What it costs
How much does website hosting cost in 2026
In short
A portfolio, business card site or landing page can be hosted for free, while a site with no pauses and your own domain costs from $4.99 a month, or $4 a month if you pay for a year. That is how Netrun plans work: on the free plan a site stays online indefinitely but sleeps without visitors and wakes up in a few seconds when opened; Pro costs $4.99 for a month, $13.49 for three months or $47.99 for a year; heavier projects get Max from $14.99 a month. The domain is paid for separately at a registrar, while the HTTPS link and certificate are included in the plan.
- On the Netrun free plan a site runs with no time limit: it sleeps without visitors, and the first open after a sleep takes a few seconds.
- The Pro plan costs $4.99 for a month, $13.49 for three months or $47.99 for a year, which is $4 a month on a yearly plan.
- On Pro a site never sleeps, gets 1 GB of memory instead of 256 MB on the free plan, and can use any number of custom domains with HTTPS.
- The Max plan costs from $14.99 a month: it has more resources, sites get an Analytics tab, and up to seven extra project places can be added.
- A domain is bought separately from a registrar, while the HTTPS link, the certificate and traffic are included in the plan price.
The question of what hosting costs is usually answered with the price of the cheapest plan, and the conversation ends there. But the real sum is made of three things: what you pay the host, what you buy separately (a domain, a certificate, a second project), and how much of your own time goes into setup. For a single site those three parts add up to very different totals.
Below is an honest breakdown by scenario: when a site can stay free, when it is worth paying and how much, what is bought separately, and how your own server compares. Prices are in dollars, at current Netrun rates. If you are still sorting out hosting, domains and servers, start with the guide on how they differ.
| Scenario | Plan | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio, business card site, landing page, coursework | Free | Free, the site sleeps without visitors |
| A site for clients with no wake-up pause | Pro | $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year |
| A site on your own domain | Pro plus a domain from a registrar | $4.99 a month plus the domain at the registrar price |
| A site plus a bot, or two sites | Pro and one extra place | $4.99 for the plan plus $3.99 for the place each month |
| A store or service with a database and real traffic | Max S, M or L | $14.99, $19.99 or $29.99 a month |
| Your own VPS | Server rental | The rent plus your time on setup and maintenance |
Start with the free plan#
A portfolio, business card site, landing page or study project usually does not need paid hosting. On the Netrun free plan a site stays online indefinitely and gets an HTTPS link, with 256 MB of memory and 2 GB of disk. Without visitors the site goes to sleep and wakes up by itself when someone opens the link, and the first open after a sleep takes a few seconds. The free plan covers one project.
Decide whether the wake-up pause bothers you#
A few seconds on the first open is fine for a portfolio, but noticeable for a site you advertise or a contact form for clients. That is when you need the Pro plan: the site never sleeps and responds at once, and gets 1 GB of memory, 0.5 of a CPU core and 5 GB of disk. Pro also lets you connect your own domains, as many as you need, each with HTTPS. It costs $4.99 a month.
Pick a billing period#
Pro is paid for a month at $4.99, three months at $13.49 or a year at $47.99. The longer the term, the cheaper the month: three months work out at $4.50 a month, a year at $4. Payment is a one-off with no automatic charges: you get an email before the term ends, and whether to renew is up to you. You can pay with a Russian card, via SBP or in cryptocurrency; prices are in dollars, and a card is charged the ruble amount at the current rate.
Count the domain separately#
A domain is the name of your site, and you buy it from a domain registrar, not from the host. The price depends on the zone and the registrar, and you pay it to the registrar directly, usually once a year. Connecting your own domain to a site on Pro costs nothing extra, and the HTTPS certificate is issued automatically. Without a domain of your own, the site works on the link the platform gives you.
Add places if you have several projects#
The plan decides how projects run, and places decide how many there are. Pro includes one project, and you can add up to two places, each one more project: for example, a site and a Telegram bot next to it. A place on Pro costs $3.99 a month. There is no second server to rent and set up for the second project.
