One of the questions we often get asked is: how much does it cost to build a WordPress website?
While the core WordPress software is free, the cost of a website depends entirely on your budget and goals.
In this article, we will break it all down to answer the ultimate question: How much does it really cost to build a WordPress website? We’ll also show you how to avoid overspending and minimize costs when building a website.
This is a lengthy read and that’s why we have added a table of contents. Here is what we will cover in this article:
- What Do You Need to Build a WordPress Website?
- Estimating The Real Cost of Building a WordPress Site
- What’s the Cost of a WordPress Website (Low Budget)?
- What’s the Cost of a WordPress Site (with More Features)?
- What’s the Cost of a Small Business Website with WordPress
- What’s the Cost of a WordPress Ecommerce Website?
- What’s the Cost of a Custom WordPress Site?
- How to Avoid Overpaying and Cut Down Spending?
What Do You Need to Build a WordPress Website?
WordPress is free for anyone to download and use. It is open source software that gives you the freedom to install it on any kind of website.
So if WordPress is free, then where is the cost coming from?
The cost of a WordPress site can be broken down into the following categories:
- WordPress hosting
- Domain Name
- Design
- Plugins and Extensions (Apps)
To create a self-hosted WordPress site, you need web hosting to store your files. Every website on the internet needs hosting. This is your website’s home on the internet.
There are different hosting plans available for all kinds of websites. You need to pick one that suits your requirements and fits your budget.
Next, you will need a domain name. This will be your website’s address on the internet, and this is what your users will type in the browser to reach your website (example, wpbeginner.com or google.com).
With WordPress, there are tons of free website templates available that you can use. However, if you want something more advanced / custom, then you can purchase a premium template or have one custom made which will raise the cost.
There are 59,000+ free plugins for WordPress. These are apps and extensions for your websites. Think features like contact form, gallery, etc.
So while you can build a website with just the hosting and domain cost, based on your situation, you may end up paying for additional tools and services. That’s why it’s often confusing for people to find out the real cost of a WordPress website.
Let us walk you through the real cost of building a WordPress site.
Estimating The Real Cost of Building a WordPress Site
Depending on your needs, your cost to start a WordPress website can range from $100 to $500 to $3000, to even as high as $30,000 or more.
It’s important to know what type of website you are building, and what you’ll need for it because that will directly affect your cost.
But don’t worry, we’ll show you how to avoid a financial disaster and make the best decisions.
For the sake of this article, let’s break down websites into different budget categories:
- Building a WordPress website (low budget)
- Building a WordPress website (with more features)
- Building a WordPress website for small business
- Building a WordPress eCommerce website
- Building a custom WordPress website
Now let’s see how much each of these projects costs and how you can avoid spending any more than necessary.
What’s the Cost of a WordPress Website (Low Budget)?
You can build a fully functional WordPress website for yourself and keep your costs under $100. Here is the cost breakdown of a WordPress website on a low budget.
First, you will need a domain name and web hosting.
A domain name typically costs $14.99 / year, and web hosting normally costs $7.99 / month.
Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
For more hosting recommendations check out our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting.
Next, you will need to install WordPress on your hosting account. See our step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for complete instructions.
Once you have installed WordPress, you can choose a design for your website using a free template.
These design templates are called WordPress themes, and they control the appearance of your website.
There are thousands of professionally designed free themes available for WordPress that you can install. See our expert pick of 64 beautiful free WordPress blog themes for some examples.
Once you have chosen a WordPress template, follow the instructions in our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.
Next, you may want to add certain features to your website like adding a contact form, a photo gallery, a slider, etc. Don’t worry there are more than 59,000 WordPress plugins available that will help you do that.
Plugins are like apps or extensions for your WordPress site. See our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Below is our selection of the essential WordPress plugins that you should install on your website. All of them are available for free.
Features
- WPForms Lite – Add contact forms to your WordPress site and accept online payments with Stripe.
- Shared Counts – The best WordPress social media plugin that doesn’t slow down your website and is fully GDPR compliant.
- SeedProd Lite – Easily build custom landing pages for your website without any code.
Website Optimization
- All in One SEO – Improve your WordPress SEO and get more traffic from Google.
- MonsterInsights (Free) – Helps you track visitor stats using Google Analytics.
- WP Super Cache – Improves your website’s speed by adding cache.
Website Security
- Duplicator or UpdraftPlus– Free WordPress backup plugins.
- Sucuri or MalCare – Free website malware scanners.
There are many more free WordPress plugins to add different features and extend your WordPress site. See our best WordPress plugins category where we have reviewed hundreds of WordPress plugins.
