How Much Does Website Hosting Cost? Plans Compared
Website hosting costs $0 to $15 a month for most small sites, $20 to $100 for managed or VPS hosting, and $100+ for dedicated servers. Every hosting type compared, with intro vs renewal prices, September 2026.
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Short answer (updated September 19, 2026): website hosting costs $0 to $15 a month for most small sites, $20 to $100 a month for managed WordPress or a VPS, and $100 to $500+ a month for dedicated servers. If you use a website builder, hosting is already included in the plan price.
Build your hosted website. Start free with a template site and publish it on a we.inc address, no card. Or describe your business in one prompt and the We.Inc AI builder drafts the whole site, on paid plans from $20/mo. Start building free, or start from a design made for electricians, landscapers or real estate agents.
The one trap to know about: many hosts advertise a low introductory price that only lasts for the first term. Budget for the renewal price, not the headline.
TL;DR
- Builder plan (hosting included): $0 to $50 a month.
- Shared hosting: about $3 to $15 a month, often double or triple at renewal.
- Managed WordPress: about $25 to $100 a month.
- VPS / cloud: about $5 to $80 a month, but you manage the server.
- Dedicated server: about $100 to $500+ a month.
- SSL: free almost everywhere.
Cost of website hosting by type
| Hosting type | Intro price | Typical renewal | Who manages it | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builder free plan | $0 | $0 | Platform | Testing, personal sites |
| Builder paid plan | $15 to $50 a month | Same | Platform | Most small businesses |
| Shared hosting | $2 to $5 a month | $8 to $15 a month | Host, you manage the site | Small WordPress sites on a budget |
| Managed WordPress | $15 to $30 a month | $25 to $100 a month | Host handles updates and caching | Business WordPress sites |
| Cloud / VPS | $5 to $20 a month | $5 to $80 a month | You | Developers, custom apps |
| Static hosting (developer platforms) | $0 | $0 to $20 a month | Platform | Developer-built static sites |
| Dedicated server | $100+ a month | $100 to $500+ a month | You or a managed provider | High-traffic sites, strict requirements |
These ranges reflect published 2026 price pages from mainstream hosts. Intro prices usually require prepaying for one to three years.
Real prices by tier, checked September 28, 2026
One named plan per tier, as each vendor listed it on September 28, 2026 (US dollars). Intro prices need the prepaid term shown.
| Tier | Example plan | Intro price | Renews at | What you still have to do | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Hostinger Premium | $2.49/mo on a 48-month term | $10.99/mo | Install and update WordPress or your site software, backups beyond the plan | Hostinger pricing |
| Managed WordPress | WP Engine Essential | From $28/mo billed annually (first-year price) | Monthly rate not shown on the page | Build the site and manage plugins; the host handles core updates and caching | WP Engine plans |
| VPS | Hostinger KVM 1 | $6.49/mo on a 2-year term | $11.99/mo | Everything: server setup, security patches, the web stack | Hostinger VPS |
| Builder plan | Squarespace Basic | $12/mo billed annually ($19 month to month) | Same | Build the site in the editor; hosting, SSL and updates included | Squarespace pricing |
| Builder plan | Wix Light | US price not readable on Sept 28 (Wix served a regional page with local tax); check the page | Check the page | Build the site in the editor; hosting included | Wix plans |
| Builder plan | We.Inc Starter | $20/mo | Same | Describe the site and AI builds it; hosting, SSL and custom domain included | We.Inc pricing |
Worked example for one small site: Hostinger Premium is 48 x $2.49 = $119.52 paid up front for four years, then $10.99 a month (about $131.88 a year) on renewal. Over three years, Squarespace Basic is 36 x $12 = $432. We.Inc Starter is 36 x $20 = $720. The shared plan is cheapest in cash; the builder plans include the editor and upkeep that shared hosting leaves to you. We.Inc's free plan hosts up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address for $0, without AI or a custom domain.
Hosting cost for a website: intro vs renewal
The table below shows how a typical shared hosting deal plays out over three years. Numbers are illustrative of common pricing patterns, not a specific host.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | 3-year total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting, intro deal | $36 ($3 a month) | $120 ($10 a month) | $120 | $276 |
| Builder plan with own domain | $240 ($20 a month) | $240 | $240 | $720 |
| Managed WordPress | $300 ($25 a month) | $480 ($40 a month) | $480 | $1,260 |
Shared hosting is clearly cheapest in cash. The builder plan costs more, but it also includes the site editor, security updates and backups, which on shared hosting are your job or extra add-ons. Compare total cost and total work, not just the hosting line.
What you actually pay for with hosting
- Storage and bandwidth. A small business site uses very little. "Unlimited" plans still have fair-use limits.
- Performance. Better hosting means faster servers, caching and a CDN. Page speed affects both visitors and search rankings.
