Host Deal Scan

Web hosting ranked by what it actually costs — the prepayment you hand over today plus the renewal rate afterwards. No sponsored rankings.

Prices verified 2026-08-17 · Hostinger, DreamHost, GreenGeeks and IONOS are re-checked against their own pricing pages automatically every day; Bluehost and Cloudways block automated requests and are read by hand

The advertised price is not the price. Hosting headline rates almost always require a 12–48 month prepayment, then renew at two to fourteen times the rate you signed up on. This page does the arithmetic the industry omits: every plan below shows what you pay today, what it renews at, and the true 4-year total.

Every plan by true 4-year cost

Host & plan	True 4-yr cost	Advertised	Renews at	Sites	Storage
Hostinger Premium	$143.52 $2.99/mo effective	$2.99/mo 48 months prepaid ($143.52 today)	$10.99/mo 3.7×	3	20 GB SSD	Visit
Hostinger Unlimited	$191.52 $3.99/mo effective	$3.99/mo 48 months prepaid ($191.52 today)	$16.99/mo 4.3×	unlimited	50 GB NVMe	Visit
Bluehost Starter	$263.52 $5.49/mo effective	$3.99/mo 36 months prepaid ($143.64 today)	$9.99/mo 2.5×	10	10 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
IONOS Essential	$336 $7/mo effective	$4/mo 12 months prepaid ($48 today)	$8/mo 2×	unlimited	100 GB	Visit
Hostinger Cloud Startup	$383.52 $7.99/mo effective	$7.99/mo 48 months prepaid ($383.52 today)	$25.99/mo 3.3×	unlimited	100 GB NVMe	Visit
Bluehost Business	$419.52 $8.74/mo effective	$6.99/mo 36 months prepaid ($251.64 today)	$13.99/mo 2×	50	50 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
DreamHost Web Hosting Launch	$430.32 $8.97/mo effective	$2.89/mo 12 months prepaid ($34.68 today)	$10.99/mo 3.8×	25	25 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
IONOS Starter	$432 $9/mo effective	$6/mo 12 months prepaid ($72 today)	$10/mo 1.7×	unlimited	200 GB	Visit
IONOS Plus	$516 $10.75/mo effective	$1/mo 12 months prepaid ($12 today)	$14/mo 14×	unlimited	350 GB	Visit
Cloudways Flexible - DigitalOcean 2GB	$528 $11/mo effective	$11/mo no prepayment	$11/mo no increase	unlimited (server-based)	50 GB	Visit
GreenGeeks Lite	$537.6 $11.2/mo effective	$2.95/mo 12 months prepaid ($35.4 today)	$13.95/mo 4.7×	1	25 GB	Visit
GreenGeeks Pro	$741.6 $15.45/mo effective	$4.95/mo 12 months prepaid ($59.4 today)	$18.95/mo 3.8×	unlimited	50 GB	Visit
IONOS Ultimate	$768 $16/mo effective	$10/mo 12 months prepaid ($120 today)	$18/mo 1.8×	unlimited	500 GB	Visit
Bluehost eCommerce Essentials	$803.52 $16.74/mo effective	$14.99/mo 36 months prepaid ($539.64 today)	$21.99/mo 1.5×	100	100 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
DreamHost DreamPress 1 (managed WP)	$899.52 $18.74/mo effective	$14.99/mo 12 months prepaid ($179.88 today)	$19.99/mo 1.3×	1	15 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
GreenGeeks Premium	$1221.6 $25.45/mo effective	$8.95/mo 12 months prepaid ($107.4 today)	$30.95/mo 3.5×	unlimited	100 GB	Visit
DreamHost VPS Business	$1316.64 $27.43/mo effective	$13.75/mo 12 months prepaid ($165 today)	$31.99/mo 2.3×	unlimited	60 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
Cloudways Flexible - DigitalOcean 8GB	$4224 $88/mo effective	$88/mo no prepayment	$88/mo no increase	unlimited (server-based)	160 GB	Visit
Cloudways Autonomous Growth	$4752 $99/mo effective	$99/mo no prepayment	$99/mo no increase	1	20 GB	Visit

True cost = the promotional rate for the prepaid term, then the renewal rate for the remaining months. Prices change often; confirm at checkout.