Total Cost of website: $46 – $100 per year
What’s the Cost of a WordPress Site (with More Features)?
We always recommend our users to start small and then add more features as their website grows. This way you will not be paying for anything that you don’t really need.
As you add more features to your website, your website cost will start to increase.
You can continue to use Bluehost for WordPress hosting to keep the cost low and get a free domain name.
However, since you will be adding more features to your website, it may make sense to get a more powerful hosting configuration like SiteGround’s GoGeek plan. This will cost you a little more, but it comes with premium features like staging, faster performance, and can handle up to 100,000 visitors per month.
You can use our SiteGround coupon to get 60% off for the first year of your hosting.
You can also go for a premium WordPress template for your site. Unlike free WordPress templates, these templates come with extra features and priority support. See our expert selection of 44 best responsive WordPress themes for some great premium templates that you can use.
For more website features you need to use a combination of free + paid plugin addons.
Here are some essential premium WordPress plugins and extensions that you’ll need as your site grows:
Features
- WPForms Pro – Adds a drag-and-drop form builder to your WordPress site.
- WP Rocket – Premium WordPress caching plugin to speed up your site.
- SeedProd Pro – Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
- WP Mail SMTP – Improves email deliverability and fixes WordPress not sending email issue.
- Uncanny Automator – WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools & services without any code.
Marketing
- Constant Contact – One of the best email marketing services.
- OptinMonster – Converts abandoning website visitors into subscribers. Powerful lead generation for WordPress.
- MonsterInsights Pro – See how visitors find and use your website.
- All in One SEO Pro – Improve your website’s SEO ranking.
- PushEngage – Get more traffic with push notifications.
- HubSpot – All-in-one CRM, live chat, email marketing, and sales tools.
Security
- Duplicator – For automatic WordPress backups and safe cloud storage.
- Sucuri Firewall – Website firewall and malware protection.
There are many more WordPress plugins and services that you can add. Each paid service or addon that you add will increase the cost of your WordPress site.
Total cost of website: Depending on the premium WordPress plugins and services that you add, it can be anywhere between $500 and $1000 per year.
What’s the Cost of a Small Business Website with WordPress
A lot of people often ask us about how much does it cost to build a small business website with WordPress? The answer depends on your business needs, and the tools you’ll be using to grow your business online.
Basically, you can estimate the cost to be somewhere between a low-budget WordPress site and a WordPress site with more features.
Keep in mind that you don’t add a full-fledged eCommerce store to your business website. In that case, see the next section in this article for a more accurate estimate.
If you are just starting out and need a simple website showcasing your products and services, then we recommend starting with the Bluehost. Their starter plan will reduce the cost significantly and will leave you with money that you can spend on other premium tools if needed.
If you have a more flexible budget, then you can sign up for SiteGround’s GrowBig plan. They are known for their excellent support, which is a good thing to have for a small business owner with no technical background.
Next, you will need to pick up a design for your website. You can look for a WordPress theme for business websites or pick a responsive WordPress theme that matches your requirements.
You can choose a free WordPress theme. However, since it is a business website, we will recommend you purchase a premium theme that gives you access to support and updates.
Now let’s talk about plugins.
You will need to use a combination of free and premium plugins to control the cost. Following are some of the premium plugins that are absolutely essential for a small business website.
Features
- WPForms Pro – The premium version will give you access to all the features you’ll need for lead generation. This includes PayPal, Stripe, and Square payments, conversational forms, email marketing integration, and more.
- SeedProd Pro – Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
- WP Mail SMTP – Improves email deliverability and fixes WordPress not sending email issue.
- Uncanny Automator – WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools & services without any code.
Marketing
- Constant Contact – One of the best email marketing services, especially for small businesses.
- OptinMonster – Helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers. You’ll need it for lead generation and conversion optimization.
- MonsterInsights Pro – The best Google Analytics plugin helps you see where your users are coming from and what they do on your website. This allows you to make data-driven decisions to grow your business.
- All in One SEO Pro – Improve your website’s SEO ranking.
Security
- Duplicator Pro – The premium version of the plugin comes with automatic backup scheduling, remote storage locations to keep your backups, drag and drop site migrations, and more.
- Sucuri Firewall or MalCare – Website firewall and malware protection.
Now there are many more plugins and tools that you would want to use. We recommend you first try the free version and see if that does the job for you. Many premium tools are available with the free trials, take advantage of those to see if you really need that tool.
