The Complete Guide to Website Hosting Costs in 2024

Your online business success relies heavily on your website. That’s why it’s important to choose the right web hosting plan for your site. But where do you begin research for your website hosting costs if you’ve never hosted a website before or need up-to-date information?

In this guide, we will go over the most popular types of hosting, their average prices, and what type of website they are most suitable for. We’ll also cover some additional hidden expenses that you need to consider before hosting your website. At the end of this guide, you will be able to make an informed decision about your website hosting.

What is the average website hosting cost?

Average website hosting costs range from $2 to $500 per month. They will depend on the type of web hosting necessary for your website. Each type of hosting comes with different server configurations and resources, such as CPU, RAM, and disk space. Depending on these, the website hosting price varies, and each web hosting type is suitable for different types of websites.

Let’s explore the various types of hosting to determine which one best fits your needs.

Shared hosting

With shared web hosting, you get to share a server’s resources, such as storage, bandwidth, and processing power, with hundreds or thousands of other websites. 

The average cost on a shared web hosting plan starts between $2 and $15 per month, and increases to around $10–$40 per month upon renewal. 

A shared web hosting plan is designed to suit the needs of a blog or portfolio website, as well as a small business website. Shared web hosting is a great fit for beginners, all the way up to more advanced business owners, too. It’s one of your best options, not only because it’s the cheapest type of web hosting, but it provides you with many benefits – e.g. no advanced technical knowledge and skills required, plus additional, essential features.

With SiteGround shared hosting plans, you get to choose from three different plans, depending on your website’s needs and requirements. On top of that, each of these shared web hosting plans comes with key features, such as an SSL certificate, email business account, daily backups, and other benefits included at no additional cost.

Here are some specific subtypes of shared hosting:

Managed WordPress hosting

Managed WordPress hosting is shared hosting that’s specifically optimized for WordPress website owners. This type of hosting provides an extra layer of convenience, as the web host takes care of WordPress updates and offers additional perks, such as speed and security boosts.

The cost of WordPress website hosting is roughly the same as the shared hosting price – but managed hosting costs vary, as some hosts may charge extra for the additional software support. With SiteGround, Managed WordPress hosting plans provide all the extra perks for WordPress users, yet the price remains the same as for the shared web hosting, ranging between $2.99 to $7.99 per month.

Managed WordPress hosting is suitable for a blog, hobby website, small business website, or any site built on WordPress content management system.

WooCommerce hosting

WooCommerce hosting is a popular plugin for WordPress. To build an online store, you need both WordPress and WooCommerce installed. WooCommerce hosting includes both of them preinstalled, while also providing additional features to help you sell different products or use various payment gateways. What’s more, WooCommerce hosting may require more server resources for proper website functioning.
That’s why WooCommerce hosting may be more expensive than Managed WordPress hosting, which starts at around $4–$9 per month to $19–$30 per month, but in some cases it can go higher. With SiteGround, WooCommerce hosting comes at the same price as Managed WordPress hosting.

VPS hosting

VPS hosting stands for virtual private server, where a single physical server is divided into several virtual servers. With VPS hosting, users still share server space with other websites, but these websites are fewer. This allows for stronger security and ability to manage higher traffic volumes, while also having more control over the hosting environment.

VPS hosting is best suited for growing websites that have higher traffic and large amounts of data. For example, most shared web hosting plans can handle up to ~500,000 monthly visits. If you regularly exceed that monthly capacity, or you simply need unlimited bandwidth, you might want to consider upgrading to VPS hosting. Bear in mind, though, that with VPS hosting, having control over your hosting requires you to be technically proficient in order to be able to maintain your server configuration.

The average monthly VPS website hosting fees range from $20 to $100, where the price varies due to the provided RAM, CPU, and SSD storage on the server.

Cloud hosting

Cloud web hosting is the superior and more expensive alternative to VPS hosting. It consists of multiple servers connected in a network that host your website. Its main advantages include better scalability and reliability, greater uptime, and faster loading times.

Thus, cloud web hosting fees start at a higher price than shared hosting. For instance, cloud hosting plans begin at $30 per month and can reach up to $400 per month on the high end. SiteGround cloud hosting offers flexible plans, allowing you to grow your business to the next level anytime.

