How much does a website cost per month?
Realistic 2026 numbers: a one-pager $1.60 a month (Carrd, $19/yr), a blog $4 (WordPress.com), a budget business site $3 to $9 (Hostinger, intro pricing), a standard business site $15 to $33 (Wix, Squarespace, Framer), a real online store $29 plus payment fees (Shopify). Add a domain (~$15/yr) everywhere, and check every renewal price.
The market prices by ambition, and the tiers are remarkably consistent. At the bottom, the one-page and blog tier: Carrd Pro at $19 a year and WordPress.com Personal at $4 a month deliver a custom-domain web presence for less than a coffee subscription, and for many personal brands and side projects this is genuinely all the website they need. The budget-builder tier (Hostinger around $3, IONOS intro offers, Jimdo at $9) bundles hosting, builder, and often email, with the hosting-industry catch: intro prices on long contracts that renew at double.
The standard tier ($15 to $33: Wix Light $17, Squarespace Personal $16, Framer Basic $25, Squarespace Business $33) is where most small businesses land, and the differences are personality more than capability. Commerce changes the math: Shopify Basic at $29 plus processing fees (~2.9% + 30¢), Square Online free plus the same fees, and the fee line quickly outweighs the subscription line as sales grow: a store doing $5,000 a month pays ~$150 in processing regardless of platform.
The costs people forget: the domain (~$15/yr, occasionally free in year one), email at your domain (free with some bundles, $6+/user/mo via Google Workspace otherwise), and premium add-ons (apps, fonts, stock images) that builders merchandise enthusiastically. And the renewal rule applies everywhere in this industry: the advertised price is the introduction; the renewal is the relationship. Check both before committing, and calendar the renewal date.