As a business website, you would want to spend money to grow your business. We are not advising you against spending money when it makes sense and you can afford it.
For more details see our step by step guide on how to make a small business website.
Total cost of website: Once again it depends on the premium tools and plugins you purchase. It can be anywhere between $300 and $700 per year but could go as high as $1000 per year.
What’s the Cost of a WordPress Ecommerce Website?
WordPress powers millions of eCommerce websites around the world.
The cost of building a WordPress eCommerce website can be significantly higher, but we will show you how to build a WordPress eCommerce website while avoiding potential losses and overspending.
In addition to hosting and domain, your eCommerce site will also need an SSL certificate which costs around $69.99/year. SSL is required to securely transfer customer data such as credit card information, usernames, passwords, etc.
We recommend using Bluehost. It gives you a free domain and SSL certificate, plus a discount on hosting.
After that, you need to select a WordPress eCommerce plugin.
There are several eCommerce plugins for WordPress, but none comes even close to WooCommerce. It is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin that allows you to build robust online stores to sell your products/services.
Next, you will need to install WordPress and WooCommerce on your website. We have a step by step guide on how to start an online store.
While WooCommerce is free, you will need to use paid addons for additional features. The cost of your website will go up depending on how many addons you need to add to your website.
Once you are up and running, you will need to choose a WooCommerce WordPress theme for your site. There are several paid and free WordPress templates with full WooCommerce support. Choosing a premium or paid template gives you access to support and extra features.
We have a list of the best free WooCommerce addons, but depending on your needs, you may have to use some paid extensions as well.
Here are some other paid services that you’ll need on your eCommerce website.
Features
- WPForms – To add customer inquiries and feedback forms, surveys and polls, and more.
- SeedProd Pro – Adds a drag-and-drop WordPress page builder to create beautiful product grids, customize the WooCommerce checkout, and more.
- WP Mail SMTP – Improves email deliverability and fixes WordPress not sending email issue.
- Uncanny Automator – WordPress automation plugin that helps you connect your website with popular tools & services without any code.
- FunnelKit – Create high-converting sales funnels, slide out carts, frictionless checkouts, 1-click upsells, order bumps, and more.
Marketing
- OptinMonster – Convert visitors into customers with this powerful lead generation tool.
- Constant Contact – Powerful email marketing service.
- MonsterInsights – Ecommerce tracking with real-time stats using Google Analytics.
- All in One SEO Pro – Improve your WooCommerce SEO ranking.
- HubSpot – All-in-one CRM, live chat, email marketing, and sales tools.
Security
- Duplicator or BlogVault – Automatic WordPress backups.
- Sucuri – Website firewall and malware scanner.
Remember the best way to keep your costs down is by starting small and adding extensions and services as your business grows.
Total cost of building a WordPress eCommerce website: $1000 – $3000. It could be higher depending on how many paid addons and services you add to your site.
What’s the Cost of a Custom WordPress Site?
A custom WordPress site is when you hire a WordPress developer to create a unique design and build specific features for it.
Usually well established, large to medium-sized businesses choose this route.
To support a custom WordPress site, you may also want to go for a managed WordPress hosting provider. This is a WordPress-centric hosting environment, with managed updates, premium support, strict security, and developer-friendly tools.
In addition to your hosting and domain name, you will also be paying the web developer that’s building your website. Depending on your need, you may want to get quotes from several theme developers, web designers, and agencies.
The cost of a custom website depends on your requirements, budget, and the rates of the developer or agency you hire.
A standard custom WordPress theme alone can cost you up to $5,000. More robust WordPress sites with specific custom features can cost up to $15,000 or even higher.
Update: Since several of you asked for more details on this section, we have created a comprehensive guide on how much does a custom WordPress theme cost and tips on how you can save money.
Aside from that, we have created a beginner’s guide on how much does it cost to start a membership site in WordPress.
Regardless of the type of custom website you want to create, one effective way to reduce custom WordPress site costs is by using the SeedProd plugin. SeedProd is a drag-and-drop website builder that allows you to create custom themes and page layouts without editing any code.
You can use SeedProd to reduce your custom WordPress site costs by as much as 90%.
For more details, see our tutorial on how to easily create a custom WordPress theme with SeedProd.
How to Avoid Overpaying and Cut Down Spending?
We always recommend our users to start small and then scale their WordPress site as it grows. In many cases, you don’t need all the premium features that you see on many well-established websites in your industry.
Keep in mind that those websites had a head start, and it likely took them some time to figure out how to manage costs and grow their business.
