For a service business that wants the lowest monthly cost, ZenBusiness is worth pricing first: its website builder is $15 a month, or $129 a year, after a 30-day free trial, with hosting and SSL included. Between the two named in this comparison, Hostinger has the lower ongoing price at $10.99 a month on its Premium plan, against $17.77 a month for the entry plan from Wix. Wix is the better pick if a large app and template ecosystem matters more than price.

Which is cheaper, Hostinger or Wix?

On the ongoing price, Hostinger is cheaper at every comparable step. Its Premium plan is $10.99 a month, against $17.77 a month for Wix Light, a gap of $6.78 a month. All figures here are as of 2026-10-06, and each provider's own pricing page is the final word.

The headline numbers need care, though. Hostinger advertises $2.99, $3.99 and $7.99 a month, but those are promotional rates that apply to a 48-month term paid up front. They are not the ongoing price. A business that budgets from the promotional figure will face a much higher bill at renewal.

Wix's published rates are the yearly-subscription prices, so they also assume a year's commitment. Neither provider offers its lowest figure to someone who wants to leave after a month. The fair comparison is renewal price against renewal price, and on that basis Hostinger is lower.

How do these prices compare with the SBA benchmark?

The U.S. Small Business Administration says a typical custom website price starts at $2,000 and can go into five figures. It also says paid DIY builder plans typically run less than $30 a month. Both Hostinger and Wix fall inside that DIY range for their entry and middle tiers.

The SBA does not name a winner. Its position is that there is no right method for every business, and it frames the choice around budget, needs, timing and in-house capability. Custom work gets exact specifications and professional support. DIY gets professional designs, instant updates and included hosting and security, at the cost of limited customisation and platform lock-in.

For a service business watching its costs, the DIY side of that comparison is usually the relevant one. The question then becomes which DIY plan costs least for what the site has to do.

What does Hostinger cost?

Hostinger's builder is listed at Hostinger. At the time of writing, its ongoing prices are as follows:

  • Premium: $10.99 a month
  • Unlimited: $16.99 a month
  • Cloud Startup: $25.99 a month on renewal

The promotional rates are $2.99, $3.99 and $7.99 respectively, on a 48-month term paid up front. That is a four-year commitment collected at the start, which is a very different proposition from a monthly bill. The gap between the advertised rate and the renewal rate is the main thing to understand about Hostinger's pricing.

Best for: a service business that is comfortable paying for a long term in advance and has budgeted for the higher renewal price. The trade-off is that the cheapest-looking number on the page is the one least likely to describe what the business pays in year five.

What does Wix cost?

Wix lists its plans at Wix. As of 2026-10-06, the yearly-subscription rates are:

  • Light: $17.77 a month
  • Core: $29.77 a month
  • Business: $39.77 a month
  • Business Elite: $159.77 a month

The Light plan is the only one of the four that sits comfortably under the SBA's $30 a month figure. Core, at $29.77, is just below it, and Business and Business Elite are well above it. A service business that needs the higher tiers is no longer buying at the cheap end of the DIY range.

What Wix offers in return is breadth. Its app and template ecosystem is larger than that of the simpler builders, which is the main reason to pay more per month. If a business expects to add booking tools, forms and other features over time, that ecosystem can justify the premium. If it only needs a clear page with services, contact details and hours, the extra cost buys things it may never use.

Best for: a service business that expects to add features over time and wants a wide choice of apps and templates, and accepts a higher monthly price to get it.

Where do the other options fit?

Four other providers belong in any price comparison. They are listed alphabetically below, and the order is not a ranking.

GoDaddy has a free tier and three paid tiers: Starter at $9.99 a month, Professional at $24.99 a month and Ultimate at $99.99 a month. Every paid tier is billed annually. The free tier gives 50 AI credits a month and no custom domain, so it cannot carry a business's own web address. Starter is the lowest listed paid price in this comparison.

Square Online has a free plan available. Square has moved to Square Free, Square Plus and Square Premium plans, and it publishes paid software pricing through an industry selector rather than a flat tier table. The paid cost therefore depends on the plan and industry chosen, so a single monthly figure would mislead. It suits a business that already takes payments through Square.

