantial migration, cleanup, extra modules or integrations. |
| Manual content entry | By quote | For raw documents, loose images or content that needs shaping before it can be added. |
Community projects are scoped separately because resource, directory, stakeholder and organisational needs vary more widely. Any Community build price covers the setup and launch phase; the monthly care plan sits alongside it and continues after launch.
What is not included by default?
Some costs and features stay separate so Armature can stay focused, manageable and affordable. Many of these things can still be added, connected or scoped separately, but they are not bundled into every plan because they add cost, third-party accounts, ongoing support needs or extra technical risk.
- Domain registration and renewals
- Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or email licences
- Mailing list platforms
- Payment tools or paid plugins
- Specialist integrations
- Copywriting or substantial editing
- Large-scale manual content entry
- Full ecommerce builds, stock management or complex payment setup
- Public accounts, memberships or advanced directories
- Day-to-day email inbox, device or IT support
Where one of these is important to the project, we can either connect to an existing service, recommend a sensible third-party route, or quote the extra work separately. Keeping these items separate helps avoid turning a simple creative website into a fragile pile of plugins, accounts and ongoing support problems.
Email staying separate does not mean using a different email name. You can still use a professional address at your own domain, such as info@yourdomain.co.uk. It simply means the mailbox itself is handled through Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or an existing email provider of your choice, rather than being bundled into the Armature website hosting. We can help with the setup and DNS records, while you keep ownership of the email account and licence.
Other costs to budget for
Most clients also need to allow for a domain name and email account. These are third-party costs and stay in the client’s ownership.
| Cost | Typical planning allowance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Around £50–£90 over three years | For one standard UK domain. Prices vary by registrar and extension. |
| Extra domains | Around £120–£180 over three years | Useful if you want both .co.uk and .com versions, or common alternatives. |
| Professional email | Usually charged per mailbox, per month | For example, info@yourdomain.co.uk through Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or an email provider of your choice. |
| Mailing list, payment tools or paid plugins | By provider | Only needed if the project requires them. |
We can advise on sensible choices, connect the domain to the website, and help configure the records needed for email. The domain and email accounts should normally remain owned by the client.
Ready to stop wrestling with your website?
Tell us what you’re building, what your website needs to do, and whether you’re starting from scratch or replacing something that no longer works for you.