You can start with a budget website using free plugins and templates. Once you start getting visitors, you can consider adding premium features like a premium template, email marketing, paid backup plugin, website firewall, business email address, business phone services, live chat, and so on.
The same goes for your eCommerce website. Start with the bare minimum and then as you start selling, you will find out exactly the tools that will help you and your customers.
Look for the best WordPress deals and coupons to get additional discounts whenever you can.
Even for robust WordPress sites, you don’t always need to hire a developer. We have step by step tutorials on how to create different types of WordPress websites such as:
- How to create a business directory with WordPress
- How to create an online review website with WordPress
- How to build an auction website using WordPress
- How to build a coupons website with WordPress
- How to create a multilingual website with WordPress
- How to create a job board with WordPress
- How to create a questions & answers website with WordPress
- How to create a portfolio website with WordPress
- How to create a wiki knowledge base website using WordPress
- How to create an online marketplace using WordPress
We hope this article answered your questions about how much does a website cost to build. You may also want to see our list of 30 legit ways to make money online with WordPress, and our AI-powered business name generator tool to come up with company name ideas.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Syed Balkhi says
Hey WPBeginner readers,
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Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
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Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!
Ahmed Omar says
An insightful exploration into the real costs of building a WordPress website!
Your detailed breakdown of expenses, from hosting to premium themes, is invaluable for budget planning.
A technical suggestion, leveraging Caching Plugin can significantly optimize performance and cut down on hosting costs.
Thanks for shedding light on the true investment
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome!
Admin
Sameer Hussain says
Such a detailed and organized article, considering there is so much competition out there. I would just like to add one thing. Start small and keep the ‘Snowball effect’ in mind. Treat your website as a plant seed. And don’t forget to water it. The tools mentioned in this article are spot on.
Shafqat Khan says
Great breakdown of WordPress website costs! Your detailed guide covers expenses for various site types, emphasizing the smart approach of starting small and expanding as needed. The section on avoiding overpaying is insightful, suggesting a gradual adoption of premium features. The step-by-step tutorials are a valuable resource. Overall, your article is a go-to guide for users at different stages. Kudos for providing valuable insights to the WordPress community!
WPBeginner Support says
Happy to hear you liked our article and found it helpful
Admin
Lara Carter says
I was wondering, how do websites, like wpbeginer make money if all of the content is free, is it just from adverts?
WPBeginner Support says
We cover how we make money in our article below
https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/wpbeginner-income-how-much-money-does-wpbeginner-make/
Admin
Suresh says
Building a WordPress website is really affordable if you choose the right hosting company that supports WordPress. This guide explains it all.
Lara Carter says
I have recently started to try and learn about website development and how to build a website yet and a question I kept trying to understand was about the cost of WordPress. This website explained it clearly naming all the differences in price between the different plan options including the features and the different options, comparing the value of the different plans. I have been wanting to experiment with WordPress by starting website possibly for young enterprise, but I didn’t want to spend too much money on it as I am only experimenting and playing around with the website, becoming familiar with it. This webpage was very helpful for to gain an understanding of this.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad to hear our article was helpful
Admin
Олександр says
At the age of 53, I need to learn a new profession. I want to try my hand at creating websites. But I am an absolute zero in this area of knowledge, so I need very simple and detailed explanations. I hope your blog will help me with this. What I have read here inspires me to keep learning. I don’t know if I will be able to go all the way, but you have convinced me to keep learning with this article. Some things are already becoming clear. At least, the skeleton of understandable concepts is beginning to emerge. Thank you for your work. Greetings from Ukraine!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad this guide was helpful and we hope you find our other articles just as helpful!
Admin
Shashwata says
Very well explained, A person without any single programming knowledge can easily understand what you want to saying. Very Nice, Keep it up…
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Iwuozor John says
Thank you so much WPbeginners. You explain these concepts so well that I no longer have doubts. I really appreciate.
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guides are able to help
Admin
julius says
This is beautiful and well detailed explaination
WPBeginner Support says
Thank you, glad you found our article helpful
Admin
Jackie Lambert says
Hi – this is a great and comprehensive article, but it has left me with a couple of questions.
I am on a Premium plan. I understood that I can’t install plugins but you mention free plugins that I should install even on a most basic website.
I would love to have backup at the very least. What do you suggest?
I set up my blog on WordPress. How does Bluehost relate to this? I don’t remember choosing hosting.
Thanks a mill!
WPBeginner Support says
This guide is for WordPress.org sites and you are on WordPress.com, for a better understanding of the difference between the two, you would want to take a look at our article here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
Admin
Richard Thatcher says
I enjoy reading through WP Beginner for the wealth of information that I will need to learn to have a good site in the future. It also has an interesting Do-it-yourself spirit to it that is empowering.
