Almost every shared hosting price you see advertised is an introductory rate. It applies for a fixed term, then the plan renews at a different number — often three to six times higher. The renewal is what you will pay for most of the time you are a customer, so it is the figure worth comparing.
Two numbers, not one
What a plan costs depends on the introductory rate and on how long that rate lasts. The second varies far more than most people expect. These were taken from each provider’s own pricing page in July 2026:
- SiteGround StartUp — $2.99/mo for 12 months, then $17.99
- Bluehost Starter — $3.99/mo for 36 months, then $15.99
- Hostinger Premium — $2.99/mo for 48 months, then $11.99
- GoDaddy Economy — $5.99/mo for 12 months, then $11.99
The headline rates sit within a dollar of each other. The renewals do not, and neither do the terms.
Three years of each
Multiply the intro months by the intro rate, the remaining months by the renewal, and add:
- Hostinger — $107.64, because a 48-month intro covers the whole window
- Bluehost — $143.64, likewise on 36 months
- GoDaddy — $359.64 (12 months at $5.99, then 24 at $11.99)
- SiteGround — $467.64 (12 months at $2.99, then 24 at $17.99)
That is a four-fold spread between plans whose advertised prices were nearly identical.
Worth saying plainly: our own Starter is $5 a month, so three years is $180, or $144 paid annually. Over a three-year horizon Hostinger is genuinely cheaper than that, and Bluehost is level with it. If three years is your actual horizon and you are content to move afterwards, those are the cheaper options and we would rather you knew that from us.
Where it turns
Extend to five years and the intro terms expire:
- Hostinger — $287.40
- HostingSimple Starter — $300.00, or $240 annually
- Bluehost — $527.40
- GoDaddy — $647.40
- SiteGround — $899.40
The ordering has changed for three of the four, and the gap widens every month after.
What to check before you commit
Find three things on the provider’s own pricing page, not on a review site:
- The renewal rate. It is usually present, often in smaller type beneath the headline figure.
- The length of the intro term. This is what decides whether the renewal is a distant problem or next year’s.
- Whether the intro requires prepaying the full term. Most do, which is how a $2.99 plan becomes a three-figure charge today.
Our position is the uninteresting one: $5 renews at $5, and five years of it is sixty times five. We would rather compete on a number you can verify with a calculator than on one that changes in month thirteen.
Competitor figures were read from each provider’s public pricing page in July 2026 and are checked for staleness as part of our build. Prices change; verify before you buy.