Shared web hosting costs about $2 to $6 a month at intro prices, then $2 to $18 a month at renewal. That’s roughly $23 to $72 for the first year.
Managed WordPress hosting starts around $15 to $35 a month. A basic unmanaged VPS costs $5 to $15 once intro offers end.
Managed VPS plans renew at about $55 to $77 a month.
Our own four-year Hostinger Business invoice came to $113.28 after a discount, or $2.36 a month. That is the low end of what hosting can cost.
Every range below comes from official pricing pages we read between September 25 and October 4, 2026. The type you pick sets most of your bill.
Terms like shared, VPS, and managed hosting are defined in plain words among the web hosting fundamentals for beginners.
Web hosting cost by type at a glance
Web hosting costs depend mostly on the hosting type, and most plans cost more after the first term. The table covers entry plans, checked September 25 to October 4, 2026.
| Hosting type | Intro price per month | Renewal per month | First year | Each year after renewal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | $1.89 to $5.99 | $1.99 to $17.99 | $22.68 to $71.88 | $23.88 to $215.88 |
| WordPress hosting (budget plans) | $2.99 to $4 | $5.74 to $10.99 | $35.88 to $48 | $68.88 to $131.88 |
| Managed WordPress hosting | $14.99 to $35 | $17.99 to $35 | $179.88 to $350 | $179.90 to $350 |
| Cloud hosting | $7.99 to $11 | $11 to $25.99 | $95.88 to $132 | $132 to $311.88 |
| VPS, unmanaged | $2 to $8.99 | $5 to $14.99 | $60 to $107.88 | $60 to $179.88 |
| VPS, managed | $29.95 to $53.87 | $54.95 to $76.95 | Depends on term | $659.40 to $923.40 |
| Dedicated server | $35 to $99.99 | $49.99 to $154 | $420 to $1,694 | $599.88 to $1,848 |
“First year” assumes you pay the intro price for a full year. Many hosts need a longer prepay for the lowest rate, as the sections below show.
Plans with no intro discount use the same price in both columns.
Plans and prices change often. Use these as ranges, then check the exact plan on the host’s site.
Not sure which type you need? The comparison of web hosting types matches each one to a kind of site.
Shared hosting cost
Entry-level shared hosting costs $1.89 to $5.99 a month at the intro price and $1.99 to $17.99 at renewal. Shared hosting means many sites share one server’s resources.
The low end of the intro range is OVHcloud’s Starter plan at $1.89. The top is GoDaddy’s Economy plan at $5.99 a month on a three-year term.
At renewal, AccuWeb’s Budget plan sits lowest, because it keeps its $1.99 price. SiteGround StartUp sits highest, at $17.99 a month on a yearly term.
Bigger shared tiers cost more. Their renewals run up to about $30 to $45 a month, such as SiteGround GoGeek at $44.99 on a yearly term.
Typical in our data: most entry shared plans start between $2 and $4 a month and renew between $8 and $14.
Host-by-host renewal jumps belong in the Web Hosting Renewal Price Index, and the reasons behind them in this explainer on how hosting renewal pricing works.
WordPress hosting cost
Budget WordPress hosting costs about $3 to $4 a month at intro prices and $5.74 to $10.99 at renewal. These are WordPress-tuned shared plans, not managed ones.
Hostinger’s WordPress plans cost the same as its web hosting: Premium is $2.99 a month on a 48-month term, then $10.99.
Namecheap’s EasyWP Starter is $3.24 a month billed yearly, then $5.74. It hosts one site per subscription.
WordPress.com Personal is $4 a month when billed yearly and $9 when billed monthly. Its pricing page doesn’t state a separate renewal price.
Managed WordPress hosting cost
Managed WordPress hosting starts at about $15 to $35 a month, or $180 to $350 a year. Managed means the host handles updates, caching, backups, and security for you.
- DreamPress 1: year one at $14.99 a month, later years at $19.99 a month.
- WPX Starter: $17.99 a month, or $179.90 billed yearly.