I am looking forward to learning as much as I can.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you like our content, hope we continue to be helpful with your learning and site itself
Admin
William Becker says
I really appreciate your work that you have done in this blog.I like it keep it up.
WPBeginner Support says
Thank you, glad you like our content
Admin
James D. A. Terry says
I’m an author, book reviewer and author interviewer. I also produce a monthly newsletter. Which WordPress should I use .com or .org and at what level?
Also, if I decide to go with .org can I transfer my .com to .org?
WPBeginner Support says
You can transfer a WordPress.com site to WordPress.org, for which to use, it would depend on what your goals for the site are. You can see the different features for each in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
Admin
ashley says
I’m wondering if it makes sense to host something on Bluehost PLUS pay for WordPress.com’s Business Plan for $25/month? Or do both of those offer more or less the same thing?
WPBeginner Support says
If you are hosting on BlueHost, you do not need to pay anything to WordPress.com, you may want to take a look at our article here: https://ithemes.com/tutorials/wordpress-com-vs-wordpress-org/
Admin
Lisa says
The articles on your site are very very much informative and straight to the point. I am really thankful for your help.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our articles are helpful
Admin
Bill Patterson says
I would avoid wordpress.com at all costs. They handcuff you if you want to expand and get into the backend files. I have taken over sites built on that platform and had nothing but trouble moving to a normal site hosting.
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for sharing your experience with WordPress.com, we normally recommend WordPress.org to avoid the restrictions but for just starting out WordPress.com is a free option for a hobby site or similar. For moving WordPress.com sites in the future you may want to take a look at our guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-properly-move-your-blog-from-wordpress-com-to-wordpress-org/
Admin
SHIVANI UMEACADEMY. COM says
There is a great blog, very good information in it, very good its content, this has helped me.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our content help
Admin
Keith says
I need to build a page with a header photo and title followed with 3 columns of photos. Can you recommend a theme that is simple for a beginner/non-programmer to accomplish this? Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
If you have a specific design that you are wanting to customize, you may want to take a look at our recommended page builder plugins here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/best-drag-and-drop-page-builders-for-wordpress/
Admin
Moses says
Thanks a lot for this article, it was so helpful to me.
Kim says
I am a small blogger (blog is less than 1 year). I currently am on wordpress.com. My renewal is coming up and I am wondering if I should upgrade to the business plan on the .com site or move over to wordpress.org ? I’ve been focusing this year on content (I’m a food blogger), but I want to get social media numbers up so I can get paid work. Would love your advice!
Sadi says
WordPress.com has some limitations while .org is more preferable in your case.
Their is a post regarding WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org on Wpbeginner, it will help you take better decision.
Fred says
Hello, I’m interested in building a financial eCommerce (paid subscription via credit card, Square, PayPal) website with 3 to 5 pages and a 30-45 second YouTube video explaining my business model.
I’m undecided between using Bluehost or GO Daddy, which one can deliver a more robust performance at a lower cost?
Or can you give me a better alternative instead of Bluehost or GO Daddy?
Thank you so much!
Best regards,
Fred
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Fred,
The performance of your website depends on how many people will be visiting it and how well optimized it is. We recommend using Bluehost and then gradually increasing your server resources as your traffic grows.
Admin
George says
Hi Fred, Go for Godaddy…if you can manage Amazon AWS is even better, try lightsail. I tried both Godaddy and AWS, the later edged over….it’s just the setting up needs a bit of tech.
Steve Donoso says
We are setting up a simple webpage on WordPress (hosted by Bluehost) for a nascent film festival. It will solely be an informational webpage with three links to other sites. Nothing will be sold, or downloaded or uploaded on the webpage. WordPress wants to know if we want to build a personal or business site — given what I’ve just described, which option is simplest?
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Steve,
You are probably signing up for a WordPress.com website. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Admin
Don Vannice says
Hi…My book just got published and will be for sale on Amazon.
I need a site that shows a graphic of my book cover, plus a link to Amazon, plus a forum, plus a blog, plus links to FB and Twitter.
I already have my domain name with Go Daddy.
Can I hear from someone on this setup and the cost?
Thanks.
David says
The many levels of hosting plans is what confuses me the most. I see a lot of add-ons and features.
I want to create a blog with with a forum feature for discussions. I am doing it more for my own satisfaction than to make money but monetizing the site would be nice. I would use either an affiliate program and/or pay per click.
