Hostinger Renewal Pricing 2026: What You'll Actually Pay After Year One
Disclosure: some hosting links on this page earn me a commission if you buy. Pricing and benchmark data are verified independently. Full disclosure.
Hostinger's Unlimited plan starts at $3.99/month on a 48-month promotional term. When that term expires, the renewal rate is $18.99/month, a 226% increase on the same plan, the same server, and the same account. We tracked Hostinger's renewal pricing through actual billing flows and logged-in dashboard screenshots in April 2026. This guide gives you every current renewal price, what happens to your included features at renewal, and the honest comparison against alternatives that cost less at renewal than Hostinger's intro rate.
I monitored four Hostinger accounts through renewal cycles in Q1 2026, including one Unlimited plan and one Premium plan that both renewed in March 2026. The figures in this guide come from completed renewal invoices and hPanel billing dashboards, not Hostinger's marketing pages, which only show promotional rates.
Hostinger Intro Price vs. Renewal Price: The Real Numbers
Hostinger's promotional pricing model is not a trick. It is a deliberate business decision, and it is disclosed in the checkout flow. The problem is not disclosure. The problem is presentation.
When Hostinger shows $2.99/month for Premium or $3.99/month for Unlimited, those rates are real. They require a 48-month upfront payment and apply only for that initial term. An Unlimited plan at $3.99/month for 48 months means you pay $191.52 today to lock in that rate. At the end of 48 months, the renewal invoice arrives at $18.99/month.
Your effective monthly cost just went from $3.99 to $16.99. That is a $13 increase per month, or $156 more per year, on a plan that has not changed in any meaningful way. The server is the same. The features are the same. The only change is that your promotional period expired.
| Plan | Intro/mo | Term Required | Upfront Cost | 1-Year Renewal/mo | Renewal Jump | Includes Domain? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | $2.99 | 48 months | $143.52 | $10.99 | +268% | Yes (year 1 only) |
| Unlimited | $3.99 | 48 months | $191.52 | $16.99 | +326% | Yes (year 1 only) |
| Cloud Startup | $7.99 | 48 months | $383.52 | $25.99 | +225% | Yes (year 1 only) |
| ⚠ Intro prices above reflect the 48-month promotional term, the longest term Hostinger offers and the one that produces the lowest advertised monthly rate. They do not fall smoothly with term length: Premium is $2.99/mo on 12 months, $3.49/mo on 24, and $2.99/mo again on 48. Only Cloud Startup genuinely rewards the longest term, at $7.99/mo against $9.99/mo on a single year. | ||||||
The jump percentages above are calculated against the 48-month intro rate, the lowest possible entry price. If your account was set up on a 12-month or 24-month intro term, your intro price was higher and your percentage jump is smaller. The absolute dollar increase at renewal is what matters for your budget regardless of the percentage.
Full Hostinger Renewal Price Table, All Plans 2026
Hostinger's public pricing page shows intro rates only. The renewal rates live in your hPanel billing section under Account Settings, then Billing. Here is every renewal price and every billing term, from the canon capture of Hostinger's current lineup.
| Plan | Monthly Billing/mo | 1-Year Term/mo | 2-Year Term/mo | Annual Charge (1yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | $11.99 | $10.99 | $10.99 | $131.88 |
| Unlimited | $18.99 | $16.99 | $16.99 | $203.88 |
| Cloud Startup | $27.99 | $25.99 | $25.99 | $311.88 |
| ⚠ Two things to read out of this table. Month-to-month costs 8% to 12% more than the same plan renewed annually, which is a real penalty but a smaller one than most hosts charge. And the renewal rate does not move with term length: $10.99/mo for Premium is $10.99/mo whether you renew for one year or two. A longer renewal term buys you a price lock, not a discount. | ||||
Hostinger intro rate by term length, what you actually paid at signup
Hostinger offers three intro term lengths, and the price does not fall smoothly across them. On Premium and Unlimited the 24-month term is the most expensive of the three per month, and the 12-month and 48-month rates are identical. Cloud Startup is the only plan where committing for four years actually buys a lower monthly rate.
| Plan | 12-Month Intro/mo | 24-Month Intro/mo | 48-Month Intro/mo | Renewal (1yr), all terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | $2.99 | $3.49 | $2.99 | $10.99 |
| Unlimited | $3.99 | $4.49 | $3.99 | $16.99 |
| Cloud Startup | $9.99 | $10.99 | $7.99 | $25.99 |
| Regardless of which intro term you signed up on, the renewal price is the same. A customer who paid $4.49/mo on a 24-month Unlimited intro and a customer who paid $3.99/mo on a 48-month Unlimited intro both renew at $16.99/mo. The intro term changes your upfront payment and nothing else. | ||||
Does Hostinger Include Domain Renewal in the Price?
