What it costs to keep a small‑business website running in Canada

Run your site yourself on a website builder and Squarespace Basic costs CAD 252 for the year, paid yearly, with the web address included in year one. On self-hosted WordPress, shared hosting runs from CAD 4.99 to CAD 29.99 a month, and a .ca web address renews at CAD 12.99 to CAD 31.00 a year. If someone else looks after it, care plans at Canadian firms that print their price in CAD run from CAD 30 a month for hosting with no edits, or CAD 59 with up to two edits, to CAD 2,000 a month. We read every price as a Canadian visitor on 9 November 2026. Sales tax for your province goes on top. Budget for the renewal price, because that is the one you pay from year two.

By Renie Ravin, co-founder of InkySites. Updated 9 November 2026. Every price on this page was read on the company's own page, as a visitor in Canada sees it, on 9 November 2026. This is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Having a site built rather than running one? Read what a small-business website costs to build in Canada.

What each line of your website bill costs

Your yearly bill has a handful of lines: hosting, your web address, business email, a security certificate, and any care plan or paid plugins. The table below gives a low, a middle and a high published price for each, with its source. On a builder such as Wix or Squarespace, the plan replaces your hosting line. If you sell online, a fee comes off every sale. Budget for each renewal price.

What you pay for Published prices in Canada, low to high
Web address (.ca)every year Low: CanSpace CAD 11.99 the first year, CAD 12.99 to renew. Middle: Namespro CAD 15.68 a year to register or renew, plus 5% GST. High: Webnames CAD 31.00 a year at its standard price; GoDaddy Canada CAD 21.99 each year after a CAD 0.01 first year on a required three-year purchase.
Web address (.com)every year Low: CanSpace CAD 19.99 the first year, CAD 20.99 to renew. Middle: Namespro CAD 22.32 a year. High: Webnames CAD 56.75 a year; GoDaddy Canada CAD 32.99 each year after the first.
Shared hostinga monthly figure, often prepaid for 1 to 3 years Low: CanSpace Starter CAD 4.99 a month, the same at renewal. Middle: Bluehost Canada Starter renews at CAD 8.49; HostPapa Web Hosting Essentials renews at CAD 10.99 on one year. High: HostPapa Web Hosting Elite renews at CAD 29.99 on one year.
Managed WordPress hostingmonthly or yearly Low: HostPapa Managed WordPress Core CAD 21.95 a month at renewal. Middle: Canadian Web Hosting from CAD 29 a month. High: WP Engine Essential CAD 36.00 a month for the first year, billed annually, shown in CAD only when you pick it; WP Engine says "Product renewal pricing subject to change."
Or a website builder, in place of hostingmonthly or yearly Low: GoDaddy Airo Starter CAD 12.99 a month, billed annually. Middle: Wix Light and Squarespace Basic, CAD 21 a month each, paid yearly (Squarespace Basic is CAD 30 paid monthly). High, for a shop: Shopify Basic CAD 44 a month paid yearly, CAD 49 monthly.
Security certificate (SSL)every year Low: free from Let's Encrypt, and included with hosting at CanSpace and Web Hosting Canada. Middle: HostPapa CAD 49.99 a year at renewal. High: Webnames CAD 167.33 a year (GeoTrust Quick SSL Premium).
Business emailevery month, per person Low: Zoho Mail Lite CAD 1.25 a month, billed yearly only. Middle: Google Workspace Business Starter CAD 9.20 a month on the annual plan (Google's help page; its Canadian pricing page shows US dollars); Microsoft 365 Business Basic CAD 9.50 a month paid yearly. High: Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot, CAD 43.40 a month paid yearly.
Care planevery month Low: DJ Creative Hosting Only (Toronto) CAD 30 a month plus HST, no edits; Velogics Hosting & Care (Ottawa) CAD 59 a month, up to two content edits. Middle: Idea Marketing Basic (Vancouver) CAD 159 a month plus GST billed yearly, one hour of work a month, hosting not included. High: Reddogdesigns Priority (Vancouver) CAD 2,000 a month, 16 hours.
A change outside your planby the hour Low: Metro Vancouver IT CAD 90 an hour. Middle: DJ Creative CAD 100 an hour in 15-minute blocks. High: Idea Marketing CAD 115 an hour for plan members.
Paid WordPress licencesevery year, if your site uses them WooCommerce Subscriptions CAD 394 a year. Many other plugin sellers show US dollars or a dollar sign with no currency, and WPForms says "all renewals are at full price".
Payment fees, if you sell onlineon every card sale Low: Shopify Payments 2.8% + 30¢ CAD on Basic. Middle: Stripe 2.9% + CAD 0.30 per domestic card; PayPal 2.90% + CAD 0.30; Square 2.8% + 30¢, plus 1.5% on cards issued outside Canada. High: Shopify Basic adds 2% a sale when you use another payment provider, on top of that provider's own fee.
Sales taxon each bill Low: GST 5% in Alberta and the territories. Middle: HST 13% in Ontario. High: HST 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island; 14% in Nova Scotia; GST 5% plus QST 9.975% in Quebec (Canada Revenue Agency).

