How Much Does Website Hosting Cost? (2026)

Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Website hosting costs anything from nothing to thousands of dollars a month, and the advertised price is rarely what you pay after the first term. This guide gives planning ranges for shared, managed WordPress, VPS, cloud, dedicated and platform hosting, what a business site, store or application should expect to spend, the hidden costs (renewals, backups, email, CDN, migrations, support), and how to cut the bill without cutting reliability.

On this page · 8 sections

Website hosting prices by hosting type
What hosting should cost by site type
The costs that are not in the advertised price
Cloud hosting prices: how usage billing works
VPS and dedicated server prices
How to reduce hosting cost without losing reliability
How Progression Agency estimates hosting
Cost of website hosting: averages and comparison

The short answerAs US planning figures: shared hosting $3-$25 a month; managed WordPress hosting $20-$300; VPS $5-$100 (managed $30-$200); cloud servers $10-$1,000+ depending on usage; dedicated servers $100-$1,000+; static and Next.js platform hosting $0-$20 for most business sites and usage-based above that. A typical small business site costs $20-$60 a month all-in; a business lead-generation site $50-$300; an ecommerce store $50-$500; a web application $200-$5,000. Introductory prices commonly double or triple at renewal, so budget on the renewal rate.

Comparisons are based on each project’s official documentation as linked in the text. Progression Agency builds with all of the technologies compared and has no affiliate relationship with any of them.

Website hosting prices by hosting type

Hosting cost by type (US planning figures, monthly)
Type	Intro price	Renewal / typical	What is included	See
Shared hosting	$2-$5	$8-$25	Server slot, cPanel, often email; you maintain the site	shared hosting explained
Managed WordPress	$15-$30	$20-$300	Tuned server, caching, updates, backups, staging, support	WordPress hosting guide
VPS (unmanaged)	$4-$10	$5-$100	A virtual server; you run it	VPS hosting
VPS (managed)	$25-$40	$30-$200	Server plus patching, backups, support	VPS hosting
Cloud servers (AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean)	Free tier	$10-$1,000+	Usage-based compute, storage, bandwidth	cloud hosting explained
Dedicated server	$80-$150	$100-$1,000+	Whole machine; managed extra	dedicated server hosting
Static / Next.js platforms (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel)	Free	$0-$20 per seat, then usage	CDN, builds, functions	Vercel vs Netlify
Website builders (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, Shopify)	$16-$40	$16-$100+	Hosting bundled with the builder	WordPress alternatives

Typical monthly hosting cost by type — Midpoints only; usage-based options range far wider in both directions.

What hosting should cost by site type

All-in monthly hosting budget by site type (planning figures)
Site	Reasonable setup	Monthly all-in	Notes
Brochure site, under 10k visits	Managed WordPress (value tier) or a builder, Cloudflare free	$20-$60	Domain and email extra
Business lead-generation site	Managed WordPress (Kinsta, WP Engine, Pressable) + Cloudflare	$50-$300	Add maintenance plan
Ecommerce store (WooCommerce)	Managed WooCommerce or tuned VPS with Redis	$50-$500	Shopify bundles hosting into its plan
Static or Astro marketing site	Cloudflare Pages or Netlify	$0-$20	Nearly free at business scale
Next.js application	Vercel Pro + managed Postgres	$50-$500	Usage grows with SSR and images; see hosting for React and Next.js
SaaS or web app at scale	Cloud containers, managed DB, CDN, monitoring	$500-$5,000+	See SaaS hosting
High-traffic publisher	Enterprise managed WordPress or cloud + CDN	$500-$3,000+	Bandwidth and caching decide

The costs that are not in the advertised price

Renewal rates: multi-year intro prices commonly rise two to three times at renewal; Forbes Advisor’s hosting cost guide and host pricing pages show the pattern.
Domain registration and privacy ($10-$20 a year), and DNS if not on Cloudflare (free).
TLS certificates: free from Let’s Encrypt and most hosts; paid only for special validation types.
Business email: use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 ($6-$14 per user), not the host’s bundled mailboxes.
Backups and off-site storage: often an add-on on shared and VPS plans.
CDN and security: Cloudflare’s free plan covers most sites; paid plans for WAF rules and bot management.
Migrations: free with many managed hosts, otherwise $1,000-$5,000 for a professional move; see website migration services.
Maintenance: updates, monitoring and fixes, $100-$500 a month for business sites; see WordPress maintenance services.
Bandwidth and usage overages on cloud and platform plans; set budgets and alerts.

Cloud hosting prices: how usage billing works

Cloud providers bill compute by the hour or second, storage by the gigabyte-month, data transfer out by the gigabyte, and managed services (databases, load balancers, functions) individually. A small site on a single small instance costs $10-$30 a month; a production application with a managed database, load balancer and backups usually lands at $150-$600 before traffic; large workloads go far higher. Reserved or committed pricing cuts compute cost 30-60% for steady loads. Calculators: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure. See AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud.

VPS and dedicated server prices

Unmanaged VPS: roughly $4-$6 per vCPU-and-2GB unit per month at the value providers (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr); managed VPS $30-$200. Dedicated servers: $80-$150 for entry hardware at Hetzner or OVHcloud, $200-$1,000+ for current-generation machines from managed providers, more with GPUs. See VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting.

