Methodology

Where the prices come from (18 hosts' own pages, 337 plan terms), how a total over the years you keep a site is worked out, renewals included, and how this site earns.

Where the prices come from

Every price is read from the host's own pages: its plan and pricing pages, the small print under them, its cart and its terms where the renewal price is only stated there. The page text is saved, and every figure is kept with a verbatim quote from it. 24 hosts were checked on October 6, 2026; 18 publish prices we could record, across 123 plans and 337 plan terms.

Bluehost, Cloudways, GoDaddy, HostGator, InMotion Hosting and Namecheap are not priced here. Each page says why: usually the host answers automated reading with a security check or CAPTCHA. We don't work around those checks, and we don't fill the gap from reviews, coupon sites or memory, so those hosts are named with the reason and left out of every ranking.

How a total is worked out

• The first term is paid up front. DreamHost Web Hosting Launch, advertised at $1.99 a month on a 4-year term, charges $95.52 for all 48 months on the day you buy it. Setup fees, where a host states one, are added to that first payment.
• Then it renews at the renewal price. When the first term ends, the plan renews at the price the host publishes for renewal, for the renewal term it states. Where it doesn't state one, we assume the plan renews for the same length as the first term, which is how hosts bill an automatic renewal by default; 47 of the 337 terms rely on that assumption.
• The total is the cash you pay while you keep the site: every payment that falls due in the 1 to 5 years you choose. A long prepaid term can cover you past that point; the tables say which year it is paid through.
• The cheapest way to keep a site is the plan and term with the lowest total, among plans whose number of websites, storage and stated monthly visits fit what you need. A plan with unlimited websites or no stated visit limit fits any number.
• Per site is the total divided by the number of sites you host on it.

What is not included

• Sales tax and VAT. Prices are the US dollar prices each host shows before tax.
• The domain name. Pages say which plans include a free domain and for how long, and what a .com then renews at with that host; the totals cover hosting only.
• Coupon codes, renewal discounts you might get by asking, and add-ons offered at checkout.
• Ratings of speed, support or uptime: we haven't measured them, so we don't rank on them.

How this site earns

Links to a host may become affiliate links once that host's programme accepts the site, and then a page says so next to the link. No programme has accepted the site yet, so today no link here earns anything. It never changes the order, which is always cheapest first for the need you enter, or any number.

Pages are written with AI assistance; every figure is computed by code from the saved pricing data.

Prices checked against each host's own pages on October 6, 2026, in US dollars before tax.