Every figure as its provider published it on 9 November 2026, read from Canada, in the currency the page showed. Prices are before tax: no page we read included it. Nothing is converted or averaged.

Why your second year costs more

HostPapa Web Hosting Essentials is CAD 1.25 a month on a three-year term. HostPapa's own renewal page lists the same plan at CAD 8.99 a month on a three-year renewal, more than seven times the first price. Bluehost's Canadian Starter plan goes from CAD 2.99 to CAD 8.49 a month, almost three times as much. The low first figure needs three years paid upfront at both. It is the total divided by the months, so you pay it all at once. CanSpace and Canadian Web Hosting say their renewal price does not jump. Web addresses jump too: GoDaddy Canada's .ca is CAD 0.01 for year one with a three-year purchase, then CAD 21.99 a year. Read the renewal line before you pay, and you budget for the price you will keep paying.

Which dollar your website bill is in

Some prices a Canadian sees are in US dollars. Google's Canadian Workspace pricing page says "All prices $USD", and its CAD prices sit on a separate help page. Hover, a Toronto registrar, prices its .ca at US$16.99 a year. Kinsta's prices "are in USD." CanSpace says "Every plan and invoice is billed in CAD." Only 9 of the 22 Canadian care-plan firms we checked print CAD on the plan. Ask which currency you will be billed in, and the number you budget is the one on your card.

What your care plan includes and bills extra

Many care plans include no changes at all. Pearl White Media in Montreal says "Website content changes are not included." Where changes are included, they are counted by the minute or the hour. DJ Creative's Essential plan, CAD 49 a month, gives 30 minutes of edits. At three firms, unused time does not roll over. WP Expert in Ottawa lists unlimited updates, but each task must take less than 30 minutes. Changes outside a plan cost CAD 90 to CAD 115 an hour at three Canadian firms. Reddogdesigns renews its three-month terms automatically, with no refunds for the current period. Now you can ask your provider how many changes you get, what happens to unused time, and what an extra hour costs.

If your site is hacked or breaks, who pays to fix it?

Some plans leave a hacked site out. DJ Creative in Toronto charges CAD 250 for malware cleanup on its CAD 30 and CAD 49 plans. Idea Marketing in Vancouver does not cover "Cleanup of a site that is already hacked when you join." Velogics in Ottawa will not "Undo a compromise that already happened before we had access". Other firms include cleanup. Ask yours: "If my site is hacked, or breaks after an update, is fixing it in my plan? And what if it was already broken when I joined?" Then you know the cost first.

Sales tax on your website bill, by province

No price page we read included tax, so it goes on top. Your rate runs from GST 5% in Alberta and the territories to HST 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island (Canada Revenue Agency). Quebec adds QST 9.975% to GST (Revenu Québec). BC and Manitoba add PST 7%, Saskatchewan 6%. In BC, hosting is taxable and domain registration is not. Manitoba taxes hosting from January 1, 2026, so a bundled invoice can be taxed differently. Saskatchewan taxes hosting and maintenance. A freelancer under CAD 30,000 in taxable sales may not charge GST/HST. This is general guidance, not tax advice, and an accountant can tell you what applies to your business.

