How Much Does Website Hosting Cost? Teaser and Renewal Prices for 2026

About 8,100 people a month search "website hosting cheap", 1,900 search "website hosting services cost" and 260 search "cheapest website hosting for small business" (our September 2026 pull). Most of the answers they find quote the price on the banner, which is the price for the first term only. This page puts the teaser next to the renewal price for five well-known hosts and shows what a cheap plan leaves to you.

See the full Ziwi Care page

We checked 194 Florida agency websites: 89% publish no price

How much does website hosting cost a month?

Neither price includes a person who updates, fixes or edits your site, which is what agency-managed hosting such as Ziwi's $99 a month plan adds.

The first-term price only holds if you prepay the whole term, 12 months at SiteGround and 36 months at Bluehost and GoDaddy. Every figure is from a public pricing page, checked September 2026, so check the date before you budget with it.

Why does cheap hosting cost more when it renews?

Because the banner price is a discount for prepaying a long first term, and the plan then renews at the regular rate.

1. 01

   Find the renewal price. It is usually printed small under the banner price, as "renews at".

2. 02

   Multiply it by 12. That is what year two costs, and year two lasts as long as the site does.

3. 03

   Check the term. A 36-month prepay locks the discount and three years of money together.

4. 04

   Add the hours. On a shared plan the updates, backups and edits are yours, so price your own time in.

What is the difference between shared, managed WordPress and agency-managed hosting?

Shared hosting, about $3 to $18 a month, rents you space on a server with other sites and hands you the controls. Managed WordPress hosting, from about $28 a month, adds a host that runs the server for WordPress. Agency-managed hosting, $99 a month at Ziwi, adds a person who looks after your site itself, edits included.

• Shared. The Bluehost, SiteGround and GoDaddy entry plans. You install, update, back up and fix the site yourself, through a control panel such as cPanel.
• Managed WordPress. WP Engine and Kinsta. WP Engine describes every plan as fully managed, with security, updates and performance included, but changing your text, prices or photos is still your job.
• Agency-managed. Managed hosting, updates and security, backups and small edits, handled by the team that built the site, so a price change or a new photo is an email, not a login.

What does cheap hosting leave out?

A $2.99 plan keeps the site online and leaves the upkeep to you. Backups, software updates, security, edits, support and speed are the 6 things an owner ends up doing, paying for separately, or forgetting until something breaks.

• Backups you have tested. Entry plans differ on what they back up and how long they keep it, so check before the day you need one.
• Software updates. WordPress, the theme and every plugin need regular updates, and on shared hosting that is your job.
• Security. A free SSL certificate is standard, but malware watching is often extra: GoDaddy's Economy plan lists site security as a trial offer (checked September 2026).
• Edits. No host changes your hours, prices or team photos. That is either your evening or a developer's invoice.
• Support that knows your site. Host support covers the server. Why your contact form stopped sending is usually not their problem.
• Speed. A shared server shares its resources, and a slow page loses the visitor who was about to call.

What does Ziwi charge for website hosting?

Ziwi Care is $299 a month per location and adds a new post every week, unlimited small edits and an analytics dashboard. Neither is required, because you own the site and can host it anywhere, including on any plan in the table above.

On price alone, a shared plan wins: $9.99 a month after renewal is $119.88 a year, against $1,188 a year for Ziwi's $99 plan. The difference is labor.

Is cheap hosting ever the right choice?

Yes, when the site is simple and someone in the business will look after it every month. A one-page site that rarely changes can live on a $3.99 plan, as long as someone renews it, updates it and keeps the login.

• Keep the logins in your name. Hosting, domain and site admin, so moving later is your decision. Do you own your website? covers what to check.
• Budget for the renewal, not the banner. Year two at $9.99 to $17.99 a month is the real price of an entry shared plan.
• Know who you call when it breaks. If the answer is nobody, that is the gap a managed plan fills.

Hosting is the cheapest part of a website and the part people shop hardest. The rest is upkeep, which is why Ziwi prices the two together: $99 a month for hosting and maintenance, or Ziwi Care at $299 a month per location with a new post every week. On WordPress, the specifics are on WordPress maintenance plans, a new site started on either plan can come under the free website offer, and every rate sits on the pricing page.

Hosting is where speed starts. Website speed and Core Web Vitals explains the three numbers Google measures, and why a slow host fails them before any design work is done.