People ask us this constantly, usually right after a hosting bill or a hacked website. The honest answer is that hosting costs anywhere from one dollar a month to more than a thousand, and every tier is the right choice for somebody. The trick is knowing which somebody you are.
How cheap can hosting get?
Genuinely cheap. As of mid 2026, introductory shared hosting deals run between about $1 and $4 a month: HostingAdvice's cheap hosting roundup lists plans from $1.00 to $2.95, and Cybernews tracks offers from $1.00 a month, with IONOS at $1 and providers like Namecheap and Bluehost around $2. One caveat we always flag: those are promotional prices for long terms paid upfront, and renewals jump. That $1 IONOS plan renews at about $14 a month.
What do you get for $1 a month?
A slice of a shared server, an SSL certificate, usually a free domain for the first year, and no one but yourself responsible for updates, backups and security. And here is the part most agencies will not say: that is great for people starting out. A first website, a portfolio, an idea you are testing. At that stage your biggest risk is not downtime, it is overpaying for infrastructure you do not need. Start cheap.
When should you pay more?
The moment the website stops being a hobby and becomes a channel: you have employees, customers find you through the site, forms bring in leads, and an hour of downtime costs real money. At that point the question flips from what does hosting cost to what does broken hosting cost. We have seen it from the inside: a slow site losing visitors at 4.2 second load times, contact forms silently dropping leads, marketplaces attracting 1,700+ attacks.
The first upgrade is managed WordPress hosting: Kinsta starts around $30 to $35 a month per site, WP Engine's entry plan is about $30 on annual billing. You get fast, well-run infrastructure, but the software layer, the plugins, the fixes and the small emergencies are still mostly on you.
What does fully managed actually cost?
The top tier is not really hosting anymore; it is a team. Someone updates the plugins weekly, monitors the firewall, keeps backups tested, makes the email deliverable and fixes the small things before you notice them. That is what we built Time to Deploy for, and our pricing is public: £199 to £1,500 per month per site, exclusive to RB Creative clients, with the managed layer included.
| Tier | Typical price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | $1 to $4/month intro, renews higher | Starting out: first site, portfolio, testing an idea |
| Managed WordPress | $30 to $35/month entry | Growing sites that need speed and solid infrastructure |
| Fully managed service | £199 to £1,500/month per site | Real businesses with employees, where the site brings leads and downtime costs money |
How do you decide?
Ask one question: if the site went down on a Tuesday morning, who fixes it? If the honest answer is you, eventually, between meetings, you have outgrown your hosting tier. Our advice is the same we give on choosing hosts for speed: start as cheap as your risk allows, and upgrade the moment the website starts earning. If you want the basics handled for you, talk to us.
Frequently asked questions
Is $1 a month hosting any good?
For starting out, yes. Introductory shared plans from providers like IONOS, Namecheap and Bluehost cost $1 to $4 a month and include SSL and usually a free domain. The trade-offs: promotional pricing that jumps at renewal, shared resources, and you are responsible for updates, backups and security yourself.
Why do hosting renewal prices jump so much?
Cheap headline prices are introductory offers for long terms paid upfront; the $1 IONOS plan, for example, renews at around $14 a month. Providers count on customers not wanting the hassle of migrating. Always check the renewal price and the term length before buying, not just the promo number.
How much should a real business budget for hosting?
Once employees and leads depend on the website, budget for management, not just servers. Entry managed WordPress hosting runs about $30 to $35 a month at Kinsta or WP Engine. A fully managed service with humans doing maintenance, security and fixes runs from hundreds per month; our published range is £199 to £1,500 per site.
What is included in fully managed hosting?
With Time to Deploy: private cloud hosting on enterprise infrastructure, global CDN and caching, firewall and malware monitoring, daily backups, weekly updates, authenticated email, SEO and analytics setup, and up to 10 hours of small fixes per month. It is exclusive to RB Creative clients, alongside our marketing work.
Founder & CEO of RB Creative Digital. Nearly two decades in SEO and digital marketing for mortgage, aviation and AI-first companies, with clients in the UK, US and Romania. His work has been featured on Forbes, Entrepreneur and HuffPost.
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Edited and designed by Marius Stefan · Reviewed by Cristina Gabriela
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