A shared hosting plan advertised at $2.99 a month looks like a rounding error. Then the first term ends, the invoice arrives, and the same plan costs between 2.5 and 6 times as much. Nothing is hidden, exactly: the renewal price is in the fine print on the pricing page. But almost nobody does the arithmetic before buying, and the headline number is not what you will pay over the life of the site. Here is how to work out the real cost, using the prices three popular hosts list on their own pages as of 16 October 2026.
If you want to run your own numbers while you read, the hosting cost calculator is a quick way to do it.
What the pricing pages actually say
| Plan | Headline price | Term required | Renews at | Renewal vs headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Premium | $2.99/mo | 48 months ($143.52 upfront) | $10.99/mo | 3.7x |
| Hostinger Unlimited | $3.99/mo | 48 months ($191.52 upfront) | $16.99/mo | 4.3x |
| SiteGround StartUp | $2.99/mo | 12 months prepaid | $17.99/mo | 6.0x |
| SiteGround GrowBig | $4.99/mo | 12 months prepaid | $29.99/mo | 6.0x |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99/mo | 36 months | $9.99/mo | 2.5x |
Hostinger and SiteGround figures come from their web hosting pages, where the renewal price appears in the small print under each plan ("Renews at $10.99/mo." and "Renews at $17.99/mo. Prepaid for 12 months.", for example). The Bluehost figures are from a Bluehost article on introductory versus renewal pricing, which describes the gap as normal business practice as long as the renewal rate is disclosed before you buy.
The number that matters: your average monthly cost
The monthly price on the banner is only true for the first term. Over a longer horizon, the honest figure is total spend divided by months. I calculated five years for each plan, assuming you keep the same plan, pay the listed renewal rate for the remaining months, and there are no extra discounts, taxes or add-ons:
| Plan | 5-year total | Average per month | vs headline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Premium | $275.40 | $4.59 | 1.5x |
| Bluehost Starter | $383.40 | $6.39 | 1.6x |
| SiteGround StartUp | $899.40 | $14.99 | 5.0x |
Notice what drives the difference. It is not only the renewal price, it is when you hit it. A 48-month first term pushes the price jump four years out, so for the first three years you never see a renewal at all (you pay $143.52 upfront, which works out to $107.64 for those 36 months at the advertised rate). A 12-month term brings the jump forward to month 13, and over three years the SiteGround StartUp plan costs $467.64 instead of the $107.64 the headline suggests. Same $2.99 on the banner, very different bills.
What the five-year view leaves out
- Your domain. Domain registration and renewal are billed separately from hosting. Check the renewal price of the domain too, not just the first-year promotion.
- Upfront cash. A 48-month plan means paying $143.52 on day one. If the project dies in month six, that money is gone (check the refund policy, since the pages I read mention a 30-day money-back guarantee on SiteGround).
- Upgrades. If you outgrow a plan, the next tier up has its own promotional price and its own much higher renewal. Hostinger's Cloud Startup, for instance, lists $7.99/mo and renews at $25.99/mo.
- Your time. Moving a site costs hours. Hosts know this, and part of the reason for the gap is that most customers renew instead of migrating. That is a marketing cost, not a hosting cost.
How to avoid the surprise
- Compare on the renewal price first. Ignore the banner. Find the "renews at" line and sort by that.
- Calculate three- and five-year totals. Put the intro term, the renewal rate and any domain cost into the hosting cost calculator before you add anything to the cart.
- Match the term to the project. Unsure the site will exist in two years? A shorter term costs more per month but limits what you can lose. Sure it will? A long term locks in the low rate.
- Put the renewal date in your calendar a month before it hits. Renewal is the moment you have leverage: compare, ask for a better rate, or move.
- Keep the site portable. If the code lives in Git, the database can be dumped with one command and uploads are in object storage or a known directory, moving to a new host takes an afternoon. If everything is configured by hand in a control panel, the host owns your switching cost.
Is cheap hosting a bad deal?
No. For a small site that you will keep for years, the Hostinger and Bluehost numbers above are reasonable, and a 12-month promotional rate is fine for a project you may drop or move anyway. The problem is not the discount. It is making a decision based on the first number you see. A site that earns nothing and costs $15 a month in year three is a different business decision from a site that costs $3.
Frequently asked questions
Why do hosts charge so much more at renewal?
Bluehost's own explanation is that the discount is a customer acquisition cost the provider recovers at renewal, that switching takes effort so many customers stay, and that storage, security, backups and support cost money every month. Treat that as the provider's view, not an independent one.
Can I negotiate the renewal price?
I did not test this, and the pages I read do not promise it. Some providers may offer a retention discount if you ask or start to cancel, but do not plan around it.
Is a longer term always cheaper?
Per month, usually, because the low rate is tied to the long term. Overall, only if you actually keep the site for the whole term.
References
- Hostinger: Web hosting plans
- SiteGround: Web hosting plans
- Bluehost: Introductory vs renewal pricing in shared hosting
Originally published on DEV Talk.
