WordPress is open-source software that powers more than 43% of the web, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the next most popular content management system. And it’s free. So that means if you’re using WordPress, you can build a website or blog for free, right?
Well, not so fast. While WordPress itself has no cost, running a WordPress website can involve a number of factors that cost money. We’ll discuss each of those soon, but first, let’s step back a moment and consider it from a more holistic perspective.
Website Costs Are Also About Vision and Story — Not Just Budget
Way back when, American astronauts needed to be able to write in space. The zero-gravity environment, however, made writing with standard ink pens a rather messy proposition. Researchers spent millions of dollars, and many years in research and development, to come up with a fancy zero-gravity ink pen. Up on the International Space Station, the astronauts proudly showed off their newfangled pens to the Russian cosmonauts, bragging about how much money it took to develop the new writing technology. The cosmonauts laughed and handed the Americans a graphite pencil, as if to say, “here’s our technology — it cost 25 cents.”
While this widely shared story isn’t exactly true, as Scientific American explains, there’s a valuable lesson business owners can learn from it: a big budget and unlimited resources can sometimes be a liability, not an asset. Why? It can lead you to overestimate the resources you need to accomplish a task in a time- and cost-effective manner.
This is also a lesson that applies to building a website. If you’re a small business owner looking to establish a web presence, the vision and story you bring to your site will likely count for a lot more than the budget you put into it.
Not your typical MVP
Let’s say you’re a business owner and you want to build a website. What approach would you take if you had a gajillion dollars in your website budget? On the opposite end of the spectrum, what would you do if you only had 25 cents? (Okay, maybe a little more than that — you get the point.)
With a big budget, you might go to a fancy marketing agency, slap a blank check on the table, and say, “build it!” With a more realistic budget, however, you’d need to put on your DIY thinking cap and ask, “What’s the minimum required for a website that’s good enough for what I actually need?” In business parlance, Chris Lema explains, this is called your “minimum viable product” (MVP). And yes, even without being a techie or knowing how to code, you can get a solid MVP website launched in a way that will leave you smiling like the mythical Russian cosmonaut holding his pencil.
Define your MVP
What should you focus on when launching an MVP website? Well, your site should do what it needs to do without breaking your budget or adding unnecessary features that can cause delays. There’s no exact formula — your answers will vary depending on your skills, knowledge, and business, among other things. However, there are three things to consider that will help keep your new website’s costs down and get it launched in a timely manner.
- What sets you apart? There may be other people, businesses, or bloggers doing something similar to you, but there’s nobody exactly like you. Put that difference into words and put those words on your website, front and center. (If it’s not too difficult, use visual aids like photos or videos to tell your story.) If you need help explaining who you are and what you do, consider posing this as a question to your followers on Facebook or Twitter. Let them tell you in their own words why they love, value, and trust you.
- What do your supporters need to do/know instantly? Are you putting up a website about your restaurant? Then they need to know what food you serve, what your hours are, where you’re located, and your prices — right now. Don’t make fans click through 20 pages on your website to find that information. Hone in on the action you want people to take when they get to your site and provide exactly what they need to know as simply and effectively as possible.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel (or the space pencil)! You don’t have to spend weeks, months, or years learning how to code or master web design before you can launch your website. There are many excellent — and customizable — website themes available for a low cost or free. If you use a popular platform like WordPress.com, the themes are even categorized and searchable by business type. So, for example, if you’re launching a photography website, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by choosing a photography theme. Otherwise, you already have the technical skills you need to get your site launched.
Avoid overthinking your website costs and focus on your MVP at this stage. Consider using a customizable website theme or template built for your specific type of business. Focus on what sets you or your business apart and how your website can provide your supporters exactly the information they need. Once you’ve considered these big-picture aspects, you’re ready to dive into the budget details.
What Actual Costs Do Need to be Considered in Your Budget?
As we mentioned in the beginning, WordPress itself has no cost, but running a WordPress website may involve a number of factors that cost money.
