WordPress may have started as a simple blogging platform. But it has exploded into not only the best blogging platform but also a full-fledged CMS in recent years. Companies like the White House , jQuery , Dyn , NGINX , The New York Times , all call WordPress their online home .
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But these are only the best. According to BuiltWith , 19,922,280 other live websites (and counting) also use WordPress . There’s a reason so many websites use it. Rather than charge for their enterprise CMS, the founding company, Automattic , opted to keep it open source.
So technically speaking, it’s “free”. But nothing is really free. There is always a price to pay. How much does it really cost then? How much would it cost you to run a medium-sized site or a site competing with Mashable or TechCrunch? Let’s find out.
Why WordPress Isn’t Really Free
WordPress.org will tell you that it’s completely free . But…. well, it’s not. At least, that’s not the case if you want your WordPress website to be a fully functional online entity. In this case, you will need something extra. The extras you’ll need to run are where the added cost comes in.
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And these additional costs translate into the following categories:
It’s a huge fork. But the good news is that you can choose the plan that best suits your ideal bandwidth and budget.
Of course, you can also host your site directly on WordPress.
Unfortunately, hosting is pretty much all you can do with WordPress’ offering. Although the prices are lower, WordPress will not monitor your website for you or help you resolve incompatibilities between third-party plugins.
Kinsta, on the other hand, will. For many of you, that price will fall somewhere in between. Remember: the cheaper the hosting you choose, the generally lower quality it will be. Cheap hosting tends to overcrowd servers to make a profit. More expensive hosting, on the other hand, is usually more flexible and includes advanced features like resource isolation, which means you won’t be sharing resources with other sites. This ensures that your site stays online during peak traffic. Whichever you choose, pick an option that offers the right price, flexible features, and much-needed support.
Depending on the host or your specific needs, you may also need to spend money on an SSL certificate. Kinsta, for example, has free SSL certificates , but not all hosts offer this. Also, if you need an Extended Validation SSL certificate, it will cost you. These can range from $50 to $200 per year (be sure to check out our in-depth guide on how to add an SSL certificate to WooCommerce ).
When you register a domain name, you are buying a site URL, or address, where users can go to view the content of your web pages.
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Domain name
You can buy domain names from tons of different places, but GoDaddy and Namecheap are two affordable options. A domain name will probably cost you between $10 and $30 per year.
If you want people to take your business seriously, then you need to switch to self-hosted WordPress and get your own domain name. We covered this topic extensively in our other article How to Choose a Domain Name – 8 Tips to Stand Out.
You should also be aware of domain privacy protection, or WhoisGuard protection . Usually, when you buy a domain, your personal information is published in the Whois directory. This may be bad news for you, because anyone can have access to this information unless you protect it. Anyone, whether a spammer or a hacker, can see exactly how to contact you
But you can purchase this add-on to keep your personal details private once you register a domain. This addition can cost you between $10 and $15 more per year, but it is a service that you should not neglect. Or you can pay a little extra for your domain at a registrar like Google Domains and Whois protection is included for free.
Design and Themes ($0 – $50,000)
WordPress has many themes available for all users. Some are free, but others cost over $200. Free WordPress themes are great for beginners, but often lack the features serious business owners need.
WordPress has a huge library of themes that you can browse to find what you’re looking for. You can make changes to this theme later with plugins, so the key is to find a theme that matches the overall feel you want your website to have. Do you want your website to be simple? Professional ? Fast to navigate? Fun ? Intriguing ? You can find a theme that gives your site that feel. Here’s how to install a
