In Australia, bare website hosting starts at around $5 to $20 a month, and a .com.au domain costs from about $10 to $40 a year. That pays for a server and nothing else. Paying around $100 a month should buy hosting plus someone who keeps the site updated and makes small changes. $400 a month should buy real ongoing work every month, not just a static site sitting online.
The trouble is that most tradies cannot see what their monthly fee pays for. This guide breaks down what each price level actually buys, with sourced numbers, so you can check your own bill.
How much does website hosting cost in Australia?
Bare shared hosting from an Australian provider starts at a few dollars a month. VentraIP, an Australian host, listed Business Hosting from $5.50 a month (normally $11) and WordPress hosting from $9.25 (normally $18.50) in October 2026. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts hosting for most business sites at $120 to $1,800 a year.
The low end is a shared server for a simple site. The high end is managed or high performance hosting for bigger sites with more traffic. A tradie's site with 20 to 30 pages of text and photos sits comfortably at the low end on hosting alone. What pushes the monthly cost up is not the server. It is the work someone does on the site.
What $10 a month buys: bare hosting
Around $10 a month buys server space, a control panel and usually a free security certificate. It does not buy anyone to build pages, change your photos, fix a broken form or tell you when something stops working. If you can do all of that yourself, bare hosting is all you need.
Here is what the basics cost from one Australian provider, as listed on its own pages:
| Item | Price | Source |
| Business Hosting | From $5.50 a month, normally $11 | VentraIP hosting page, checked 8 October 2026 |
| WordPress Hosting | From $9.25 a month, normally $18.50 | VentraIP hosting page, checked 8 October 2026 |
| .com.au domain | From $9.95 a year, normally $22.95 | VentraIP domains page, checked 8 October 2026 |
| Security certificate (SSL) | Free from Let's Encrypt, and included by many hosts | letsencrypt.org |
The lower "from" prices are introductory offers, so budget for the normal price when the plan renews. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts domain renewals at $15 to $40 a year. A commenter in a July 2026 r/webdev thread made the same point about how cheap the bare bones are: "$8 a month with a vps and $20 a year domain."
The catch is the "vps" part. Another reply in the same thread asked who is going to "manage the server, apply updates, ensure backups keep working". Bare hosting is cheap because you are the one doing all of that.
What $100 a month buys: hosting plus someone looking after it
Around $100 a month should buy hosting plus a person: someone who keeps the site updated and secure, fixes what breaks and makes small changes when you ask. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts maintenance for a small business website at $100 to $500 a month, covering software updates, security and backups.
This is the level most tradies actually need. You do not want to learn hosting control panels between jobs. You want to send a text saying "swap the photo on the decking page" and have it done.
Ampliia's Care Plan sits here. It is $100 a month, month to month, with 30 days notice to stop, and it covers:
- Hosting for your site.
- Maintenance, so the site keeps working and stays secure.
- Small updates like photo swaps and text changes.
- A heads up before any change that would hurt how the site shows up in search or AI answers.
That list is published on our pricing page. If a provider cannot give you a list like that for what you pay each month, ask for one.
What $400 a month should buy
$400 a month should buy real work every month: new pages, regular content, performance checks, integrations like booking or CRM tools, and someone actively improving the site. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts maintenance for growing business websites with those extras at $500 to $1,500 a month. Paying $400 for a site nobody touches is overpaying.
The best-known example is a July 2026 r/webdev post titled "I found out my mom is paying $400 a month for a static website and an email." It got 824 upvotes. The poster said the site had "incorrect info" and was "basically just a walking business card with minimal to no updates". One reply did the sum over ten years: "$48,000".
Not everyone agreed it was a rip-off. One commenter said "$400/month for managed hosting isn't insane" when real support is included. That is the point: the price is only fair if the work is real. Ask your provider what they did on your site in the last three months. If the answer is "kept it online", you are paying retainer prices for hosting.
Website builders: hosting bundled in
Wix and Squarespace bundle hosting into the plan price. Squarespace's Basic plan costs A$17 a month paid yearly, and Wix lists plans from $17 a month including GST, according to their pricing pages in October 2026. That covers hosting and the builder, but you still do every update yourself.
For a tradie who enjoys building it, that is good value. For a tradie who never logs in after launch, the site slowly goes out of date: old phone numbers, old photos, services you no longer offer. We compare builders with paying someone in best website builder for tradies.
Is there a monthly fee to have a website?
Yes. Every website needs hosting to stay online, and the domain renews every year, so there is always some ongoing cost. It can be as low as a few dollars a month if you run it yourself, or $100 a month and up if someone looks after it for you. A website with no ongoing cost does not exist.
