How much does website hosting cost in 2024?
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BLUEPRINT
Published 8:11 a.m. UTC Feb. 28, 2024
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A website is one of the most crucial touchpoints a business has with its customers and the world at large. Understanding web hosting costs in 2024 will help you make smarter financial decisions for your own site in order to save money and reach more people.
In this guide, we’ll break down website hosting costs by type of hosting, along with some important considerations you may not be aware of. We will also go over some of the top choices for website hosting services.
Featured web hosting offers
Bluehost
Price
Plans starting at $1.99 per month
Free domain included
Yes
HostGator
Price
Plans starting at $2.56 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Web.com
Price
Plans starting at $2.75 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Quick overview: Cost to host a website
| STARTING MONTHLY PRICE | DEDICATED SERVERS AVAILABLE | WORDPRESS HOSTING AVAILABLE | FREE DOMAIN | FREE SSL CERTIFICATE | MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mochahost | $6.35 | Yes | Yes | Yes, with some plans | Yes | 30 days | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 Namecheap | $4.48 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (first year) | 30 days | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 DreamHost | $7.99 | Yes | Yes | Yes (with annual plan) | Yes | 97 days | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 A2 Hosting | $12.99 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 30 days | ||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 HostGator | $12.95 | Yes | Yes | Yes (for one year with annual plan) | Yes | 30 days | ||||||||
|
Website hosting costs by type
There are different types of hosting and you will need to select one for any website. Shared hosting is the most affordable since you share resources. Larger businesses or those with more security concerns may prefer another type, like VPS hosting or cloud hosting.
Always be sure to factor renewal rates into your decision – most web hosting providers offer very steep initial discounts but renew at regular rates, and this can be a sticker shock if you are not prepared for it.
Shared hosting
As the most basic hosting plan, shared hosting is also the cheapest. This type of hosting refers to multiple sites being hosted on the same server, and — while this keeps costs low — it also means that multiple users are sharing the same resources.
The cost of shared hosting can start as low as $2.50 per month (or even less with promotional rates) for base options and increases based on added functionality to $14.99 or more per month.
VPS hosting
With virtual private server (VPS) hosting, users are assigned a single virtual server with dedicated resources that allows them to configure and manage their own website without the need to interface with a physical server.
Managing physical servers can be complex, so VPS hosting takes that burden away from the end user and shifts it to the hosting company. The cheapest VPS options for base plans can start between $2.00 to $4.20 per month, but expect to pay slightly more in general — $6.00 to $39.99 per month for most base plans.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting utilizes multiple servers — both physical and virtual — to host website data. This allows for greater flexibility and scalability, as well as a pay-as-you-go approach based on the amount of resources you use.
Cloud hosting is typically priced based on resource usage. However, some providers like Hostinger offer hosting plans from $8.99 per month for base offerings to $60.00 or more per month for premium plans.
Dedicated hosting
Unlike shared hosting, dedicated hosting means you have a server all to yourself. No sharing of resources or bandwidth, and the server itself is physical (as opposed to virtual, like with VPS hosting).
Dedicated hosting can start around $41 per month for base options up to $399 or more per month for premium options with more advanced server hardware and storage.
Other website costs
Aside from the type of hosting plan you choose, there are other cost factors involved with hosting a website, including the cost of a domain name or other tools you use to manage your website, such as marketing tools or third-party themes and plugins.
Here’s a brief overview of those costs:
- Domain name: Many web hosting companies include a free domain name, but it’s still a cost to consider since some of those offerings only last a year or are only included with specific plans. Some platforms like Namecheap and DreamHost offer domain names as a separate offering for as little as $1.99 to $13.98 per year, depending on the type of domain.
- Secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate: An SSL certificate is a file hosted within a webpage’s origin server that contains key information about the site’s identity, including the data browsers access when viewing and interacting with the page. Like domain names, most web hosting companies provide an SSL certificate with the purchase of a plan, but you can also buy them separately, with costs typically ranging from $11 per year to $35 per year for single domains.
- Third-party software: Aside from the actual hosting of the site, there are other factors like e-commerce functionality, site design and search engine optimization (SEO) that may benefit from additional tools. These tools vary widely in price depending on their functionality.
- Premium themes and design elements: If your site is designed with premium themes or other custom design elements, those may come with an extra cost. Some website builders offer limited themes with base plans, include premium themes with higher-tier plans or allow you to pay a subscription, typically anywhere from $59 to $99 or more per year.
- Premium plugins: Similar to third-party software tools but less involved, premium plugins add advanced functionality to your site and typically cost anywhere from $5 to $20 per month. In the case of WordPress, there are both community-created and commercial plugins that allow you to do everything from adding widgets to your site and customizing editing functionality to improving translation capabilities and bolstering SEO.
Top web hosting providers
MochaHost
MochaHost offers a variety of hosting options, from shared hosting and cPanel hosting to WordPress and both Windows- and Linux-based VPS options. Shared hosting plans start at $6.35 per month for the Soho plan and up to $23.90 per month for the Ultimate plan.
The base Soho plan includes free SSL certificates, free migrations and free automated backups. To get perks like unlimited websites and a free domain name, you’ll have to upgrade to the Business plan.
Another key aspect of MochaHost’s offerings is its professional services. If you need help from an expert with basic web design, marketing, website management or completely custom web design, you can schedule a consultation and even get one-on-one instruction to answer your questions.
Namecheap
Namecheap is another hosting provider that offers a gamut of hosting options — shared, WordPress, VPS and dedicated. Namecheap also offers a variety of email and marketing tools as well as a bevy of domain name services, including WHOIS lookup to discover the owner of a domain, domain transfer capabilities and both free and premium domain name system (DNS) services to ensure maximum site uptime.
Namecheap’s Stellar hosting plan starts at $4.48 per month with a maximum of three websites, ranging up to its Stellar Business plan with unlimited websites at $9.48 per month. All plans include free SSL certificates and a domain-based email address, but to get a free domain (for the first year), please note you’ll need to purchase a plan on an annual payment schedule.
DreamHost
With shared, VPS, WordPress, cloud and dedicated server options, DreamHost offers hosting to fit almost any use case. For shared hosting, DreamHost has simplified its plans down to two: Shared Starter at $7.99 per month and Shared Unlimited at $13.99 per month. Similar to Namecheap, DreamHost offers free SSL certificates, but a free domain only comes with annual plans.
If you host a WordPress site, DreamHost may be a great option for you with its comprehensive knowledge base and 24/7 in-house support. Both shared hosting plans include unmetered bandwidth, but only the Shared Unlimited plan offers an unlimited number of sites.
Featured web hosting offers
Bluehost
Price
Plans starting at $1.99 per month
Free domain included
Yes
HostGator
Price
Plans starting at $2.56 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Web.com
Price
Plans starting at $2.75 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Website hosting is a service that allows you to publish your websites to the internet for people to view and interact with. Web hosting providers also take care of technical considerations for you and offer tools to manage the content of your website.
In short, yes. In order for a website to be viewable on the internet, it must be hosted, and the easiest way to host a website is with a web host. Whether you share resources with others using shared hosting or have your own servers with dedicated hosting, you need a web host for your website to function. It’s possible — yet wildly impractical — to purchase your own physical server to host your site from.
Yes. Free web hosting services exist, and you can build a website for free as well, but they have more limitations and offer less freedom when it comes to maintaining (and owning) your website. Even if you’re testing the waters with your first website, we still recommend seeking out a financially viable paid option.
Based on value, service and support, ratings and reviews from customers and the general features offered, we’ve identified DreamHost as the best web hosting service.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
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