The short answer
The WordPress software is free, but everything around it costs something: hosting, a domain, a theme, plugins and the time of whoever builds and looks after the site. A do-it-yourself site can run on very little. A professionally designed one costs more up front and less in mistakes.
Hosting
Hosting is your biggest running cost. Basic shared hosting is cheap, often a few dollars a month, but it is also where slow sites come from. Managed WordPress hosting, which handles updates, security and caching for you, typically costs more, from around twenty-five dollars a month upwards. For a business site that matters, better hosting is usually money well spent.
Domain and theme
A domain costs about ten to twenty dollars a year. WordPress has thousands of free themes. Premium themes are commonly a one-off purchase of fifty to a couple of hundred dollars, and some renew each year for updates and support.
Plugins
Free plugins cover a great deal, including forms, basic SEO and backups. The ones that people pay for are usually caching and speed, security, backups, forms with extra features and page builders. Premium plugins are typically an annual licence, so add them up as a yearly cost.
- Caching and speed: often $50 to $200 a year.
- Security and malware scanning: free to a couple of hundred dollars a year.
- Backups: free to about $100 a year for cloud storage and restores.
- SEO, forms and page builders: free to around $100 a year each.
A developer to build it
What you pay depends on how much is custom. My own starting prices are $1,400 to refresh a site with a new block theme using your existing content, $2,600 for a site designed and built from your brief, and $4,200 for a site with a WooCommerce store set up to sell. The WordPress page lists the timelines.
The cost people forget: keeping it running
A WordPress site needs regular updates, backups and security checks. If you do not do this yourself, a care plan covers it for a monthly fee, and it is far cheaper than cleaning up a hacked site. Read the post on cleaning a hacked WordPress site to see what that involves.
Common questions
Is WordPress really free?
The software is free and open source. Hosting, a domain, premium themes and plugins, and the time to build and maintain the site are what you pay for.
How much does a WordPress website cost per year to run?
A small site can run for around a hundred to three hundred dollars a year on modest hosting with free plugins. A business site on managed hosting with premium plugins and a care plan costs considerably more, and is faster and safer.
How much does a developer charge for a WordPress site?
It depends on how custom the work is. A refresh of an existing site costs the least, a fully designed custom site more, and a site with an online shop the most. Ask for a fixed quote based on a written brief.
Is it cheaper to use a page builder than a developer?
It can be cheaper up front, but heavy page builders often make sites slower, and you still spend your own time. A developer builds something lighter and leaves you able to edit it.
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