What does it cost to keep a website running?
A domain is about a dollar a month. Hosting a few pages is often free, and a busy shop usually runs between five and twenty five dollars a month. Add a few dollars if you keep records in a database. Everything beyond that is somebody charging you rent on a website you already paid for, unless they are doing work you asked for.
Last checked 14 August 2026. Prices on this page are ours and current.
The costs that are real
The domain. Roughly a dollar a month, paid yearly to a registrar. This is the one that must be in your name, because whoever holds it holds your address.
Hosting. For a few pages it is genuinely free on several serious platforms, and that is not a trick. For a shop with real traffic and images, somewhere between five and twenty five dollars a month is normal.
A database, if you keep customers, orders or records. A few dollars, and it scales with how much you keep rather than how many visitors you have.
Email on your own domain, if you want it. A few dollars per person per month, and worth it, because an enquiry arriving at a personal address is an enquiry that gets lost.
The costs that are somebody charging you rent
A monthly fee for a finished site with no work being done. This is the big one. If nobody is changing anything, what is the money for?
A platform fee that exists because your site was built inside somebody's system and cannot leave. That is not hosting, it is a lock.
Maintenance with no description. Maintenance is a real thing when somebody is applying updates and watching for breakage, and it should say what it covers and how often. If it cannot be described, it is a subscription.
The test is simple. Ask what happens if you stop paying. If the answer is your website disappears, you were renting it.
What legitimately costs money later
Changes you ask for. New pages, new prices, a service you have added. Fair, and it should be quoted per job rather than charged monthly against nothing.
Real growth. If your shop starts doing serious traffic, hosting costs more, and that is a good problem.
Anything with an ongoing external cost, like WhatsApp messages or a payment processor's percentage. Those go to those companies, not to whoever built the site.
How to keep it low without regretting it
Own the domain and the hosting account yourself. Not for cost reasons but because it is the difference between owning a website and having access to one.
Do not buy a database before you need one. Plenty of small sites need nothing kept at all.
And keep the site simple enough that a year of neglect does nothing to it. A few well made static pages will still be working when a complicated build has gone stale.
Do not take our word for it.
Published in full, including the monthly costs that are not ours.
- Is free hosting a trick?
- Not for a small site. Serious platforms have free tiers that are genuinely enough for a few pages, and the cost arrives with traffic and images rather than as a surprise.
- Do you charge a monthly fee?
- No. Both our website prices are paid once. Hosting and the domain go to the companies providing them and stay in your name.
- What if I stop paying for hosting?
- The site goes offline until you resume, and because everything is in your name you can move it anywhere rather than negotiating with anyone.
- Is maintenance worth paying for?
- Sometimes, if it is described. Updates applied, backups checked, something watching whether the site is up. Vague maintenance on a finished static site usually is not.
Tell us what you are trying to work out and we will answer it straight, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
Or email hello@ahlelak.com