Biggest renewal jumps

IONOS Plus: advertised $1/mo, renews at $14/mo (14×)
GreenGeeks Lite: advertised $2.95/mo, renews at $13.95/mo (4.7×)
Hostinger Unlimited: advertised $3.99/mo, renews at $16.99/mo (4.3×)
DreamHost Web Hosting Launch: advertised $2.89/mo, renews at $10.99/mo (3.8×)
GreenGeeks Pro: advertised $4.95/mo, renews at $18.95/mo (3.8×)

Host notes

Hostinger — Shared hosting, deep discount on very long prepay

Pricing honesty: worst-in-class lock-in: the headline price requires a 48-month prepayment

Good for:

Cheapest genuine entry price in the comparison
Free domain for the first year and free SSL on every plan
NVMe storage on the mid and upper tiers

Watch out for:

The $2.99 headline is only available if you prepay 48 months ($143.52 today) - the longest lock-in here
Renews at up to 4.3x the promo rate

30-day money-back guarantee

Visit Hostinger →

Bluehost — Shared hosting, 36-month prepay for headline price

Pricing honesty: smallest renewal jump of the discount hosts, but still a 36-month prepay

Good for:

Gentlest renewal increase among the promo-priced hosts (1.5-2.5x)
Officially recommended by WordPress.org
30-day money-back guarantee

Watch out for:

Headline price still needs a 36-month prepay ($143.64+ today)
Free domain is first year only, then renews at standard rates
Entry plan gives only 10 GB storage

30-day money-back guarantee

Visit Bluehost →

DreamHost — Shared and managed WordPress, 1-year promo term

Pricing honesty: shortest lock-in of the discount hosts and month-to-month billing exists

Good for:

Only 12 months to get the promo price - the least capital at risk of the discount hosts ($34.68)
Month-to-month billing is offered if you want no lock-in at all
25 sites on the entry plan, far more than rivals at this price

Watch out for:

Entry plan still renews at 3.8x
The full term plus taxes is charged at checkout, not monthly
Managed WordPress tier starts expensive at $14.99/mo

30-day money-back guarantee

Visit DreamHost →

GreenGeeks — Shared hosting, 12-month promo term, carbon-offset positioning

Pricing honesty: steepest renewal multiple in the comparison

Good for:

Short 12-month commitment to get the promo price
Renewable-energy matched hosting, the only provider here with that positioning
30-day money-back guarantee

Watch out for:

Harshest renewal in this dataset: the $2.95 Lite plan renews at $13.95, a 4.7x increase
Entry plan allows only one website

30-day money-back guarantee

Visit GreenGeeks →

IONOS — Shared hosting, 1-year promo term, very aggressive entry pricing

Pricing honesty: one plan carries a 14x renewal jump - the single worst ratio found

Good for:

Unlimited websites on every tier including the cheapest
Most storage per dollar in the comparison (350-500 GB)
Free domain and wildcard SSL included

Watch out for:

The $1/mo Plus plan renews at $14/mo - a 14x jump, the worst ratio in this dataset
Promotional pricing is first-year only across the range

30-day money-back guarantee

Visit IONOS →

Cloudways — Managed cloud hosting billed hourly on top of DigitalOcean/Vultr/Linode/AWS

Pricing honesty: NO promotional-then-renewal trap - the price you start on is the price you keep

Good for:

The only provider here with no renewal trap - hourly billing, pay for what you use, no prepay
3-day free trial with no credit card
Managed cloud performance rather than shared hosting

Watch out for:

Entry price of $11/mo is roughly 4x the cheapest shared hosting promo
No free domain and no long-term discount
Server-based model is more to manage than shared hosting for a single small site

Money-back window not stated on the pricing page · 3-day free trial · 30% off Flexible plans for 3 months; 40% off hosting plus unlimited free migrations, stated as valid until 2026-09-15

Visit Cloudways →

Methodology & disclosure

What we are: a comparison tool. We sell nothing, process no payment, and complete no transaction — every signup happens on the host's own site at the host's own price.

How we rank: by true multi-year cost computed from published prices, with long prepayments and steep renewals counted against a plan. Never by commission rate. Cloudways pays commission and still ranks last on entry price; it is included because "no renewal trap" is the right answer for some buyers.

What's missing: SiteGround and Hetzner are missing, not zero-rated. Neither publishes prices in static HTML. Say they are not covered rather than guessing at their pricing.

Affiliate disclosure: some links are affiliate links; if you sign up through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This funds the data upkeep.