How much does web hosting cost?
Web hosting costs about $3–$18 a month for shared hosting, $6–$100 a month for a VPS, $8–$200 a month for cloud or managed WordPress hosting, and from about $136 a month for a dedicated server. Most small business sites fit on shared or entry-level managed hosting; the price you actually pay depends on traffic, storage, add-ons and how much of the upkeep you hand to the host.
The calculator above picks the tier your site needs from its type, traffic and storage, then adds the features you choose and adjusts for how managed you want it. The tier ranges come from real plans on each provider's pricing page, checked in September 2026:
| Tier | Monthly range in the calculator | Example plans | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared | $3–$18 | Hostinger Premium: $2.99 a month on a 48-month term, renews at $10.99 | Brochure sites and low-traffic blogs |
| VPS | $6–$100 | DigitalOcean Droplets: $6 a month (1 GB) or $12 (2 GB), self-managed | Growing sites and small stores, if you can run a server |
| Cloud / managed WordPress | $8–$200 | Kinsta Single 20GB: $35 a month, or $30 billed annually | Business sites and stores that want the host to handle upkeep |
| Dedicated | From $136 | OVHcloud Advance-1: from $136 a month plus a setup fee | High-traffic sites and applications |
How much web hosting costs in 2026 goes through each tier in more depth.
How much does hosting cost for a small business website?
A small business WordPress site with starter traffic usually belongs on shared hosting. For a self-managed site with SSL and automated backups, the calculator returns $8–$33 a month: the shared plan plus $5–$15 for backups. Moving up to fully managed WordPress hosting costs more, but it takes updates, backups and malware cleanup off your list.
What drives the price up?
- Traffic. The biggest factor. Growing traffic moves a WordPress site from shared hosting to a VPS; established traffic moves it to cloud hosting.
- An online store. The calculator puts e-commerce on a VPS at minimum, because checkout needs guaranteed resources.
- Management. Semi-managed plans cost 1.5× the self-managed price and fully managed 2.5×, in exchange for the host doing the upkeep.
- Add-ons. Backups ($5–$15 a month), a staging site ($5–$15), email ($3–$10 per mailbox) and managed updates ($20–$50). SSL is free on most hosts through Let's Encrypt, and CDNs have free tiers.
- Storage. 50 GB or more moves you up one tier.
Why did my hosting bill go up?
Almost always because the introductory price ended. Hostinger's Premium plan, for example, is $2.99 a month on a 48-month term and renews at $10.99. Check the renewal price, not just the signup price, before you commit. Why is my hosting so expensive? covers the other common reasons, and signs you need to switch hosting helps you decide whether to move.
Shared, VPS or dedicated?
Shared hosting splits one server between many sites, which keeps it cheap but means a busy neighbor can slow you down. A VPS gives you guaranteed resources but leaves the server work to you unless it's managed. Dedicated servers only make sense once traffic or an application genuinely needs a whole machine. Shared vs VPS vs dedicated hosting compares them by traffic level, and managed vs unmanaged WordPress hosting explains what "managed" actually covers.
What's not in the hosting price?
Budget separately for your domain (a .com is about $11 a year at Porkbun), premium plugin licenses, email if it isn't bundled, and a migration if you're switching hosts. The migration cost calculator prices the move, and website maintenance cost puts hosting alongside everything else a site costs to run each year. If you'd rather hand the upkeep off, WordPress maintenance plans compares what care plans include.