- Security and backups. Malware scanning, firewalls and daily backups are sometimes included and sometimes $2 to $10 a month extras.
- Support. Cheap plans often have slow ticket support. Managed plans include people who know WordPress.
- Email. Some hosts bundle mailboxes. Many businesses use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 instead, at about $6 to $8 per user a month.
Hidden hosting costs to watch
- Renewal pricing, covered above. It is the biggest one.
- Paid SSL upsells. Free certificates from Let's Encrypt are fine for almost every small business.
- Backup and restore fees. Some hosts charge to restore a backup.
- Domain bundled "free" for a year, then renewing at a higher price than a standalone registrar. See how much a domain costs.
- Migration fees when you move away.
- Overage charges on cloud platforms billed by usage.
Do you need separate hosting at all?
If you are building on a hosted website builder, no. Hosting is part of the plan, along with SSL, backups and updates. That is the main reason builder plans look more expensive than shared hosting: they are selling a finished service, not a server.
You need separate hosting if you run self-hosted WordPress, a custom-coded site, or a web app built outside a builder. Our website builder vs WordPress comparison walks through that trade-off in more detail.
On We.Inc, hosting is included on every plan, including the free one, which publishes on a we.inc address with SSL. The Starter plan at $20 a month connects your own domain. Sites built on We.Inc are served from a global edge network, so there is nothing to configure.
How much hosting does a small business actually need?
Less than hosting sales pages suggest. A typical 5 to 20 page business site with photos weighs a few hundred megabytes at most and serves a few thousand visits a month. Any shared plan or builder plan handles that easily. The things that genuinely push you to a bigger plan are:
- A busy online store with many products, images and checkouts at the same time.
- Heavy media, such as self-hosted video. Embedding from YouTube or Vimeo avoids most of that cost.
- A web app with user accounts and a database doing real work on every request.
- Sustained traffic in the tens of thousands of visits a month or more, especially from ads or press.
What matters more than raw capacity for a small site is speed. Visitors on phones leave slow pages, and Google uses page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, in ranking. A fast host with a CDN and image optimisation beats a larger plan on a slow one. If you are unsure, start small: every host and builder lets you upgrade later, and very few let you downgrade a prepaid multi-year plan.
Choosing hosting in three questions
- Are you on a builder? Then you already have hosting. Stop here.
- Are you comfortable updating software? If not, pick managed WordPress over shared hosting.
- How much traffic do you expect? Under tens of thousands of visits a month, shared or managed hosting is plenty. Above that, or for a web app, look at VPS or cloud.
Hosting many sites for clients
Agencies and freelancers often host client sites on one reseller account to keep costs down, then pass the cost on inside a care plan. A white-label website builder is the builder equivalent: all client sites on your brand, one bill. We.Inc's white-label pricing is tailored to your volume and setup; book a demo for your exact price. The reseller margin calculator shows what your quote leaves you per client.
The bottom line
For a small business site, hosting should cost $0 to $15 a month on its own, or come included in a $15 to $50 builder plan. Always compare the renewal price, not the introductory one. For the rest of the budget, see how much it costs to build a website and website maintenance cost.
Build your hosted website free today. Sign up free, start from a template site and publish it free on a we.inc address. AI builds from one prompt on paid plans from $20/mo. Prefer a head start? Start from the design for electricians, landscapers or real estate agents.
Frequently asked questions
How much does website hosting cost per month?
Most small websites need $0 to $15 a month: free on a builder's subdomain, or $3 to $15 on shared hosting. Managed WordPress and VPS hosting run $20 to $100 a month, and dedicated servers usually start around $100.
Why is hosting so cheap the first year?
Many hosts advertise an introductory price that applies only to the first term, often when you prepay 12 to 36 months. Renewal prices are commonly two to three times higher. Always check the renewal rate before buying.
Is website hosting included in website builders?
Yes. Hosted builders such as We.Inc, Wix and Squarespace include hosting, SSL and backups in the plan price. You do not buy hosting separately.
Can I host a website for free?
Yes. Builder free plans host your site on a subdomain at no cost, and static hosting services have free tiers for developers. Free plans usually mean a subdomain, builder branding or usage limits.
How much hosting does a small business website need?
Very little. A typical 5 to 20 page business site with a few thousand visitors a month runs comfortably on shared hosting or any builder plan. Upgrade when you run a busy store, heavy web app or get sustained traffic spikes.
What is the difference between shared, VPS and dedicated hosting?
Shared hosting puts many sites on one server, which keeps it cheap. A VPS gives you a guaranteed slice of a server. Dedicated hosting gives you the whole machine. Each step up costs more and needs more technical knowledge.
This page is part of our Website builder pricing hub: see all website builder pricing pages.
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