The four price models
Static hosting: often free — CDN-served files with generous or unlimited request allowances (Cloudflare, for example, charges nothing for static asset requests or egress).
Serverless/functions: pay per request and compute time, typically with millions of free requests per month; a paid tier around USD 5/month commonly includes 10M requests.
VPS: flat USD 4-10/month for small instances (2 vCPU / 4GB class), regardless of traffic — you pay the same at zero requests and at full load.
Dedicated: flat USD 40+/month for a whole machine.
Why most small projects should cost about zero
A portfolio, landing page, docs site or mostly-static app fits inside free allowances almost entirely. The common mistake is defaulting to a VPS 'to be safe' and paying flat rent for idle capacity — plus your own time as the unpaid sysadmin.
The crossover point where flat-rate machines beat per-request pricing is traffic-dependent, but it sits far higher than most people assume: tens of millions of dynamic requests per month, not thousands.
Estimate it instead of guessing
The cost of a project is a function of its architecture and its usage — both measurable. SimDeploy computes exactly this: it analyzes your repo, prices every compatible architecture from provider price tables (free allowances included) and shows the monthly projection before any deploy. Estimates are labeled as estimates; the real bill only ever comes from your plan.
FAQ
How much does it cost to host a website per month?
A static or mostly-static site: usually USD 0 within free allowances. A dynamic app on serverless: commonly USD 0-5/month at small scale. A small VPS: USD 4-10/month flat. A dedicated server: USD 40+/month.
Are hosting cost estimates reliable?
They are projections from price tables and usage assumptions — useful for choosing an architecture, not invoices. Always check the free allowances; they dominate the math at small scale.