A car that skips its service still drives fine for months. You find out what the skipped service cost on the side of the motorway, when the tow, the rush repair and the lost day all arrive at once.
Cheap hosting is the same deal. The plan pays for the car, not the servicing, and most people only move when something breaks.
A Few Months Left on the Plan
In June 2025 an agency we host for finished a new website for a client. The client asked for it to go live on her existing budget host instead, because she still had a few months paid up there. The agency planned to move it across once the term ran out.
In January it was still there. She runs several sites on one multi-site plan, and her agency’s view was that she would not move “unless she has technical issues”.
Six Days Offline
In May another agency asked us for a fresh WordPress install for a new client. The client’s site had been down at its budget host since the first of the month. The request came in at 11:27 on 7 May. By 14:48 the nameservers were ready, by 16:06 the logins were set up, and by about 18:20 the site was restored from a backup and running.
We do not know why the site went down at the old host. The move worked because a backup existed and we could restore it the same afternoon. Without the backup, it would have been a rebuild. The client changed host with the site already down, after six days offline.
What the Price Pays For
Entry-level hosting prices are low partly because they are paid in advance. Two examples, checked on 1 October 2026:
- SiteGround Australia, StartUp plan: AU$4.99 a month (excluding GST) for the first year, paid upfront. On renewal the same plan is AU$26.99 a month. Backups are included from the next plan up, GrowBig.
- Hostinger Australia, Premium plan: A$4.39 a month, which needs 48 months paid upfront (A$210.72). It renews at A$15.89 a month and includes weekly backups.
At A$210.72 for 48 months upfront, a site owner who leaves after one year has already paid for three years they will not use. The client in June 2025 stayed on her host for the same kind of reason, with a few months still paid up.
What the Servicing Has to Include
- Monitoring that does not depend on a customer. Across the sites we host, every site is checked every minute. Over the last year the median site was available 99.94% of the time, which is about five hours of downtime a year.
- Backups that have been restored. How we test restores is in Backups Must Be Automated, Frequent, Off-Site, and Tested.
- A person who can act on the alert. Our monitoring runs around the clock. Human response is generally available from 6am to 10pm NZT, and urgent alerts are handled first. We do not run a call centre.
Three Questions to Ask Any Host
Ask what the servicing covers before you need it. Three questions for any host, whatever the price:
- Who notices when the site is down? A system, a person, or your customers?
- When was a restore last tested? Not when the last backup ran.
- What does the plan cost in year two? And how many years do you have to pay upfront to get the headline price?
If you are not sure how your current host answers those questions, I am happy to take a look.