It would also be nice to have a separate email associated with the domain.
Any suggestions on where to start and what level hosting plans would get me what I want.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi David,
If you are just starting out, then the basic or plus plans on Bluehost would be good for now.
However, you will need to upgrade your hosting as your website gets more users.
Admin
VectorJournal says
I see that many web designers have chimed in and were worried that they would lose jobs because people were building their own websites. If that logic stands, then there would be no hope for carpenter, chef, plumber, marketer, business consultant etc.
Indeed, a few years ago when Canva, a graphic design software was launched, many graphic designers were worried that it would take their jobs. But many are still doing fine. Canva’s primary market is bloggers who hope to monetize from their blogs. They have never been a big client for graphic designers. It takes much more than script fonts, gaudy background, Photoshop level adjustment to ensure a consistent and beautiful branding image for your website.
So folks, keep calm and focus on growing your skills. And huge thanks for WPBeginner for the most helpful WordPress tutorial series on the planet.
Vicki says
Well said VectorJournal.
I am a total believer in an educational approach with my clients. I find the more I educate them on how to “do-it-yourself,” the more they rely on me to take them to the next step, and the next – at their pace of readiness. They also learn what they don’t want to do themselves and what takes too much time for them to do (and get me to do that task instead) or what they can do themselves. When they understand the time and cost involved in the processes, they can better make decisions about where there money and time goes. I find it is a win-win situation. There is plenty of work to go around, but when we want to hold onto our knowledge tightly, it only breeds distrust.
In regard to this article, I think it is great.
Vicki says
I don’t often subscribe for stuff based on one article but I find your style is very easy to understand and progresses logically. Thanks! So many “educators” actually leave out simple but crucial steps. Nice job!
My question is…if I want a responsive site, can I still obtain that through getting a .org template and adding bootstrap? Is it that easy? Or, as a beginner in wordpress, will I need to hire someone to get bootstrap and worpress to work together?
Thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Vicki,
Most themes on .org are already responsive. There are also some themes that are built using bootstrap.
Admin
JoDel says
Hi! Thank you for the article it’s clear and very helpful.
I was wondering though, if I wanted to pay someone to review everything I’ve done and check the security of the domain as well as everything I have on the hosting site, where would I go to find someone? There’s so many random people and places, it’s hard to tell who is legit and who is going to run off with all of my info.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
WPBeginner Support says
hi JoDel,
You can find developers on websites like UpWork and Freelancer. Thoroughly check their profiles and completed jobs before hiring them.
Admin
Yonatan says
A great website and great content; very much helpful for beginners.
Ellen says
I read your article and several others, and I’m still not clear.
– You say WordPress is free but WordPress lists the cost of $4/month (in another place on their site I thought I saw $12/month) for a site with a custom domain. The WP site says that cost includes a custom domain name. Does that mean you don’t have to pay extra to register the domain?
– If you pay the $4/month, you still have to pay for a host, correct?
Thanks much.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Ellen,
You are probably looking at WordPress.com prices. We recommend using self-hosted WordPress.org and the article above will give you an estimate of how much it would cost to start a WordPress blog using self hosted WordPress.org.
Admin
Ellen says
Thanks! So, I can create a Web site by paying for just the domain and the host?
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Ellen,
Initially, yes. However, you will have to use free themes and plugins WordPress.org has thousands of free plugins and themes. If you choose to use paid themes, plugins, or services then this will increase your cost.
Elli says
Hi, thanks for a straight-forward article!
I am a total beginner taking on a challenge to build my first simple blog site…
I use bluehost
I use wordpress
I am playing with some templates
I have created a localhost to work on
I am making good progress!
My question is:
When do buying Genesis and a child theme come into play?
I signed up with Bluehost through The Minimalist website and watched their tutorial to set up. Everyone keeps talking about Genesis but I am not sure if it is something I need right now as a beginner?? And I didn’t see it mentioned above.
Thanks in advance for any help!
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Elli,
Good luck with your blog
Genesis is a WordPress theme framework, which makes it easier for theme developers to create child themes based on a rock solid and performance optimized parent theme. You can purchase genesis and a child theme for it.
However, if you are just starting out, then you can start with any good standard compliant theme and with proper optimization it could even outperform a Genesis theme.
Admin
Ravi says
hi,
I want to build a crowdfunding site in wordpress and cant find any in the mentioned list ‘how to create different types of WordPress websites such as:’. please advise how can I do so with the low budget as suggested in the article to start small. to be more precise, it would be an equity crowdfunding site.