These include:
- Domain Name – The virtual web address you register with ICANN
- Web Hosting – The cost of the server resources and storage
- WordPress Theme – The template that determines your website’s appearance
- WordPress Plugins – The extensions and add-ons that add more features to your site
- Site Security – Protection from accidents or cyber attacks
- Technical Support – Regular maintenance and troubleshooting of issues
Not all of these will necessarily take a ding out of your wallet. For example, you may choose a free theme rather than a premium one. But depending on your needs, each of those might come with a price tag.
Next, we’ll cover all that you need to know about the cost of these different components and how you can build and run a WordPress website that offers you the most value for your money. So let’s start with the first aspect.
WordPress Domain Cost
A domain name is your website’s address on the web (for example, “WordPress.com”). It’s the first thing that people see about your website, and it sticks with your brand for a long time. That’s why picking the right domain name is crucial.
There are two parts of this address that contribute to the WordPress domain cost: the main domain name (e.g., “WordPress”) and the top-level domain name (TLD) (for example, “.com”). Let’s tackle each of these separately.
Cost of the Domain Name
Since the launch of the internet nearly three decades ago, hundreds of thousands of domain names have been purchased online. As a result, most of the simple and obvious names like “cars” or “shoes” have already been taken.
In some cases, it may be possible to buy a domain name from the entity that already owns it, but it’s going to cost a lot of money.
However, if you’re trying to purchase a unique name for your own website that anyone hasn’t taken yet, the cost of the name itself will be negligible. What matters then is the cost of TLD.
Cost of the Top-Level Domain
As we discussed, TLD is what goes at the end of your website URL (like “.com”). The most commonly used is “.com,” which is what you’re likely to prefer in most cases.
However, there are hundreds of options to choose from, including country-specific TLDs (such as .fr, .de, etc.) and business-specific TLDs (such as .news, .bar, .music, and more). Depending on the TLD you pick, the cost can vary from $12 to $70 per year.
Getting a Domain from WordPress.com
If you’re using WordPress.com to build your website or blog, you have two options. The first option is the free plan, which gives you a domain name like [Your Business Name].wordpress.com. For example, if your brand name is Cake Panda, you can get a domain name along the lines of cakepanda.wordpress.com.
The second option is to opt for the WordPress.com Business plan. With this plan, you can get your domain name to be more professional and credible, such as cakepanda.com. You get a free domain name for the first year, after which your cost will depend on the TLD you picked.
WordPress Web Hosting Cost
Just like you need an office space in the real world, your website requires an online space in the virtual world. In other words, it needs to be hosted on a server that will keep all your website’s files and data.
The better hosting you get, the more files you can store and the more traffic your website will be able to handle. The aspects of your hosting plan that affect the cost include:
Type of Hosting
At a basic level, there are three main types of WordPress hosting:
Shared Hosting: In this type of web hosting, your WordPress website shares a server with other sites. This is an economical option, but it does make your website vulnerable to issues with other websites that are part of the same server and can cause slowdowns if other sites are experiencing high traffic.
Dedicated Hosting: In this type of WordPress hosting, you are leasing an entire server for just your website from a hosting provider. This can give you more flexibility and control over how your hosting functions, depending on which web host you use. However, it’s an expensive option and mostly unnecessary for small businesses or bloggers.
Managed Hosting: Managed WordPress hosting providers are companies dedicated to WordPress sites. They configure their servers specifically to the WordPress platform, along with additional features like automatic upgrades and dedicated technical support.
Storage Space
The more storage space you need for your website and the more websites you want to host, the higher the cost of hosting will be.
Speed & Performance
A hosting environment that makes your website load quickly needs additional bandwidth that can add to your cost. You’ll also want your WordPress website to have an uptime as close to 100% as possible.
Getting Hosting from WordPress.com
When you build a website with WordPress.com, it’s hosted on a server configured from scratch for the WordPress platform. You get essential features to enhance your website’s security and speed, such as Jetpack’s Lightning CDN (content delivery network). The CDN makes sure that your website will load fast regardless of how much traffic it gets.
