5 Smart Ways to Avoid Sneaky Web Hosting Fees
Building your own website is a rewarding venture that can attract an audience or generate revenue, especially as a budding blogger or a recent business. But, first-time site builders often fall victim to inflated costs. The greatest hurdle for novices isn’t the web hosting services’ technology; it’s the aggressive upselling of unnecessary add-ons. For example, you may like the idea of a free domain name, but not when the renewal rate is higher than it would be at a dedicated registrar. As an expert covering the web hosting space, here are five money-saving strategies to aid you navigate the many checkout traps.
1. You Don’t Always Demand an Annual Hosting Contract
Web hosting services always present their best rates first, with lower prices for annual or multi-year contracts. An attractive $2-per-month rate sounds great… Until you read the fine print and see the higher renewal price after the year-long deal ends. That deal works if you plan to have a website for the long haul, but what if you only need temporary hosting for, say, a special occasion or a charity drive? In those cases, a year-long hosting plan is a waste of your money.
To avoid those additional costs, search for a host’s monthly rate, usually by tinkering with price menus. If a company lacks monthly options, move on. There are many great web hosting services that charge on a month-to-month basis. Maintain in mind that shorter, month-to-month contracts forgo many of the bonus perks associated with the advertised deal. If a web host offers free domain registration or an SSL certificate, it usually applies only to the annual contract shown on the plan page.
2. Be Wary of Hidden ‘Free Domain Name’ Fees
Web hosting services often bundle domain registration into their hosting packages. At a glance, this can save you money, since you don’t need to register a URL elsewhere at a potentially higher fee. However, those are often introductory rates. Typically, you’ll have the domain for a year; afterward, you must renew it with your hosting provider, usually at a significantly higher rate than if you had purchased it directly from a registrar.
What was a free feature during the first year could easily become a $15-$30 additional charge tacked onto your web hosting renewal fee. Free domains aren’t inherently bad; just do your due diligence and find out what the domain renewal rate is from your potential web host. This information isn’t immediately obvious and may require contacting the web host’s customer support team for pricing. With that info, check out other registrars to find the best rates.
3. Gain Free WHOIS Protection
Whenever you register a domain, your name and address are listed in the WHOIS database. If your domain is registered to a business address, that’s not much of a concern. However, if it’s registered to you, potentially unwanted parties will know where you live.
Most web hosts don’t include free privacy protection. You can avoid that additional fee if you switch to a domain registrar like Cloudflare, Namecheap, or Porkbun, which include WHOIS privacy as a standard feature. Safeguarding your data is of utmost importance in an age of online scams.
4. Avoid Paying for an SSL Certificate
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a standard internet technology that secures the web connection between the server and client sides. This is a useful feature, particularly if you seek to sell goods or collect visitor information via a web form. SSL encryption is so common that many visitors feel more secure when a URL features that familiar HTTPS and lock icon in the address bar. Most browsers now warn people when they visit a page without SSL security, which may discourage potential visitors.
Many web hosting services offer complimentary SSL certificates. However, check whether the SSL certificate is truly free, or you’ll pay for it later when it’s time to renew your contract. SSL prices are all over the map; you can pay anywhere from $10 to more than $500 per year. If you want to save money, Cloudflare and Let’s Encrypt provide free SSL certificates. Some web hosting services, including DreamHost, integrate Let’s Encrypt SSL into their backends, allowing for one-click activation.
Although you should have an SSL certificate for e-commerce, it’s not necessary if you’re creating a hobbyist site or a purely informative blog.
5. You Don’t Need Every Security Option
Beyond SSL certificates, web hosting services offer additional security features, including malware detection, daily website backups, site monitoring, and DDoS protection. Some hosting services include these features as part of an annual subscription; others include them as add-ons. If your prospective website will handle valuable or sensitive data, such as client credit card info, then live security monitoring should be at the top of your security concerns. However, you could handle certain security aspects yourself, or forgo them altogether if you aren’t running a business or handling valuable data.
Why pay Bluehost $2.99 per month for website backups when you can manually backup your website yourself? Security suites and professional cleanup services can cost as little as $3.99 and as much as $44.99 per month for businesses. But if you use WordPress, you can leverage free security plug-ins like Wordfence for automated scanning and a basic firewall. The free version of Sucuri is also worth considering, but keep in mind that this offers no firewall protection. Cloudflare comes to the rescue again with its free plan, which offers DDoS protection and a global CDN to block malicious traffic before it ever reaches your server. A little research can save quite a bit of money over time.