- Pressable S1: $25 billed monthly, or $250 when paid yearly.
- Rocket.net Starter: $300 paid yearly or $30 monthly, with no renewal increase promised.
- WP Engine Essential: $336 for the first year. Its plans page doesn’t publish the renewal price.
- Kinsta Single 35k: $350 paid yearly, or $35 month to month.
Most managed hosts price by visits or bandwidth, so busy sites move up tiers fast. The managed WordPress price tiers break that down plan by plan.
Cloud hosting cost
Entry cloud hosting costs about $8 to $11 a month at intro prices and $11 to $26 once any intro term ends.
“Cloud” covers very different products, so compare what each plan includes.
Hostinger Cloud Startup is $7.99 a month on a 48-month term and renews at $25.99.
Our own annual Cloud Startup account renews at $311.88 on November 30, 2026, which is that same $25.99 a month.
The Hostinger Cloud Startup plan we run has 4 GB of RAM and 100 GB of NVMe storage.
Cloudways bills by the hour with no contract. Its 1 GB DigitalOcean server costs $11 a month, and the 2 GB server costs $24.
Larger managed cloud plans cost far more. SiteGround’s Cloud Jump Start, with 8 GB of RAM, is $100 a month.
VPS hosting cost
An unmanaged VPS costs about $5 to $15 a month after any intro offer, and a managed VPS renews at $55 to $77.
A VPS (virtual private server) reserves a slice of a server’s resources for you.
Unmanaged VPS. You run the server software yourself. Prices for a 1 GB to 2 GB plan:
- DigitalOcean’s 1 GiB Droplet costs $6 a month, and Vultr’s 1 GB plan costs $5.
- IONOS VPS+ S+ costs $2 a month for three months on a one-year term, then $6.
- HostArmada’s Spark costs $3.69 a month billed yearly, then $8.20.
- GoDaddy’s 2 GB VPS costs $8.99 a month on a three-year term, then $14.99.
Managed VPS. The host handles updates and security, which costs more:
- ScalaHosting Build #1 starts at $29.95 a month on a 36-month term and renews at $54.95.
- HostArmada’s Web Shuttle costs $29.95 for the first month, then $59.90.
- FastComet Cloud 2 costs $53.87, then $76.95. FastComet doesn’t state the term needed.
Dedicated server cost
An entry dedicated server costs about $50 to $154 a month at regular rates, or about $600 to $1,848 a year. You rent a whole physical server for your sites.
These four entry servers come from official pages we read on October 4, 2026:
- InMotion Aspire: $35 a month, renewing at $49.99. It uses an older Xeon E3-1246 v3 with 16 GB of DDR3 memory, per InMotion’s dedicated server page.
- OVHcloud RISE-1: $60.30 a month for the first year, then $67, with the setup fee waived. It has a Xeon-E 2386G and 32 GB, per OVHcloud’s Rise server page.
- InMotion Essential: $99.99 a month with no intro discount, for a Xeon E-2134 with 32 GB.
- Liquid Web Xeon E-2134: $77 a month for two months, then $154, per Liquid Web’s pricing page.
Management explains much of the spread. Liquid Web sells these servers fully managed, while InMotion charges $90 a month extra for its managed Premier Care version.
OVHcloud’s prices come from its worldwide site, and InMotion shows the same price on every billing term it offers.
Typical extra costs to budget for
Most hosting bills grow after year one because of the domain, email, and backups. Budget $20 to $60 a year for extras on a small site.
Domain after year one. Many plans include a free domain for the first year only. A .com then renews at $18.48 a year at Namecheap or $22.99 at GoDaddy.
Email. Some plans include mailboxes, such as 30 on Namecheap Stellar. Others charge, like Bluehost Pro Email, which renews at $2.99 a month after a free month.
Backups. Shared plans often include them. On a VPS you usually pay: DigitalOcean charges 20% of the Droplet price for weekly backups or 30% for daily ones.
SSL. SSL encrypts traffic between your site and visitors. Most shared plans include it free, but GoDaddy Economy lists its free SSL for one year only.