WordPress.com also offers different pricing plans depending on the storage space you need. So if you find yourself running out of storage space, you can always upgrade your hosting.
WordPress Theme Cost
Every WordPress website needs a theme. It’s a template that determines the initial look and feel of your website. There are several themes with varying feature sets, tailored for different requirements, such as eCommerce themes, portfolio themes, blogging themes, and more.
WordPress theme development is a large industry with hundreds of theme provider companies and thousands of free and premium themes to choose from. So it’s important to be vigilant when picking the best theme for your needs and budget.
The cost of a WordPress theme depends on a number of factors such as its features, level of customization, mobile-friendliness, and more, with most of the premium themes charging anywhere from $60-80.
Getting a Theme With WordPress.com
WordPress.com brings the best WordPress themes together in one place. So regardless of your WordPress.com pricing plan, you have access to a wide range of fast, high-quality, and responsive themes available to install for free.
Moreover, the WordPress.com Business plan provides you with an advanced premium theme collection, which also includes templates specifically suited for different niches. In addition, you have the freedom to install any third-party WordPress themes from external marketplaces and theme companies.
Cost of WordPress Plugins
Plugins add features to your website, just the way smartphone apps extend the capabilities of your phone. Just like WordPress themes, there are hundreds of free and premium plugins available to integrate functionalities such as SEO, contact forms, shopping carts (WooCommerce), and more into your WordPress website.
Your spending on plugins can vary from zero to thousands of dollars depending on the size and complexity of the business you are running through your website.
Getting WordPress Plugins With WordPress.com
All WordPress.com sites come with a wide range of powerful features built-in. In fact, you get the option to implement functionality equivalent to around 30+ plugins in your website by default.
Further, with the WordPress.com Business plan, you have access to hundreds of free plugins to extend the functionality of your website. You can also install any premium, third-party WordPress plugins to add features not provided by the free options.
Cost of WordPress Security
There are several aspects to take care of when securing your website, many of which can be handled by your hosting provider if you have a managed hosting package.
For security features that are not already a part of your hosting, you can install certain WordPress plugins to get those features. These include:
- Spam Protection: You can install anti-spam plugins, such as the free Akismet plugin, to remove spam comments.
- Malware Protection: This plugin protects your WordPress website against malicious and dangerous interference.
- Website Backup: Automatic daily backups are essential in case something goes wrong and you want to restore your website from an earlier point in time.
- Activity Log: This means keeping a record of all the activity on your website so anomalies can be detected.
- SSL Certificate: This is a data file that encrypts users’ connection to your website so that any data they send (such as credit card details) is kept private. Not having an SSL certificate can trigger a warning in most web browsers that your website is not secure. So having SSL enabled is essential to establish credibility and provide a good user experience. A basic SSL certificate starts from around $50 per year, but it can go up to $600 on the higher end.
As we discussed, there are security plugins available to tackle these aspects, and your cost will depend on the pricing and feature set of these plugins.
WordPress Security With WordPress.com
Dealing with all these aspects one by one to make your WordPress site secure can be daunting. That’s why all WordPress.com sites have the security features we discussed above ready to use by default, along with a free SSL certificate. With WordPress.com, you can be sure that your website has top-notch security.
Cost of WordPress Support
Building and running a website is a lot easier with WordPress than it would be to code a site from scratch. But it can still be challenging. Dealing with different plugins, themes, and technical issues can be tricky, and you may not always know what to do.
On top of that, WordPress is free, open-source software. So it doesn’t come with a dedicated support team. However, you can turn to the following entities for help, each of which can incur certain costs depending on your existing arrangement with them.
- Your Hosting Provider: Most reputable hosting providers offer support for hosting issues.
- Theme/Plugin Developer: A free plugin or theme typically offers no support, whereas a premium theme or plugin bundles a 6-month or 1-year support into the cost of the product.
