In July last year, in Planning for retirement – part two – hosting, I looked at a number of alternative plans for WordPress website hosting. I compared the absolute basics; which is the price for a website with SSL certificates and email capability. I concluded that I needed to increase my prices.
Six months on, after discussion with other web developers, I’ve realised that I need to increase my prices by 100%, from £5 per month to £10 per month.
This will be the first price increase in 14 years.
The tables below shows revised figures for 10 different hosting plan options. The figures have been updated to reflect the current prices/offers. They now take into account tax, which is assumed to be 20%.
| Host | Plan | 1st year | 2nd year | 5-year average | Free SSL | Email accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| redIT | Bravo | £39.17 | £39.17 | £39.17 | Yes | 30 |
| IONOS | Start | £57.60 | £72.00 | £69.12 | Yes | 1 |
| HostPresto | Personal WP1 | £84.00 | £84.00 | £84.00 | Yes | 10 |
| inmotion hosting | WP Core | £40.90 | £134.50 | £115.78 | Yes | 10 |
| IONOS | Grow | £14.40 | £144.00 | £118.08 | Yes | 5 |
| bobbing wide | reseller | £120.00 | £120.00 | £120.00 | Yes | unlimited |
| hostinger | Premium | £34.99 | £142.70 | £121.16 | Yes | 1 |
| DreamHost | WordPress unlimited | £57.89 | £146.16 | £128.51 | Yes | 1 |
| SiteGround | StartUp | £28.66 | £201.46 | £166.90 | Yes | unlimited |
| 34SP.com | WordPress Hosting | £172.08 | £172.08 | £172.08 | Yes | 1 |
Notes
- The yearly price includes tax at 20%, where applicable.
- I don’t charge VAT.
- Everyone else does.
- Several prices were converted from USD to GBP.
- Some prices are cheaper if you pay up front for a year or longer.
- Some companies have special discount prices for the New Year.
Proposal
For each website that I’m currently hosting in my SiteGround reseller account, I’m going to double the yearly hosting charge.
From January 2025 the charge for hosting will be £10 monthly, £120 a year.
What do you get for this?
- Website and email hosting under my reseller account with SiteGround.
- Maintenance of WordPress core, plugins and themes, as and when required.
- Reactive monitoring of the site through emails to the WordPress admin user or other notifications.
What now?
If you’re happy with this increase the next invoice will take into account the new monthly rate from Jan 2025.
If you’re not happy with the increase then you’re free to transfer to another hosting company.
The following chart enables you to compare accumulated hosting costs for the next 5 years, assuming
- You stay with the same hosting company for the duration
- There are no price increases
I’ll support your transfer to other hosting, but will not do it for you. From then on I will no longer be supporting your site. You’ll have to take ownership of
- the hosting
- the domain registration and configuration
- continuing maintenance of WordPress core, plugins and themes
- any email accounts you need
- content management
Remember, most hosting companies won’t do this for you. You’ll have to find another web developer.
Happy New Year, Herb Miller @bobbingwide