Hosting & ownership
Hosting is free for clients. Leaving is cheap. You own everything.
If you've hired us for any product or build, we host your site free on the same infrastructure our own studio runs on. The only price is a small credit in your footer. And because trust is easier when the exit is visible, the way out is published right here too.
How it works
Free hosting, and what it includes
Any client who has paid for any Cruxsmith product gets their site hosted free: fast global infrastructure, SSL, DNS management, email forwarding, uptime monitoring, security, and backups. Serving a well-built site costs almost nothing on modern infrastructure, so we don't charge rent on it.
The price is a credit. A small, tasteful line in your footer, matched to your design: Built by Cruxsmith on sites we designed, Hosted by Cruxsmith on sites we host but didn't build, so nobody ever wonders who made what. It stays up, hosting stays free. If a credit genuinely doesn't work for you, talk to us and we'll price hosting plainly instead.
Your domain is never ours. It's registered in your name from day one; its renewal (usually around $12 a year) is the one cost that's always yours.
The day to day
What things cost while we host you
Plain numbers, same as the rest of our pricing.
Quick clicks: free
A DNS flip, a typo, re-pointing a button, a stuck email forward. If it takes us a minute, it's on the house. We're not metering you.
Small jobs: $100 flat
Anything that needs real time but fits in about an hour: a new section, swapped photos, a small layout change. One flat number, agreed before we touch it.
Real work: published prices
Bigger asks get a real quote first, usually one of the published products. And if you're sending us something every week, a retainer is honestly cheaper.
The open stack
Wide open, on purpose
The line we draw isn't about brands. It's about whether we can reach the code (or a real API) and whether you keep the keys. If both are true, we can build anything there, with the full force of modern AI tooling, and you can always get in yourself.
Open stack, full service: custom code on Cloudflare (our default: fastest, and free to host), Webflow (you keep full visual editing), Shopify (theme code is open), and self-hosted WordPress (workable, though we'll often suggest a faster rebuild). We're moving clients onto these today, and the goal is always that you can still open the editor yourself.
Closed builders, limited capacity: Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy's builder. They don't allow real engineering inside, so until you're ready to move, we can only help with content edits, settings, SEO basics, and your search presence around the site. We'll be honest about that ceiling, and when you want it gone, moving to the open stack is exactly the kind of build we do.
Leaving well
The exit, published up front
Transferring out is $100, and it buys a proper handover: your site code or export, every page of content, all images, your DNS map, analytics access, and plain-language docs, organized so the next person can pick it up cold. Nothing is held hostage and nothing needs unlocking, because everything that's yours was yours all along.
We'd rather publish the exit than make you wonder about it. Agencies that hide the door are the reason small businesses distrust this industry.
The one premium
The AI project memory
While we work on your business, we build a working brain around it: structured business knowledge, brand-voice files, prompt pipelines, automation context. It compounds every month, and it's the reason AI work on your project is fast and accurate instead of generic.
It's the one thing that costs real money to take with you: from $500, and as a working rule, about $500 for each month of hands-on work it covers. Your own data is never part of that price. Content, images, code, accounts: yours, included in the $100 handover. The memory is our method applied to your business, which is why it's ours to sell and yours to buy only if it's worth it to you.
And if you don't take it? It's archived. Never reused for another client, never resold.
Hire us once. Hosted free after.
Every engagement starts with a free fit call and a Crux Roadmap. The hosting takes care of itself from there.
Get your Crux RoadmapCommon questions
The fine print, in plain language
Is the footer credit really required?
It's the whole price. A small, tasteful Built by Cruxsmith or Hosted by Cruxsmith line in your footer, matched to your design, keeps hosting free for as long as it's there. If a credit genuinely doesn't work for your situation, talk to us and we'll price hosting plainly instead.
Can you host or work on my Squarespace or Wix site?
We can't host closed builders, and inside them we can only work in a limited capacity: content edits, settings, SEO basics, and your search presence around the site. Real engineering isn't possible there. When you're ready, we move you onto the open stack and the ceiling comes off. Until then we'll still help where we honestly can.
Why is hosting free? What's the catch?
Modern infrastructure costs almost nothing to serve a fast site, so we don't charge rent on it. The credit in your footer is worth more to us than a hosting fee, and free hosting keeps the relationship alive for the day you need real work. The catch is just that you've hired us for something real at least once.
What exactly do I get if I leave?
Everything that's yours, organized: the site code or export, all content and images, your DNS map, analytics access, and plain-language docs. The $100 covers the hours to package it properly. Your domain was registered in your name from day one, so there's nothing to unlock and nothing held hostage.
What is the AI project memory, and why does it cost more?
It's the working brain we build around your business: structured business knowledge, brand-voice files, prompt pipelines, and automation context, refined over every month we work together. It's our method applied to your business, so it's the one thing that costs real money to take with you: from $500, roughly $500 for each month of active work it covers. If you don't take it, it's archived, never reused or resold.