What makes your website bill go up or down

  • Your province. Sales tax adds 5% to 15% on top, so the same plan costs more in some provinces.
  • The currency. Some lines arrive in US dollars, so two prices with a dollar sign may not be in the same dollar.
  • Builder or WordPress. A builder plan replaces your hosting line, while WordPress can add plugin licences that renew yearly, such as WooCommerce Subscriptions at CAD 394 a year.
  • Your hosting term. The low first price needs years paid upfront, and the renewal price is what you pay after.
  • How many changes you ask for. Care plans count edits by the minute or the hour, and extra time is billed by the hour.
  • Selling online. Card fees of about 2.8% to 2.9% plus 30 cents come off every sale, so a shop's bill moves every month.

Traps to look for on your website bill

  • The one-cent web address. GoDaddy Canada's .ca is CAD 0.01 for year one with a three-year purchase, then CAD 21.99 a year.
  • Your address or logins in someone else's hands. One Quebec agency names the client owner but keeps the administrator logins (Graphica, Brossard), so ask whose name it is in and who holds the logins.
  • Free, paid another way. Square Online's free plan has "No monthly fees" and charges 2.8% + 30¢ per transaction, and a custom web address needs a paid plan.
  • Lock-in. Wix's help page says your site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers", and Squarespace's says some content does not export.
  • A "Toronto" page from somewhere else. One studio selling "Web Design Toronto" in CAD says on that page it is a one-person studio in Rotterdam, so ask where the firm is based.

Questions to ask before you renew

  1. Which currency will I be billed in?
  2. What will this cost at renewal, and on what term?
  3. Is my web address registered in my business's name, and who holds the logins?
  4. How many changes does my plan include each month, and what happens to time I don't use?
  5. What does a change outside my plan cost per hour?
  6. What happens to my site and my files if I stop paying or leave?
  7. If my site is hacked, or breaks after an update, is fixing it in my plan? And what if it was already broken when I joined?
  8. For a Quebec business: are changes made in French and English, and does a change in two languages cost twice?

When to keep the setup you have

If your hosting renews at the price you signed up at, your web address is in your business's name, and your care plan covers the changes and fixes you need, your setup is doing its job. Keep it. Before you renew, check one line: the renewal price on your next invoice. If it matches what you agreed to, you can pay it knowing what it buys.

Where InkySites fits on your website bill

InkySites builds a fresh version of your current site from the pages already public, free, by email within 48 hours, no card. If you like it, it is $29 a month for hosting and unlimited reasonable changes, which you ask for by email: new text, photos, prices or pages. A ground-up redesign or a new online store is a separate conversation. There is no setup fee and no notice period: you pay month by month, and when you cancel, billing stops. We do not sell web addresses or business email. Your web address stays at your own registrar, and your code comes back whenever you ask, at no cost.

Questions people ask

How much does website maintenance cost per month in Canada?

On prices read on 9 November 2026, care plans at Canadian firms that print their price in CAD run from CAD 30 a month for hosting with no edits to CAD 2,000 a month for 16 hours of work. Running it yourself on Squarespace Basic is CAD 21 a month paid yearly. Shared WordPress hosting runs from CAD 4.99 to CAD 29.99 a month. Sales tax for your province goes on top.

Why did my website hosting go up after the first term?

At some hosts, the sign-up price covers the first term only. HostPapa Web Hosting Essentials is CAD 1.25 a month on a three-year term and renews at CAD 8.99 a month on the same term. Bluehost's Canadian Starter plan goes from CAD 2.99 to CAD 8.49 a month. The low figure also needs years paid upfront. CanSpace and Canadian Web Hosting say their renewal does not jump. Ask your host what it charges at renewal.

Does a website care plan include changes and fixing a hacked site?