What varies is who does the work. Here is the whole picture side by side:
| Monthly spend | What it typically buys | Who does the updates |
| About $5 to $20 | Bare hosting, plus a domain each year | You |
| About $17 to $39 | A Wix or Squarespace plan with hosting included | You |
| About $100 | Hosting, maintenance and small changes on request | Your provider |
| $400 and up | Ongoing work: new pages, content, integrations, monitoring | Your provider, every month |
Prices are from VentraIP, Squarespace and Wix's own pages, checked October 2026, and WP Creative's 2026 maintenance guide. The $100 row is our Care Plan.
Costs people forget
Budget for the domain renewal each year, business email if it is not included, any paid plugins or apps, and the hourly rate for changes that fall outside your plan. These are small one by one, but they add up. Ask what is included before you sign, and get the answer in writing.
A few to check:
- Domain renewal. Make sure it is in your name and set to auto-renew. A lapsed domain can be lost. We explain why in who owns your website.
- Email. Some hosting includes email and some providers bill it separately. Ask which one you have.
- Changes outside the plan. Ask what counts as a "small update" and what gets billed by the hour.
- Renewal prices. Introductory hosting prices often double at renewal, as the VentraIP "normally" prices above show.
How to tell if you are paying too much
Ask three questions. What exactly does my monthly fee cover? What did you do on my site in the last three months? Can I leave, and do I keep my domain if I do? If the answers are vague, or the domain is in someone else's name, you are probably paying for very little.
Then compare your bill with the table above. If you pay $300 or $400 a month and nobody has touched the site in a year, you are paying retainer prices for bare hosting. You can either ask for the work you are paying for, or move to a plan that matches what you actually need.
If you do move, get your domain sorted first, then the new site, then cancel the old plan. That way your email and your Google Business Profile link never break. If you are a painter, roofer, tiler or cleaner, our trade pages show what a full Build includes. For a live example, see the KM Auto Detailing Build.
Frequently asked questions
How much does website hosting cost in Australia?
Bare shared hosting starts at a few dollars a month. VentraIP listed Business Hosting from $5.50 a month, normally $11, in October 2026. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts most business site hosting at $120 to $1,800 a year. Hosting that includes someone looking after the site costs more, usually from about $100 a month.
How much should I pay someone to maintain my website?
For a small business site, WP Creative's 2026 guide puts maintenance at $100 to $500 a month for updates, security and backups. Growing sites with integrations and content support run $500 to $1,500. Ampliia's Care Plan is $100 a month and covers hosting, maintenance and small updates like photo swaps and text changes.
Is there a monthly fee to have a website?
Yes. Every website needs hosting to stay online, and the domain renews every year. If you run it yourself, that can be under $20 a month. If someone looks after it, expect around $100 a month or more. The fee should match the work done, so ask for a list of what it covers.
How much does a .com.au domain cost?
VentraIP listed .com.au domains from $9.95 a year, normally $22.95, in October 2026. WP Creative's 2026 guide puts domain renewals at $15 to $40 a year. Whatever you pay, register the domain in your own business name, so it stays yours if you change web designer or host.
What happens to my website if I stop paying for hosting?
The site goes offline. Your domain is separate, so if it is registered in your name it stays yours and you can point it at a new site. With Ampliia, stopping the Care Plan takes the site offline, but your domain, logo, photos and words stay yours, and the $1,000 Buyout hands you the site files.
Sources
Prices were checked on 7 and 8 October 2026 and change often, so check the live page before you buy.
- VentraIP web hosting: Business Hosting from $5.50 a month (normally $11), WordPress Hosting from $9.25 (normally $18.50).
- VentraIP domain names: .com.au from $9.95 a year (normally $22.95).
- WP Creative: Website Maintenance Cost in Australia 2026: maintenance by site type, hosting at $120 to $1,800 a year, domain renewals at $15 to $40 a year.
- Let's Encrypt: free security certificates.
- Squarespace pricing and Wix plans: builder plans with hosting included.
- r/webdev, "I found out my mom is paying $400 a month for a static website and an email", July 2026: the quotes used above.
- Ampliia's Care Plan: our pricing page and terms.
Related reading
- Who owns your website?
- What a tradie website costs in Australia
- Best website builder for tradies
- Websites for tradies, by trade
What Ampliia charges
$500 setup, then $100 a month. The $100 Deposit starts the Build. You see the finished 20 to 30+ page site within 3 business days of the Deposit and your details, and the $400 Balance is only due on Approval. The Care Plan is month to month, and your domain, logo, photos and words are always yours.
Based in Geelong, Victoria. Built 30+ websites for Australian tradies, including painters, electricians, fencers, concreters and auto businesses.
About Edris →Ready for a proper tradie website?
$500 setup, then $100 a month. $100 Deposit starts the Build. 20 to 30+ pages, service and suburb pages, quote form on every page. Full preview in 3 business days.