- Your Own IT Staff: If you are part of a medium or large enterprise, you might have an in-house IT department or web designers to help with troubleshooting and optimization.
- 3rd-Party Support Companies: If none of the above options are on the table, then you can seek support from a WordPress expert or web developer.
- WordPress Community: WordPress is a popular CMS with countless forum threads, articles, and tutorials around the internet that you can access with a quick web search.
Technical Support With WordPress.com
In terms of support, a managed hosting provider like WordPress.com can make running your website hassle-free. It offers a dedicated team of WordPress experts who can help with any problem you might have. You get various levels of support depending on your pricing plan:
- Personal plan and above – unlimited email support
- Premium plan and above – live chat support
- Business plan and above – 24/7 priority live chat support
- eCommerce plan – personalized expert support sessions
Now that you’ve seen some pricing details, let’s broaden the scope back out again.
How much will your particular website cost on WordPress.com?
Whether you create a blog to share photos from your backpacking trip through South America, or an e-commerce store to sell your homegrown spice blends, WordPress.com offers several tiered plans to fit your website needs.
So, how much does a website on WordPress cost, and which plan is the right one for you?
WordPress.com pricing depends on your site needs.
- Do you want to create a website for fun or to have a creative outlet?
- Do you want to build an online portfolio or personalized resume?
- Are you hoping to make some extra money on the side?
- Or do you want to launch a business to sell your products and services?
With these questions in mind, let’s break down cost by category.
Hobbyist
If you want a website solely for personal use, WordPress.com website pricing starts low. The free option is a great if you want to establish an online presence and don’t mind WordPress.com advertising, or having “WordPress.com” included in your domain name. With this plan, you’ll have access to dozens of themes, some basic design customization, and limited storage space. Look for the Free plan on our pricing page.
Personal, but professional
Are you looking to start a blog or website, aren’t necessarily interested in making money, but still want a customized domain and access to live support? Or, perhaps you want to build a professional online portfolio without seeing WordPress.com ads.
A Personal plan is an affordable option, and enables you to customize a domain name (“yourwebsite.com” versus “yourwebsite.wordpress.com”). Like the free option, you can perform some basic customizations and use one of the free themes to personalize the look of your website. Unlike a free website, however, you’ll get access to email and live chat support to help with any questions. Check our plans page for the Personal plan price in your local currency.
Professional bloggers
You’re receiving a steady stream of site traffic and want to monetize your blog or website through WordAds or affiliate marketing. Perhaps companies are reaching out to create sponsored content. Maybe you want to dip your toes into freelancing as a Pinterest consultant, but aren’t ready to start a full-blown business.
The Premium plan is a great option for those who want to take their websites to the next level. In addition to the features included in the plugin-enabled plan, you get additional storage and advanced customization options. This gives you more control over the design and visual aspects of your website. Look for the Premium plan on our pricing page.
Small business owners
Finally, the most robust and versatile option is the Business plan. It’s ideal for small business owners who want customized themes and full control over the design of their websites. At this level, you have the option to install plugins and implement Google Analytics so that you can track website statistics to glean insights about your customers.
A Business plan includes access to everything found at the other plan levels, in addition to search engine optimization tools to help your business climb up in search results. You’ll also have the ability to remove any WordPress.com branding.
Regardless of which plan you use, WordPress cost includes hosting and a theme. Once you figure out what you want from your WordPress.com website, you’ll have a better sense of which plan is right for you. Remember, you can always upgrade your plan later!
So How Much Does A WordPress Site Cost?
By now you know that it’s hard to zero in on an exact number, but you can definitely estimate a base cost by accounting for basic factors such as domain name and hosting plan. In addition, you keep a cushion budget for things like themes, plugins, security, and more.
WordPress.com is one of the most powerful and flexible ways to run a WordPress website for any budget, and it provides you the best value for your money.
With the WordPress.com Business plan, you get just the right balance between affordability, scalability, and customization, along with plenty of storage, dedicated 24/7 priority support, and top security and speed features.
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