Annual cost of running a website: domain, hosting and maintenance

The price of a website is one thing, and keeping it running is another. Many businesses notice this only at the first renewal invoice, which can be more than ten times higher than the first, promotional one. Below I break the costs down into parts, so that you can work out in advance what you will really pay in the second year.

All amounts are net prices, as of 14 October 2026. You calculate gross as net × 1.23. I give company names as examples, not as a ranking, because offers change quickly.

What the annual cost of a website consists of

The upkeep of a business website consists of five elements:

• domain (the website address),
• hosting (the server the site sits on),
• SSL certificate (the padlock in the browser),
• email on your company domain (name@yourcompany.pl),
• technical maintenance (updates, backups, response to failures).

Some providers add SSL and email to the hosting, others sell them separately. That’s why you should compare the whole package, not a single item.

A .pl domain: cheap at the start, more at renewal

The first year of a .pl domain is sometimes free or nearly free: from PLN 0 to PLN 16.69. The real price appears at renewal. It goes from PLN 58.99 at OVHcloud, through PLN 129 at LH.pl, PLN 179 at cyber_Folks and PLN 179.99 at home.pl, up to PLN 240 at nazwa.pl.

The difference between the cheapest and the most expensive renewal is over PLN 180 a year, for exactly the same address. There is a second thing: a late renewal costs more. At cyber_Folks it is a PLN 199 surcharge. Set a calendar reminder a month before the deadline and turn on automatic renewal.

The most important rule: the domain should be registered to your company, not to an agency or a friend. Then you can always transfer it.

Hosting: here is the trap of cheap promotions

Hosting at the start usually costs from PLN 0 to PLN 153. Renewal is already PLN 133–900 a year, most often PLN 250–520. This range comes from promotions, which work in several ways:

• a promotion for only 3 months (found at cyber_Folks and nazwa.pl, among others), after which you pay the full rate,
• a low price only when paying upfront for 48 months (e.g. Hostinger), which means a big expense at the start and being tied in for four years,
• a very low price in year 1 and a jump in year 2.

An extreme example: the Biznes hosting plan at home.pl costs PLN 19.90 in the first year (SSL is an extra PLN 9.90), and from the second year PLN 698.99 including SSL. That is a more than 20-fold difference. I’m not saying it is a bad offer, only that when planning a three-year budget you need to take this second number into account.

How to calculate honestly

Write down the first-year price and the renewal price. Then work out the cost over three years and divide it by three. Only compare that result between offers.

SSL: sometimes included, sometimes an add-on

For an ordinary business website the free Let’s Encrypt certificate (DV type) is enough. You get it included in the hosting price at LH.pl, OVHcloud and Hostinger, among others. Elsewhere it is sometimes an add-on:

A paid OV certificate (about PLN 400 a year) or EV certificate (from about PLN 1,000 a year) confirms the company’s identity. It makes sense when a partner or a procedure requires it, but an ordinary service website doesn’t need it. Don’t let yourself be talked into an expensive SSL just because it sounds serious.

Email on your company domain

An address on the company domain builds trust, and its cost depends on the solution you choose. Some hosting plans include email, but with a larger team an external service is often chosen:

• Google Workspace Starter: PLN 31.50 per person per month on an annual contract, PLN 37.80 without one,
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: €6.07 per person per month (about PLN 26.6).

For three people that is about PLN 80–95 a month, so over PLN 950 a year. If your emails land in spam, see the guide on SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Technical maintenance: the widest range

Maintenance of a WordPress site usually costs from about PLN 150 to about PLN 1,700 net per month. Basic packages (updates, backups, monitoring) are most often PLN 150–400. The difference comes from the scope: whether small content changes, response time and repair after an attack are included.

With me, technical maintenance starts at PLN 149 net per month and covers updates, backups, minor content changes and response to requests. Without maintenance you risk an outdated plugin becoming a gateway for spam or a break-in.

Costs that are easy to forget

Besides the main items there are small expenses that can make a difference after a year:

• plugin licenses: usually 49–119 USD or EUR a year for each paid plugin,
• a consent banner with Consent Mode: from PLN 0 to PLN 40 a month,
• paid backups: e.g. PLN 30 a month at nazwa.pl,
• a Google Ads budget, if you run campaigns,
• copy and photos, when you add new subpages.

If you build a WordPress site with several premium plugins, the licenses alone can cost more than the domain. Before buying, ask the contractor which plugins are paid and on what terms they renew.

A sample annual budget

Below is an indicative calculation for a small business with one website, three mailboxes and simple maintenance. I count the values from the second year, that is, without promotions:

• .pl domain: PLN 60–240,
• hosting: PLN 250–520,
• SSL: PLN 0 (Let’s Encrypt included) or PLN 99–300 when it is an add-on,
• Google Workspace email for three people: about PLN 1,134 (on an annual contract),
• basic maintenance: from PLN 149 per month, that is from PLN 1,788 a year.

That comes to anywhere from several hundred zlotys (the domain, hosting and SSL alone) to over PLN 3,000 (with email and maintenance). That is usually much less than the cost of a single advertising campaign, but it matters that this amount is not a surprise.

Checklist before buying

1. Write down the first-year price and the renewal price of each item.
2. Check how long the promotion lasts and whether it requires upfront payment.
3. Make sure SSL is included.
4. Ask whether backups are in the package or paid separately.
5. Register the domain to your own company.
6. Set a reminder to renew the domain and the hosting.
7. Ask the contractor about paid plugins and their licenses.

Summary

You learn the real cost of running a website only after renewal, so always count from the second year. Hosting promotions, late domain renewals and add-ons that are not included in the price cause the most confusion. Remember that this is the state as of 14 October 2026, so open the provider’s current price list before buying.

If you want me to calculate the running cost of your site or take over your domain and hosting and technical maintenance, write to me. The first conversation and the quote are free of charge, and if you don’t know what state your site is in, check it with the Check your website tool. A fuller breakdown of the costs of the website itself is in the guide how much a website costs in 2026.