Scorpion is legit. They've been around since 2001, employ hundreds of people, and manage thousands of client websites. They're not a scam.
But for most small contractors? They're dramatically overpriced for what they deliver. And the contract terms create a dependency that costs way more than the monthly fee suggests.
Here's a line-by-line comparison using publicly available data. Every number can be checked.
What Does Each Option Actually Cost?
Scorpion (from verified client reports on G2, Clutch, TrustRadius, 2024-2025): - Monthly fees: $3,000-$10,000+ - Setup: $1,000-$200,000 - PPC ad spend: $5,000-$50,000+/month extra - Contract: 12-24 months with early termination penalties
A mid-range home services client realistically pays $60,000-$96,000/year.
SitesByTed: - Build: $500 (one-time) - Grow plan: $300/month - Contract: Month-to-month. Cancel anytime. - You own everything.
First-year total: $4,100. That's a difference of $56,000-$92,000.
How Do the Websites Actually Perform?
Scorpion sites score approximately 35-55 on mobile PageSpeed (RankToday, Attorney Marketing Network). Their proprietary CMS loads the full platform framework on every page — analytics, call tracking, CRM integration — whether a page needs it or not.
Ted-built sites score 90-98 on mobile PageSpeed. LCP under 1.8 seconds. Every Core Web Vital in the green.
Why does this matter for your wallet? Deloitte found that a 0.1-second speed improvement increased conversions by 8.4%. Portent found conversions drop 4.42% per additional second of load time. That 3+ second gap between a Scorpion site and a Ted site translates to roughly 14% fewer conversions.
Who Owns the Website?
This is the part most contractors miss — and it's potentially the most expensive factor.
Scorpion: You rent your website. It's built on their proprietary CMS-8 platform. When you leave, you start from scratch. Gorilla Web Tactics confirmed in January 2026: "The website Scorpion builds for you is almost always a rental."
A contractor who spends two years with Scorpion at $5,000/month has invested $120,000 into an asset they cannot keep.
SitesByTed: You own everything — code, design, content, domain. If you leave, you take your complete working website with you.
What About SEO?
Scorpion's core strength is PPC advertising, not organic SEO (Intercore, 2025). PPC produces leads immediately but stops when you stop paying. One Reddit user who audited former Scorpion clients reported: "The work I was able to review on the SEO side was bad."
Ted-built websites are structured for organic search from the foundation — proper heading hierarchy, local business schema, optimized meta tags, Core Web Vitals compliance. The Grow plan adds ongoing content and SEO that compounds every month.
Quick Comparison
| | Scorpion | SitesByTed | |---|---|---| | Monthly cost | $3,000-$10,000+ | $0-$300 | | Mobile PageSpeed | 35-55 | 90-98 | | You own the site | No | Yes | | Contract | 12-24 months | Month-to-month | | Time to launch | 4-12 weeks | Overnight | | 12-month cost | $60,000-$96,000 | $4,100 |
When Does Scorpion Make Sense?
If your marketing budget exceeds $10,000/month and you want one vendor managing everything — web, PPC, LSA, CRM, call tracking — Scorpion's integrated platform is genuinely comprehensive.
But for a solo contractor, a small plumbing company, or a local HVAC shop? Paying $60,000+/year for a website that scores 35-55 on PageSpeed, built on a platform you don't own, locked into a contract you can't easily exit — that math doesn't work.
The Bottom Line
A Ted-built website costs $500, goes live overnight, scores 90+ on PageSpeed, and belongs to you from day one. Total first-year investment with the Grow plan: $4,100.
Test your current website at pagespeed.web.dev. Then get your free score at sitesByTed.com.