Are you looking to create a website? WordPress is a great tool. It’s easy to use for beginners but has enough power to handle complex websites. Is it within your budget? What does it cost to create a WordPress website for your business?
Although the core WordPress software is completely free, you will need to purchase additional tools and resources in order to make a website work. Techradar.com is a domain name that visitors can find; hosting to store your files; website design, security tools backups, and marketing tools hjemmeside design.
This article will discuss the issues that need to be considered for different users and sites. We will discuss when it is safe to use free solutions. However, we will also talk about when you should pay and what costs you should consider for each website requirement.
Hosting is available for as low as $120 per month
It might seem that WordPress requires very expensive hosting. InfinityFree, 000Webhost(opens a new tab), NoAds (opens a new tab) and many others offer WordPress installation that is easy.
You must accept some limitations when you go for free WordPress. It can be slow, less reliable, and has very limited storage. It might be sufficient for personal sites or family websites, and it may not be enough to learn the basics of WordPress.
Budget-shared hosting is the best option for those who want to start a small business or create a website. Hostinger, Bluehost, and Inmotion Hosting offer a range of hosting options that will cover all your needs. However, they cost between $25-$50 per year. Some prices may rise at renewal so make sure you check before buying.
Managed WordPress hosting is a good option if you have a large web store or a site that receives 50K+ visitors per month. The exact details of Managed WordPress hosting depend on the provider. However, you will get servers that are optimized for WordPress. You’ll also receive automatic WordPress and plugin updates. Malware scanning. Improved backups. Other useful extras include free themes and plugins. Bluehost, IONOS(opens a new tab), WPEngine [opens new tab], Inmotion Hosting [opens new tab]). Other providers offer managed WordPress plans starting at $10 to $120 per month. Nexcess offers plans starting at $19 per month and ending at $449 for an enterprise-ready beast that can manage up to 250 WordPress websites.
The domain name (subdomain free up to $100
It is crucial to have a memorable and catchy domain name. This applies whether you are using WordPress or another platform. It’s a topic all by itself. We’ll assume that you have already thought of a name. If not, use the Instant Domain Search Generator to get ideas. What is the cost of this?
Some hosts will allow you to use a subdomain even if you have zero budget. 000webhost can host your site for free as yourname.000webhostapp.com, for instance, and Googiehost (opens in new tab) offers shorter options such as yourname.cu.ma. These are great for personal projects or sites that will be only accessible by close friends and family. Visitors can easily see that you are using a free domain and hosting, making it a poor choice for businesses or anyone looking professional.
Bluehost, GoDaddy (opens new tab), Hostinger(opens new tab), Hostinger and SiteGround offer free domain registrations for one year. This typically saves you between $10-12 on a.com domain, but renewal fees can be high for subsequent years. Bluehost charges $19.99 to renew a.com domain for one year. Hostinger charges $13.99 per.com and $8.99 per.co.uk.
You don’t need to purchase a domain from your web host if they charge you more for domains than what you would like. You can purchase a single year of domain registration from Porkbun for $98. However, Domain.com can register your domain for $55 for five years. Although you will need to manually point your domain to the hosting space from your registrar, any hosting provider can help.
Theme (free up to $200
WordPress’s greatest asset is its ability to make and maintain visually appealing websites, even if you don’t know much about web design. What’s the secret to WordPress’ success? Its themes support pre-built website designs that you can download and then use in seconds.
You can get even more. It gets better.
You can be sure that there will be something close to what you want with a library as large as this. You can customize colors, layouts, and other details as needed.
There may be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of websites that have the same theme as yours. You might not even notice if it’s a blog. A premium theme might be worth it if your business is looking to create a unique brand.
The exact contents of the theme will vary widely. However, premium themes could offer many benefits, including more page types, custom slideshows, more widgets, and components, more page components, more page types, more page components, more page components, more page elements, more page types that are optimized for specific site types (architects, creative agencies, resumes/CVs), and more visual style.
Premium themes can cost anywhere from $10 to $200. But if you have $20-$80, it’s possible that you will find something that suits you. TemplateMonster is a large site that offers 20,000+ themes for purchase. It’s a great place to begin your search.
SSL Certificate (Free up to $200
An SSL certificate is required for every WordPress website. This special file allows visitors to secure encrypted HTTPS connections to your site. SSL is useless. It means that there’s no security padlock in the address bar. Visitors will get ‘not secure’ warnings each time they visit your website. This is a surefire way to show everyone you don’t know how to manage it.
Most paid web hosting plans include free SSL. This is good news for websites that don’t require payments or other privacy requirements. An upgrade is possible if you are building an international website store or any other area where trust is a top priority.
Most SSL certificates that come with no cost are ‘Domain Validated’ (DV), which proves you have the domain. The registrar will manually vet the buyer and then add their name and address as an option to an OV SSL certificate. Extended Validation (EV) certificates have more thorough checks of the buyer’s identity. This gives users additional assurance that you are truly who they claim to be.
There are many SSL options, with prices ranging from $10 to over $1,000 per year. A $50-$200 annual budget will provide coverage for most situations and providers. However, if you are willing to sign up to long contracts, you can save a lot of money. Namecheap offers a variety of OV certificates and EV certificates at a fraction of the cost of other providers.
