"WordPress is free" — the first sentence in every second tutorial introduction. Strictly speaking that is true: the software itself costs nothing. In practice, a professional WordPress website in 2026 nonetheless involves annual costs between €200 (DIY solopreneur) and €15,000 (a mid-sized B2B site with an agency). In this pillar article I break the cost items down honestly — and show you where saving is smart and where it comes back expensively. Spoiler: the biggest lever is not the budget but how much you learn yourself.
The three scenarios at a glance
| Scenario | Setup costs | Annual costs | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY with free tools | €0–150 | €150–400 | Hobby, tests, a very tight budget |
| DIY with premium tools | €200–800 | €400–1,200 | Solopreneurs, SMEs willing to learn |
| Agency project | €5,000–25,000 | €1,500–6,000 | Mid-sized companies, B2B, complex functionality |
| Hybrid: agency setup + DIY maintenance | €2,500–8,000 | €500–1,200 | SMEs with an investment budget but ongoing in-house upkeep |
The fixed items — what every site costs
Whichever scenario applies, these five items always exist:
1. Domain — €10–25/year
A .at, .de or .com domain costs €10–25 a year with a reputable registrar (united-domains, World4You, easyname, Cloudflare Registrar). Premium domains (short, common terms) can cost four to five figures one-off — rarely justified for new sites.
2. Hosting — €60–600/year
The invisible performance lever. More in the pillar article WordPress Page Speed 2026.
- Shared hosting (€5–8/mo): World4You Standard, easyname Smart, Strato BasicWeb. Works for mini sites.
- Managed WordPress (€15–35/mo): Raidboxes, World4You Optimized WordPress, Kinsta. My default for serious sites.
- VPS / cloud (€10–50/mo): Hetzner, DigitalOcean. If you are technically confident.
3. SSL certificate — €0–100/year
With most hosts it is included free of charge via Let's Encrypt. Only if you need an extended validation (EV) certificate for compliance reasons do €50–100 a year apply.
4. Email mailbox — €10–80/year
Your own domain mail (info@your-domain.at) is a trust signal. Options:
- Included in the hosting package: €0
- Google Workspace Basic: €6/month = €72/year
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic: €6/month = €72/year
- mailbox.org / posteo (German, GDPR-friendly): from €1/month
5. Backups — €0–100/year
UpdraftPlus Free and BackWPup Free are enough for most. UpdraftPlus Premium with cloud targets: around €70/year. Genuinely important sites benefit from dedicated backup services such as WPVivid Pro or BlogVault (around €99/year).
Total of the fixed items for a serious solopreneur site: around €180–250/year. That is the absolute minimum.
The variable items — where it gets interesting
6. Theme
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Free theme (Astra Lite, Kadence Free) | €0 |
| Premium theme one-off (Avada, Salient) | €60–89 (often including six months of support) |
| Premium theme annual plan (Astra Pro, Kadence Pro) | €49–99/year |
| Divi lifetime | €249 one-off |
A theme comparison in my article WordPress themes 2026.
7. Page builder (optional)
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Gutenberg + block editor (default) | €0 |
| Elementor Free | €0 |
| Elementor Pro | $59/year (1 site) — $199/year (1,000 sites) |
| Divi Builder (included in Divi) | €0 extra |
| Bricks Builder | $79 one-off (lifetime) or $249 (unlimited sites) |
8. SEO plugin
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Rank Math Free | €0 |
| Rank Math Pro | $79/year (3 sites) |
| Yoast Free | €0 |
| Yoast Premium | €99/year |
A detailed comparison in Yoast vs. Rank Math.
9. Caching plugin
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| WP Super Cache, LiteSpeed Cache (free) | €0 |
| WP Rocket | $59/year (1 site) — $299/year (unlimited) |
10. Security + backup
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Solid Security Free + UpdraftPlus Free | €0 |
| Solid Security Pro | $99/year |
| Wordfence Premium | $119/year |
11. Cookie banner
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Free tier (limited) | €0 |
| Real Cookie Banner Pro | €49/year |
| Borlabs Cookie | €39/year |
12. Newsletter / marketing automation (if needed)
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Brevo Free (up to 300 mails/day) | €0 |
| FluentCRM Pro | $129/year |
| Mailchimp Standard | from $22/month |
| ActiveCampaign Plus | from $70/month |
13. SMTP sending (if needed)
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Host SMTP (included in the package) | €0 |
| Brevo SMTP Free | €0 |
| SendGrid Essentials | $19.95/month |
More on this in the existing article Setting up WordPress SMTP.