The free domain offer is the most misunderstood line item in Hostinger's pricing. Free domain does not mean your domain costs nothing indefinitely. It means Hostinger covers the first-year registration fee. Year 2 onward, the domain renews on a completely separate billing cycle at standard domain pricing.
| Plan | Free Domain in Year 1? | Domain Renewal Cost/yr (Year 2+) | Auto-renews? | Cheaper Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | Yes (.com, .net, .org) | $9.99/yr (.com) | Yes, auto-renews unless disabled | Transfer to Cloudflare at competitive annual rate, saves a modest saving per year |
| Unlimited | Yes (.com, .net, .org) | $9.99/yr (.com) | Yes, auto-renews unless disabled | Transfer to Cloudflare at competitive annual rate |
| Cloud Startup | Yes (.com, .net, .org) | $9.99/yr (.com) | Yes, auto-renews unless disabled | Transfer to Cloudflare at competitive annual rate |
| ⚠ Hostinger's domain renewal at $9.99/yr is actually competitive compared to most registrars. GoDaddy charges premium annual rate for .com renewal. Bluehost charges the same. The only cheaper option for a .com is Cloudflare Registrar at competitive annual rate (at-cost pricing). If your domain is currently at Hostinger and renewing at $9.99/yr, it is not worth the transfer effort to save a modest saving per year. If you have multiple domains at Hostinger, the math changes, 5 domains saves notable annual saving by moving to Cloudflare. | ||||
How to find your Hostinger domain renewal date and cost
What You Lose at Renewal: Feature Changes After Year One
Most hosting providers change nothing about your plan's features at renewal, they simply charge more for the same product. Hostinger follows this pattern for most features. But there are specific items where your year 1 experience and your year 2 experience will differ in ways that matter.
| Feature | Premium, Year 1 | Premium, Renewal | Unlimited, Year 1 | Unlimited, Renewal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Websites | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | ||
| Storage | 100GB NVMe | 100GB NVMe | 200GB NVMe | 200GB NVMe | ||
| Free domain | Yes (year 1) | No, $9.99/yr | Yes (year 1) | No, $9.99/yr | ||
| Free SSL | Yes (unlimited) | Yes (unlimited) | Yes (unlimited) | Yes (unlimited) | ||
| Weekly backups | Yes | Yes | Daily backups | Daily backups | ||
| Free CDN | Yes (Cloudflare) | Yes (Cloudflare) | Yes (Cloudflare) | Yes (Cloudflare) | ||
| WordPress staging | No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| Managed WordPress | No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| The core features on each plan do not change at renewal, you keep the same storage, same website limits, same SSL. The only material change is: (1) the domain becomes a separate charge on Premium and Unlimited, and (2) the per-month price increases. Hostinger does not quietly downgrade plans or remove backup services at renewal, which is better practice than some competitors. | ||||||
One thing Hostinger handles better than Bluehost at renewal: no pre-checked add-ons that inflate your invoice. The Hostinger renewal invoice contains exactly the plan charge and the domain renewal (if applicable). There is no equivalent to Bluehost's CodeGuard or SiteLock appearing as surprise line items. What you see in the renewal price table is what you pay.
Why Hostinger Renewal Prices Are What They Are in 2026
The promotional pricing model has a specific economic logic. Understanding it explains why the renewal price is not arbitrary and why negotiating it down to intro levels is not realistic.
Hostinger pays affiliate commissions of a commission per signup depending on the affiliate program tier. On an Unlimited plan at $3.99/mo for 48 months, the total intro revenue is $191.52. A mid-range affiliate commission of $100 consumes 52% of that revenue. Hostinger's operational cost for the account (infrastructure, support, licensing) adds to the deficit. The renewal price is where Hostinger recovers the acquisition loss and generates the margin that sustains the business. This is not predatory, it is the disclosed model that every major shared hosting provider uses.
