Hosting is advertised at a monthly figure that is neither monthly nor the figure you will pay.
The advertised price
Almost always an introductory rate, requiring a two or three year term paid up front, renewing at a substantially higher figure.
That is not dishonest, it is the industry norm, and it means the advertised number is not comparable between providers. The renewal price is.
Find it before signing. It is usually published, and usually not next to the number in the advertisement.
| Line | Typical treatment |
|---|---|
| First term | Discounted heavily |
| Renewal | Two to three times |
| Domain | Free year one, then annual |
| Certificate | Usually included now |
| Backups | Often an add-on |
| Sometimes separate |
What static hosting costs
For a brochure, a portfolio, documentation or a landing page: often nothing.
Several providers host static files free at any volume a small business will produce, with a custom domain and an automatic certificate. The only unavoidable cost is the domain registration, which is a small annual figure.
This is not a downgrade. Static hosting is faster and harder to break than the traditional arrangement, and for a site that does not run code at visit time there is nothing being given up.
The comparison worth making is not between two hosting plans. It is between a hosting plan and not needing one.
The cost nobody lines up
Time.
If correcting a single line on the price page requires a developer, a build and a deployment, that is an hour of somebody's time. Once a month, that exceeds any hosting bill in the small-business market.
It also produces the more expensive failure: corrections that do not happen, so the page stays wrong.
Price one correction in hours before comparing anything in pounds.
What is worth paying for
Your own domain. A few pounds a year, and it is the thing that makes everything else replaceable.
Automatic certificates. Should be included. If it is not, that is a signal about the rest of the product.
Backups you have restored. An untested backup is a belief. Restore one before you need to.
An arrangement where corrections are quick. The highest-value property and the one no pricing page lists.
Closely related: How to host a website, and Free static website hosting, compared honestly for the adjacent problem.
Put it at an address
Find the renewal price before anything else, add the domain and the extras, check what static hosting would cost for the same site, price one correction in hours, and pay for ownership rather than features.