Ren — Renewal rate. Budget on it, not the intro..

Type — Type fits site. Static free, WP managed, apps on platforms..

CF — Cloudflare. Cuts bandwidth and load..

Mail — Separate email. Workspace or 365..

Maint — Maintenance. Cheaper than incidents..

How to reduce hosting cost without losing reliability

Match the type to the site: static sites on free CDNs, WordPress on managed hosting sized to actual traffic, applications on platforms until scale justifies containers.
Put Cloudflare in front: caching cuts origin load and bandwidth bills.
Pay annually only at the renewal rate you can live with; avoid three-year prepayments on intro pricing.
Right-size cloud instances quarterly and use reserved pricing for steady workloads.
Move public assets to storage with no egress fees (Cloudflare R2) if bandwidth is the bill.
Keep email, domain and hosting separate so you can change one without paying to move the others.
Buy maintenance instead of emergency repair; a monthly plan is cheaper than one incident.

How Progression Agency estimates hosting

Every proposal includes an estimated monthly hosting and maintenance cost for the recommended setup, with the renewal rate rather than the intro rate, and the accounts are opened in the client’s name. See website development cost and website hosting for small business.

Cost of website hosting: averages and comparison

The cost of website hosting spans two orders of magnitude, which is why how much is website hosting and how much for website hosting have no single answer. A website hosting cost comparison across the tiers on this page gives a website hosting average cost of a few dollars a month for shared plans, tens of dollars for managed WordPress and VPS, and hundreds for dedicated or cloud infrastructure with management. Low cost website hosting is real at the shared tier; the renewal price is what to watch. Website hosting with site builder included, as Squarespace, Wix and Shopify sell it, folds hosting into a subscription and is compared on the website cost guide.

Want a real hosting budget?

Tell us what the site runs on and its traffic; we will recommend the setup and give a monthly figure including maintenance.

Get a hosting estimate

Getting found in search

AI, AEO and what is changing

Paid media and lead generation

Websites and design

Choosing and working with an agency

Software and app development

Web development, platforms and hosting

Social, content and brand

By industry and by situation

Frequently asked questions

How much does website hosting cost?

From $3 a month for shared hosting to hundreds or thousands for cloud and dedicated setups; a typical small business site costs $20-$60 a month all-in, a business site $50-$300.

What is a fair price for website hosting?

A fair price for website hosting is $20-$60 a month all-in for a small business site and $50-$300 for a business site on managed hosting, judged on the renewal rate, backups and support rather than the intro price.

How much does it cost for website hosting per month on each type?

How much it costs for website hosting depends on type: shared $3-$25, managed WordPress $20-$300, VPS $5-$200, cloud $10-$1,000+, dedicated $100-$1,000+, static platforms $0-$20.

Are VPS hosting prices worth it over shared?

VPS hosting prices are two to five times shared hosting, and worth it when the site needs guaranteed resources or custom software; for a brochure site, managed WordPress hosting is usually the better step up.

How much does it cost to host a website per year?

$250-$700 for a small business site, $600-$3,600 for a business lead-generation site, more for stores and applications, as planning figures.

Why did my hosting price go up at renewal?

Introductory prices apply to the first term; renewal rates are commonly two to three times higher. Budget on the renewal rate.

What is the cheapest way to host a website?

A static site on Cloudflare Pages or Netlify is free at business scale; for WordPress, a value managed plan is the cheapest safe option.

How much does cloud hosting cost?

$10-$30 a month for a small instance, $150-$600 for a production application with a managed database, more at scale; usage-based.

How much does VPS hosting cost?

$5-$100 a month unmanaged, $30-$200 managed.

How much does a dedicated server cost?

$100-$1,000+ a month depending on hardware and management.

How much does WordPress hosting cost?

$20-$300 a month for managed plans; shared plans less but with more risk and work.

Is free hosting good enough for a business?

Static platform free tiers, yes, for static sites; free WordPress or shared hosting, no.

Does hosting include the domain and email?

Sometimes as promotions; keep both separate for portability.

What hidden hosting costs should I expect?

Renewals, backups, email, CDN and security add-ons, migrations, maintenance and usage overages.

How much should an ecommerce site spend on hosting?

$50-$500 a month for WooCommerce on managed hosting; Shopify bundles hosting into its plan fee.

How can I reduce hosting costs?

Match the hosting type to the site, cache with Cloudflare, right-size cloud instances, use reserved pricing and avoid intro-price prepayments.

Does Progression Agency resell hosting?

No; we recommend and set up hosting in your accounts and estimate the cost in every proposal.

How much is website hosting for a typical small business?

How much is website hosting for a small business: the managed WordPress tier on this page is the common answer, with shared hosting below it and a VPS above. The cost of website hosting rises with traffic, PHP workers and management, not with page count.

Need help choosing or moving hosting?We recommend, set up, migrate and manage hosting for the sites and apps we build, and for sites built elsewhere.

Get a hosting recommendation

Get a free marketing proposal

Tell us what you are trying to grow and we will come back with a plan, not a pitch deck. Same-day reply on weekdays.

How Much Does Website Hosting Cost? Prices by Hosting Type, Site Type and the Costs Nobody Puts in the Quote