Domain and Hosting: What They Are and What They Cost in 2026

Every website quote has two lines most people sign off without asking: domain and hosting. They sound technical, but they're simpler than they look — and this is exactly where some of the nastiest surprises hide a year or two later.

In short: the domain is your website's address, for example yourcompany.com, and it costs from around €10 to €50 a year. Hosting is where the website lives — from €0 for a static website to around €130 a year for ordinary shared hosting once the introductory offer ends. You can change where the site lives and keep the address — but only if the address is yours.

What is a domain?

A domain is the name people type into the browser. You don't buy it forever; you rent it for a year or several years ahead. If you don't renew it in time, it expires — and after a short period anyone can register it, including a competitor.

A good domain is short, easy to spell and easy to say over the phone. If you have to explain “with a hyphen, then a double s”, you'll lose people.

.com, your country's domain or .eu?

If your customers are mostly in one country, its domain — .de, .fr, .it, .nl and so on — is a natural choice: it signals that you're a local business. Some country domains have extra requirements for who can register them, so check with the registrar before you buy.

.com is universal and a good fit if you have customers in several countries. .eu is a solid alternative when the name you want is taken elsewhere — it's open to people and organisations in the EU and the EEA. What matters isn't so much the ending as that the name is clear and that it's yours.

What a domain costs in 2026

• .com — usually between €10 and €20 a year.
• .eu — roughly the same as .com.
• Country domains — often €10–30 a year, and up to around €50 with some registrars.

Watch out for offers like “a domain for €1”. They almost always apply only to the first year, after which the price goes up. Look at the renewal price, not the registration price — that's what you'll pay every year.

What is hosting?

Hosting is a computer (a server) that's switched on day and night and sends your website to everyone who opens it. There are a few main types.

• Shared hosting — the most common option for WordPress. Your website shares the server with many other websites. It's cheap and does the job for most small websites.
• A VPS or your own server — for larger stores and projects with lots of traffic. It costs more and needs someone to look after it.
• Platforms for pre-built websites — for example Firebase, Netlify or Cloudflare Pages. They suit websites whose pages are prepared in advance, and for a small business website their free plan is often more than enough.

Which of the three you need depends on how the website is built. WordPress needs a server with a database, so it requires paid hosting. A website built with Next.js, like the ones I make, can usually run on the free plan of such a platform.

What hosting costs

Shared hosting is often advertised at a few euros a month. That's almost always an introductory offer — on renewal the same plan often costs two to four times as much. So compare the total for three years, not the price on the banner.

With pre-built websites the bill looks different. This website, for example, runs on such a platform, and the only thing I pay for is the domain.

The SSL certificate — the padlock next to the address — is usually free these days and included with hosting. If someone charges you extra for it on an ordinary business website, ask why.

What you'll pay per year — a sample bill

• A WordPress business website: a domain for around €10–30 and hosting for around €70–130 after the introductory offer, plus paid plugins or a theme if there are any. Usually €100–250 a year in total, not counting maintenance.
• A static website like this one: a domain for around €10–30, hosting usually €0. That's €10–30 a year in total.
• An online store: a domain, hosting with more resources and card payment fees on top.

Email on your domain

An address like hello@yourcompany.com looks more professional than a Gmail address, especially on quotes and invoices. There are three main routes.

• The email that comes with your hosting — usually included with shared hosting.
• Paid services like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 — reliable, but paid every month for every user.
• Free forwarding to the inbox you already use — for example through Cloudflare. It's handy for receiving email; sending from the same address needs some extra set-up.

The most important part: whose name they're in

This is the detail that costs the most when it's overlooked. Developers often register the domain in their own name “for convenience”, and the hosting sits in their account. While you work together, nobody notices. When you part ways, it turns out that the address your customers find you at isn't yours.

There's a quieter problem too: renewal reminders go to the email given at registration. If that's an old email belonging to someone you no longer work with, you'll find out the domain has expired when the website stops opening.

So the domain should be registered in your name or your company's, with your email as the contact, and with access to the account at the registrar. The same goes for hosting — or at the very least you should have full admin access.

What happens if your domain expires

The website and the email on the domain stop working. There's usually a short window in which you can still renew it, but how long it is depends on the registrar. After that the name is released and anyone can take it. So turn on automatic renewal and make sure the reminders go to an email address you actually read.

How to change hosting without losing your domain

If the domain is in your name, changing hosting is a technical task: the website is moved to the new place, and the domain's settings (DNS) are changed to point there. Visitors don't notice a thing. If the domain is in the developer's name, you first need to transfer it to yourself — and it's best to do that while relations are good.

What to check today

• Which registrar is your domain with, and do you have your own access to the account?
• Whose name is it registered in, and which email is given as the contact?
• When does it expire, and is automatic renewal turned on?
• How much will you pay for hosting once the introductory period ends?

If you don't know the answer to one of these, it's not a disaster — it's just better to find out now than when something stops working.

Frequently asked questions

Can a website exist without hosting? Not quite — a website always sits on some server. But for static websites there are platforms with a free plan, where you only pay for the domain.

Do I need both .com and my country's domain? Not necessarily. It makes sense if the name is an important brand and you don't want anyone else to take it. The second domain simply redirects to the main one.

How long does it take to register a domain? For most endings, a few minutes. Some country domains ask for extra details or documents, which can take longer.

With me, the domain and all the logins become yours when the website is handed over, and the hosting is chosen based on how the project is built. If you're not sure what state yours are in, send me your website address — I'll tell you what to check and who to ask.