Hosting Price Index
The Hosting Price Index is our running measure of what web hosting actually costs — not the headline “from $X” marketing price, but the real, normalised market rate across every provider we track. We compute it from our live catalogue of verified plans, convert everything to a single currency, and refresh it on a schedule so it reflects today's prices, not last year's. Use it to sanity-check a quote, spot when you're overpaying, or cite a defensible market average.
Right now we're tracking 25 providers (57 plans). The average entry price is $3.82/mo (median $2.99/mo), the cheapest verified entry is RunPod at $0.69/mo, and RAM averages $3.27/GB. These numbers update automatically as we add providers and re-verify pricing.
Avg entry price
$3.82/mo
Median entry
$2.99/mo
Avg $/GB RAM
$3.27
Cheapest entry
$0.69
RunPod
Average entry price by tier
What the Hosting Price Index measures
Hosting prices are deliberately hard to compare — intro rates expire, “unlimited” hides limits, and a $3 shared plan and a $3 VPS are not the same product. The index cuts through that by normalising every plan to a few honest, comparable units:
- Entry price ($/mo). The lowest real recurring price to get on a provider, converted to monthly and to your currency. We use the renewal price where it differs from the intro price, because that's what you actually pay long-term.
- Price per GB of RAM ($/GB). For VPS, cloud, and dedicated plans, the truest apples-to-apples value metric — how much you pay for the resource that matters most.
- Price per TB of bandwidth ($/TB). What egress really costs, where providers disclose it.
- By tier and by type. Averages broken out by hosting tier (shared, VPS, cloud, dedicated, GPU/AI) and category, because the “average price of hosting” only means something within a comparable product class.
Every figure traces back to a verified plan in our catalogue — there are no estimates or filled-in blanks. Where we don't have data for a metric yet, we say so rather than guess.
How to read a hosting price
A low monthly price isn't the same as good value. When you compare a quote against this index, look at three things together:
- 1. Intro vs renewal. A plan that's $2.99 for year one and $11.99 after is a ~$12 plan, not a $3 one. Our index uses the long-term price.
- 2. Price per resource, not per plan. Two “$10 VPS” plans can differ 3× in RAM. The $/GB RAM figure is the honest comparison.
- 3. What's actually included. Free SSL, backups, a CDN, and email are real costs if a cheap plan makes you buy them separately.
If your current renewal is well above the relevant tier average here, that's a strong signal — run it through Am I Overpaying? to see a cheaper equivalent with the savings math.
How we calculate the index
The index is computed, not curated. For every published provider:
- · we pull each plan's verified specs and renewal price from our catalogue (sourced and checked against the provider's own site),
- · convert all prices to a single base currency using daily reference rates, then to your selected currency for display,
- · compute per-plan unit metrics ($/mo, $/GB RAM, $/TB bandwidth),
- · and aggregate to averages and medians, overall and by tier/type.
It refreshes on a schedule alongside our benchmarks, and every datapoint is timestamped. Full details are on how we test and data freshness. Nothing about these numbers is sponsored or paid — see how we make money.
How to use this data
- Buying hosting? Find your tier's average above, then compare any quote against it — and use the Hosting Advisor to get ranked, benchmarked options in your budget.
- Already hosting? Check whether you're above the market with Am I Overpaying?
- Writing or researching? The index is free to cite with attribution (see below), and the underlying data is available via our public API and llms.txt.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hosting price index?
It's a normalised average of real hosting prices across many providers — a single, comparable benchmark for “what hosting costs” instead of a pile of incomparable marketing prices. Ours is computed from verified plans and updated on a schedule.
Is the average price the intro price or the renewal price?
The renewal price, wherever it differs from the introductory rate. Intro pricing is temporary; the renewal rate is what you actually pay, so it's the honest basis for an average.
Why is VPS “more expensive” but better value?
Because the right comparison is price per resource, not per plan. A VPS usually costs more per month than shared hosting but far less per GB of RAM or vCPU — which is why we publish $/GB RAM alongside $/mo.
How often is the index updated?
On a schedule, alongside our benchmark and price re-verification runs. Every figure is timestamped.
Can I use these numbers in an article or report?
Yes — free to cite with attribution and a link (citation below), and you can pull the raw data from our API.