Yearly Website Costs: Budgeting for Domain, Hosting & Maintenance
The build fee is only part of what a website costs over time. Once your site is live, a few smaller recurring costs keep it online, secure, and up to date. Here’s a realistic yearly budget so nothing catches you off guard. For build prices, see our guide to website design cost in Kenya.
The three ongoing costs
| Cost | Typical range (KSh) | USD, approx. | What happens if you skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain renewal | KSh 1,000–2,500 per year | $8–$19 per year | Your site’s address expires and becomes unavailable |
| Hosting | KSh 3,000–15,000 per year | $23–$116 per year | Your site stops loading entirely |
| Maintenance (optional) | KSh 5,000–30,000 per month | $39–$233 per month | Security and update risk builds up over time |
What does that add up to over a year?
| Scenario | Maintenance per year | Yearly total (with domain and hosting) |
|---|---|---|
| Domain and hosting only | None | KSh 4,000–17,500 (≈ US$31–136) |
| With the Essential plan | KSh 60,000–120,000 | KSh 64,000–137,500 (≈ US$496–1,066) |
| With the Growth plan (business site) | KSh 120,000–360,000 | KSh 124,000–377,500 (≈ US$961–2,926) |
| Online store on Growth | KSh 240,000–360,000 | KSh 244,000–377,500 (≈ US$1,891–2,926) |
Maintenance is optional, so the first row is the minimum to keep a site online. These totals exclude content writing, extras, premium licences and payment provider fees. Domain and hosting are paid to their providers; maintenance is billed monthly by us.
USD figures are approximate, based on roughly KSh 129 to US$1, and will shift with the exchange rate. Ranges checked October 2026. Some providers quote before 16% VAT, first-year promotional prices often rise at renewal, and busy stores on VPS or cloud hosting can pay more than the top of the hosting range.
1. Domain renewal
Your domain name is billed annually and renews automatically in most cases. The key risk is an expired card or a missed renewal email, which can take your entire site offline overnight. Mark the renewal date somewhere you’ll actually see it. The range depends on the extension and registrar, and some providers quote before 16% VAT. Check current prices with your registrar.
Are domain renewal prices going up?
Sometimes, depending on the extension and your registrar. Verisign, which runs .com, has announced that its wholesale fee rises from $10.26 to $10.97 on 1 November 2026, about 7%, and its agreement allows increases of up to 7% in each of the final four years of the current six-year period, so further rises are possible. The .net fee is also set to rise, from $10.91 to $12.00 on 1 March 2027. Other extensions are priced by their own registries and registrars.
On a .com the wholesale rise is only about KSh 90 a year. The bigger surprise for most people is the promotional first year: registrars often sell the first year cheaply and recover it through a higher renewal price. To plan for it:
- Check the renewal price, not just the first-year price, before you register.
- Ask whether your registrar lets you pay for several years at once, and whether today’s price applies for that term.
- Budget towards the top of the range, KSh 2,500 a year, rather than the first-year price.
- Make sure the domain is registered in your business’s name, with your own email, so you can renew it even if your developer changes.
2. Hosting
Hosting is usually billed monthly or annually, and the price scales with your site’s traffic and storage needs. A simple business site needs far less hosting power than a busy e-commerce store processing daily orders and images. Busy stores can outgrow shared hosting and move to VPS or cloud plans, which cost noticeably more than the range above, so ask your developer which tier your site needs.
3. Maintenance (optional but recommended)
This is the one cost that’s genuinely optional, but skipping it entirely is a false saving for most businesses. Our Essential plan (KSh 5,000–10,000 a month) suits simple, rarely updated sites, and Growth (KSh 10,000–30,000 a month) suits active sites and online stores, adding daily backups and a monthly editing allowance. Plans are billed monthly with no long-term lock-in. See our maintenance plans, and our note on what maintenance actually covers. Many businesses start without a plan and add one once the site is generating real revenue worth protecting.
💬 Want to know what maintenance would cost for your site?
See plans →Other costs to plan for
- Premium plugin or theme licences, which are charged by their providers rather than by us.
- Content changes. Edits to existing content use your monthly editing allowance on Growth, and are quoted separately on Essential.
- Payment provider fees if you run an online store: providers processing M-Pesa and card payments typically charge a small percentage per transaction, which scales with your sales volume rather than being a flat yearly cost.
A simple way to plan for it
Treat these costs the way you’d treat rent for a small shop: predictable, recurring, and worth budgeting for from day one rather than being surprised by a renewal notice. Ask your developer for the exact renewal dates and amounts before you launch, not after.
Frequently asked questions
How much does domain renewal cost per year?
Domain renewal typically costs KSh 1,000 to 2,500 per year, or roughly $8 to $19, depending on the domain extension and registrar. Prices depend on the extension and registrar, and some providers quote before 16% VAT.
Are domain renewal prices going up?
Sometimes, depending on the extension and your registrar. Verisign, which runs .com, has announced that its wholesale fee rises from $10.26 to $10.97 on 1 November 2026, about 7%, and its agreement allows increases of up to 7% in each of the final four years of the current six-year period. The .net fee is also set to rise, from $10.91 to $12.00 on 1 March 2027. On a .com the wholesale rise is only about KSh 90 a year, but registrars add their own margin, and a cheap first year is often recovered through a higher renewal price. Check the renewal price before you register, not just the first-year price.
How much does website hosting cost per year?
Hosting typically costs KSh 3,000 to 15,000 per year, or roughly $23 to $116, depending on the site’s traffic and storage needs. Busy online stores on VPS or cloud hosting can pay more.
How much does website maintenance cost?
Our Essential plan costs KSh 5,000–10,000 per month and Growth KSh 10,000–30,000 per month (online stores KSh 20,000–30,000), billed monthly with no long-term lock-in. That is roughly KSh 60,000–360,000 a year, depending on the plan.
Do I need a website maintenance plan?
Maintenance is optional but recommended. Skipping it entirely lets security and update risk build up over time, and many businesses add a plan once the site is generating real revenue worth protecting.
What is a realistic total yearly cost to run a small business website?
Domain and hosting typically come to KSh 4,000–17,500 a year (about $31–136). Busy stores on VPS or cloud hosting can pay more. Adding a maintenance plan brings a business website to roughly KSh 64,000–377,500 a year depending on the plan, and an online store on Growth to roughly KSh 244,000–377,500.
Want a clear breakdown for your specific project?
Get a fixed monthly quote for maintenance, or a clear build price if you’re starting a new site. No obligation.