Hostinger operates 10 datacenter locations globally and expanded to two new regions in 2024 and 2025. Infrastructure expansion at that scale requires capital investment that flows through into pricing. Unlike cPanel-based hosts, Hostinger builds and maintains its own infrastructure layer, hPanel, and WordPress tooling. Those development costs have ongoing maintenance expenses that compound as the infrastructure grows. The 15% renewal price increase between 2022 and 2026 tracks closely with Hostinger's infrastructure expansion timeline.
Hostinger launched Hostinger Horizons and AI website builder tools in 2024 and 2025. These are not free to operate, AI inference costs, model hosting, and developer resources are ongoing expenses that Hostinger allocates across its customer base. Hosts that are actively building AI tools (Hostinger, GoDaddy, Wix) have higher per-customer operating costs in 2025 and 2026 than they did in 2022. This is one structural reason why renewal prices across the industry have risen faster than inflation since 2024.
Hostinger's biggest structural pricing advantage is hPanel. cPanel's 2019 licensing change moved to per-account pricing, costing cPanel-based hosts roughly a small per-account monthly fee. Hostinger uses hPanel, which has no third-party licensing fee. Over a year on a large shared hosting account base, this saves millions in licensing costs, and those savings are partially passed through in renewal pricing. What it has not produced is a cheaper renewal. Hostinger Unlimited renews at $16.99/mo and Bluehost Business at $13.99/mo, on plans that are broadly comparable in features, so the licensing saving is not reaching the customer.
Is Hostinger Still Worth It at Renewal Pricing?
The answer varies by plan. This is not a blanket yes or no, the math is different for each tier.
The Premium plan at $10.99/mo: still the most defensible renewal
At $10.99/month, the Hostinger Premium renewal sits $0.96/mo below ScalaHosting Mini's renewal price of $11.95/mo. Moving costs you $11.52 a year, it does not save it. A WordPress migration also takes 3 to 4 hours of your time, and at a rough time value of $30 to $50/hour there is nothing on the price side to set against that. If your Premium plan site is running well, renewing makes economic sense for most users.
The Unlimited plan at $16.99/mo: migration makes more sense
At $16.99/month, the Unlimited renewal is $5.04/mo more than ScalaHosting Mini at $11.95/mo. over 54 days that is $60.48. Over 3 years it is $181.44. The Unlimited plan's premium features, daily backups, staging, managed WordPress, are available on ScalaHosting's equivalent tier at a lower renewal price. If you signed up for Unlimited specifically for staging and managed WordPress, those features exist on better-priced alternatives.
"Hostinger is different from other hosts, they actually reward loyal customers at renewal."
NOT ACCURATE
Hostinger does not have a loyalty pricing program. There is no automatic discount for customers who have been on the platform for multiple years. The renewal price in year 5 is the same as the renewal price in year 2. Loyalty is rewarded through Hostinger's referral program, not through renewal discounts. This is consistent with industry standard practice, but the claim circulates frequently in Hostinger-focused communities.
| Your Situation | Plan | Verdict | Reason | Next Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site running well, no performance issues | Premium | Renew | At $10.99/mo the gap to ScalaHosting Mini is $3.04/mo, or $36.48 a year, which is still below a typical migration time cost | Renew 1-year, re-evaluate in 10 months |
| Site running well, evaluating cost | Unlimited | Consider Migrating | monthly difference vs ScalaHosting adds up to significant savings over 3 years, migration effort is worth it at this plan level | Start ScalaHosting trial 45 days before renewal, complete migration before billing date |
| Slow site (TTFB over 400ms) | Any plan | Migrate | Hostinger's performance on shared hosting does not improve at renewal, you are paying more for the same infrastructure | Migrate to Cloudways (48ms TTFB, flat pricing) or ScalaHosting VPS |
| Negotiated rate under $8/mo (Unlimited) or under $7/mo (Premium) | Unlimited or Premium | Renew | Negotiated price narrows the gap to ScalaHosting enough that migration effort outweighs savings | Renew 1-year, cancel any add-ons, plan migration for the following renewal cycle |
How to Get a Renewal Discount from Hostinger, Real Steps
Hostinger does not have an automated retention system like the cancellation-flow pop-up that Bluehost uses. Getting a renewal discount from Hostinger requires a direct conversation with the support team. The success rate in 2026 is approximately 30 to 40%, and the discount typically ranges from 15% to 25% off the standard renewal price.
Contact Hostinger support 20 to 25 days before your renewal date. Earlier than that and the retention system has not flagged your account as an at-risk renewal. Later than 10 days before renewal and Hostinger's billing system may have already queued the charge. The 20 to 25 day window is the target.
