How Much Does It Cost to Host a Website? | Compare 2023 Prices
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Shared hosting (the cheapest kind) costs $2.95 – $49.99/month, and dedicated hosting (the most expensive kind) costs $45 – $629.99/month. If you’re short on time we recommend Bluehost (starting at $2.95/month) for most hosting, and for shared hosting our research showed HostGator (starting at $3.95/month) as the best hosting provider.
But there are a lot of options in between, with several different types of hosting to choose from, and many variables at play. And with costs becoming more important than ever in the current economic climate, it’s vital to find a cheap but good value hosting plan to help your money go further. That’s why we’ll go through the cost of each of the five most popular types of hosting in detail, to help you budget for your web hosting effectively.
Web Hosting Costs Explained
Every hosting provider out there has its own extensive list of pricing plans which may seem a little overwhelming at first – even us experts get a little spun around by it!
We know that there are many variables at play when it comes to the cost of web hosting so this guide is there to help you know:
- Which type of hosting you’ll need
- How much this type of hosting will cost
- The cheapest providers out there
- Extra costs you may come across
Take a look at the different prices you can expect to pay for each type of hosting below. Here we’ve selected the top performers for each type of hosting along with the bucks you’ll potentially be spending – click each type to get a speedy overview.
This is beginner-level web hosting – shared hosting means that you’ll be sharing your web server with other websites. If you have a super low traffic website with a static page, or a small blog, then this is the best option. Shared hosting is often the cheapest form of web hosting, but also the least robust, as your website is one of many sites sharing the resources of a single server.
In our research we found HostGator offers the best overall shared hosting, it scores 4.7/5 and its cheapest shared plan comes in at $3.95/month when you pay annually. The highest you could pay for HostGator’s shared hosting is a really reasonable $16.95/month.
Virtual private server hosting, or VPS hosting, is the next step up from shared hosting. The big difference is that you’re mostly running your own server. In reality, your website is still one of several websites sharing a single server, but there are far fewer websites sharing resources than with shared hosting – meaning your site’s performance should be better.
Why is site performance important? Well, with better website performance you can manage higher traffic and the overall security of your website is better – which is important if you’re planning to sell online.
We recommend Bluehost’s VPS hosting plans, as Bluehost themselves came out as top in most categories of our research – its prices range from $$2.95 to $119.99 per month when you choose a 36-month subscription (prices depend on the plan and billing cycle).
With dedicated hosting, you’re paying for your very own server. This means that your site will run faster, will have less downtime, and gain in power. The general rule of thumb is that businesses of 500+ employees and have a lot of data should get a dedicated server!
Typically, these services are tiered based on how powerful your server will be, and if the web host manages the service or the business manages it in-house. Not every dedicated hosting provider offers managed services, although some do.
Bluehost is our front-runner for dedicated servers with its feature-rich server, and it has cost-effective dedicated server options from $79.99 to $119.99 per month (when you choose the 36-month contract).
You’ve probably heard talk of “the cloud,” a vague term meant to describe online services like Dropbox or OneDrive. What it actually means is a cluster of servers working together, so that a web service never goes down (or goes down very infrequently). Cloud hosting, then, is a group of servers working together to keep your website up and running. If one server goes down, another picks up the slack, and so on. As you might imagine, cloud hosting doesn’t come cheap – but if you can’t afford even a few hours of down time, it might be the best option for you.
We recommend A2 Hosting’s cloud hosting plans, which start at just $5 per month and come with root access, plus an anytime money-back guarantee.
Before we start, let’s be clear about one thing: you can run a WordPress site on pretty much any web hosting service. Managed WordPress hosting is not about running a WordPress site per se – it’s about getting a service that’s tuned to meet the needs of WordPress sites. That includes key features like 24/7 support and automated backups, or other items you may not get with regular shared hosting.
Bluehost is hands down the best WordPress host, with automatic WordPress installation and updates available from just $2.95 per month (paid annually).
