What it costs
What are the hidden website costs in Canada?
Hidden website costs in Canada are the recurring ones: hosting that jumps after the promo, the domain, email, plugins, and card fees. What each one costs.
The hidden costs of a website in Canada are the ones that renew. Hosting jumps when the promo term ends, and the domain bills every year. Email bills per person, premium plugins bill per licence, and card processors take a cut of every sale.
None of those show up in a build quote, and all of them keep billing after launch. Below are the 7 that matter, with published prices retrieved on 2026-09-23.
The short version
- Shared hosting promos end. Hostinger's Canadian Premium plan goes from $4.19 CAD to $15.39 CAD a month at renewal (Hostinger).
- A .ca domain is $23 CAD a year at Webnames.ca, every year. A "free" builder domain is free for the first year only.
- Google Workspace email is $9.20 CAD per person a month on an annual plan (Google Workspace).
- Four common WordPress plugin licences add up to $297.75 USD in year 1. And 91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities in 2025 were in plugins (Patchstack).
- Ask every provider for a yearly total after every promo ends, not a launch price. That one number exposes most of the list.
The 7 costs a website quote usually leaves out
A build quote prices the work. These line items start after it, and the last column shows who usually pays.
| Cost | Published price (retrieved 2026-09-23) | How often | Who usually pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting after the promo | $15.39 CAD a month at renewal (Hostinger Premium) | Every term | You |
| Domain name | $23 CAD a year (.ca), $11.08 USD a year (.com) | Every year | You |
| Business email | $9.20 CAD per person a month (Google Workspace) | Every month | You |
| SSL certificate | $0 through Let's Encrypt | Renews automatically | Should be your host |
| Plugin and theme licences | $49 to $118.80 USD a year each | Every year | You |
| Updates and fixes | Billed by the hour | Whenever something breaks | You |
| Card processing | 2.8% to 2.9% plus $0.30 CAD a sale | Every sale | You |
The rest of this article takes them one at a time. For the build price itself, see how much a website costs in Canada in 2026.
1. Hosting renewals: the promo price ends
The advertised hosting price is a first-term discount, and the renewal is more than 3 times the promo price. Both numbers are printed on the same pricing page.
Hostinger's Canadian Premium plan is $4.19 CAD a month on a 48-month term, paid up front as $201.12 CAD. At renewal it is $15.39 CAD a month (Hostinger, retrieved 2026-09-23). The same page lists every shared and cloud plan the same way.
A cheap first term is fine if you plan for year 5. Put the renewal price, not the promo, into your budget.
2. The domain name renews every year
Your domain is a yearly rental, and it never stops billing. A .ca costs $23 CAD a year at Webnames.ca. A .com costs $11.08 USD a year at Porkbun, and renews at the same price (both retrieved 2026-09-23).
The trap is the "free domain" on a builder plan. Squarespace registers your first domain free "for its first year" on an annual plan (Squarespace Domains, retrieved 2026-09-23). From year 2, it bills like any other domain.
Register the domain in your own business name, at a registrar you log into yourself. If the domain sits in a provider's account, leaving that provider gets expensive fast.
3. Business email is billed per person
A website does not come with a professional inbox. Google Workspace Business Starter is $9.20 CAD per user a month on a 1-year commitment, before tax (Google Workspace, retrieved 2026-09-23).
That scales with your team, not your site. A roofer with 3 people on @company.ca addresses pays $27.60 CAD a month, or $331.20 CAD a year. A branded address is worth paying for, but it belongs in the budget.
4. The SSL certificate should cost nothing
SSL is what puts the padlock and the https in your address, and in 2026 it should be free. Let's Encrypt is a nonprofit certificate authority that issues free certificates to more than 700 million websites (Let's Encrypt, retrieved 2026-09-23).
Most hosts install and renew it automatically. If a quote lists SSL as a paid yearly line, ask what it buys that the free certificate does not. For a service business site, the answer is usually nothing.
5. Plugin and theme licences renew every year
On a WordPress site, the features often come from paid plugins, and each one is a separate subscription. Four common ones, at each vendor's entry tier on its own pricing page (retrieved 2026-09-23):
- Yoast SEO Premium: $118.80 USD a year (Yoast).
- UpdraftPlus Premium, for backups: $70 USD a year for 2 sites (UpdraftPlus).
- WP Rocket, for speed: $59.95 USD a year, renewing automatically (WP Rocket).
- Elementor Pro, the page builder: $49 USD for the first year, then it "renews at regular rate" (Elementor).
That is $297.75 USD in year 1, and more once the page builder renews. Let a licence lapse and the feature often stops getting updates, which brings in the next cost.
91% of new WordPress vulnerabilities found in 2025 were in plugins and 9% in themes. Only 6 were in WordPress core (Patchstack, 2026).