It depends on the plan. Many include no content changes, and others count changes by the minute or the hour, and at some firms unused time does not roll over. Some leave out hack cleanup: DJ Creative in Toronto charges CAD 250 for malware cleanup on its two lower plans. Idea Marketing in Vancouver does not cover a site already hacked when you join. Other firms include cleanup, so ask your provider about both before you renew.

What should a .ca web address cost a year, and who can hold one?

A .ca renews at CAD 12.99 a year at CanSpace, CAD 15.68 at Namespro and CAD 31.00 at Webnames' standard price. Hover prices it at US$16.99 a year. To hold one, you must meet CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements. The categories include a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a corporation under Canadian or provincial law, and a trademark registered in Canada. Register yours in your business's own name.

Do GST or HST apply to website hosting and care plans?

No price page we read included tax, so it goes on top. Rates run from GST 5% in Alberta to HST 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan also charge PST on hosting, each in its own way. A freelancer under CAD 30,000 in taxable sales may not charge GST/HST. An accountant can say what applies to your business.

How we got these prices

On 9 November 2026 we read 145 price, plan, help, terms and tax pages from 99 sites, from Toronto and Montreal, and kept each price's page and sentence. A care plan or hourly rate counts as Canadian only where the firm's page gives a Canadian address or says where in Canada it is based. Each price is in the currency its page showed, never converted or averaged. Totals are our own arithmetic. We re-read it when prices move, and the date at the top changes.

  1. CanSpace, domain pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  2. Namespro, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  3. Webnames, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  4. GoDaddy Canada, .ca domains, read 9 November 2026.
  5. GoDaddy Canada, .com domains, read 9 November 2026.
  6. CIRA, Canadian Presence Requirements, read 9 November 2026.
  7. Hover, .ca domains, read 9 November 2026.
  8. CanSpace, web hosting, read 9 November 2026.
  9. HostPapa, web hosting plans, read 9 November 2026.
  10. HostPapa, renewal pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  11. Bluehost Canada, web hosting, read 9 November 2026.
  12. Canadian Web Hosting, read 9 November 2026.
  13. WP Engine, plans in CAD, read 9 November 2026.
  14. Kinsta, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  15. GoDaddy Canada, Airo website builder, read 9 November 2026.
  16. Wix, plans, read 9 November 2026.
  17. Squarespace, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  18. Shopify Canada, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  19. Let's Encrypt, about, read 9 November 2026.
  20. Web Hosting Canada, web hosting, read 9 November 2026.
  21. Webnames, SSL certificates, read 9 November 2026.
  22. Zoho Mail, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  23. Google Workspace, Canadian pricing page, read 9 November 2026.
  24. Google Workspace Help, flexible and annual plans, read 9 November 2026.
  25. Microsoft 365 for business, Canadian plans and pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  26. DJ Creative, WordPress maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  27. Velogics, WordPress maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  28. Idea Marketing, maintenance packages, read 9 November 2026.
  29. Reddogdesigns, website maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  30. Pearl White Media, maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  31. WP Expert, WordPress maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  32. Metro Vancouver IT, maintenance, read 9 November 2026.
  33. WooCommerce Subscriptions, read 9 November 2026.
  34. WPForms, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  35. Stripe Canada, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  36. PayPal Canada, business fees, read 9 November 2026.
  37. Square Canada, pricing, read 9 November 2026.
  38. Square Online Canada, plans, read 9 November 2026.
  39. Wix Help, exporting your site, read 9 November 2026.
  40. Squarespace Help, exporting your site, read 9 November 2026.
  41. Graphica, website prices and terms (in French), read 9 November 2026.
  42. Joepify, "Web Design Toronto", read 9 November 2026.
  43. Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates by province, read 9 November 2026.
  44. Canada Revenue Agency, when to register (small supplier), read 9 November 2026.
  45. Revenu Québec, GST/HST and QST basic rules, read 9 November 2026.
  46. British Columbia, PST on telecommunication services (web hosting and domains), read 9 November 2026.
  47. Manitoba Finance, RST bulletin 033, read 9 November 2026.
  48. Saskatchewan, PST bulletin PST-7, read 9 November 2026.

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