How Much a Website Costs per Year to Run in SA

You have a quote for building the site. The next question is what it costs to keep it running. How much does a website cost per year in South Africa? For a simple site, the main costs are a .co.za domain, listed from R109 a year at one registrar ^[2], and starter hosting, listed from R99 a month at one host ^[4], checked on 4 October 2026. A business site with professional upkeep and email is several thousand Rand a year. SEO retainers and adverts are marketing, not running costs, and should be budgeted separately.

Here are the recurring costs that actually apply, with current Rand figures and where people over- or under-budget.

What makes up a website's yearly running cost

Once a site is built, only a handful of things recur:

• Domain renewal: the yearly fee to keep your address, such as yourbusiness.co.za.
• Hosting: the server or service that keeps the site online.
• Business email, if you want addresses on your own domain.
• Maintenance: updates, backups, security and small fixes, either your time or a paid plan.

Keep these separate from the build. A build is a one-off project. Running costs are what you pay every year whether or not anything changes. If you are still comparing build quotes, I break down what a mid-range budget buys in what R9,500 actually buys you.

One more thing that affects yearly cost without showing on any invoice: who holds the accounts. In my experience, the expensive surprises come when a domain or hosting account is registered in a developer's or former employee's name, the renewal reminder goes to an inbox nobody reads, and the site goes offline. Recovering a lapsed or wrongly registered domain costs far more time and money than the renewal ever would.

So when you budget, also note where each account lives, whose card pays for it, and when it renews. A one-page list with the registrar, host, email provider and renewal dates is worth more than any discount on hosting.

What hosting and a domain really cost in South Africa

A .co.za is the cheap local default. One South African registrar lists .co.za at R109 to register and R109 a year to renew, with WHOIS privacy included free, and .com at R299 to register, renewing at about R350 ^[2]. Notice the trap: .co.za stays flat, while .com steps up after the first year ^[2]. Some registrars also charge R50 to R100 a year each for extras such as WHOIS privacy, DNS management and SSL ^[2], so read the renewal line, not the first-year price.

Shared hosting, where your site shares a server with others, is billed in Rand by local hosts. One 2026 review lists HostAfrica from R99 a month for its starter plan, R139 for basic and R245 for its Power plan, with a free .co.za domain and SSL on qualifying plans ^[4]. Prices checked on 4 October 2026.

Static sites can cost far less. A static site is a set of ready-made files served from storage, with no server running code for each visit. I explain how that works for the TC Energy site, and why it keeps hosting costs low, in how I built the TC Energy website. A static front end can still connect to separate services for forms or bookings, but a typical WordPress site or online store needs hosting that runs PHP and a database, which is why shared hosting plans like those above are the usual starting point.

The costs people wrongly budget for, and the one they forget

• SSL is usually free. The padlock certificate does not need to be a yearly line item: anyone who owns a domain can get a trusted certificate from Let's Encrypt at zero cost ^[6], and many local hosts include SSL on their plans ^[4].
• Business email is the forgotten one. Google Workspace Business Starter, which includes custom business email, is listed on Google's South African page at EUR 6.80 per user per month after an introductory rate, excluding tax ^[5]. That is per person, every month. I compare cheaper options in how to create a business email.
• VAT. VAT is levied at 15% on supplies by registered vendors ^[7], and some hosts and registrars quote prices excluding it. Where a supplier is VAT-registered and its price excludes VAT, add 15% before you compare.

Also watch for the year-two cliff. Many builders bundle the first year of hosting and a domain into the build price ^[3], so the real running cost only shows up when the renewal invoice arrives.

A realistic annual picture: two scenarios

Using the published prices above, as listed by each provider:

• Lean brochure site, maintained yourself: a .co.za at R109 a year ^[2] plus starter shared hosting at R99 a month ^[4], each as listed by the provider. Neither source states whether its price includes VAT, so confirm that with each before adding them up. Add email if you need it.
• Business site with professional upkeep: one South African agency puts hosting at R1,068 to R5,988 a year and maintenance and security at R3,600 to R18,000 a year ^[1]. Another offers care plans covering hosting, updates, backups and small changes from R350 a month ^[3].

Some cost guides add SEO retainers and Google Ads spend into a first-year total ^[1]. Those can be worth doing, but they are marketing. They are not what it costs to keep the site alive, and mixing them in makes a simple site look far more expensive than it is.

What upkeep should actually cover is in what website maintenance includes. For online stores, add hosting sized for checkouts and payment fees on every sale, which I cover in my guide to online store costs.

“Ask for two numbers on every quote: what it costs to build, and what it costs every year after that.”

What to do next

• Ask any provider to list the yearly running costs separately from the build price.
• Check what renews after year one, especially if hosting and a domain were bundled free.
• Confirm SSL is included at no cost, and question any yearly SSL fee.
• Decide whether you will maintain the site yourself or pay for a plan, and get the plan's scope in writing.
• Where a VAT-registered supplier quotes prices excluding VAT, add 15% before comparing.

If you want the build and running costs laid out plainly before you commit, get in touch and I will walk through what your site actually needs.