Refund deductions. If a plan came with a free domain, an early cancellation can cost you the domain’s price.
The upcoming guide How to Cancel Web Hosting lists each host’s refund deductions.
Small business yearly budget example
A small business site can run on about $39 in year one and $74 a year after, using a budget shared plan and a separate .com domain.
Here’s one example built only from published prices, using Namecheap Stellar and a namecheap.com:
| Cost | Year 1 | Year 2 and after |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting (Namecheap Stellar) | $27.36 | $55.88 |
| .com domain | $11.48 | $18.48 |
| Email (30 mailboxes included) | $0 | $0 |
| Backups (weekly, included) | $0 | $0 |
| Total | $38.84 | $74.36 |
Year one’s domain is the $11.28 sale price plus a $0.20 ICANN fee. The renewal may also carry that fee.
Namecheap’s Stellar pricing applies after a 30-day free trial, billed yearly.
If your site outgrows shared hosting, the budget moves up a level. A cloud plan like ours at $311.88 a year, plus an $18.48 domain, comes to $330.36 a year.
How to pay less for hosting
Prepay the longest term you’re sure you’ll use, and compare totals over the years you plan to keep the site. That beats chasing the lowest monthly banner.
- Lock in a long intro term. Our four-year invoice cost about a quarter of Hostinger’s $431.52 list price for the same term.
- Check which term the renewal price assumes. Some hosts charge less per month when you renew for longer.
- Keep your domain separate if renewals are high. It also makes leaving a host easier.
- Use the refund window to test. Most hosts here offer 30 days, with exclusions.
Our Business plan is no longer sold; Hostinger now offers Premium, Unlimited, and Cloud Startup instead.
The four-year Hostinger Business account we still use logged 100% uptime over 30 days.
My take after paying for these plans myself: budget on the renewal price, not the banner. If a plan still fits at its renewal rate, it’s the right size.
If a higher price makes you wonder what it buys, the post on what pricier hosting plans actually add answers that.
Ranked picks by four-year total live in the cheapest web hosting by four-year cost roundup.
If you’re ready to prepay four years, Hostinger’s Premium plan is where we’d start.
To total a specific plan with its renewals, the Web Hosting Cost Calculator does the math for you.
Frequently asked questions
How much does web hosting cost per month?
Expect $2 to $6 a month for shared hosting on an intro deal, and $2 to $18 once it renews.
Entry managed WordPress plans begin near $15 and reach $35.
How much does web hosting cost per year?
A basic shared plan costs about $23 to $72 for the first year and $24 to $216 a year after renewal.
Add $18 to $23 a year for a .com domain after year one.
How much does web hosting cost for a small business?
A small business site can run on a budget shared plan for about $39 in year one and $74 a year after, domain included, using Namecheap’s published prices.
A busier site on entry cloud hosting costs closer to $330 a year.
Is $10 a month too much for web hosting?
No. $10 a month sits inside the normal renewal range for entry shared plans, which runs from $1.99 to $17.99. It’s low for managed WordPress or a managed VPS.
What is the cheapest way to host a website?
Pick a plan whose renewal price is low, not just its intro price, and prepay if you’re sure.
AccuWeb Budget stays at $1.99 a month, and Hostinger Premium costs $143.52 for 48 months.
Do I pay for hosting monthly or yearly?
Both exist, but monthly billing costs more. SiteGround StartUp renews at $24.99 a month on monthly billing against $17.99 on a yearly term.
How we researched this
I built every range from each provider’s own pricing, renewal, and help pages, reading them between September 25 and October 4, 2026, and noting the term each price needs.
Only entry-level plans count toward each range. Where a host didn’t publish a renewal price or term, the page says so rather than guessing.
Our own figures come from two Hostinger accounts we pay for. Business Web Hosting was bought December 3, 2024, on a four-year term.
Cloud Startup was bought November 30, 2025, on an annual term.
Both receipts are on the purchased hosting evidence page, and plans are priced the same way every time, following how we price and test hosts.
