How Much Does a Website Cost Per Month? Every Line, Explained
A business website's monthly cost is mostly hosting, plus whatever upkeep the site needs to stay safe and working. For the custom sites we build, hosting runs $0 to about $20 a month, and there's no retainer on top.
Other setups cost much more each month. So what a website costs per month depends mostly on how it was built. The difference usually isn't hosting. It's what's built into the site, and who you're paying to keep it running.
The lines on a monthly bill
Most website bills are made of the same few pieces. Some are monthly, some yearly, some hidden inside a "plan".
Hosting. The server that puts your site on the internet. A simple, well-built site needs very little.
Domain name. Your address, like yourbusiness.com. It's a yearly fee paid to a domain registrar. Make sure it's registered in your name, not your web company's.
Business email. Addresses like you@yourbusiness.com usually come from a separate email service, billed per person.
Maintenance. Keeping the software under the site up to date and secure. Sites built on themes and plugins need this every month. Custom-coded sites need far less.
Plugins and licenses. Paid add-ons for forms, galleries, booking or security. Many renew every year, one by one.
Support. Someone to call when you need a change. Some companies include it, some bill by the hour, some sell it as a monthly plan. Ask which one before you need it, not after.
What you pay once, and what you pay forever
It helps to sort every cost into two piles.
Once: designing and building the site, writing the words, taking photos, moving old content across and connecting your tools. These are real costs, but they end.
Forever: hosting, the domain, email, upkeep, licenses and any monthly plan. These never end while the site is live.
A low build price with a big monthly bill often costs more within a few years. A higher build price with a tiny monthly bill often costs less. Always compare both piles together.
Builder plans and agency plans
Two common setups roll these lines into one monthly fee.
A do-it-yourself builder charges a subscription that covers hosting and the software. You do the work yourself. It's fine for a new idea. The catch: you're renting. Stop paying and the site goes away.
An agency "website plan" charges a monthly fee that bundles hosting, updates and support. Sometimes the build is folded in too. Read the contract closely. Many keep the site in the agency's accounts, so leaving means starting over.
Neither is a scam. But a monthly plan that never ends can cost far more over a few years than building the site properly once.
Why some sites cost more every month
Two sites can look the same and cost very different amounts to run.
A site assembled from a theme and a stack of plugins has a lot of moving parts. Each one needs updates. Updates can break each other. Someone has to watch it, and you pay for their time. I called these the hidden taxes in WordPress was the right answer in 2015.
A site built as clean custom code has far fewer parts. There's less to update, less to break and less to secure. That's why the monthly bill can stay so small.
How to cut the monthly bill
If you already have a site, look at your statements for the past year. Then check these:
- Plugins you don't use. Each one is a cost and a risk.
- A care plan for a site nobody changes. You may be paying for updates the site only needs because of how it was built.
- Hosting sized for a bigger business. A local service site rarely needs a premium plan.
- Email bundled into a web plan. If you leave the plan, your email can go with it. Keep email on its own service, in your name.
- Accounts in someone else's name. Move your domain and hosting into your own accounts. It costs little and protects you.
If most of the bill is upkeep, a rebuild can pay for itself in time. Count the build plus three years of monthly costs, then compare.
Questions to ask before you sign
Ask any web company these, and get the answers in writing:
- What will I pay every month after launch, all in? One number, not a menu.
- What's included in that, and what costs extra?
- Who owns the site, domain and hosting? The right answer is you.
- What happens if I leave? You should be able to take everything with you.
For the full picture on build prices, see what a small business website costs in NJ. If you run a trade, here's what a contractor's site needs to bring in calls.
What it costs with us
I set our sites up so the monthly bill stays small and stays yours. I'd rather you pay once for a site that works than pay me every month to keep it alive.
Hosting runs $0 to about $20 a month. We don't do retainers or $97-a-month plans. Everything goes into your own accounts, in writing, and 12 months of support is included.
The build itself starts at $6,000, with payment plans available. We build a working first pass of your whole site first, and you only pay if you love it. See how our build-first process works.
Keep reading
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Small Business Website Design in NJ: What It Costs and What You Should Get
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