Pricing & Billing
Renewal Pricing
The price you pay after an introductory term ends, which is the true long-term cost of a hosting plan.
Renewal pricing is what a plan actually costs once the promotional term expires, and it's the number that should drive your decision. Hosts lead with a discounted first-term rate, then renew at the standard price, which is often two to six times higher. SiteGround's jump from roughly $2.99 to $17.99 a month is the textbook case, and it's the norm across shared and managed WordPress hosting rather than the exception.
The reason the tactic works is switching cost. By renewal time your site is running, your email is set up, and moving hosts is a chore, so most people grumble and pay. Providers price accordingly, banking on inertia. The bigger the gap between intro and renewal, the more that inertia is worth to them.
Reading renewal prices before signing is the single most valuable habit in choosing a host. It's why the pricing tables here surface renewal alongside intro rates, so the year-three cost is visible at the moment you're deciding, not discovered later.
Go deeper
- How Cloud Hosting Pricing Actually WorksHourly billing, bundled plans, egress fees, and the line items that turn an advertised price into your real bill.