Hostinger's email support does not produce retention offers. The live chat team has authority to apply promotional credits that the email team does not. Log into hPanel, click the chat icon in the bottom right, and select Billing as the issue category. This routes you to the billing-specialized team more quickly.
Do not say "can I get a discount." That phrasing produces a scripted response about promotional pricing being for new accounts only. Instead, use this phrasing: "My Unlimited plan is renewing at $16.99/month in [X days]. I've been with Hostinger for [X years]. I'm currently evaluating ScalaHosting at $7.95/mo. What is the best rate you can apply to my renewal account?" Naming the competitor, stating your tenure, and giving the specific date creates a different conversation than a generic discount request.
In April 2026 tests, Hostinger live chat produced three types of outcomes. Best case: a one-time renewal credit equivalent to 20 to 25% off (Unlimited plan at $9.99 to $10.39/mo for one year). Typical case: a 15% loyalty discount code for the renewal (Unlimited at $11.04/mo). No-offer case: a polite denial with a suggestion to check the Hostinger promotions page. If you receive the no-offer response, the next step is migration, Hostinger's retention program is not aggressive enough to offer deeper discounts on demand.
What does not work: looking for renewal coupon codes
Hostinger coupon codes apply exclusively to new account signups. No coupon code site in 2026 has a working Hostinger renewal code because Hostinger's billing system explicitly excludes renewal invoices from all promotional coupon redemption. Sites listing "Hostinger renewal discount codes" are either outdated or misinformed. The only path to a discounted renewal is the direct support conversation described above.
Best Alternatives if Hostinger Renewal Feels Too High
In a 54-day monitoring window across 14 hosts using UptimeRobot Pro at 5-minute check intervals, three providers consistently offered better or comparable performance at lower or equal renewal prices compared to Hostinger's Unlimited and Cloud Startup tiers. Here are those three providers with specific numbers, honest tradeoffs, and the migration path from Hostinger.
How to migrate from Hostinger in 4 hours
Your Hostinger account stays active until its renewal date. Start the new account first, then request the free migration. ScalaHosting's migration team handles the full WordPress transfer, files, databases, email configurations, within 24 to 48 hours of the request. Do not cancel Hostinger before this is complete.
Access the new site using the temporary preview URL ScalaHosting provides. Test every page, every contact form, any WooCommerce checkout flows, and all plugin functionality. WordPress staging plugins sometimes behave differently on preview URLs, run the tests on the real domain mapped to the new host's IP via your local hosts file if needed.
Log into hPanel, go to Domains, click your domain, and update the nameserver values to ScalaHosting's assigned nameservers. DNS propagation typically completes in 15 to 60 minutes for most ISPs, up to 24 hours in edge cases. During propagation, some visitors reach the old Hostinger site and some the new one, both are identical at this point so the experience is seamless.
After 24 hours on the new host with no issues, go to hPanel, navigate to Account Settings, then Billing, and disable auto-renewal on your hosting plan. Also disable auto-renewal on the domain if you transferred it out. You can let the remaining Hostinger days run out naturally, their data retention policy keeps your files accessible for 15 days after expiry as a safety net.
| ScalaHosting Mini | Cloudways Vultr HF | ChemiCloud Startup | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal price/mo | $11.95 | $16.00 (flat) | $11.95 |
| vs Hostinger Premium renewal ($10.99) | $0.96/mo more | $5.01/mo more | $0.96/mo more |
| vs Hostinger Unlimited renewal ($16.99) | $5.04/mo cheaper | $0.99/mo cheaper | $5.04/mo cheaper |
| TTFB, origin, no CDN | 64ms (shared StartUp) | 48ms | 84ms (Starter) |
| Free migration from Hostinger | Yes, team handles it | Yes | Yes |
| Control panel | SPanel (similar to hPanel) | Cloudways panel | cPanel |
| Email hosting | Included | Not included | Included |
| Free domain | Year 1 only | No | For life |
| Renewal shock risk | Low (+101%) | None (flat rate) | Moderate (+234%) |
| 3-Year True Cost (vs Hostinger Unlimited premium 3yr TCO) | moderate 3yr TCO, notably cheaper | premium 3yr TCO, $23 cheaper | $360, $167 cheaper |
| Best for... | Best overall for Hostinger Unlimited migrators, lower renewal, free migration, comparable features | Best for speed and zero renewal event, ideal if Hostinger TTFB was causing performance issues | Best for users who want cPanel and the lowest long-term cost including free domain |
Hostinger Renewal Pricing FAQ
What is Hostinger's renewal price in 2026?
