How much do web hosting prices rise after the first year? Every host compared
The short answer
A lot. Across the eight promo-priced hosts in our shortlist, the monthly price rises by an average of just over 4x at renewal (guide prices, August 2026). At the extremes, IONOS goes from $1 to $8 (x8) and SiteGround from $2.99 to $17.99 (x6). GoDaddy has the mildest multiplier, Namecheap the smallest dollar jump.
In detail
We compared the promotional price against the renewal price for the hosts in our shortlist (August 2026 snapshot, effective monthly rate on the entry plan). The increases, ranked: IONOS from $1.00 to $8.00 (x8.0), SiteGround from $2.99 to $17.99 (x6.0), A2 Hosting from $2.99 to $12.99 (x4.3), DreamHost from $2.89 to $10.99 (x3.8), Hostinger from $2.99 to $10.99 (x3.7), Namecheap from $1.98 to $5.88 (x3.0), Bluehost from $3.99 to $9.99 (x2.5), and GoDaddy from $5.99 to $11.99 (x2.0).
The average markup across these eight is just over 4x, but the median is 3.75x. That difference matters when you are choosing, because the average is pulled up by IONOS and SiteGround alone, while the middle of the field sits between 2.5x and 3.8x. The median is the better guide to what a typical host will do to your bill.
The nuance differs per host. Namecheap's renewal at $5.88 is still among the cheapest rates in the market, so its increase barely stings. DreamHost, once the gentle exception, now renews at $10.99, right at the market rate. At the other end, SiteGround's near-$18 renewal is the real price of its premium shared hosting.
Bluehost moved the other way between July and August 2026: it cut both the promo and the renewal, from $4.99 and $11.99 to $3.99 and $9.99. The multiplier barely moves (x2.4 to x2.5), but the cut makes it, for the moment, cheaper to stay with than Hostinger. Promotions shift, so this is a snapshot and not a promise.
The practical takeaway for any hosting decision is to compare hosts on the renewal price, not the promo, and set a calendar reminder one month before renewal the day you buy. At that point you choose again. Migrate to a fresh promo (most hosts migrate your site free) or stay deliberately. We refresh this comparison periodically, and figures are guide prices that vary by promotion window.
The more useful number is what three years actually cost, meaning one year at the promo rate plus two at the renewal rate. Ranked from cheapest per host, that is Namecheap $164.88, IONOS $204.00, DreamHost $227.16, Bluehost $287.64.
The remaining four are Hostinger $299.64, A2 Hosting $347.64, GoDaddy $359.64, and SiteGround $467.64. Between the cheapest and the most expensive entry plan there is $302.76 over the same three years, which is what choosing on the promo price can cost you.
One caveat, because a ranking is not a verdict. A higher three-year total is not automatically a worse deal. SiteGround at $467.64 buys premium shared hosting with staging and its own caching, which the $164.88 plan at Namecheap does not include. Compare what you get, then compare the totals.
As for method, we record the intro price, renewal price and multiplier for each of these eight hosts once a month, and the three-year total is twelve months at the promo rate plus twenty-four at the renewal rate. Figures here are the August 2026 snapshot.
Which web host has the biggest renewal price increase?
Measured against its own intro price, IONOS: from $1.00 to $8.00 a month, 8 times the intro rate. Measured in dollars, SiteGround: from $2.99 to $17.99, an extra $15.00 a month at renewal. Both come from the guide prices we record for each host every month.
The two extremes are not the same kind of deal. A steep factor on a very low intro price can still renew below the market average, while a big dollar jump raises the bill even when the factor looks modest. The three-year totals above are the fairer way to compare them.
Want the real multi-year cost for one specific host? Plug the intro and renewal price into our calculator and see exactly what you pay, plus the true average monthly rate.
Open the renewal cost calculator