How to choose a web designer in South Africa: 10 questions to ask first

The short answer: choose the designer who answers the questions below clearly and in writing. Price matters less than you’d think. The expensive mistakes are a domain registered in someone else’s name, a monthly fee you can’t leave, and a site nobody keeps up to date.

I’m a web designer myself, so read this knowing that. I’ve written it so the questions work on anyone, me included.

First, decide what kind of help you need

For what each option typically costs, see how much a website costs in South Africa.

The 10 questions

1. Will the domain be registered in my name? Whoever is listed as the registrant of a .co.za domain is its legal holder. If the designer registers it in their own name, moving away later depends on their cooperation. The answer you want is “yes, in your name, and you’ll get the login.”
2. Who owns the website, and can I take it with me? Ask whether the hosting account is in your name, and whether you get the files and logins at the end. Some monthly packages own the site and switch it off when you stop paying.
3. What exactly is included, and is the price fixed? Get the number of pages, who writes the words, how many rounds of changes, and what counts as extra, in writing. “About R10,000” is not a fixed price.
4. What will I pay every month after launch? Hosting, the domain, maintenance, and licence renewals for any paid themes or plugins. Add it up over two years and compare that total, not the build price.
5. Is there a minimum contract or a cancellation fee? Monthly packages often run for 12 or 24 months. Know the exit before you sign.
6. Who will actually do the work? Ask who designs it, who builds it, and who you’ll talk to. With some agencies, the person who sells the project never touches it.
7. Can I see live sites you’ve built, and are they fast? Screenshots prove little. Open the live sites on your phone, and paste them into Google’s PageSpeed Insights. If you can, ask one of their clients how it went.
8. How do payments work? A deposit and then stages is normal. Paying everything up front isn’t. Ideally the final payment comes after you’ve seen the finished site working.
9. Who keeps the site secure and up to date? Every site needs its software and server updated. October 2026’s PHP2Shell vulnerability affected most WordPress sites at once, and the sites with nobody responsible for updates were the ones left exposed. Get a name, not “it’s automatic.”
10. Will the site meet POPIA? If your contact form collects names, email addresses or phone numbers, the Protection of Personal Information Act applies. The site needs a privacy notice saying what’s collected, why and where it’s kept, and the form needs to store that information securely.

Red flags

• The domain or hosting will be in the designer’s name.
• No written quote, or a quote without a list of what’s included.
• 100% payment before any work starts.
• No live sites to show, only mock-ups and screenshots.
• A guarantee of “first page on Google”. Nobody can promise that.
• A long contract with no clear way out.
• Vague answers about who handles security updates.

How I answer these

Since you’re on my site: the domain, the hosting and every account are in your name from day one. The price is fixed before I start, and anything extra is quoted separately. You pay in stages, and you see the finished site on a private link before the final payment. A small business website starts at R3,500, and every price is on the pricing page.

The honest gap is question 7. I’ve only just started working under my own name, so the one site I can show you in full is this one, with its measured speed published. If that’s not enough yet, that’s a fair call. The free website check is a low-risk way to see how I work first.