Hosting Intro vs Renewal Pricing: How to Read the Footnote and Do the 5-Year Math
Shared hosts publish heavily-discounted intro prices that renew at 2-6× the rate. The 5-year total is the honest comparison. Here is the math for Bluehost, SiteGround, and DreamHost, with renewal numbers from each vendor's own pricing page.
Every shared host does this — here are the actual numbers
All three of the WordPress.org-recommended shared hosts (Bluehost, SiteGround, DreamHost) publish intro pricing that renews at meaningfully higher rates after the initial 12 or 36-month term. Per their pricing pages on 2026-04-30: Bluehost Basic intro $2.95 / renewal $11.99 (4.1× jump). SiteGround StartUp intro $2.99 / renewal $17.99 (6× jump); GrowBig intro $4.99 / renewal $29.99 (6× jump); GoGeek intro $7.99 / renewal $44.99 (5.6× jump). DreamHost Shared Starter intro $2.59 / renewal $10.99 (4.2× jump); Shared Unlimited intro $3.95 / renewal $10.95 (2.8× jump). DreamHost has the smallest jump of the three.
Why the gap exists
Shared-hosting margins are thin. The intro term is a customer-acquisition loss leader; the profit comes from renewals. The model is not unique to hosting (gym memberships, broadband, mobile contracts run the same way), but it is more aggressive in shared hosting because acquisition is fully online and switching costs (DNS migration, mailbox migration) feel high to most buyers.
The 5-year math
A site that lasts through the first renewal typically lasts 5+ years. The honest comparison is 5-year total cost, not sticker price. Bluehost Basic at intro $2.95 for the first 36 months and renewal $11.99 for the next 24 months totals ($2.95 × 36) + ($11.99 × 24) = $106.20 + $287.76 = $393.96 over 5 years — $6.57/mo amortised. SiteGround StartUp at $2.99 for 12 months then $17.99 for 48 months totals $35.88 + $863.52 = $899.40, or $14.99/mo amortised. Kinsta Single at flat $35 for 60 months totals $2,100 — but with managed-WordPress features the shared hosts do not include.
Hosts without renewal jumps
Two hosts in our comparison set do not have intro-vs-renewal divergence. Kinsta publishes a single price per tier — $35/mo for Single 35k, $50/mo for Single 65k, etc. (per kinsta.com/plans). What you pay in month 1 is what you pay in year 5. Hetzner Cloud publishes CX22 at €3.79/mo and that price has been stable for years (an April 2026 adjustment raised some other tiers like CPX11 from €4.49 to €5.99 — documented at docs.hetzner.com/general/infrastructure-and-availability/price-adjustment). Both are flat-rate; both are easier to budget.
What to do at renewal time
Set a calendar reminder for the day before the intro term ends. Two weeks before, check the renewal rate on the vendor's current pricing page (it can change). At renewal, three options: (1) Pay the renewal rate (worst). (2) Call retention and ask for the loyalty rate — many shared hosts will discount the renewal 30–50% to keep you. (3) Migrate. Migrating WordPress between hosts is a 30-minute job with a tool like All-in-One WP Migration or Duplicator: export the archive on the source, import on the destination, flip DNS. Most managed-WordPress hosts (Kinsta, SiteGround, DreamPress) offer free migration assistance for new accounts.
Sources
Bluehost pricing: bluehost.com/pricing. SiteGround pricing: siteground.com/web-hosting.htm. DreamHost pricing: dreamhost.com/hosting. Kinsta plans: kinsta.com/plans. Hetzner Cloud pricing: hetzner.com/cloud. Hetzner price-adjustment doc: docs.hetzner.com/general/infrastructure-and-availability/price-adjustment. WordPress.org recommended hosts: wordpress.org/hosting. All URLs accessed 2026-04-30.