We’ve simplified the plans. Website hosting is complicated enough, so we have removed the 3 plan structure (which was simple really) and replaced it with an even simpler one. The good news is that we are keeping the free tier.
PLAN: FREE
Our Starter package is still free and comprises 250Mb of storage suitable for very small pdf documents and images. Moreover you can publish an unlimited number of news stories, create as many pages as you like, or just create your very own one page website or a simple link tree.
The starter plan is just that – you cannot have your own domain. But you could have e.g. https://ourlocality.org/havecakeandeatit
Free websites can look basic or quite cool
The above are completely DIY websites, there’s no support built in. With this non-plan, if you have a question or a problem you’ll need to get help from family or a friend
(but we will try and respond if your problem is really intractable, absolutely no one will help you, or only we can solve your problem, e.g. a login issue).
FREE will suit if you have a small starter website and no budget or perhaps lack time and aspirations for world domination.
If your project is mission critical, then consider a paid plan.
However you can make a regular donation by standing order, which if more than a cup of coffee will unlock goodwill.
There are many many host companies offering excellent free website services so you might want to research these carefully before making a commitment to a Free OurLocality site. You could save money … and our time.
PLAN: £75/annum
With the paid Plan you get an 1Gb of storage for one site, an unlimited number of pages and posts and the ability to map a single domain that you or we will manage for you – i.e. if we buy it we’ll renew at cost, which for a .org.uk domain is less than £10/annum.
You will get reasonably fast support via email for the main admin user, but during our working hours in the working week, holidays excepted, 10:00 – 4:00.
NB because the support provided is mostly pro bono, outside of those times you may not get an instant reply.
However, the PAID plan is still a DIY plan, you will need to first build and the manage the website; you will have reasonable controls over the settings in our network, but unlike self hosting there are limitations on the service.
If your project is mission critical (e.g. you are depending on leads or income or delivering services to other clients), you may want to consider paying someone to look after your website property – a simple support package might cost you as little as a few hundred pounds, if you have few demands, but if you need someone to create the content for you and be on standby to jump to your request, set aside a few thousand every year!
A paid plan can help you build your online reputation
Extras: £75/annum
You can pay £75/annum for just about anything (Ed. steady on!)
- support for additional admins (other user levels e.g. editors and authors will have to ask their own admins for help)
- a 1 hour support slot request
- email services mapped to the domain
- an additional domain pointed to either another site or the same site
If you are not ready for or do not want the overhead of managing your own setup this plan could suit.
For a more a significant web presence which needs unlimited space, multiple websites or complex domain management, we would recommend self-hosting.
Website options are endless, but if you have such demands you will probably have a regular income, paid staff and require much more dependable levels of ongoing support, which are not free.