How Much Does A WordPress Website Cost?

Is this the question that drives you nuts right now?

Well, can’t blame you.

Pricing is a decision; cost is a calculation- that’s the open secret of smart marketing. 

No matter whether it’s your own project or clients, having a clear understanding of the costs involved will allow you to keep the project within budget without sacrificing quality or functionality.

Most importantly……..

You can allocate resources and time more effectively. So, How Much Does WordPress Website Cost? Is making a website on WordPress free?

Though the cost greatly depends on the size of your site, the level of customization and the resources you use. But on average, the initial cost of developing a WordPress is 400- 2000$. Remember that this is a rough estimate and doesn’t involve ongoing maintenance costs.

P.S.: It’s a beginner guide.

Breaking down How Much Does WordPress Website Cost Actually

Ok, I know what you’re thinking……….

WordPress is open-source software. Then why is there a concern for cost?Does a WordPress website cost money?

The answer is Yes & No.

WordPress is free, and it costs nothing. But what about other things? Here are the estimated expenses to build a website.

Cost of Tools and Resources: Main expenses you can’t avoid at any cost

• WordPress domain cost: $0.99-$12/year.
• Hosting: $4.99-$20/Month
• Themes: $0 – $200 (one-off charge).
• Plugins: $0 – $500 (ongoing or one-off charge).
• Security: from $20-100 (ongoing or one-off charge).
• Developer fees: $0 – $1,000 (one-off cost).

Domain: Cost $0.99-$12/year.

A domain is like your website’s street address on the internet. Just like how you can’t operate a physical business without a location, you can’t create a website without a domain. On average, you need to budget 1- 10$ for the domain.

Now let’s see some of the domain providers.

• Domain.com
• Bluehost 
• HostGator
• GoDaddy
• Namecheap

If you ask us which one we prefer most, then we may go for Namecheap. It’s easy to access and incorporate with any hosting or API. There are a variety of domain packages, and they are quite affordable, which we like most.

Hosting: Cost $4.99-$20/Monthly.

After registering the domain, hosting is an essential piece of the puzzle that you can’t afford to overlook.

And there you’ve 2 options in hand…….

To cut some costs, you can take shared hosting. And as the name suggests, you have to share the hosting space with others.

And the rest is dedicated hosting. No wonder this will cost a little bit more. But the good thing is it’s all yours, and you keep the room to expand the site. Have to look at some of the reliable hosting providers right now-

• HostGator
• Bluehost
• InMotion Hosting
• DreamHost
• Google Cloud
• GoDaddy
• InterServer
• Hostwinds

No matter which one you choose, you need to pay attention to quite a few things about hosting.

• SSD Storage
• Server Reliability,
• Backups
• Uptime Scores 
• And Security

And the cost of hosting actually varies on these things. Considering all these things, we recommend trying Hostinger. For WordPress and cloud hosting, they provide a reliable service. Here is a glimpse of their package.

Premium Web hosting	Business Web hosting	Cloud startup
For personal websites	For small and medium businesses	For eCommerce and business
$2.99/Month	$3.99/Month	$9.99/Month

Themes- $0 – $200 (one-time cost).

There is a wide variety of themes available for all WordPress users. Free versions are enough for most of the basic Websites. The Premium themes range between 10-200$ on average.

You will need to go to Appearance -> Themes -> Add New Theme. To name a few themes-

• Divi
• Thrive 
• Gutenberg etc
• Astra
• Jevelin 
• Elementor
• Soledad 
• Kalium 
• Twenty Twenty-Three

Plugins

Plugins are an integrated part of the WordPress site. Whether you want to add social media sharing buttons, improve your site’s security, or create a contact form- there’s likely a plugin available for you.

Yes, the plugin may cost a few bucks.

But Instead of hiring a developer to build custom features for your site, you can use a plugin to achieve the same result literally at a fraction of the cost. There are 3 types of plugins available in the industry right now-

• Free plugins – Totally free.

• Freemium plugins –the basic features on the free version, but you have to pay for premium and more functionality.

• Premium plugins – Paid but with advanced benefits and features.

Most of the basic Website works can be done with free plugins, but some premium plugins for WordPress setup may cost between $5-$1,000. Some of the plugin you will need is-

• WPForms
• MonsterInsights
• WP Rocket
• JetPack
• Akismet Anti-spam
• Yoast SEO

Security 

Safety matters!

Not only just a matter; it should be the top priority. Without proper security measures, you will put your WordPress site in a vulnerable position to attacks.

So don’t consider the price of the security plugin as a cost; it’s a necessity. One thing is a must- an SSL certificate. Yes, that HTTPS or that tiny Lock you see beside your domain name. The standard security plan costs $20-100 a year. For security, you can use the following:

• Sucuri– To save from malware attack
• UpdraftPlus– For backup

Developers Fee

If you’re a tech nerd, you can skip this cost. And design your own website. To hire a UI/UX developer, you have to budget $20-200 per hour. The coolest thing is it’s a one-time cost (unless you change the design again). 

Cost by Website size and industry

The cost of building a website greatly depends on the size of your website. And that’s not surprising at all. The bigger your site is, the more work you need. 

	How much does WordPress cost per month?	How much does WordPress cost per year?
Basic WordPress website(small):	$25-60/Month	$300-800/Year
Custom WordPress website (Medium):	$125-420/Month	$1500-5000/Year
Large Corporate/Brand website	$415-1250/Month	$5000-15000/Year
eCommerce WordPress website cost	60-250/Month	$800-3000/year
Shopify store	$30-125/Month	$350 to $1,500+

The Hidden Costs of a WordPress Website

Content: 

You need content to run your websites.

And it’s inevitable.

A solid content strategy can help you achieve the goal. And the key is to assign the right people to get that compelling copy. Though the cost varies from writer to writer and how much content you’re planning to give. But

Overall Estimated Cost: On average, you can hire a freelance writer for 20-100$/hourly.

Marketing & SEO

Google won’t automatically rank your site first (sorry!).

You need to work for it, and that’s SEO (Aka Search Engine Optimization). And this is a key part if you want to target an organic audience. If you can handle this, then great. Otherwise, an SEO specialist can do that job for you to make your site better for search engines. Plus, there are some paid plugins for SEO.

Overall Estimated Cost: $150-500/Month for an SEO guy and $25-100/Yearly for SEO plugins.

Maintenance Cost                          

This may not fall into the categories of website development cost, but eventually, you need to invest in Website maintenance.

Overall Estimated Cost: $10-300/Yearly for keeping a site functional.