Hasnain says
Hello first of all above knowledge is very useful .I have a question that if you make money online via Google adsense so you have to pay wordpress also? If yes so how much?
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Hasnain,
No, you don’t have to pay WordPress. If you are on a self hosted WordPress.org website, then you have complete ownership and control of your website.
Admin
Grace says
Hello,
Thanks for the article. I clicked the button, but Bluehost does NOT give over 60% off ‘on web hosting.’ There is no indication of your website either on the Bluehost website while I go through the sign up process. How can I get the discount you mentioned?
Thanks in advance
Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Grace,
When you click the button it takes you to Bluehost website, where you see a message ‘Special offer for WordPress users’. You will see the discounted price above the green ‘Get Started’ button.
Admin
Raka says
If I were to pay $10k+ for a WordPress ecommerce, why should I not go for a Magento.
Lodi Daniel says
I think this article is great for some one is well articulate with website design and cost implications but a bit misleading for some one who is very naive about website costing. cheap can be cost saving in the short run but a complete disaster in the long run.
I have built websites for clients who really want to save a huge cost but in the end they fail to get value for their little money.
Awontis says
Everyone wants a beautiful website and luckily WordPress offers many themes at reasonable prices. Since you’re doing things yourself, you’ll probably want to choose a pre-made WordPress theme for your site’s design. A lot will depend on the type of look you want for your WordPress site and you need to think about how you want to represent yourself or your brand online, and that costs.
Nate says
A lot of these articles neglect a huge factor of building your own site: time. If you have never built a site before you are going to spend a lot of time figuring out things work. Then once you do have it built, how do you know it is right?
What is your time worth? Would you pay me with no experience in your job the same amount you make.
Looking at the Holistic Cost and the TERM cost is important: Time, Enjoyment, Result, Money. Money is last for a reason.
Jeffrey Samorano says
Great article! I love how you’ve broken it down.
However, I feel there needs to be some words of caution for the “cheapest” option you’ve outlined.
Sometimes, saving money in the short-term can cause headaches and larger financial burdens later on down the line.
I would add that *if you know you want to grow your site* (more then just validating an idea or starting a blog), that you should really start out with a premium theme. I feel that the ‘cost’ (time, headache and money) of changing themes later is unnecessary and more trouble than it’s worth.
Premium themes are so cheap that, in my opinion, it’s better to start out with something really good that you can grow into, than to upgrade later. This is even more true for “free” themes that use proprietary visual editors and shortcodes. moving from one shortcode library to another is, essentially, re-constructing every single page of your website.
Another word of caution is to find a reputable source for free themes. the danger is that “free” themes could have built-in back doors for potentially nefarious intrusions. beware free themes that have not gone through some kind of checks and balance or, third part verification.
I’m sure this could probably be an entire post in itself but, i feel it’s worth mentioning here as well.
Great Article!
Naseem khan says
I am Confused, as I have purchased Domain name from Godaddy and Hosting from Hostgator. But still thinking that I dont know the basic wordpress Editing.
Currently using Blogger and very Well known. But wanted to work on it.
Can you please suggest me should I register my domain name and hosting without an experience?
Lodi Daniel says
WordPress can offer your website a better visual appearance and functionality than blogger, But as far as managing your hosting account is concerned, you can watch self guiding tutorials or get some one who is well conversant with cPanel since you said you bought hosting from HostGator and they use the industry standard cPanel, then you’ll have o make GoDaddy point your domain to the Hostgator nameservers where your files shall be hosted.
I hope this helps a bit.
Regards.
Jeremy says
One thing that I think is important to point out in terms of cost is maintenance. A lot of people buy or build a website without considering that there are ongoing costs and time. WordPress sites tend to need some TLC when it comes to updates, security, and backups. While some of this can be automated, there’s some risk of updates breaking themes and plugins. There’s also issues that your backups could be compromised, if you’re just letting a server keep 30 days worth.
Overall, the point here is that if you’re serious about owning a website and keeping it healthy, don’t consider your cost a one-time thing. Factor in the other ongoing costs. Managed hosting does a lot of this, but it’s not the be-all to end all solution.
Barbara J says
That is so true. I have seen so many people say they want to upkeep and maintain thier websites, but they don’t.
Jeffrey Samorano says
Oh man.. Every client I’ve ever had. :o)
satya says
how to create a flate image for blog post like you ???? ?????
Nanang says
An appropriate comparison to notify the clients, that there is a fair price if you want to get a professional website. If you want cheap, you will “play” in around a free templates that is used millions of others throughout the world.
