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Several instructors who moved to us this year had paid an overseas developer $1,200 to $3,000 for a website with a booking form, with two years of support in hand. Hosting was extra. So there were SMS reminders, security patches and every change once the two years ran out.
That looks cheap next to a local agency, which charges $3,000 to $7,000 for a small site before any booking feature ( Wolf IQ ). It looked less cheap on 21 October 2026, when the Australian Cyber
Three years is the honest window: that’s when a custom site needs its second round of paid work, because the PHP version goes end of life, a plugin breaks, or the developer has moved on. Cost guides put upkeep at 15 to 25% of the build price a year ( What’s The Damage ).
Offshore figures are what instructors told us they paid. Agency figures add Wolf IQ’s basic booking add-on, then 15 to 25% a year. Other platforms use the entry-plan prices published on vendor websites on 20 October 2026. OnTime Bookings is $149 plus 36 months at the founding rate, locked while you stay.
The cheap build only wins on paper. It has no reminders, no hour-based packages, no PayID checkout, and nobody on call when it breaks. At $59 a month, the platform costs less than one $80 lesson. One learner who books at 9pm instead of ringing tomorrow has paid for it.
PHP runs 69.2% of websites with a known server language ( W3Techs , 28 October 2026), WordPress included. On 21 October the PHP project released fixes for two critical flaws that let an attacker run code on a server without logging in, and said “updating is the only safe choice” ( php.net ). The ACSC issued a critical alert the same day ( cyber.gov.au ), its own site went offline while it patched ( ABC News ), and by 26 October the US cyber agency listed both flaws as exploited in the wild ( CISA ).
A custom site is a one-off build. Its PHP version, plugins and server need someone watching: the WordPress ecosystem alone logged 11,334 new vulnerabilities in 2025, 46% with no patch at disclosure ( Patchstack ). Your site holds learner addresses, dates of birth and license numbers. The average cybercrime report from an Australian small business costs $56,600 in 2024-25 ( ASD ).
On a platform, patching is our job. We track alerts like this one and update every school at once, with multi-factor authentication, encrypted data and hosting in an Australian data center.
Every instructor we’ve onboarded from a custom site raised the same problem before price: getting a change made. A time-zone gap, a ticket queue, and a developer who doesn’t know what a Keys2drive lesson or an RCTI is. Explaining the driving industry took longer than the fix.
OnTime Bookings is designed, built, hosted and supported in Sydney by people who work with driving schools every day. Say “learners should book a 10-hour package as any mix of lesson lengths” and we know what you mean. It’s already a feature , and new ones ship to every school as instructors ask, at no extra charge.
A custom site also takes four to eight weeks before a learner can book. With us, you send your details, we build the site in your name and colors, you check it, and you’re taking bookings within one to two weeks, often the next day. Book a demo or start the 30-day trial.
Only on paper, and only if you never need reminders, packages, payments or a fix. An offshore build is $1,200 to $3,000 up front and $1,500 to $4,800 over three years. OnTime Bookings is $59 a month plus a $149 setup, which comes to $2,273 over the same 36 months with everything included. It’s month to month with no lock-in contract, paid as lessons come in rather than before your first booking.
Industry guides put a custom small-business site in four to eight weeks, longer with booking and payments. OnTime Bookings sites go live in one to two weeks, often the next day.
Two critical flaws (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619) in the language behind most websites. Fixes shipped on 21 October 2026; PHP 8.1 and older get none. If you have a custom site, ask your developer which PHP version it runs.
Yes. Your booking site runs on your own domain, in your branding, with hosting included.
