How Much Does It Cost to Host a Website?

If you’ve ever considered running your own online business, budget is likely to be one of the first things you needed to consider. After all, most of us don’t have an influx of cash on hand and available to just launch a new company overnight.

With that in mind, it’s crucial to think about how you can keep the costs of your new venture as low as possible. The good news is that the digital world does make creating a company a little more affordable than it used to be.

The bad news is that there are still things to pay for, like website design to make sure you stand out online and hosting for that website. Today, we’re going to explain the costs of hosting, and why they’re so variable.

Understanding the Costs of Hosting a Website

Hosting is one of the most important things you’ll need to pay for as a budding business owner. Without a host, you can’t keep your website up and running online. Even basic websites need some form of hosting to keep them running. The critical thing to note is that there are a lot of different ways to get active online.

That’s why prices often vary. There are providers out there who can help you launch your website into the stratosphere for as little as $2.95 a month, and there are also those who can require you to spend hundreds on your account every month.

It all comes down to the service and support that you need. That means that figuring out how much you’re going to spend starts with figuring out what kind of site you want to run.

A basic portfolio or business site will often require a lot less cash than a full eCommerce site, for instance. The more information you need to put online, and the more people are likely to visit you, the more you spend.

What is the Cheapest Option?

Shared hosting is the entry-level solution for people who want to keep costs as low as possible. If you’re limited on cash for starting your own business, this is the route for you.

If you decide that you’re going to take out a student loan to develop your skills for your new business, you could even use some of the left over money there to begin building your website with shared hosting.

Once you’ve got your graduate degree, you’ll be able to pay off your loan and continue managing the cost of your site with minimal hassle.

Most shared accounts cost only a few dollars per month because you share your bandwidth with other people. The downside of this cheaper form of hosting is that you don’t have as much freedom to scale and grow as you might like.

The good news is that most beginners in the digital world won’t need a lot of space. You can launch online and start finding as many clients as possible, then consider expanding to something bigger in the years to come.