Hosting prices by type
- Shared hosting ($5 to $25 CAD a month): many sites share one server. Fine for a small brochure site with modest traffic. Cheapest, but the slowest and the least isolated from other customers' problems.
- Managed WordPress hosting ($30 to $100 a month): the host tunes the server for WordPress, keeps backups, applies core updates and runs a firewall. The best fit for most business WordPress sites.
- VPS or cloud server ($20 to $150 a month): your own slice of a server, or a cloud instance. More control and better performance, but someone has to manage it, which is why it usually comes bundled with a maintenance plan.
- Platform hosting (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix): hosting is included in the monthly plan. You pay for the platform rather than for a server, and you cannot move the site elsewhere.
- Static or modern app hosting (Vercel, Netlify, Render): for React and Next.js sites. Free tiers exist for small sites; business plans typically start around $20 to $30 USD a month per seat.
What changes the price
Traffic, storage and the number of sites matter less than the type of plan. A hosting plan at $4 a month and one at $40 a month can both run a ten-page site; the difference is speed, backups, support and how the host behaves when something breaks at 2 a.m. For a site that earns leads, the extra $30 a month is cheap insurance.
Watch for the renewal rate. Hosts advertise a first-year price (often 50 to 70 per cent off) and bill the full rate from year two. The real cost is the renewal price times however many years you keep the site.
Email is usually separate. Business email through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is about $8 to $10 CAD per user a month. Email bundled with cheap hosting works, but it is the first thing to move when you change hosts, so many businesses keep it separate from day one.
Does the host need to be in Canada?
For most businesses, no. A host with Canadian data centres is worth choosing when you store personal data of Canadian customers and want it to stay in the country, or when your clients (health, legal, public sector) require it. For a marketing site, a fast host with a content delivery network matters more than the server's postal code; see what a CDN is.
Whatever you choose, the hosting account should be in the business's name, paid on the business's card. The guide on owning your website and accounts explains why.