TrueSiteCostCheap Blog Hosting: Start a Blog for Under $5 a Month
A blog's costs are low; the expensive mistake is choosing a platform you can't take your posts, URLs and audience away from later.
Four routes compared
| Route | Year-1 cost | Own domain | Your own ads / affiliate links | Take everything with you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free blogging platform | $0 | Usually paid add-on | Often restricted until you pay | Posts export; design and URLs usually don't |
| Newsletter platform with web archive | $0 to start; % of paid subscriptions or a monthly fee | Usually on paid tiers | Sponsorships yes; display ads rarely | Subscriber list and posts export |
| Website builder, basic plan | ~$190 (domain often included) | Yes | Yes | Posts export; rebuild design |
| Shared hosting + WordPress | $48–108 upfront for 1–3 years | Yes (often free year 1) | Yes, any network | Everything, including URLs |
If you write for fun, a free platform is fine. If the blog is meant to earn money or build a reputation, the cheapest serious option is your own domain on WordPress hosting: about $3–4 a month at intro prices, and you control the URLs, which is what search traffic is attached to.
How costs grow with traffic
| Monthly visits | Typical setup | Monthly cost | What to do at this stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5,000 | Entry shared plan + caching plugin | $3–11 | Write. Ignore hosting upgrades. |
| 5,000–50,000 | Same plan or the next tier; free CDN | $6–15 | Compress images, remove heavy plugins, consider ads or affiliate links |
| 50,000–200,000 | Managed WordPress or a cloud server with a panel | $25–60 | Speed now affects revenue; staging copies help |
| 200,000+ | Higher managed tier or tuned server | $60+ | Hosting is now a small share of income |
Visit ranges are rough guides for a cached blog with optimised images.
Setting up a cheap blog properly
- Choose a domain you'll be happy with in five years; avoid hyphens and numbers.
- Install WordPress and set permalinks to "Post name" before publishing. Changing URL structure later needs redirects for every post.
- Pick a lightweight theme and one caching plugin.
- Create the pages readers and ad networks look for: about, contact, privacy, and an affiliate disclosure if you'll use affiliate links.
- Add the site to Google Search Console and submit the sitemap WordPress generates.
- Set up a weekly off-site backup.
- Start an email list early, even a free one, so readers can follow you if search traffic changes.
Picking a blog topic that can pay for its hosting
Hosting a blog costs $50–150 a year, so very little income covers it. What matters more is whether readers arrive with a problem that a product solves. Blogs that compare, review or explain purchases earn affiliate commissions; blogs about personal experiences mostly earn through display ads, which need far more traffic to pay off. Decide which kind you're building before choosing a platform with restrictive monetisation rules.
Common mistakes
- Starting on a free subdomain and moving after a year, losing most search traffic in the move. See free website builder limits.
- Changing the URL structure after posts are indexed, without redirects.
- Upgrading hosting before writing. A faster server doesn't create readers.
- Dozens of plugins for features nobody uses; each one adds updates and risk.
For hosting tiers in more detail, read cheap WordPress hosting; to compare one, two or three years of costs, choose "Blog" in the website cost calculator.
FAQ
What's the cheapest way to start a blog on my own domain?
Shared hosting with WordPress on a 12- or 36-month prepay, about $3–4 a month, plus a domain from around $12 a year (often free the first year).
Can I put ads on a free blog?
Most free platforms show their own ads and don't let you add yours until you pay. Check the platform's monetisation rules before you invest in content.
When should a blog move to better hosting?
When pages load slowly with caching on, or your host warns about resource use. For most blogs that's beyond tens of thousands of visits a month.