Move to Max only when you outgrow Pro#
Max is for projects that need more than Pro offers: a store with a database, a service with noticeable traffic, an app that processes files. It comes in three sizes: S at $14.99, M at $19.99 and L at $29.99 a month. Sites on Max get an Analytics tab showing how many people came, from where and what they viewed, and up to seven places can be added. If your site runs comfortably on Pro, there is no reason to pay for Max.
Compare with your own server honestly#
Renting a VPS costs about the same as paid platform plans on paper, but you get a bare machine. From there you install the web server and the language, issue and renew the certificate, set up autostart, update the system, and figure out why the site went down at night. If your time is worth anything, the first evening of setup costs more than a year of hosting on a platform. Your own server makes sense when you need full control or already know how to run one.
The short answer: a small site can be hosted for free if it is fine with napping when there are no visitors, while a site with no pauses and your own domain costs $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year. Only the domain is paid for separately at a registrar, while HTTPS, traffic and restarts after a crash are included in the plan. Start on the free plan: you will see your site online without paying anything and can decide on Pro based on real experience. Try Netrun.
Common questions
Can I keep a website online for free permanently?
Yes. On the Netrun free plan a site has no time limit: it sleeps without visitors and wakes up on its own when someone opens the link. You only need to pay if the wake-up pause bothers you, or you need your own domain or more resources.
How much does a site on my own domain cost?
Custom domains are connected on the Pro plan, which is $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year. The domain itself is bought from a registrar, and you pay its price to the registrar directly. Connecting the domain and the HTTPS certificate cost nothing extra.
Why does my site on the free plan not open instantly?
Because without visitors it goes to sleep and frees up the server, which is what makes free hosting possible. The first open after a sleep wakes the site up, which takes a few seconds, and after that it responds as usual. On the Pro plan the site never sleeps.
Which is cheaper, a VPS or a platform?
On paper the sums are close; the difference is who does the work. On a VPS you pay for a bare machine and set up the web server, certificate, autostart and updates yourself. On a platform all of that is included, so for one or two sites it usually works out cheaper once you count your own time.
Are there hidden charges for traffic or certificates?
No. The HTTPS link is issued right away and is part of the plan, with no separate bill for traffic or certificates. The only extras are the domain at your registrar and additional places if you have more than one project: a place on Pro costs $3.99 a month.
Can I pay for hosting with a Russian card?
Yes. Prices are listed in dollars, and a Russian card or SBP is charged the ruble amount at the rate on the day of payment. You can also pay in cryptocurrency. Each payment is a one-off: you pay for the term you choose, with no automatic charges.
How much does it cost, and is there a free plan?
There is a free plan for one project. A website on it lives as long as you like: it sleeps when idle and wakes up on request. A bot or a background script runs for 3 hours — enough to see that it builds and replies — and after that it needs the Pro plan. The Pro plan is paid for once, for the term you choose — a month, three months or a year: you pay and use it until the paid term ends. Current prices are shown on the plans page in your account.
What is different about the Pro plan?
On the Pro plan your project runs around the clock: a website does not sleep and responds instantly, with no pause to wake up, while a bot or a background script keeps running with no time limit. On top of that, Pro gives more memory, CPU and disk space, and a Pro website can use your own domains — as many as you need, each with HTTPS.
What is the Max plan and who is it for?
Max is for projects that have outgrown Pro: more memory, CPU and disk. You pick the size at checkout, and there are three: Max S — 4 GB of memory · 2 vCPU · 10 GB of disk, Max M — 4 GB of memory · 4 vCPU · 15 GB of disk, Max L — 8 GB of memory · 4 vCPU · 20 GB of disk. Everything else is as on Pro: the project runs around the clock, your own domains with HTTPS, 24-hour monitoring. Websites on Max also get the Analytics tab: how many people came, where from and which pages they viewed. You can add up to seven places to the plan — each gives you one more project of the same size. Current prices are shown on the plans page in your account.