Backups (free up to $120
It is a difficult task to build a website that works.
Although most hosting plans offer some type of backup, there are many options. GreenGeeks’ cheapest hosting plan only saves one daily backup so that you can restore the latest day’s version. SiteGround’s cheapest hosting plan keeps 30 daily backups. This allows you to restore the last day’s version up to one month after noticing a problem. Make sure to read all the fine print before you sign up for free backups.
You can also set up your own backup system with a WordPress plugin. UpdraftPlus is our favorite. It can schedule backups every few hours up to once per month. The results are then saved to your Google Drive, Dropbox, or any other storage space. UpdraftPlus Premium is available for an additional fee. It offers fast incremental backups, multiple storage destinations, and website migration tools. Prices range from $84 to $2230+.
Plugins (from 0 to as many as you can afford)
While we’ve concentrated on the essential WordPress hosting features for this article, large, high-traffic sites or businesses may require more features. There are thousands of paid and free WordPress plugins that can help.
A caching plugin can help speed up your site. These plugins save copies of your website pages and serve them directly to visitors. This reduces the need for WordPress scripts to access databases, run scripts or otherwise tie up your system resources. The prices range from free to $60 per year for a basic plugin, with WP Rocket, WordPress Total Cache, and WP Super Cache being the most popular.
WordPress sites are a popular target for hackers. It’s important to protect yourself, especially if you have a business or high-traffic sites. Infecting visitors with malware will ruin your reputation. Wordfence Security and Sucuri Security offer free versions that block most of the most serious threats. Sucuri’s Basic plan, which costs around $200 per year, adds additional features such as automatically removing malware if it is found.
You will be able to present your content in a Google-friendly manner if you are skilled in SEO (search engine optimization). This will help you get a high ranking in search results. If you aren’t so confident in SEO, an excellent SEO plugin can help you analyze your website, identify problems, and offer suggestions on how to improve each page. Yoast SEO or All-in-One WordPress SEO has features that can be used by anyone, from individuals to large corporations. The starter price ranges from $100 to $100 per year.
Although we can’t cover all the options, here are some of our favorites: OptinMonster ($10) excels in lead generation; WPForms ($40/year) creates contact forms, orders forms, and surveys; Smash Balloon ($49/year per platform) allows you to easily display Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube content on your website; MonsterInsights ($100/year) is a powerful Google Analytics plugin that helps you see exactly what is working and what isn’t.
Summary
How much does it cost for a WordPress website to be built? This will vary depending on your specific needs. However, this is the budget that you should consider for different site types.
(We are quoting the minimum amount you can expect to pay to start a contract. This could be as high as three years. If you decide to renew your contract, you might be charged more or you will need a shorter term, especially if it is monthly. (Check the fine print with your host.
Personal project (free)
You can build a website for fun or to learn more about WordPress. But beware, that’s likely to mean accepting poor speeds, occasional unexpected downtime, ads, an unprofessional subdomain (yourname.freehosting.com), and traffic limits as low as 100 visitors a day.
Personal or business website ($24-$60 per year)
You can get shared hosting for as low as $2-$5 per month. This includes a domain and 1-click WordPress installation. There is also enough bandwidth to host 10,000 visitors per month. This makes it affordable for small websites.
Be aware that specialist WordPress plans are also available at this price, but they are likely to be limited and very basic. For $2 per month, the IONOS starter WordPress plan, and $4 thereafter, supports one email address but has limited CPU power.
A personal or small business website with high traffic (60 to $120 per year)
You can find some amazing hosting options if you go up to the $5-10 range. Accuweb’s WordPress Advanced++ plan supports unlimited websites and comes with a free SSL and a free domain. The company claims it can handle half a million visitors per month.
This budget will get you hosting with many features but it won’t usually buy you much more server resources (RAM or CPU time). Your plan will still be faster than shared hosting but it won’t deliver the speed that a site with a high traffic count requires.
Personal or business website in the mid-range ($240 to $600).
You have many options if you spend $20 to $50 per month on your WordPress project.
A good VPS (Virtual Private Server), the plan will outperform shared hosting. It can run all the websites you need.
Bluehost’s Managed WordPress Plans are all about the features. They include a free domain and SSL, daily backups, and marketing and SEO tools. There is also PayPal integration for e-commerce.
IONOS WordPress Pro combines both, with a VPS that includes some extras such as speed optimizations, malware protection, and smart WordPress updates.
High-end E-commerce site or website for high-end businesses ($900+).
It is important to select top-quality services that deliver the reliability and speed your customers expect when you are building a website or other business-critical websites. However, this doesn’t need to be costly. A budget of $900 per year can go a long way.
You can get VPS products for as low as $50 per month (or 600 to $720 annually) and WordPress plans that include Bluehost or WordPress. Most often, a domain, SSL, and decent backups are included.
You can get comprehensive plugins like HubSpot forms, live chat, email marketing, and analytics, all completely free. Although the freebies don’t cover everything, you can still add Constant contact’s great email marketing tools for $10 per month ($120 annually).
You still have money to buy high-end themes, $100 Malcare’s malware scanner and removal platform, or any other features that you need.
