How much does it really cost to build a WordPress website? If you’re about to start your first website and don’t know the costs, I’ve done the hard work for you and listed the estimates below.
The real cost is highly dependent on your needs, but this calculation should help you get started and plan your budget.
How Much Does a WordPress Site Cost?
You might be surprised, but in 2022, a decent website is quite affordable to build on WordPress. According to my calculations, you will need around $60 – 1,250 to create and launch your website.
But first of all, there are 2 terms that I need to clarify:
- Decent
- Affordable
Decent
For me, as for most of the users, decent means a fully functional website that you can adjust and manage by yourself.
It also means that it looks nice and represents your brand/service/product in an appealing way. It doesn’t require a significant or radical design change – as it would generate more expenses for complex design.
Affordable
Affordable on the other hand, is extremely different for each of us. But I’ll put it this way: $50 – 1,500 price range. Of course, you can pay significantly more or less. It all depends on your technical skills and knowledge.
But for most professionals or small businesses, the amount mentioned above shouldn’t be a problem.
Now that I’ve finished explaining the terms, let’s get to the true meaning of this article – price tags for each piece of the WordPress website.
Things you’ll need to start your website:
1. Domain Name
Cost: $10-40 / year
Recommended provider: Namecheap
A domain name can cost a few bucks or a few hundred/thousand of dollars (if it has been already registered and is for sale).
For a traditional .com domain name you shouldn’t pay more than $40. You can also choose a fancy extension like .cc or .to or .studio, there are hundreds of options.
If your audience is from a specific country – it would be great to choose a local domain name like .it, co.uk, .es, .fr, etc.
If you plan to target international users, I recommend .org, .net or .com domain names.
Almost all domain names I can imagine can be found on one of these sources:
- Namecheap
- GoDaddy.com
- Domain.com
As of the name of your site, use your imagination and check out these domain name generators.
2. Web Hosting
Cost: $50-500 / year
Recommended provider: SiteGround
Hosting is where all your website files are stored. Every website needs hosting.
A reliable and fast WordPress hosting starts at a minimum of $10 / month. The good part is that if you pay upfront for one or several years, you can save a good amount.
For example, SiteGround’s cheapest WordPress hosting plan is $14.99/ month. If you get it for 1 year, you’ll only pay $3.99 / month, which is $48 / year. That’s a 73% discount for your first year!
After your 1st year though, you will pay the regular price. Learn more about SiteGround WordPress hosting plans.
3. WordPress Theme
Cost: $0 – 249 / year
Recommended themes: Astra or Kadence
A WordPress theme represents the visual appearance of your website. There are free and premium WordPress themes.
There are a myriad of themes on the market. However, I recommend you the following ones:
Any of these WordPress themes provides a decent amount of features and customization options in its free version. However, you should definitely get a premium version, as it offers you so much more:
- Advanced header/footer builder
- Advanced layout customizations
- Starter templates
- SEO & performance options
- Advanced integrations
- Theme updates
- Premium support
With these themes, you can import pre-made beautiful designs and customize them right away. You don’t need advanced coding skills, as the designs are block based and easy to customize by dragging & dropping things around.
A more expensive option is custom web design for WordPress. I wouldn’t go for this simply because it takes time, energy, and more money to invest. And it’s not the optimal solution for those who don’t need sophisticated layouts.
4. WordPress Plugins
Cost: $0 – $500
Recommended plugins: See below
Plugins allow you to setup new features and functionality on your website. There are more than 59,000 free plugins available on WordPres.org repository.
Most of the free plugins provide a wide range of options. These should be enough for the vast majority of users, but you can opt for premium plugins for some extra features.
Here is the list of essentials plugins for your WordPress site:
- Cookie notice (free) – for cookie notification
- iThemes Security or Sucuri (free or $80 – 199/year) – for security
- Akismet (free or $90/year) – for spam fighting
- SG Optimizer or WP Rocket (free or $49/year) – for performance
- UpdraftPlus (free or $70/year) – for backups
- Yoast SEO or Rank Math (free or $59 – 99/year) – for SEO
- Insert Headers and Footers (free) – for adding scripts
- Elementor (free or $49/year) – for building new pages
- MailPoet (free or $150/year) – for email marketing
Not sure if I missed something, but it’s important to make the website functional and use as few plugins as possible, so you don’t load your website and keep it fast. That’s crucial.
The total cost of these plugins would be about $500/year, but you don’t have to pay for all of them if you don’t want to.
5. Security (SSL Certificate)
Cost: $0
Recommended provider: SiteGround (Let’s Encrypt SSL)
Free or not, this is essential for your website, especially if it’s built on WordPress. Most of hosting providers offer a free SSL certificate by default, so you only need to install and activate it.
Also, make sure to install a security plugin mentioned above: be it iThemes Security, Sucuri Security or any other reputable security solution.
6. Web Development (optional)
Cost: $0 – 1,000 / project
Recommended marketplace: WordPress Jobs
Basically, it’s possible to skip the development expenses if you choose to make the website with a drag & drop builder like Elementor or Gutenberg (the default builder available in WordPress).
But in some cases, you would need help from a developer. Depending on website complexity, you will be asked to pay somewhere between $100 – 1,000 for a single project or about $20 – 100 / hour.
I would choose someone I trust, not an agency, and doesn’t charge as much as “top developers”. Ideally, if you have a friend who is a web developer, you’re lucky.
You can hire someone and pay him a flat fee for development work you might need. Any other updates will generate separate costs. That’s why I advise you to define your desired features extremely well.
7. Maintenance
Cost: $0 – 150 / year
Recommended provider: WP Fix It
Now that the website is launched, all you need to think about is running it. But wait, some things might break, you might need a backup or need help with updating your themes/plugins and making sure everything works fine.
If you don’t have a technical background, you can get help for about $150 – 500 / year from a specialized provider.
However, if you have more than just basic WordPress knowledge, you can cut a lot of these costs, and take care of the website by yourself.
Final Calculations
Now, it’s time to wrap things up and see how much do you need to pay to create and run a WordPress website.
| Item | Cost | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | $10 – 40 | Yearly |
| Web hosting | $50 – 500 | Yearly |
| WordPress theme | $0 – 249 | Yearly |
| WordPress plugins | $0 – 500 | Yearly |
| Security | $0 | Yearly |
| Web Development | $0 – 1,000 | One time |
| Maintenance | $0 – 150 | Yearly |
| Total (average) | $1,250 | |
| Total (cheapest) | $60 |
Note: the calculations are based on the average price for services and products. If you use free products and don’t pay for web development, you can launch a WordPress site for as low as $60.
An average WordPress website can cost you about $60 – 1,250, depending on what tools you choose and whether you need help from a web developer. Learn how to start a WordPress website by your own.
