Website Hosting Cost Calculator

Model costs across shared, VPS, or cloud. Tune resources, traffic, and extras for realistic budgets. Export breakdowns to share, justify, and plan upgrades confidently.

Inputs

Pick a general model for your estimate.
Hourly uses an average 730-hour month baseline.
Only matters for hourly billing (e.g., dev environments).
Allocated CPU resources for your workload.
Memory for caching, app runtime, and database.
Includes OS, app, logs, and local database files.
SSD is faster; HDD is cheaper.
Traffic sent to users, APIs, and downloads.
Uploads, sync, and incoming API calls (often free).

Unit prices (USD)

Example: $10–$20 per vCPU-month.
Example: $4–$10 per GB-month.
Example: $0.08–$0.15 per GB-month.
Example: $0.03–$0.06 per GB-month.
Common range: $0.05–$0.12 per GB.
Often $0.00, but configurable here.

Add-ons (monthly, USD)

Optional flat estimate for CDN services.
Snapshots, retention, and restore tooling.
Ops management, patching, scaling assistance.
APM, logs, alerts, uptime checks.
Required for multiple app instances.
Managed database or licensing estimate.
Media files, backups, and archives.
Mailbox hosting or transactional email add-on.
Monthly equivalent of domain registration.
Certificate costs if not included.
Public IPs, IPv6, or reserved addresses.
Priority support or enterprise support add-on.

Discounts & tax

Applied to compute + storage (simplified model).
Subtracts from subtotal before tax.
Set to your local VAT/GST, if applicable.
Reset

Example data table

Scenario vCPU RAM (GB) Storage (GB) Outbound (GB) Add-ons (USD/mo)
Starter blog 1 1 25 50 $3
Business site 2 4 80 200 $10
Growing ecommerce 4 8 150 600 $35
High-traffic app 8 16 300 2000 $120

Tip: Use these as starting points, then adjust unit prices to match your provider’s pricing page.

Formula used

Compute = (vCPU × price per vCPU-month) + (RAM GB × price per RAM GB-month).

Storage = storage GB × storage price per GB-month (SSD or HDD).

Bandwidth = (outbound GB × outbound price per GB) + (inbound GB × inbound price per GB).

Add-ons = sum of all monthly extras (CDN, backups, monitoring, etc.).

Subtotal = compute + storage + bandwidth + add-ons.

Discount = reserved discount % × (compute + storage).

After discount = max(0, subtotal − discount − promo credit).

Tax = tax % × after discount, and total = after discount + tax.

How to use this calculator

  1. Choose a hosting model and billing cycle for your environment.
  2. Enter vCPU, RAM, storage, and expected monthly bandwidth.
  3. Fill unit prices to match your provider’s published rates.
  4. Add optional services like backups, database, and monitoring.
  5. Apply discounts, promo credits, and tax if relevant.
  6. Press Calculate to see totals and a detailed breakdown.
  7. Use CSV or PDF export to share the estimate with others.

1) Cost drivers you can actually control

Compute and storage are the most predictable line items. Right-sizing vCPU and RAM reduces waste without sacrificing performance. Storage type matters: SSD improves response time, while HDD lowers price for archival workloads. Use realistic outbound figures because egress pricing can dominate when media, downloads, or API responses grow. Keep a 10–15% buffer for unexpected spikes and background jobs.

2) Turning traffic into bandwidth estimates

A practical starting point is average page weight multiplied by monthly page views, then add API and image delivery overhead. For example, a 2.2 MB page at 90,000 views is roughly 198 GB. Add 20–40% for assets, bot traffic, and retries. If a CDN is used, origin egress often drops, but CDN fees appear as an add-on. Measure real transfer using analytics, logs, or CDN dashboards to refine assumptions.

3) Forecasting monthly versus yearly spend

This calculator converts your inputs into a monthly total and then multiplies by 12 for an annual projection. That yearly view is useful for budgeting renewals like domains, support plans, and compliance tools. When comparing providers, align the same scope: compute, storage, egress, backups, databases, monitoring, and any managed operations. If your workload is seasonal, run a “peak month” scenario and average it with quieter months for a blended forecast.

4) Discounts, credits, and tax treatment

Commitment discounts typically apply to steady components such as compute and sometimes storage. Short-term promotional credits reduce the bill but should not be treated as permanent savings. Taxes are calculated after discounts and credits to reflect common invoicing practice; set the rate to match your jurisdiction’s VAT or GST requirements. If you invoice clients, separating tax and net cost improves reporting and margin tracking.

5) Sensitivity testing for safer decisions

Small changes can move totals materially. Try increasing outbound by 25%, doubling storage, or adding a managed database to simulate growth. If the total jumps sharply, consider caching, image optimization, and CDN adoption. Export CSV or PDF, attach it to approvals, and keep the same assumptions across scenarios for clean comparisons. Track results to spot drift early and avoid renewals surprises.

FAQs

1) What should I enter for unit prices?

Use your provider’s published rates for vCPU, RAM, storage, and outbound traffic. If prices are bundled, convert them into equivalent per-unit values so the calculator matches your invoice structure.

2) Why is inbound bandwidth included?

Inbound is often free, but some providers charge in specific regions or for premium networking. Keeping it configurable helps you model specialized environments, heavy upload workflows, or multi-cloud transfer scenarios.

3) How do I estimate outbound traffic reliably?

Multiply average page weight by monthly page views, then add overhead for assets, bots, and API payloads. Validate using analytics, CDN reports, or logs once the site is live and update monthly.

4) What counts as “add-ons” here?

Add-ons represent flat monthly items such as backups, monitoring, managed services, databases, object storage, email, domains, and support plans. Enter zero for services you do not use to keep the breakdown clean.

5) How does the commitment discount work?

The discount is applied to compute and storage to approximate common reserved or committed-spend programs. If your plan discounts additional services, increase the discount rate cautiously or subtract credits via the promo field.

6) Can I use this for multi-site hosting?

Yes. Combine shared resources into one set of inputs, and increase bandwidth and add-ons to reflect total usage. For detailed allocation, run separate scenarios per site and compare exported reports.

Related Calculators

Hosting Plan ComparisonShared vs VPS CostVPS vs Dedicated CostServer Cost ComparisonHosting Price CalculatorAnnual Hosting CostHosting Upgrade CostTraffic Based HostingBandwidth Cost EstimatorCloud vs VPS Cost

Important Note: All the Calculators listed in this site are for educational purpose only and we do not guarentee the accuracy of results. Please do consult with other sources as well.