How Much Does It Cost to Build a WordPress Website

Understanding WordPress website cost before you start helps you avoid surprises, pick the right hosting, and stay within your budget instead of overspending on shiny tools you do not need.

In this guide you will learn how to estimate the full cost to build a WordPress website from scratch, including domain, hosting, themes, plugins, design, development, and ongoing maintenance for different types of sites.

What You Need to Start

• A clear idea of the type of site you want to build such as a personal blog, small business site, or online store.
• Willingness to use self hosted WordPress.org so you control hosting, themes, and plugins.
• Access to a credit or debit card so you can pay for domain registration, hosting, and any premium tools.
• A simple spreadsheet or notebook where you can write down each cost line item as you go through this tutorial.
• Basic computer skills like creating accounts on hosting providers and logging into a WordPress dashboard.

Step 1: Choose Your Budget Scenario

Before you look at specific products, decide what level of WordPress website you actually need so you do not pay for enterprise tools on a hobby budget.

Match Your Budget to Your Website Goal

1. Write down your primary goal such as blogging, getting service inquiries, selling products, or building a membership.
2. Choose the scenario that best matches your project from the table below and circle it in your notes.
3. Use the estimated ranges as a starting point, then refine them in the next steps as you pick actual tools.

Typical WordPress Website Budget Ranges

If you mainly care about how much the software itself costs, read How much does it cost to build a next to understand license and platform fees separately from your build budget.

You have finished this step once you have selected one scenario and written the low, medium, and high totals you are comfortable with for the first year.

Step 2: Calculate Domain and Hosting Costs

Domain and hosting are non negotiable costs for any self hosted WordPress site, and they usually make up most of your ongoing budget.

List Your Domain Registration Costs

1. List the domains you want to register and check their prices on your preferred registrar or hosting company.
2. Note whether privacy protection or WHOIS privacy is included or sold as an add on.

Choose the Right Hosting Type

3. Choose a hosting type that matches your scenario such as shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, or VPS.
4. Note the monthly and yearly price for your preferred plan and multiply the monthly price by twelve to see the annual cost.
5. Add line items in your spreadsheet for Domain, Hosting, and any add ons like backups or email.

Typical Domain and Hosting Price Ranges

Typical ranges for domain and hosting are:

• Domain registration for a .com: around $10 – $20 per year.
• Entry level shared hosting for a simple site: about $3 – $10 per month when billed annually.
• Managed WordPress hosting for higher traffic or convenience: roughly $15 – $40+ per month.

To verify this step, check that your notes show both the first year cost and the renewal cost for domain and hosting, including any promotional pricing changes after the first term.

Step 3: Plan Theme and Design Expenses

Your theme controls how your WordPress website looks and feels, and it can be either completely free or a significant one time or yearly cost.

Decide Between Free and Premium Themes

1. Decide whether you are comfortable starting with a free theme from the official Appearance » Themes screen or if you want a premium theme with support.
2. Browse theme marketplaces and note the price of themes that match your design requirements and niche.
3. Check whether the theme has a one time license fee or a yearly renewal for updates and support.
4. Add a line item in your budget for Theme with both first year and renewal costs if it is a recurring license.

Theme and Design Cost Ranges

As a rule of thumb:

• Free theme from WordPress.org: $0 but you pay with your own time for setup and tweaks.
• Premium multipurpose theme: around $50 – $100 as a one time or yearly fee.
• Custom design from a freelancer or agency: from a few hundred dollars into the thousands depending on scope.

For more help on picking the right look before you spend money, see How to Choose a WordPress Theme and How to Design WordPress Website.

You can consider this step complete once you have chosen whether you will start with a free theme, a specific premium theme, or a custom design budget, and you have written the expected cost into your spreadsheet.

Step 4: Estimate Plugin and Service Costs

Plugins add key features to your WordPress site, from contact forms and SEO to ecommerce, and many of them offer both free and paid versions.