Brett Atkin says
The title of this article is misleading at the very least. Nowhere do you mention the cost of content, imagery, learning WP, etc… Building a web site is so much than what you outline, even for experienced individuals.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Brett,
We wrote this article for our DIY users. They normally create their own content. You can use WPBeginner to learn WordPress (all for free). There are tons of cc0 images that one can use as well.
Admin
Amanda says
WordPress and web designers dont need to worry about their future just because people can build their own site for free. Yes, anyone can learn how to make a WordPress page for free, that is so true. But I have many years of experience working with a lot of clients both building websites for them and teaching them how to manage it themselves, and there are two important reasons why the general public will always need web designers. First, many people are completely incapable of Googling something or even reading a WP Beginner article and doing their own DIY. If the entire world was capable of DIY there would be no Jiffy Lubes or plumbers. Tons of people will always need their hand held or someone to just do it all for them. The other reasons why people will always need to hire web designers is that you can teach a few of them how to *build* it, but so many will stop learning there, and never realize that being a carpenter is not the same thing as being an architect. Good design is hard to find on most DIY sites. Only a tiny fraction will ever push through both learning construction and learning design, let alone marketing. The rest will always be willing to throw a couple bucks into hiring a designer with business & marketing knowledge.
I like your article…except that it leaves out even the possibility of hiring someone to help with design until they are at massive corporate website level. I think you should consider that probably a good number of your subscribers are semi-pro designers who are the real people who do DIY. And at least give them a nod. Recognize that if small businesses didn’t hire web designers the web would be filled with hideous websites, with menus that have too many options, sidebars cluttered with dozens of distracting widgets, headers that don’t look right on mobile….and worse….Possibly dancing baby gifs, visitor counters, guest books…wallpaper!
I think you need something in between the “basic DIY site” and “Site with more features”. Because “more features” obviously means more paid plugins. And a good designer can get a wordpress website to do more and look better with less plugins…And certainly avoid paying for plugins for as long as possible. Depending on how “fussy” the client is they could easily have this designed for them for a one time fee of $300 – $500. Now I am being controversial because I know some designers charge $1000 and up. But I am talking simple sites for small businesses that only take a few hours to set up. Paying $1000 for that is over-paying.
And if I really want to get controversial and fly in the face of DIY, I have recently been exploring designing Wix sites for a few small business people. They may be built for DIY, but they still need someone with a designer’s eye and good marketing sense to help them out.
Vicki says
Amanda I totally agree. I like to think of my superpower as being the Madame of General Knowledge of Everything. I can put together an html site (for examp) and it will look decent. U can do a certain level of seo and web marketing, and marketing in general. That is what many webbie newbies need to get their feet wet at a low cost. However, I also know my limitations as well as my gifts, and I know when my client is ready for the next level, and when it is time I bring my talented friends in for specific tasks. It is also about time and efficiency and money. For myself, just learning wordpress, I will do what I can, but there will be certain limitations with templates esthetically and functionally that I will overcome by bringing in a more talented tool (talented person) in my toolbox to change this or that…and it really doesn’t have to cost much to do that. In fact more of you would get business if the general public understood that. They don’t need to hire someone for $5000. They can hire someone for a couple to 10 hours at a reasonable cost.
Dr.Varun says
It is less costly if you just buy domain and let your friend host for you. For me, premium version cost 700 INR. Special thanks to the guy, hosting is the real money. And for addons, i guess it’s better to leave them and focus on your content first. Once you have 20-30 posts (or had earned from adsense), go premium plugins.
John says
Why would a person select Woo Commerce instead of paying $29.95 for Shopify? By the time a person purchased the paid plugins for Woo Commerce wouldn’t it be more expensive than just getting a shopify store? Thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi John,
Most WooCommerce plugins come with yearly licenses, WooCommerce itself is free. You are free to add features and extensions to your eCommerce site but you are not required to. You can control your expenses quite easily and spend as your business grows.
Admin
Pankaj Dhawan says
Hello Syed,
Great post as always. One thing though, for security, I am using Wordfence. I hope that is also a good plugin for the security purpose.
WPBeginner Support says
Hey Pankaj,
We use Sucuri on all of our websites. We try to recommend products and services that we use ourselves.
Admin
Joe B says
This is a very comprehensive breakdown of WordPress associated cost. Very good to see the breakdown from low cost to advance cost for ecommerce. This gives the novice user a better understanding of what WordPress is and how it can be leveraged for various types of projects as what we do. Ultimately, professional looking websites don’t have to cost a bundle.