14. Image optimisation
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Smush Free | €0 |
| ShortPixel | from $5 for 10,000 images |
| Imagify | from $5/month |
What €1,000 a year realistically covers
For just under €1,000 a year a professional solo site can be run solidly in 2026:
- Managed WordPress hosting: €240
- Domain + mail: €100
- Astra Pro: €49
- Elementor Pro: €60
- Rank Math Pro: €70
- WP Rocket: €60
- Solid Security Pro: €95
- Real Cookie Banner Pro: €49
- UpdraftPlus Premium: €70
- Brevo newsletter (free tier): €0
Total: around €793/year. With some discipline (using free tiers where feasible), under €500/year is realistically achievable.
Do you want to run WordPress cleanly yourself — without paying €1,500 in agency hourly rates for every small update? In my online course I show you the DIY strategy that lets you manage your site independently for good. → To the online course
What an agency site really costs
Here is the transparency solopreneurs often do not get:
Agency project costs (one-off, professional, not a pixel shop):
- Mini site (5–10 pages, no e-commerce): €3,000–8,000
- Mid-sized business site (15–30 pages, blog, forms): €8,000–18,000
- B2B site with complex information architecture (50+ pages, custom post types, multilingual): €18,000–40,000
- WooCommerce shop (200+ products, marketing automation, interfaces): €20,000–60,000
Hourly rates in 2026 in German-speaking countries:
- WordPress freelancer: €60–120/h
- Small agency (3–10 staff): €90–150/h
- Mid-sized agency (10–30 staff): €120–180/h
More on arguing costs with agencies in my existing article Learning WordPress — how long does it really take.
DIY or agency — an honest decision aid
DIY is the right choice when:
- You can and want to invest 30+ hours in learning and setup.
- Your site is functionally manageable (standard building blocks).
- You want to maintain it yourself in the long term (the learning investment pays off).
- You bring some technical curiosity.
An agency is the right choice when:
- You are very short of time but less so of money.
- The site is complex (custom post types, API integrations, multilingual, several stakeholders).
- You want a professional design result that would not be achievable without a designer.
- You take out a maintenance contract after going live (€250–500/month is usual).
Hybrid is my favourite recommendation for most SMEs:
The agency builds, you learn the upkeep. The initial investment is controlled, the ongoing costs are low. That is exactly the focus of my online course too: maintenance sovereignty without being tied to an agency.
Hidden costs to keep in mind
- Data protection audit (an initial GDPR assessment): €500–1,500 one-off with a specialised agency.
- Copywriting: €50–200 per page professionally. DIY: a lot of time.
- Images & stock photos: Unsplash free (CC0), Adobe Stock from €10/month.
- Translation / multilingual: €0.06–0.12 per word with professional translation services.
- Training / courses: €100–2,000 one-off or a monthly subscription.
- Emergency maintenance: €200–1,500 one-off after a hack or crash. Rarely necessary with a good backup strategy (WordPress backup strategy 2026).
Where saving backfires
Three areas where being stingy costs more than investing:
- The cheapest host: saves €100/year, costs you performance points and therefore revenue.
- No backup solution: saves €70/year, can cost you days of work after a crash.
- No security plugin or login protection: saves €100/year, can cost €1,500+ after a hack. Login protection specifically in Changing the WordPress login URL.
Where saving is worthwhile
- Premium themes: for most sites Astra Free + Elementor Free is enough.
- Premium all-in-one SEO plugins: Rank Math Free is enough.
- Newsletter SaaS for under 500 subscribers: free tiers are enough.
- Paid plugin bundles you do not use: a sober plugin audit every three months, see WordPress plugins 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can I really run WordPress for €0?
Theoretically yes, with the WordPress.com free tier (very limited) or locally. For a real site with your own domain: realistically from €150/year.
How many hours of learning does a DIY solopreneur invest?
Realistically 20–40 hours for solid fundamentals, another 10–20 for the first optimisations. Spread over four to eight weeks.
Can I have my site professionally rebuilt later without starting over?
Yes, provided you use standard tools (Astra, Elementor/Gutenberg, standard plugins). With lock-in themes (Divi, Avada) a later switch becomes a renovation.
What does agency maintenance cost compared with DIY upkeep?
An agency maintenance contract is €200–500/month = €2,400–6,000/year. DIY upkeep: four to eight hours of your own effort per month plus plugin licences.
What is the worst saving trick?
Committing to a multi-year hosting plan without testing the host first. The first 12 months of any plan are the most honest assessment.
Is a WordPress training day worth it?
If it takes place specifically on your own site: yes, almost always. If it is generic: it depends on what you already know.
Conclusion
WordPress is not free — it is learnable. Anyone who invests 30 hours in learning can run a professional site themselves for €500–800 a year. Anyone who does not want to or cannot learn rightly pays an agency. The unwise middle path is: have an agency build it and then call them at €150 an hour every time an image needs swapping.
If you decide on the self-determined route, my online course is the direct way in: I show you exactly the skills you need to maintain your WordPress site independently for the long term. Comfortably from home, at your own pace. → To the online course
Image source, featured & inline: illustrations created specifically in the pletzenauer design (no stock photos).
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