Cloud hosting is best for medium and large business websites, as well as small business websites that expect to grow at a fast pace.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting provides the user with an entire physical server solely for their website. This allows for complete control over your website, as well as higher performance and stronger security. With complete control comes complete responsibility, though. A dedicated server will require you to have extensive knowledge about server maintenance, while technical support from your hosting provider will be limited.

Dedicated hosting is the most expensive hosting option available. Its price generally starts at around $100 per month, reaching up to around $500 per month.

If you have a large-scale website that generates high amounts of traffic and consumes many resources, you may think about purchasing dedicated hosting. For example, a large online store, a multimedia-based website, or a website with large amounts of data.

Reseller hosting

Have you ever considered making money off of hosting yourself? With reseller hosting, you get to rent server space and hosting services in order to resell them to others. A good hosting provider should offer you tools and services that make reselling easy for you, e.g. white labeling, easy setup, affordable prices, and others.

Reseller hosting may cost between $4–$35 per month for shared plans, while the prices will go up if you need cloud reseller hosting. With SiteGround, reseller hosting plans allow you to easily manage your sites and resources, giving you all the necessary tools to do that.

To help you get an overview idea of the above mentioned hosting types and their respective price ranges, here’s a website-hosting comparison table:

Additional expenses for hosting a website

Keep in mind that the cost to host a website does not end with paying for a web hosting plan. There are several extra, yet must-have add-ons that you need to calculate in advance in order to have the full picture of your business website hosting costs.

You can read about some of these additional expenses below:

Domain name

A domain name is the web address of your website, which is easier to remember and enter in the browser than its IP address. For example, your domain name can be something like mycatshop.com, while its IP address will be a difficult-to-remember combination of numbers. 

Having a domain name for your website is a basic paid necessity. There are different ways to buy a domain name. You can buy one from a domain name registrar (for around $10–$30 for common extensions like .com or .net) or your hosting provider. 

Some web hosting plans even come with a free domain name registration for the first year, like the current SiteGround limited-time offer. Just pick a domain name and go ahead and register it. Keep in mind that since domain names are paid for on a yearly subscription basis, you will have to pay your domain hosting price for subsequent years.

SSL certificate

An SSL certificate is a security feature that encrypts all the traffic going through your website and ensures that sensitive data and information (e.g. login credentials, credit card details) remain protected.

Having an SSL certificate is important even if your website doesn’t handle sensitive data. For example, Google prioritizes the ranking of sites with SSL certificates, while some browsers won’t allow users to visit websites without an SSL certificate.

Many hosting providers, like SiteGround, for example, provide SSL certificates for free with their hosting plans. However, some may charge you separately for an SSL certificate. In such cases, it may cost around $10–$1000 per year, depending on the type of SSL certificate and the number of domains it will cover.

Themes and Plugins

If you want to customize the appearance of your website and make it more appealing to users, you will need a theme. To further enhance your website’s functionalities, you may wish to use additional extensions (also called plugins for WordPress, or apps for other platforms).

Let’s explore your options for the above mentioned extras:

Free vs. paid themes

Themes, or templates, can make a real difference for your website users’ engagement and influence them in their decision to convert. That’s why you’d want to be able to customize your website in a way that corresponds to your user’s expectations and enhance their experience.

You can use a free, pre-selected theme, or you can go for paid, premium themes that allow you to further customize your site.

For instance, there are over 12,000 free WordPress themes that are great for a beginner’s website. The average cost of a paid theme for WordPress can be around $60.

Free vs. paid plugins

As mentioned above, some plugins, or extensions, enhance your site’s functionalities. For example, they allow you to add things like social media integrations, booking appointments, and more. Other plugins are used to increase your website’s security or boost your conversion rates.

For example, WordPress offers over 59,000 free plugins, and premium paid WordPress plugins can start from $5, reaching up to $400.

Marketing tools

Similarly, marketing tools can help you further customize and optimize your website to attract more visitors and turn them into conversions. Let’s explore the most important categories of marketing tools, such as email marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and website traffic analytics.

