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Hosting & domains

How to choose web hosting: judge the renewal, not the first-term price

By the HonestReviews editorial team · updated Oct 15, 2026

Quick answer

Judge a host by its renewal price, not the advertised one. Shared entry plans we read advertise $2.28 to $5.99 a month on their headline terms and renew at $4.66 to $17.99, often after prepaying 12 to 48 months. Then check how often backups run and whether they are free, what is free only for the first year, the refund terms and whether the cheapest plan has phone support.

Almost every shared host advertises a price that lasts only for a first, prepaid term. What you pay for as long as you stay is the renewal price. This guide covers what our web hosting ranking weighs, the prices you will see, and the traps we found reading 14 hosts' own pages on Sep 25-27, 2026.

What we weigh, and why

We score each host's cheapest plan for one website, using only what the company publishes (full method):

  • Renewal price, 35%. The monthly rate after the introductory offer, on the same term. It carries the most weight because it is the price you pay from year two onward.
  • Introductory jump, 15%. How far the price rises at renewal. A small jump means fewer surprises.
  • Term needed for the advertised price, 10%. A price you can get month to month beats one that needs 36 months paid upfront.
  • Included, 20%. Five things a small site needs: a free SSL certificate, daily backups, a free first-year domain, a staging site and email.
  • Money-back guarantee, 10%. A full refund for 30 days or more scores best.
  • Support, 10%. 24/7 phone and chat scores best.

We have not measured speed or uptime.

The prices you will see

Shared hosting entry plans advertise $2.28 to $5.99 a month on their headline terms and renew at $4.66 to $17.99. Managed WordPress and cloud hosts that bill the same every month price their entry plans at $9 (Liquid Web), $11 (Cloudways) and $35 (Kinsta, WP Engine). Atlantic.Net's managed HIPAA server, with a business associate agreement, starts at $552.31 a month. Our renewal price page sets the shared hosts' renewal prices side by side.

The traps our research found

1. The renewal jump. SiteGround StartUp is $2.99 a month for 12 months, then $17.99. DreamHost Launch is $2.89, then $10.99. InMotion Hosting Launch is $4.79, then $14.99. The first-year price tells you little about year two.

2. The long prepayment. Hostinger's $2.99 needs 48 months paid upfront ($143.52). Bluehost, HostGator and GoDaddy advertise 36-month prices. Shorter terms often renew higher: HostGator's Hatchling renews at $13.19 a month on a 1-year term against $10.99 on 3 years (price chart).

3. The cheap-looking plan that isn't. IONOS advertises Plus at $1 a month for the first year; it renews at $14. Its Essential plan is $4, then $8.

4. Renewals that aren't published. GoDaddy's web hosting page prints no renewal price. Only its cheap hosting offer says Economy "auto-renews" at $551.63 for 3 years, $15.32 a month; its Deluxe and Ultimate renewals are not published. WP Engine's $28 headline is first-year annual pricing, with "Product renewal pricing subject to change."

5. Extras that are free for one year. GoDaddy's Standard SSL renews at $119.99 a year. Hostinger's mailboxes cost $0.59 a month each after the first year. Namecheap's SSL certificates are free "for one year". DreamHost's email is a 3-month trial; Bluehost's Pro Email is a one-month trial.

6. Backups that aren't daily, or aren't free. Bluehost's shared plans back up weekly, as does Hostinger Premium. Namecheap Stellar backs up about twice a week, "not guaranteed". HostGator gives "courtesy" backups and sells daily ones separately. InMotion sells daily backups as the Backup Manager add-on. Cloudways charges $0.033 per GB per server for offsite backup storage.

7. Refund fine print. Namecheap's default sign-up is a 30-day free trial, and "Our 30-day money-back guarantee applies only to first-time Shared Hosting customers who start their account without a 30 day trial." Liquid Web, WP Engine, Cloudways and Atlantic.Net publish no money-back guarantee. Bluehost and HostGator exclude monthly terms from theirs; GoDaddy gives monthly plans 48 hours. InMotion's "full 90-day" guarantee is prorated after day 30 according to one of its own pages.

8. Phone support on the cheapest plan. IONOS, GoDaddy and SiteGround state 24/7 phone support on their entry plans. Bluehost, HostGator and InMotion add phone support only from the next plan up.

A checklist before you pay

  1. Find the renewal price and the term it applies to. Multiply the monthly rate by 12 for your year-two budget.
  2. Price the term you will actually buy. The advertised price may need 36 or 48 months upfront.
  3. Check the plan's site limit. Some entry plans allow one site; others allow 10 or more.
  4. Check how often backups run and whether they cost extra.
  5. List what is free only for the first year: domain, SSL, mailboxes.
  6. Read the refund terms: free trials, monthly terms and domain fees are common exclusions.
  7. Check which support channels the cheapest plan gets, and whether phone support needs a bigger plan.
  8. For a store or client sites, use the list built for that job, below.

Where to go next

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