Cost Comparison
Vendor Built Instance
Drupal Freelancer: $13.3K /yr + $6.1K Setup
Drupal Agency: $31.6K /yr + $15.2K Setup
Our Turnkey Service
SeedMeLab Lite: $6.6K /yr
Our Managed hosting is 2x to 5x cost effective than other vendors.
It also includes custom features and expertise as original creators.
Calculation Methodology
Labor
Drupal Freelancer Rate: $60/hour & Drupal Agency Rate: $150/hour
- System administration
- Web server configuration, security and management
- Database configuration, security and management
- Drupal configuration, customization, theming, security and maintenance
- *Performance and monitoring costs are not included in calculations
Infrastructure Hosted on AWS
Uses annual reserved instance pricing which is least expensive.
- Server instance T2.Medium
- Database: RDS Aurora DB.T3.Small
- Storage: EFS 100 GB (S3 storage is not officially supported by Drupal)
- Backup: Managed service provided by Rsync.net
- *Data egress charges are not included in calculations
Annual Costs
| Vendor type | Cost type | Maintenance | Infrastructure | Total annual cost |
| Our Lite tier service | Recurring Cost | Included | Included | $6,600 /yr |
| Freelance | Recurring Cost | $12,240 /yr | $1,029.24 /yr | $13,269 /yr |
| Freelance | Setup Cost | $4,860 | $1,200.00 | $6,060 |
| Agency | Recurring Cost | $30,600 /yr | $1,029.24 /yr | $31,629 /yr |
| Agency | Setup Cost | $12,150 Once | $3,000.00 Once | $15,150 Once |
Site & Server Maintenance
(Recurring cost $12.2K to $30.6K /yr)
| Activity | Monthly Hours | Annual Hours | Annual Cost (Freelance) |
Annual Cost (Agency) |
| OS maintenance updates/upgrades | 1 | 12 | $720 | $1,800 |
| OS security updates | 1 | 12 | $720 | $1,800 |
| Drupal core updates | 1 | 12 | $720 | $1,800 |
| Drupal module updates | 2 | 24 | $1,440 | $3,600 |
| Site testing | 1 | 12 | $720 | $1,800 |
| Unexpected interventions | 1 | 12 | $720 | $1,800 |
| Update preparation and deployment | 10 | 120 | $7,200 | $18,000 |
| Monthly maintenance hours | 17 | |||
| Annual maintenance hours | 204 | |||
| Annual maintenance costs | $12,240 | $30,600 |
Infrastructure Hosted on AWS (Frugal)
(Recurring cost $1k /yr)
| Item | Type | Monthly | Annual |
| Server | T2.Medium | $20.95 | $251.40 |
| Database | DB.T3.Small | $24.82 | $297.84 |
| Storage | EFS 100 GB | $30 | $360.00 |
| Backup | Rsync.net | $10 | $120.00 |
| Total Annual cost | $1,029.24 |
Drupal Site Setup
(One time cost: Freelance $3.6K)
(One time cost: Agency $9.1K)
| Setup item | Hours | Setup Cost (Freelance) |
Setup Cost (Agency) |
| Drupal installation | 1 | $60 | $150 |
| Site configuration & customization | 40 | $2,400 | $6,000 |
| Site theming | 20 | $1,200 | $3,000 |
| Total setup hours | 61 | ||
| Total setup costs | $3,660 | $9,150 |
AWS Infrastructure Setup
(One time cost: Freelance $1.2K)
(One time cost: Agency $3K)
| Item | Hours | Setup Cost (Freelance) |
Setup Cost (Agency) |
| OS + Webserver setup | 6 | $360 | $900 |
| WebServer configuration | 1 | $60 | $150 |
| OS + Database setup | 6 | $360 | $900 |
| Database configuration | 1 | $60 | $150 |
| Backup & restore setup | 6 | $360 | $900 |
| Total setup hours | 20 | ||
| Total setup costs | $1,200 | $3,000 |