How much should website hosting cost a small business?

For a typical small business website of a handful of pages, hosting should cost somewhere between a few dollars and a few tens of dollars a month, depending on the type. Basic shared hosting sits at the bottom, website builders on a business plan in the middle, and managed WordPress at the top. The number that matters is not the advertised price, which is usually an introductory discount, but what you will pay each year after that, add-ons included.

Rough ranges by type

These are broad market ranges in US dollars, meant to tell you whether a quote is in the normal zone. Individual companies and plans vary.

Shared hosting: introductory offers often a few dollars a month when you prepay for one to three years. Renewal prices commonly land somewhere around $10 to $25 a month for the same plan.
Website builder plans (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and similar): commonly in the range of about $15 to $50 a month for plans that include a custom domain, forms and no builder ads, often cheaper when paid yearly.
Managed WordPress hosting: commonly about $20 to $60 a month for a single small site, more for premium hosts or several sites.
Static site hosting: often costs very little, sometimes nothing extra beyond the service that builds the site, because ready-made pages are cheap to serve.
VPS or dedicated servers: from tens to hundreds of dollars a month. A local business site rarely needs this, and if a quote includes one for a five-page site, ask why.

The type of hosting you need follows from how your site is built. Shared hosting, managed hosting and builders explains which is which.

What you are really paying for

A hosting bill covers a few things, and the cheap end of the market cuts some of them:

Keeping the site online, the computer, its power and its connection.
Speed, which depends on how crowded the computer is and how well it is tuned.
Backups, sometimes daily and automatic, sometimes a paid extra, sometimes nothing.
Security: updates to the server, malware scanning, sometimes cleanup if you are hacked.
Support: a phone line, chat, or only email.
Upkeep of your website software, on managed plans.

A cheap plan is not a bad plan. It means you, or your designer, provide what it leaves out.

Introductory price versus renewal price

This is where most owners get caught. Hosting is often sold with a large first-term discount, sometimes only available if you prepay for two or three years. When that term ends, the plan renews at the regular price, which can easily be two or three times higher. The renewal is in the terms, usually in small print near the checkout button.

To compare honestly, work out three years for each option:

The introductory price for the first term.
The regular price for the remaining years.
Every add-on you will keep: backups, email, privacy, security.

A plan that looks cheapest in year one is often not the cheapest over three. If you have just been hit by this, why your hosting renewal doubled covers what you can do about it right now.

Add-ons that quietly inflate the bill

At checkout, and again at renewal, hosts offer extras. Some are useful; many are not, for a small local site.

Security certificate (SSL). Most hosts now provide a basic certificate automatically at no extra charge. Paying for a premium one rarely helps a local business. Do you need to buy an SSL certificate explains why.
Backup add-ons. Worth it if the plan has no backups at all, though a plan that already includes them is usually the better deal.
Site security or malware scanning. Useful on WordPress, less so on simpler sites.
Email mailboxes. Fine if you want your email with your host; compare with dedicated email services first.
Domain privacy. Often free at registrars, so check before paying a host for it.
"SEO tools", "marketing suites", "site listings". Rarely worth it for a local business.
A domain "free for the first year". Pleasant, but it then renews, often at a higher price than a registrar would charge.

When paying more makes sense

Higher hosting costs are worth it when the site does more:

It takes orders or bookings, and downtime costs real money.
It runs WordPress with many plugins, and you have no one to look after updates.
It has a lot of visitors, for example a busy restaurant or a popular blog.
Support matters to you, and the cheapest plans only answer by email.

A plumber, a hairdresser or an insurance agent with a small site and a contact form is not in any of these groups. The cheap end, or a builder plan, is usually enough.

How to check what you are paying now

Owners are often surprised by their own bill. Spend twenty minutes on this:

Search your email and bank statements for every charge from hosting companies, builders and registrars.
Log in to each account and open its billing page.
Write down each line, what it is, what it costs per year, and when it renews.
Mark anything you do not recognise or no longer use, such as old hosting from a site you replaced, or a duplicate email plan.

Many owners find they are paying for something they replaced years ago. Monthly website fees explained goes through the common lines one by one.

A sensible budget for a small business

As a rough guide for a local business site with a few pages:

If you are on a builder you like, the business plan you are on is your hosting budget; avoid upgrading for features you will not use.
If you are on shared hosting, budget for the renewal price, not the introductory one, plus backups if they are not part of the plan.
If you are on managed WordPress for a site that rarely changes, ask whether you need WordPress at all.

What to do this week

List every hosting, builder, domain and email charge with its yearly cost.
Find the renewal date and renewal price for each.
Cancel anything you do not use, once you have checked it does not hold your email or your live site.
Compare the three-year total of your current setup with one alternative.

If your yearly total is far higher than a small site should need, you can see your site rebuilt first and compare it with what you pay today.