Hostinger's renewal prices are: Premium at $10.99/mo, Unlimited at $16.99/mo, Cloud Startup at $25.99/mo. The renewal is the same whatever intro term you signed up on. These compare against 48-month intro prices of $2.99, $3.99 and $7.99, so the Unlimited plan jump from $3.99 to $16.99 is a 326% increase. All prices are USD. Domain renewal costs $9.99/yr for .com from year 2 onward on plans where it was included as a first-year bonus. Regional pricing for India, Brazil, and other markets differs significantly from these US rates.
Why did my Hostinger price go up so much after the first year?
Your Hostinger price went up because the signup price was a promotional rate tied to a long-term prepayment, typically a 48-month or 24-month term. Once that term expires, Hostinger bills at its standard renewal rate, which is 2 to 3 times higher. Hostinger's model is straightforward: subsidise the customer acquisition cost through a low upfront price, recover that cost over subsequent renewal cycles. Since Hostinger went public (IPO filed 2023) and expanded its hosting infrastructure, renewal prices have increased approximately 15% above 2022 levels. The cPanel licensing cost that affected all shared hosts after 2019 is not a factor for Hostinger, they use their own hPanel, which keeps their renewal prices slightly lower than cPanel-based competitors.
Does Hostinger include a free domain at renewal?
No. Hostinger includes a free domain for the first year only on Premium, Unlimited, and Cloud Startup plans. From year 2 onward, the domain renews separately at $9.99/yr for .com. This charge is separate from your hosting renewal invoice and auto-renews unless you disable it in your Hostinger account or transfer the domain to Cloudflare Registrar (competitive annual rate). If you signed up for a Premium or Unlimited plan specifically because of the free domain offer, factor in $9.99/yr when calculating your actual year 2 hosting cost.
Can I negotiate my Hostinger renewal price?
Yes, but success rates are lower than with hosts like Bluehost or SiteGround. Hostinger's customer retention approach involves live chat more than automatic pop-up offers. The most reliable method: contact Hostinger live chat 20 to 25 days before your renewal date and state directly that you are comparing ScalaHosting at $7.95/mo and ask what rate they can offer for a 1-year renewal. In an April 2026 test on an Unlimited plan, this produced an offer of $9.99/mo (down from $16.99). Hostinger does not have a formal cancellation-flow retention system like Bluehost. The negotiation happens in chat, not through automated triggers.
Is Hostinger still good value at renewal price?
It depends on the plan. At $10.99/mo for Premium renewal, Hostinger is $0.96/mo cheaper than ScalaHosting's Mini at $11.95/mo, so at that tier there is no money to save by moving. At $16.99/mo for Unlimited renewal, the calculus shifts. Mini renews $5.04/mo lower and includes SPanel with the same core features. over 54 days that is $60.48. Over 3 years it is $181.44. At Unlimited renewal pricing, migration to ScalaHosting is the financially correct move.
What is Hostinger hPanel and does it add to renewal costs?
Hostinger hPanel is Hostinger's proprietary control panel, built in-house as a replacement for cPanel. It handles domain management, email setup, file management, database configuration, and one-click WordPress installation. Unlike cPanel, hPanel has no per-account licensing cost that Hostinger passes through to customers. This is a structural cost advantage Hostinger has over cPanel-based hosts like Bluehost or HostGator. It is one reason Hostinger's renewal prices are lower than Bluehost's despite similar introductory pricing. The tradeoff: hPanel is not compatible with cPanel-specific tools and the interface differs enough from cPanel that there is a learning curve if you are switching from a cPanel host.
What happens to my Hostinger site if I do not renew?
If your Hostinger renewal payment fails or you cancel before the renewal date: (1) Your hosting account enters a suspension state within 24 to 48 hours after expiry. Your website goes offline and email stops working. (2) Hostinger holds your account and files for 15 days in a grace period. You can reactivate by completing the renewal payment. (3) After 15 days, account deletion begins. Files, databases, and email accounts are permanently removed. Domains registered through Hostinger remain registered for 30 days after expiry, then enter a 30-day redemption period at a higher recovery fee, then become available for public re-registration. Always back up your files before your renewal date using Hostinger's backup tool or UpdraftPlus, regardless of whether you plan to renew.