In a hurry? Find the ideal hosting pricing plan for you in less than a minute.
That’s the quick breakdown of all the web hosting services. Before we get into the specifics of web hosting costs, keep in mind that as your web hosting plan increases in features, it will usually increase in cost.
Take a look at our top-rated web host Bluehost as an example. Bluehost’s shared hosting plans range from $2.95 to $13.95 per month, and you unlock more features the more you pay. The key is to find the plan that fits your budget and provides you with the features you need.
If you start on Bluehost’s cheapest Basic shared plan for $2.95 per month, you can use it for one website. You also get a free domain for a year, a free SSL certificate for a year, and you get 10GB of storage. In contrast, with Bluehost’s higher-tiered shared plans, such as the $13.95 per month Pro plan, you have unlimited websites and domains at your disposal, 100GB of storage – plus extra features such as automatic daily backups, optimized CPU backups, and a free dedicated IP.
How Much Does Website Hosting Cost?
Now let’s take a closer look at the costs of different types of hosting. A lot of the pricing you’ll see here is initial promotional pricing, where you pay a specific price for a certain amount of months or years of service. Once your promotional period is over, your monthly cost may go up.
Shared Hosting
$2.20 – $22.99 per month
Shared hosting is where most people start their web hosting journey.
Of the top five shared hosting providers, HostGator offers great shared hosting plans – it offers unlimited bandwidth on all plans and comes in first for help and support in all seven of our testing categories!
In second place is Bluehost, which has the highest average rating across all categories. For shared hosting, HostGator scores an impressive 4.7/5 while Bluehost gets a respectable 4.5/5.
| Host | Entry Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Highest Plan | Subscription length for price shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HostGator | $3.95 | $5.00 | $7.25 | 12 months |
| Bluehost | $2.95 | $5.45 | $13.95 | 12 months |
| Dreamhost | $2.95 | - | $2.95 | 12 months |
| iPage | $2.99 | - | - | 12 months |
| Hostinger | $3.49 | $2.99 | $6.99 | 12 months |
VPS Hosting
$2 – $110 per month
VPS hosting is the next step up from shared web hosting when traffic starts to increase on your website.
Of our top five VPS hosting providers, Bluehost may not have the cheapest VPS hosting plan at $23.99/month – but it is very feature-rich, coming in with the third highest features score in our research. This is because it comes with a free IP address and rare unlimited domains. Bluehost also scores well for its help and support and has a stellar online reputation – in fact, it came out top in our market analysis.
HostGator and InMotion follow close behind Bluehost in the price race. HostGator at $23.95 and InMotion with $24.99/month for the entry-level VPS plans, while Ionos takes the cake for the cheapest VPS plans, starting at $2/month (with a one-time setup fee of $10).
However, cheap isn’t always as cheerful as the breadth of features you get with Bluehost or HostGator.
| Host | Entry Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Highest Plan | Subscription length for price shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluehost | $23.99 | $34.99 | $83.99 | 12 months |
| HostGator | $23.95 | $34.95 | $59.95 | Any length |
| InMotion | $24.99 | $39.99 | $59.99 | 12 months |
| Ionos Hosting | $2 (with $10 set-up fee) | $4 | $18 | First 6 months |
| Dreamhost | $13.95 | $27.50 | $110 | 12 months |
Dedicated Hosting
$47 – $539.99 per month
Dedicated hosting is for businesses and websites that are growing. If you’ve decided to pay for your own server, traffic must be getting pretty serious, and your needs are outgrowing the lower tiered hosting plans.