List the Features Your Site Needs

1. List the essential features you need such as forms, SEO, backups, security, caching, and ecommerce.
2. Search for recommended plugins in each category and note whether the free version is enough for your use case.

Estimate Premium Plugin and Service Prices

3. Visit the pricing pages of any premium plugins you are considering and record both monthly and yearly license options.
4. Add separate line items for Premium plugins and Third party services like email marketing or payment gateways.

Common Plugin and Service Cost Ranges

Example plugin and service cost ranges:

• Premium contact form or form builder: roughly $50 – $200 per year.
• SEO plugin premium upgrade: about $50 – $120 per year for most small sites.
• Backup, security, caching, or performance suites: anywhere from $0 for basic tools to $300+ per year for bundles.
• Email marketing tools: from free tiers up to $20+ per month, depending on your list size.

To verify this step, check your notes and confirm that every major feature has either a chosen free plugin or a specific premium price written down, including any per site license limits.

Step 5: Decide Between DIY and Hiring Help

Whether you build the site yourself or hire a professional has the biggest impact on your one time WordPress website cost beyond basic tools.

Decide What You Can Do Yourself

1. Write down the tasks you are confident doing yourself such as installing themes, adding pages, and configuring menus.
2. List tasks you would prefer to outsource such as custom design, custom functionality, or complex ecommerce setup.

Research Developer and Agency Rates

3. Research hourly and project rates for WordPress freelancers and agencies in your region and note low, mid, and high averages.
4. Estimate a realistic number of hours or a project budget for the work you plan to outsource and add that total into your spreadsheet.

Typical Development and Setup Price Ranges

Typical development and setup ranges look like this:

• DIY with tutorials only: $0 in direct fees, but you invest your own time.
• Freelancer for a simple five page site: often $500 – $3,000 depending on experience and scope.
• Agency for a complex or custom build: from $5,000 up to tens of thousands of dollars.

If you are quoting prices for clients, also read How to start a WordPress website for a deeper pricing strategy discussion.

You have completed this step when your budget shows a realistic one time amount for design and build work, even if that amount is $0 because you plan to do everything yourself.

Step 6: Plan Ongoing Maintenance Budget

Many people only budget for the launch and forget that WordPress websites need updates, backups, and monitoring every month.

Decide How You Will Handle Maintenance

1. Decide whether you will handle updates, backups, and security checks manually or pay for tools or a maintenance service.
2. List any paid services you already use such as backup plugins, security suites, uptime monitoring, or maintenance plans.
3. Calculate the monthly and yearly totals for these services and add them as recurring expenses in your spreadsheet.
4. Set a small monthly buffer for unexpected costs like plugin upgrades, design tweaks, or extra support.

Useful Long Term Investments

Useful ongoing investments include:

• Backup and security tools or services so you can quickly recover from issues.
• Occasional performance optimization or hosting upgrades as traffic grows.
• Maintenance plans that bundle updates, backups, and minor fixes for a fixed monthly fee.

For more detail on long term care, see Beginner WordPress security best practices guide and Beginner guide to WordPress speed optimization.

You know this step is done once your spreadsheet has a separate section for monthly or yearly maintenance and you have decided whether to DIY or pay a specialist.

Conclusion You Are Ready to Go

By now you should have a complete picture of your WordPress website cost, broken down into domain, hosting, theme, plugins, development, and maintenance instead of a single fuzzy number.

Use your spreadsheet as a living document that you update as your site grows, and review it before renewing any subscriptions so you can cancel tools you no longer need and reinvest that money in areas that move your business forward.

If you want a simpler overview of the platform itself versus your site build budget, you can also read How much does it cost to build a and How much is a WordPress website for additional context.

Further Reading

• WordPress Hosting Explained: Types, Plans and When to Use Them
• How to Choose WordPress Hosting Comparison and Buying Guide
• How much does it cost to build a
• WordPress migration checklist for blogs
• Beginner WordPress security best practices guide

Frequently Asked Questions