The answer in one paragraph
How much does a website cost per month? For a small business, the running cost is usually somewhere between about $15 and $100 a month, and it can go well past that when a business pays an agency retainer. The floor is a domain name (about $1 a month when you spread the yearly fee out) plus hosting. Everything above the floor is a choice: business email, a builder subscription, paid plugins, a maintenance plan, or AI tools that answer visitors and phone calls. The rest of this page takes each line in turn with prices you can check yourself.
This page is about what a site costs to keep. For what it costs to build, read how much a website costs for a small business.
Every monthly website cost, line by line
| Line item | Typical published price | Per month, roughly | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain name (.com) | About $10 to $23 a year at renewal, depending on the registrar | $1 to $2 | Yes |
| Shared hosting | Entry plans renew around $9 to $12 a month at Bluehost and Hostinger; Clutch's budget range is $2 to $80 | $10 to $80 | Yes, unless a builder plan includes it |
| Security certificate (SSL) | Free from Let's Encrypt; included by most hosts | $0 | Yes, but it should cost nothing |
| Business email | Google Workspace Business Starter $7 per user; Microsoft 365 Business Basic $7 per user (annual commitment) | $7 per inbox | Strongly recommended |
| Website builder plan | Wix Light to Business $17 to $39; Squarespace Basic to Core $19 to $29 (annual billing) | $17 to $39 | Only if you build on a builder |
| Plugins and support | Clutch lists plugins at $0 to $600 and tech support at $2 to $300 a month | $0 to several hundred | Depends on the site |
| AI chat or phone agent | Varies by vendor; ours is $297 a month after a free trial | $0 or more | Optional |
Prices were checked on October 12, 2026 from the sources listed at the end of this page. Vendors change prices often; check their own pricing page before you buy.
How much does a website domain name cost?
Every .com sold anywhere starts with a wholesale fee that the registrar pays Verisign, the company that runs the .com registry. That fee was $10.26 a year and goes up to $10.97 on November 1, 2026, after Verisign announced the change in April. Registrars add a small ICANN fee and their own margin on top.
In practice, 2026 price trackers listed Cloudflare's .com renewal at about $10.50 a year (the wholesale price plus the ICANN fee, before the November increase), Namecheap's at about $15, and GoDaddy's at about $23. The first year is often cheaper as a promotion, and the renewal is the number that matters. Two more things to check: that the domain is registered in your name, and that privacy protection for your contact details is included rather than added as a yearly fee.
Small business website hosting: what you are paying for
Hosting is the computer your site lives on and the connection that serves it to visitors. A local business site with a few dozen pages and a contact form does not need much of either. Basic shared hosting handles it fine.
The catch is the renewal. Hosting companies advertise a low first-term price and renew at the regular rate. 2026 reviews show Hostinger's Premium shared plan starting around $3 a month on a long term and renewing at $10.99, and Bluehost's Basic plan starting around $3 a month on a three-year term and renewing at somewhere between about $9 and $12 a month, depending on which review you read. Neither is a bad deal at renewal; it is just a different number from the one on the banner. Put the renewal price in your budget, not the introductory one.
Questions to ask any host: Is the security certificate included? Are backups automatic, and how do I restore one? What happens to my site if my card fails? Who do I call when it goes down?
Builder plans: hosting, software and design tools in one bill
Wix and Squarespace sell a monthly subscription that includes hosting and the editor. You trade a build fee for a bill that never ends.
Wix, checked October 2026
Light about $17, Core $29, Business $39 and Business Elite $159 a month on annual billing, according to 2026 pricing reviews. Monthly billing costs more. Core is the first tier with ecommerce features.
Squarespace, checked October 2026
Squarespace's pricing page lists Core at $29 a month on an annual plan or $39 month to month. After a mid-2026 increase on annual plans, Basic is $19, Plus $49 and Advanced $99 a month billed yearly. Basic charges a 2% fee on store sales; Core and above do not.
A small business website with email on a builder usually needs the email added separately, through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Our builder or designer guide compares the two routes on more than price.
Business email, security and the small charges
Email at your own domain. An address like you@yourbusiness.com looks more trustworthy than a free webmail address and keeps working if you change internet providers. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user a month on an annual plan, or $8.40 month to month. Microsoft 365 Business Basic went from $6 to $7 per user a month on July 1, 2026, on an annual commitment.
The security certificate. The padlock in the browser comes from an SSL certificate. Let's Encrypt, run by a nonprofit, issues them free, and nearly every host installs one automatically. Clutch's budget guide shows certificates ranging up to $1,000 a year, but the expensive ones are for organizations with specific compliance needs. A local business should not pay for one.
Plugins and themes. WordPress sites often rely on paid plugins for forms, backups, security or page building. Each is small, and together they can add up. Ask your designer for a list of every paid plugin and its yearly renewal before the site launches.
Small business website maintenance cost
Maintenance is the work that keeps a site healthy: software updates, backups, checking forms still deliver, fixing what breaks, and making the small changes a business needs, like new hours or a new service. You can do it yourself, pay by the hour when something comes up, or pay a monthly plan.
Monthly plans vary more than any other line. Clutch's budget guide shows tech support anywhere from $2 to $300 a month. Some designers include maintenance with hosting; others sell it as a tiered care plan; agencies often fold it into a retainer. Before you sign, ask what is included in the monthly fee, how many changes a month it covers, and how fast someone responds.
Three realistic monthly budgets
Do it yourself on a builder
Squarespace Core at $29 a month (annual), one Google Workspace inbox at $7, and a .com at roughly $15 a year. About $37 a month, or about $450 a year.
Designer-built site, self-managed
Shared hosting at about $10 a month at renewal, a domain at about $1.25 a month, one email inbox at $7, a free certificate. About $18 a month, plus your time for updates or an hourly bill when something breaks.
Designer-built with a care plan
The same basics plus a maintenance plan. Depending on who you hire, that is anywhere from tens of dollars to several hundred a month. The care plan, not the hosting, is the number to compare.
What a Dominion site costs per month
The build is a one-time price: $497, $997 or $1,997. After launch, hosting, maintenance and updates are $49 a month, or included while you keep the AI agent. That $49 covers the hosting and the upkeep. Budget the domain's yearly renewal on its own line, since a domain is a registrar charge rather than a hosting one.
The AI agent is the optional part. On Pro, the AI chat widget that answers visitors any hour and takes their name and number is free for 14 days, then $297 a month. On Agency, the AI phone agent setup comes with the package; the agent itself is free for 7 days, then $297 a month for up to 750 minutes, and you can cancel any time. If you keep either agent, the $49 hosting fee goes away, because hosting, maintenance and updates are included with it.
So the two honest monthly numbers for a site from us are $49, or $297 with an AI agent doing work for you. There is no third tier. The pricing page has the full package contents, and you can see a free demo of your site before any of this matters.