Website hosting in Australia ranges from a few dollars a month on a shared plan to $50 or more a month for managed WordPress or cloud hosting. The catch is that the cheapest advertised prices are usually introductory. When the first term ends, many plans renew at two to six times the starting price.
For a small business, the real question is what you get for the money. A cheap plan may leave backups, updates, security and email to you. A pricier plan or a care plan may handle all of it. Below are current prices from hosts’ own pricing pages, the intro versus renewal gap, what is often missing, and how to choose. All prices were checked on 28 October 2026 and will change, so treat them as a snapshot.
Key Takeaways
- Shared hosting in Australia starts at a few dollars a month, but advertised prices are often for the first term only.
- Check the renewal price before you buy. SiteGround’s entry plan goes from $4.99 to $26.99 a month after the first 12 months (AUD, ex GST).
- Builders like Squarespace and Shopify include hosting in the plan, so you pay one monthly fee.
- Cheap hosting usually leaves plugin updates, security and fixes to you. A care plan covers that work as well as the server.
- Budget separately for your .com.au domain and business email.
How much does website hosting cost in Australia?
Hosting costs depend mostly on the type of hosting, which decides how much of the work is done for you. Here is what each type cost on the hosts’ own pages when checked.
| Hosting type | Example price (October 2026) | Who does the upkeep |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | VentraIP Business Hosting Entry: $5.50 a month (first invoice, up to one year), was $11.00 a month | You |
| Shared hosting, long prepaid term | Hostinger Premium: A$2.99 a month on a 48-month term, renews at A$15.89 a month | You |
| Managed WordPress | Kinsta entry plan: US$35 a month billed monthly, or US$30 a month billed annually | Host manages the server, you manage the site |
| Website builder (hosting included) | Squarespace Basic: A$18.70 a month on annual billing | Builder manages the platform |
| Online store platform (hosting included) | Shopify Basic: $42 a month paid yearly, $56 paid monthly | Platform manages the platform |
One Australian agency’s published guide puts typical shared hosting at $20 to $50 a month and managed WordPress hosting at $50 to $150 a month. That is higher than the advertised starting prices above, because it reflects regular prices and plans with enough resources for a business site.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting puts many websites on one server. It is the cheapest option and fine for a small, low-traffic site, as long as someone keeps the website software updated.
Managed WordPress hosting
Managed WordPress hosting is tuned for WordPress and usually includes daily backups, caching and staging sites. Kinsta’s entry plan, for example, lists automatic daily backups with 14 days of retention. The host looks after the server, but your plugins, theme and content are still your responsibility on most plans.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting gives a site its own share of resources that can grow with traffic. Hostinger’s Cloud Startup plan was A$11.59 a month on a 48-month term, renewing at A$37.59 a month.
Builder platforms
With Wix, Squarespace or Shopify, hosting is part of the plan. You cannot move the site to another host, but you also do not manage servers or updates. Our Wix and Squarespace cost guide covers those plans in detail.
Why do hosting prices jump at renewal?
Most hosts discount the first term to win new customers, then charge the regular price after that. The discount is real, but the renewal price is what you pay for the life of the website.
| Plan | First-term price | Renewal price | Term needed for the intro price |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround StartUp | $4.99 a month | $26.99 a month | Prepaid 12 months (AUD, ex GST) |
| SiteGround GrowBig | $7.49 a month | $39.99 a month | Prepaid 12 months (AUD, ex GST) |
| Hostinger Premium | A$2.99 a month (A$143.52 upfront) | A$15.89 a month | 48 months |
| Hostinger Unlimited | A$3.99 a month (A$191.52 upfront) | A$24.59 a month | 48 months |
| VentraIP Business Entry | $5.50 a month | Was $11.00 a month | Discount on the first invoice, up to one year |
Hostinger’s page did not state whether its prices include GST. VentraIP’s page did not state GST either.
Run the numbers on SiteGround StartUp and the gap is clear. The first year costs $59.88 ex GST (12 x $4.99). The second year costs $323.88 ex GST (12 x $26.99), more than five times as much. A long prepaid term like Hostinger’s 48 months locks in the low rate for longer, but you pay four years upfront.
The fix is simple: compare hosts on their renewal price, and read the line under the big number.
What does cheap hosting leave out?
Cheap hosting usually rents you server space and leaves the website itself to you. That is fine if you have the time and know-how. If not, these gaps tend to cost more than the hosting.
