Managed WordPress hosting · Cost guide

When Cheap Hosting Costs More Long-Term, and When It Does Not

Shared hosting stays cheaper after renewal: Hostinger Premium renews at 10.99 USD a month, 131.88 USD a year, against 350 USD a year for Kinsta’s Single 35k (both pricing pages, 23 September 2026). Whether cheap hosting ends up costing more depends on what you add to it: paid backups or migrations, your own hours and downtime. This page puts numbers on each.

See Kinsta’s plans and prices → Kinsta pricing explained →

Affiliate link: Kinsta pays us a commission if you sign up through it. You pay Kinsta’s list price either way.

Written and checked by , Promo Code Network, Switzerland

Introductory pricing: cheap only on the day you buy

Shared hosting is usually sold on a long prepaid term at a rate for that term only: introductory figure in large type, regular price struck through, renewal rate in small print. The saving compares the host’s own two prices, not a competitor: on Hostinger’s Premium card, “75% off” is 2.99 USD against a struck-through 11.99 USD. Lower headline prices need longer prepayment.

OfferFirst termAt renewalPer year at renewal
Hostinger Premium, shared2.99 USD a month, 48 months prepaid (143.52 USD)10.99 USD a month131.88 USD
Kinsta Single 35k, managed30 USD a month on annual billingSame list price350 USD

Hostinger’s WordPress hosting page and Kinsta’s pricing page and terms, read 23 September 2026; renewal rate times twelve.

Compare the renewal price, not the banner price. Against 2.99 USD a month, 350 USD a year is almost ten times the price; against 10.99 USD, 2.7 times. The gap at renewal is 218.12 USD a year. Cheap hosting costs more only if the add-ons, hours and downtime you would otherwise pay for come to more than that; if they do not, the shared plan is the cheaper choice.

What managed hosting includes and cheap hosting sells as add-ons

The second mechanism is the price list behind the price: a cheap plan may include some of what a site needs in a year, sell some as add-ons and leave the rest to you. Hostinger’s Premium card lists free weekly backups, a CDN and priority 24/7 support, so read each line. Kinsta lists for Single 35k:

ItemKinsta Single 35kCheck on a cheap plan
MigrationUnlimited, free, by Kinsta’s teamIncluded, one-off fee, or your job
BackupsKept 14 days; 6-hourly 20 USD, hourly 100 USD per site a monthFrequency, retention, self-service restore, extra cost
StagingFree, one clickOffered, included or add-on
CDN, firewall, SSL125 GB CDN a month, managed WAF, DDoS protection, free SSLIncluded, add-on, or set up yourself
Malware removalFreePaid clean-up, or excluded
Support24/7 chat, 8 languagesChannel, hours, priority surcharge

Kinsta column: kinsta.com/pricing, read 23 September 2026. The right-hand column is a checklist, not a claim about any host.

Resource limits, throttling and your own hours

A shared plan is a slice of one server split among many accounts, with limits on CPU time, memory, processes and disk operations; reach one and the site is throttled until usage drops, and “unlimited” bandwidth normally carries a fair-use clause. Managed limits are priced instead: Single 35k allows 35,000 visits a month, Kinsta notifies you at 80% and 100%, the site stays online and overage is billed per additional 1,000 visits.

The third cost is your time: updates, restores, waiting for support, a later move. Multiply the hours you expect in a year by what an hour of yours is worth and add it to the cheap plan’s price. Even Kinsta sells automatic plugin and theme updates as an add-on, 3 USD per environment a month, but the price is on the page.

What downtime costs you: a formula, not a statistic

We publish no uptime figures because we have not measured any; an advertised percentage says what a host promises, not what your site experienced. Price an outage in your own figures:

Outage cost = (monthly revenue ÷ 730) × hours down + your recovery hours × your hourly value + paid help.

730 is 8,760 hours a year divided by twelve; if you only sell in business hours, divide by those. Measure hours down with a free uptime monitor for a few weeks, then set the result against the annual price difference.

What 350 USD a year buys, and what to compare

Single 35k on annual billing is 350 USD a year, ten monthly prices for twelve months; monthly billing is 35 USD, 420 USD a year. New customers pay 0 USD today and 350 USD after the first month. That buys one site, 35,000 visits, 10 GB and the table above; a second site is 30 USD a month more, or WP 2 at 700 USD a year. The 30-day money-back guarantee is for first-time customers and excludes overages. Before signing either plan, compare:

  1. Renewal price After the first term, times twelve, and the prepaid term it requires.
  2. Backups Frequency, retention, self-service restore, extra cost.
  3. Migration Who moves the site in and out, at what price.
  4. Support channel Chat, ticket or phone; hours; priority surcharge.
  5. Visit or bandwidth limits What is measured, whether the site stays online.
  6. Overage price Cost of an extra 1,000 visits or gigabyte, in writing.

Cheap vs managed hosting: common questions

Is cheap shared hosting always a bad choice?
No. For a personal site, a portfolio or a project that earns nothing, a shared plan is reasonable: an outage costs no revenue and the renewal price stays small. It turns expensive once the site earns money, you buy add-ons or your hours count.
What does the renewal price mean?
The rate after the introductory term ends. Shared hosts show a low rate for a long prepaid first term and a higher regular rate afterwards; multiply that by twelve for the lasting annual cost. Kinsta’s plan page shows one list price with no step-up, although its terms allow fee increases with reasonable prior notice.
What does managed hosting include that shared usually does not?
On Kinsta’s plan page every plan includes unlimited free migrations, 14-day backups, one-click staging, a CDN, a managed firewall, free malware removal and 24/7 chat support. On a cheap plan check each item: included, add-on or not offered.
How do I estimate what downtime costs me?
Outage cost = (monthly revenue ÷ 730) × hours down + your recovery hours × your hourly value + paid help. Measure hours down with an uptime monitor for a few weeks rather than trusting an advertised percentage, then compare with the annual price difference.
Does the Kinsta link change the price?
No. It tells Kinsta you came from this site; Kinsta pays us a commission if you sign up. You pay the list price, 35 USD a month or 350 USD a year for Single 35k, with the annual discount and first free month applied on the plan page.

Sources

  1. Kinsta: WordPress hosting plans, prices, included features, add-ons and the overage FAQ. Read 22 and 23 September 2026.
  2. Kinsta: Terms of Service, auto-renewal for the same period (at most twelve months), fee changes with prior notice, standard fee after any free period; money-back guarantee. Read 23 September 2026.
  3. Hostinger: Managed Hosting for WordPress, Premium card, read 23 September 2026: 2.99 USD a month on 48 months (143.52 USD), regular price 575.52 USD, renews at 10.99 USD a month; free weekly backups, CDN, priority 24/7 support.