6. Updates and fixes are billed by the hour
Every plugin update can break something, and whoever fixes it bills for the time. A web designer in Canada earns a median of $33.65 CAD an hour, according to Job Bank Canada (retrieved 2026-09-23). An agency's billed rate adds overhead and profit on top.
The owner usually pays in time instead. Among Canadian small business owners already active online, 66% name lack of time as their greatest obstacle (CFIB, survey of September 2025). Updating plugins on a Sunday night is exactly that time.
7. Card processing takes a cut of every sale
If customers pay deposits or orders on your site, the processor takes a percentage plus a fixed fee each time. In Canada, published online card rates sit between 2.8% and 2.9% plus $0.30 CAD (retrieved 2026-09-23):
| Processor | Online card rate |
|---|---|
| Stripe Canada | 2.9% + $0.30 CAD |
| Square Canada | 2.8% + $0.30 CAD |
| Shopify Payments, Basic plan | 2.8% + $0.30 CAD |
A $200 CAD deposit through Stripe costs $6.10 CAD in fees. At 50 deposits a year, that is $305 CAD. It is a fair price for getting paid online, but it is a cost the build quote rarely mentions.
What the hidden costs add up to over time
The biggest surprise is usually hosting, because it changes years after launch while most other lines stay flat. Here is the running total on Hostinger's Canadian Premium plan.
Here is a typical self-managed WordPress site per year once the hosting promo ends. All figures are before tax:
- Hosting at renewal: $184.68 CAD.
- A .ca domain: $23 CAD.
- Email for 3 people: $331.20 CAD.
- Four plugin licences: $297.75 USD, and more after the first year.
That is $538.88 CAD plus at least $300 USD a year before a single fix, card fee, or hour of your own time. The five-year cost comparison of custom sites and Wix or Squarespace runs the same math across builders.
What a bundled hosting fee covers, and what stays with you
Samro Studios bundles the running costs into one published fee. On a one-time build, the $895 CAD growth site carries $20 CAD a month. The $1,795 CAD online store carries $40 CAD a month, and either fee starts 30 days after payment.
The sites are hand-coded, so there are no plugin licences to renew and no page builder to update. Here is how the 7 costs split:
| Cost | On a hand-coded build with us | Stays with you |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and renewals | Included in the monthly fee | No |
| SSL certificate | Included | No |
| Security, updates, daily backups | Included | No |
| Changes and fixes | Included, at a 24 to 48 hour pace | No |
| Plugin licences | None needed | No |
| Domain name | We connect it to your site | Yes, in your own name |
| Business email and card fees | Not part of the build | Yes |
Prefer no lump sum? Monthly plan or one-time payment compares the subscription, from $99 CAD a month on a 12-month term, hosting included. For the full scope, see what an $895 CAD website includes, or browse the builds on the portfolio.
How to find the hidden costs in any quote
Ask for a written year 2 total. A provider who answers these 5 questions in writing leaves little hidden:
- What does hosting cost at renewal, not in the first term?
- Who owns the domain, and in whose account is it registered?
- Which plugins, themes, or apps need a paid licence, and what does each renew at?
- Who installs updates, and what does a fix cost in dollars and in days?
- What does the site cost in year 2, all lines added up?
Frequently asked questions
What are the hidden costs of a website in Canada?
The hidden costs are the recurring ones: hosting after the promo, the yearly domain, email per person, plugin licences, paid fixes, and card fees. None appear in a typical build quote. Ask for a year 2 total before you sign to see all of them.
How much does it cost to keep a website running each year?
Renewed hosting, a .ca domain, and 3 email seats cost $538.88 CAD a year on self-managed WordPress, plus at least $300 USD in plugins. Our $895 CAD growth site replaces the hosting and plugins with $240 CAD a year, changes included. Domain, email, and card fees stay yours on either path.
Does a website need a paid SSL certificate?
No, not for a typical service business site. Let's Encrypt issues free certificates to more than 700 million websites, and most hosts install and renew them automatically. If a quote bills SSL every year, ask what it provides beyond the free one.
Is a free domain really free?
Only for the first year. Squarespace, for example, registers your first domain free for its first year on an annual plan, then bills the renewal. A .ca costs $23 CAD a year at Webnames.ca, and you should register it in your own business name.
Why does my hosting bill go up after the first term?
The advertised price is a promo for a long prepaid term. Hostinger's Canadian Premium plan is $4.19 CAD a month on a 48-month term, then $15.39 CAD a month at renewal. Budget the renewal price from day one, since it is what the plan costs until the host changes its prices.
The decision
Pick the provider whose post-promo yearly number you can see today. If the quote only shows a launch price, the renewals are waiting to be discovered.
Tell us about your business on the contact form. We send back a written quote with the build, the hosting, and the year 2 total on one page.
Sami Bdeira is the founder of Samro Studios, a Montréal studio that hand-codes bilingual websites and builds AI phone agents for Canadian service businesses.