Website updates
WordPress, themes and plugins need regular updates for security and compatibility. business.gov.au notes that with a self-hosted site, “you’ll need to keep your CMS and other tools up-to-date by applying the latest security patches”. Most hosting plans do not do this for you.
Backups
Backup frequency varies a lot between plans. Hostinger’s plan list shows weekly backups on its Premium plan and daily backups on Unlimited. VentraIP lists hourly automated backups on its business plans. Ask where backups are stored and how fast a restore is.
Security and monitoring
Firewalls and malware scanning help, but someone still needs to notice when the site goes down or gets hacked, and fix it.
Support
Support quality matters most on the day something breaks. Check whether support is local, available after hours, and whether it covers your website or only the server.
Some hosts include email, some only for a year. Hostinger lists free mailboxes for the first year on its shared plans. Many businesses use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 instead.
Hosting or a care plan: which do you need?
Hosting keeps your website online. A care plan keeps it online, updated, backed up and fixed. If nobody in your business will log in each week to run updates and check backups, you need the second one.
Our website care plans are built around that work. They start at $60 a month ex GST and include high-performance cloud hosting with room for 25,000 visits a month and Redis caching, weekly plugin and theme updates run overnight, uptime monitoring, threat defence, and daily backups stored in two places. The gap between that and renewed shared hosting is what pays for someone doing the weekly updates and checks.
A care plan is not always the right call. A simple builder site on Squarespace already has its platform maintained. A business with an in-house developer may only need good hosting. Decide based on who will do the upkeep.
What do a domain name and email cost?
A .com.au domain is a small yearly cost, and business email is usually a per-person monthly fee. Neither is always included in hosting.
Domain names
VentraIP lists .com.au and .au at a promotional $9.95 a year, against a regular price of $22.95 a year. Under auDA’s renewal rules, you can register a .au licence for one to five years, and if you miss the renewal you get a 30-day grace period before the name is released. As business.gov.au explains, to hold a .com.au you need to be a commercial entity with an ABN or ACN.
Register the domain in your own business name and account. If someone else holds it, your website and email depend on them.
Business email
Google Workspace Business Starter is A$9.90 per user per month on an annual commitment, excluding tax. A team of three would pay about A$356 a year before tax.
How do you choose website hosting?
Choose hosting based on who will maintain the site, then compare renewal prices and inclusions. Work through these questions:
- What platform is the site on? WordPress needs WordPress-ready hosting. Builder sites come with hosting.
- What is the renewal price? Multiply it by 12 and use that number to compare.
- How often are backups taken, and where are they kept?
- Who runs updates? If the answer is “you”, be honest about whether that will happen.
- Where are the servers? A Sydney data centre helps speed for Australian visitors. VentraIP lists Sydney for its business plans.
- Is there a lock-in contract? Check the exit terms and the money-back period.
- Who owns the account? Make sure the hosting and domain are in your name.
Hosting also affects how fast your site loads, which matters for SEO and for online stores. If you sell online, see our ecommerce websites page for what a store needs from its hosting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free website hosting in Australia?
The most practical free options are website builders’ free plans and Google Sites, but they are limited for a business. Builder free plans show the builder’s branding, and Wix only lets you connect your own domain and remove its branding on a paid plan. For a business, low-cost paid hosting with your own .com.au looks more professional.
What is a reasonable price for a domain name?
A .com.au domain usually costs between about $10 and $25 a year. VentraIP’s domain names page lists .com.au at a promotional $9.95 a year against a regular $22.95 a year. Be wary of very high prices for a standard registration, and check the renewal price, not just the first year.
How much to charge to build a website?
What to charge depends on scope, but published Australian ranges give a benchmark. Published Australian agency ranges put small business sites at $3,000 to $10,000 and ecommerce at $10,000 to $50,000+. Our website cost guide explains what pushes a project up or down that range.
How much does a website cost per month?
Running a website usually costs from about $20 to a few hundred dollars a month. That covers hosting, the domain spread across the year, email and maintenance. One Australian agency guide estimates overall running costs at $50 to $300 a month. Keener’s care plans start at $60 a month ex GST, including hosting.
Hosting that someone actually looks after
If you would rather not think about renewals, updates and backups, a care plan takes that off your list. See what is included in Keener website care, or if your site needs more than hosting, look at our website design service. For a side-by-side of platforms before you choose a host, read Wix vs Squarespace vs WordPress.