SEO tools

One of the things that will help you attract more visitors is to have your website rank in top positions in search engine results. For this purpose, you will need an SEO tool that helps you optimize content for search engines by backlinking, analyzing keywords, and allowing you to customize descriptions in search engine results – in addition to other features. 

With WordPress, for example, you will need an SEO plugin – a free or a paid one (prices ranging around $100 or more per year). Other SEO tools’ may cost between $100 and $1000 for a monthly subscription.

Email marketing tools

Having successful email marketing campaigns that actually convert leads into customers depends heavily on the email marketing tool you use. Whether you plan to send regular newsletters with educational or informational content, or send special offers and promotions, you need an email marketing tool by your side.

An email marketing tool is usually a third-party service or an extension, paid on a monthly subscription basis or based on your number of subscribers. The costs generally start at around $10 per month.

With SiteGround, you can also take advantage of an easy-to-use email marketing platform that helps you drive growth for your business without the hassles of other hard-to-get-started platforms.

Social media integrations

To increase your website visibility even further, you have to be present on different social media platforms. That doesn’t mean that all of them are relevant to your website’s business or content, but it’s important to have a social media presence.

As such, you need to make it easy for your website visitors to share your content on social media or follow your social media profiles. This may already be built-in via your website builder, but sometimes it might only be available only on premium plans. For example, WordPress users can take advantage of a free plugin, or a paid one that would cost between $20 and $200 per year. 

Site traffic analytics tools

Last but not least, it’s important to monitor and analyze your website traffic. Where do most of your visitors come from? How much time do your visitors spend on your site? On which pages? The list of questions you can ask yourself goes on and on.

All you need to answer these questions is a tool that tracks these statistics. For example, some popular ones include Google Analytics, MonsterInsights, and Hotjar. 

Some web analytics tools have free versions, while they can also reach up to a few hundred dollars per month.

Website hosting cost FAQs

What is the cheapest website hosting option?

The cheapest website hosting option is to host your website for free with a free hosting platform (for example, GitHub Pages, WordPress.com, and many others). However, such platforms often come with strict limitations in regards to storage space, bandwidth and customization options. You may want to consider paid website hosting for a more advanced website with enhanced features and functionalities.

What features should be included in my web hosting charges?

Your web hosting charges should include essential features to get you started with your website, such as enough storage space; bandwidth and processing power on the server level; free domain name registration or website transfer to streamline your online journey; as well as an email account, SSL certificate, and site backups. 

Bear in mind that web hosting plans, and the features included in them, may vary depending on the hosting provider you choose. Look for the above-mentioned features before making your decision, as these can make a difference when it comes to the right web hosting plan for your website.

Is it better to pay for an annual or monthly web hosting subscription?

It’s better to go for an annual web hosting subscription because hosting providers usually provide discounts and savings. At the end of the day, when you calculate your website hosting charges per year, you get to pay a lower price every month in comparison to paying monthly. That said, you may find paying monthly web hosting fees more appealing if you are just starting and unsure about your project in the long-run, and/or prefer flexible monthly pay without a long-term commitment.

How do I choose the best website hosting service?

To choose the best hosting service for your website, you need to consider different factors, such as your website’s size, its expected traffic, and general goals, e.g. selling online products. Having said that, the decision does not always come down to choosing the best web hosting prices or to simply searching for low cost website hosting. It’s much more than that. 

Once you identify the above-mentioned factors, you also need to consider what type of hosting would be best for your website, what additional features you need, and if they are included in your hosting plan or not. 

For example, you may need a business email address, or 24/7 technical support, or a free SSL certificate, free domain name registration to get you started, and other features. All of the above need to be considered before you make an informed decision.

Bottom Line for Your Website Hosting Cost

If you are asking yourself: “How much do I need to host a website?”, you need to be prepared to pay anything within the range of $2 (for a shared hosting plan) up to $500 (for a dedicated hosting plan), plus additional expenses, depending on the add-ons you’d need for your website.

Bottom line is that the total sum you are going to pay for hosting a website will depend on different factors – for example, type of web hosting, subscription period, as well as additional features and tools.

Now that you understand the main types of hosting and their respective average costs, along with the hidden expenses you may expect, you can go ahead and host your website with SiteGround, where there are no hidden costs – everything you might need is included in our hosting plans.