A sourced breakdown of the gap between the "from $X/mo" intro price web hosts advertise and what you actually pay when the term renews — plus which SaaS categories share the same trap.
The single most under-disclosed number in web hosting is the renewal price. The headline "$2.99/mo" almost always requires a multi-year upfront prepay, and the second term renews at a far higher rate. This page compiles the publicly reported renewal increases for the major hosts in 2026.
| Host | Intro signal | Reported renewal jump | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy | Low intro hosting + domains | Hosting ~2x; domain renewals reported 340%+ vs intro | Refund window cut 30→7 days (Feb 2025) |
| IONOS | Aggressive promo | Renewal can climb up to ~900% after promo | One email account per plan |
| HostGator | ~$2.29/mo shared | Often 3–4x (e.g. ~$2.29 → ~$10.99/mo) | 45-day money-back guarantee |
| Bluehost | Low starter rate | From ~$9.99/mo — ~150% on Starter | 30-day money-back guarantee |
| DreamHost | Month-to-month available | ~33%+ (e.g. DreamPress) | All servers US-based |
| Hostinger | from ~$2.99/mo | Renews higher; lowest price needs long prepay | Modern LiteSpeed + NVMe stack |
| SiteGround | Low intro | Renews notably higher | ~99.99% uptime advertised; free CDN |
| A2 Hosting | Turbo intro | Renews to ~$25.99/mo (top shared) | Rebranded to Hosting.com (Jan 2025) |
| GreenGeeks | Low intro | Renews higher | 300% renewable-energy match (BEF-verified) |
| Namecheap | Cheap first term | .com renews ~$13.98/yr | Best for domains, average host |
| Squarespace | Intro rate | Renews ~$25/mo; 2%/7% transaction fees on lower tiers | 0% transaction fees on Commerce |
| Wix | Low intro | Reported surprise renewal increases | Transaction fees on store sales |
| Porkbun | ~$11.08/yr | Renews at the same ~$11.08/yr | Highest-rated registrar on Trustpilot |
The outlier: Porkbun renews domains at the same price as the intro term — the exception that proves the rule.
| Category | Tool | Renewal / pricing-trap signal |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud backup | IDrive | 5TB ~$69.95 first year, renews near $99.50 |
| Cloud storage | NordLocker | Significant price jump after discounted first year |
| Forms | WPForms | Advertised price is a first-year 50% discount |
| Antivirus | McAfee | Renewal roughly triples the intro rate |
| Antivirus | Norton / AVG / Bitdefender | Renewal "substantially higher" (AVG ~$99.99 → ~$139.99) |
| Identity | LifeLock | Renewal increases roughly 30–45% over intro |
| eLearning | ThriveCart | "Lifetime" add-ons renew $295/yr from year 2 |
| VPN | NordVPN (and most) | Multi-year plan billed upfront, renews higher |
Scope: 13 web hosts/registrars plus 8 cross-category SaaS examples selected for documented intro-vs-renewal gaps. "Renewal jump" reflects the provider's publicly advertised intro term vs the reported renewal rate at compile time; percentages are approximate and change frequently. This is not a quality ranking — a high renewal price makes the advertised price misleading, not the host bad. Several hosts here perform well.