Dedicated hosting is the most variably priced kind. Of our top five dedicated hosting providers, the cheapest plan comes from Ionos at an astronomically low $47/month. Its mid-tier plans are priced between $110/month and $140/month. The most expensive plan is InMotion’s $539.99/month top tier plan, but you do get the best features on the market for the higher price tag.
| Host | Entry Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Highest Plan | Subscription length for price shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluehost | $99.99 | $119.99 | $139.99 | 12 months |
| Ionos Hosting | $47 | $110 | $140 | Varying lengths |
| HostGator | $109.98 | $139.98 | $159.99 | 12 months |
| InMotion | $139.99 | $259.99 | $539.99 | 12 months |
| A2 Hosting | $159 | $189.99 | $529.99 | 12 months |
Cloud Hosting
$4.50 – $240 per month
Cloud hosting is what you turn to when even the slightest downtime could prove fatal to your business. The best cloud hosting providers make sure there’s always a server on hand, ready to provide your website to the world.
Cloud hosting is relatively inexpensive. Of our top five providers, the most affordable plan comes from DreamHost at just $4.50/month. There can be quite a variation in what you get with a cloud hosting plan, and this is reflected in the cost; HostGator’s most expensive cloud hosting plan costs just $9.95/month, while SiteGround’s is $240/month.
| Host | Entry Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Highest Plan | Subscription length for price shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dreamhost | $4.50 | $12 | $48 | 1 month |
| HostGator | $4.95 | $6.57 | $9.95 | 3 years |
| A2 Hosting* | $4.99 | $9.99 | $34.99 | 3 years |
| InMotion | $17.99 | $32.99 | $72.99 | 6 months |
| SiteGround | $60 | $180 | $240 | 1 month |
*A2 Hosting doesn’t offer traditional cloud hosting – instead, it offers unmanaged VPS Hosting.
WordPress Hosting
$2.95 – $16.99 per month
These plans are for those who need dedicated and specialized services designed just for WordPress sites and blogs.
Again, there can be quite a difference in what you get from one WordPress hosting plan to another, and this is reflected in the price. Of our top five WordPress hosting providers, Bluehost offers the cheapest plan at $2.95/month. On the other side, InMotion’s top tier plan is the priciest at $16/month.
It’s worth noting these are the discounted WordPress hosting prices, so prices can go up to around $30, especially for renewals.
| Host | Entry Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Highest Plan | Subscription length for price shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluehost | $2.95 | $5.45 | $13.95 | 12 months |
| InMotion | $4.49 | $8.99 | $16.99 | 12 months |
| SiteGround | $2.99 | $4.99 | $7.99 | 12 months |
| HostGator | $7.95 | $9.95 | $11.95 | 12 months |
| GreenGeeks | $4.95 | $7.95 | $12.95 | 12 months |
Extra Web Hosting Costs to Consider
A hosting package is one thing, but there are often some “hidden” fees that you may not really think about until you’re already up and running. Beyond the hosting package, you need to own a domain name, for example. Sometimes your domain name registration is included in your hosting package, while other times, you turn to a domain registrar.
Here’s a breakdown of a few of the extra costs you should consider.
Domain Name Registration
Typically costs $10 to $15 per year
When you run a website, you need a domain name. This is the web address that you put on your business cards, shopping bags, and other company marketing materials. Most people opt for a .com domain name, but you can also choose from .net, .biz, or country-specific suffixes such as .ca or .us.
Domain name registration has some extra fees of its own, such as privacy protection, which keeps your name and address out of public WHOIS listings (database of all registered domains).
It’s also worth pointing out that keeping your domain name registration with your web hosting provider is not always the best choice. If you should ever want to leave your web host, having your domain registered with services such as Domain.com or GoDaddy makes that easier, as you’ll avoid the hassle (and potential cost) of transferring your domain to a new registrar.
More Information
- Check out our full breakdown of domain name costs for more information.
- Discover your options with our ranking of the 6 best domain name registrars.
Office 365 or G Suite
Adding business email and productivity suites typically costs $6 to $15 per month
Not all hosts provide this service, but a number of them allow you to purchase business accounts for G Suite or Office 365 at good prices. The end result is that you can have your business email in Gmail or Outlook.com.
SSL Certificates
Vary from free to $450 per year, with the average price around $50
When you have an SSL certificate, your website gets that little green lock in the URL bar of a browser. This is a must have for any webpage handling financial transactions, or where users need to login to the website. Many websites choose to use SSL even when they’re just simple pages displaying information, because Google often favors sites using SSL over those that don’t.
These days, most web hosts provide free SSL certificates with their mid- to high-tier plans; however, keep in mind that if you have the technical know-how to deal with the command line, you can get a free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt.
More Information
- Explore our guide on how to get an SSL certificate.
- How much an SSL certificate costs.
- Want to save on security? Check out our ranking of the 10 best free SSL hosting providers.
SiteLock
Typically costs about $24 per year
Not all web hosts offer SiteLock added security as part of its services, but those that do usually charge about $2 per month. SiteLock offers features such as daily malware scans, web application firewalls, and DDoS attack protection. Whether SiteLock is worth the money is something of a debate online, but we won’t get into that here. Some web hosts also offer SiteLock services for free as part of its packages.
Automated Site Backup and Restore Services
Website backups with web hosts are often free, but may cost $2 per month or more
Just like your PC at home, it pays to have your website files copied to another location that is not your web host server in case the worst happens. Some plans include backups for free, while others won’t charge to save the backup, but may charge you a restoration fee should your data disappear.
Keep in mind that you could backup the site yourself, but that usually takes a little bit of technical know-how. You’ll also need to manage your backups to make sure they’re working and copying correctly.
Cost to Switch Web Hosts
For many different reasons, you may want to transfer your website hosting to a new provider, but how much will that set you back?
If you have the required skills (and time to spare), you can switch hosting providers yourself at no cost. However, we’re sure that most of you simply don’t have the time to migrate your whole website to another server among your other tasks. Thankfully, you can pay your new host to do all the legwork for you.
Typically, migrating your website to another host will cost between $150 and $400, depending on the host, and the number of files, extensions, and images your website contains.
Bluehost’s Free Switching Service
Worried you don’t have the time or tech skills to perform a full WordPress website migration yourself? Worried how much it’ll cost to get someone else to do it all for you? Good news – Bluehost will complete one website transfer for you, for free!
Paid migration services usually cost around $149.99, which comes with a whole host of extra services. But if you just need a single WordPress site moved from one host to another, Bluehost’s experts will do that for you, totally free of charge.
As long as you already have a WordPress website, and you’ve signed up to a Bluehost plan, Bluehost’s experts will review your site to see if they can migrate it for you. If your site meets the criteria, you can sit back, relax, and let Bluehost migrate your site for you!
How Much Does It Cost to Host a Website: Summary
Now you know how much web hosting should cost, based on the type of hosting you require, from the services we recommend. There are certainly a wide range of pricing options, with hosting costing from as little as $2.95 to more than $749 per month.
If you opt for a higher priced plan, or for a whole lot of years at a lower price, many web hosts offer a limited time money-back guarantee. These often last between 30 and 90 days. That way you can try out the service, and if you don’t like it, you can walk away without losing your investment.
To review, here are the five types of web hosting we looked at, along with the overall price ranges:
Cost to Host a Website:
- Shared Hosting: $2.20 – $44.99 per month
- VPS Hosting: $2.99 – $509.99 per month
- Dedicated Hosting: $27 – $749.99 per month
- Cloud Hosting: $4.50 – $240 per month
- WordPress Hosting: $1 – $999 per month
The important issue to remember with web hosting is that the type of website you’re running will often dictate the type of web hosting you need.
Beginner sites in almost all categories should go with shared hosting. VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting are for more active websites, with the latter being more important for websites that can’t afford any downtime. WordPress hosting, meanwhile, is specifically for WordPress-based sites that want the specialized support and features which managed WordPress hosting services provide.
Once you’ve got your hosting plan picked out, don’t forget to consider those extras we discussed. You’ll be on your way to running an active and well-maintained website in no time.
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