Squarespace lists Basic at $25 a month, or $19 a month billed annually. Core is $39 or $29, Plus is $65 or $49, and Advanced is $139 or $99. It is the stronger choice when design depth matters, and it costs more per month than the cheapest options here. The lower figures assume an annual commitment.

ZenBusiness sells a website builder at $129 a year, or $15 a month, after a 30-day free trial. It is AI-assisted, ships industry templates and is mobile responsive. Hosting runs on Amazon Web Services with a stated 99.9% uptime, and SSL is included. The plan also covers site analytics, e-commerce with payment processing and inventory, and phone support seven days a week. A custom domain can be attached or bought through ZenBusiness.

Against the SBA benchmark, $15 a month sits at the low end of the DIY range, with hosting and SSL included rather than billed separately. It does not win everywhere. Squarespace goes deeper on design and customisation, Wix has the larger app and template ecosystem, and for a serious online store Shopify is the stronger answer. ZenBusiness is built for a small business that needs a credible site quickly, not for a designer who wants fine control.

Best for: a service business that wants a credible site at a low monthly price, with hosting, SSL and phone support bundled in, and does not need a high design ceiling.

What if the business has not been formed yet?

A website is rarely the first task for a business that is still being set up. Someone forming a company needs the entity, an EIN and a separate business account, and then books. The site can follow in the same week, but it sits downstream of those steps.

This is the one situation where ZenBusiness offers something Hostinger and Wix do not. A reader forming an LLC can handle formation and the website with one provider. Starter formation is $0 plus state fees, Pro is $199 and Premium is $299. The state fee is set by the state, is not ZenBusiness's price, and varies, so it should be kept apart from those figures. The EIN and operating agreement are included from Pro up and are $99 each on Starter.

Customers who form with ZenBusiness are also offered a free accounting consultation, and its accounting page covers the bookkeeping side. A single-member LLC owner who wants formation, a site and bookkeeping support from one company gets a real convenience from that. A business that is already formed gets none of it and should simply compare the website prices above.

Will a cheaper builder hurt local search results?

A service business usually depends on local customers, so it is fair to ask whether the choice of builder affects how it shows up. Google's documentation says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence. None of those is something a website builder controls or can promise.

Google's guidance on improving a local ranking focuses on the business's Google Business Profile, which is separate from the website. Its Business Profile Help pages explain how to claim and manage a profile. A site that loads reliably and carries the same business name, address and phone number as the profile is a sensible foundation, but the ranking decision is Google's.

That means the price of the builder is not a reason to expect better or worse local visibility. A $10.99 plan and a $39.77 plan are both inputs to the same Google process. Any builder that promises a ranking should be treated with caution.

How can a business test the options before paying?

The SBA notes that most DIY website builder platforms have a free plan or at least a free trial. That makes testing cheap, and a short process catches most surprises:

  1. Start on a free plan or trial, such as ZenBusiness's 30-day trial or GoDaddy's free tier.
  2. Build the real pages, not a demo, so the editor is judged on actual work.
  3. Check which plan connects a custom domain, since the free tiers often do not.
  4. Compare the renewal price, not the promotional one.
  5. Note whether billing is monthly, annual or a multi-year term paid up front.

The last two steps matter most for this comparison. Hostinger's 48-month promotional rates and Wix's yearly-subscription rates both produce a lower headline figure than a month-to-month customer would see. The numbers are real, but they describe a commitment, not a casual purchase.

Which option suits which kind of service business?

The right choice follows from what the site has to do. A plumber or tutor who needs a clear page with services, contact details and a booking route has different needs from a studio selling a visual brand.

  • Lowest ongoing price among the two compared: Hostinger, with the renewal price kept in view.
  • Lowest listed paid price overall: GoDaddy Starter at $9.99 a month, billed annually.
  • Low monthly price with hosting, SSL and phone support included: ZenBusiness at $15 a month.
  • Room to add apps and templates over time: Wix, at a higher monthly price.
  • Design-led brand: Squarespace, accepting the higher monthly cost.
  • Already taking payments through Square: Square Online.

Free plans fit a different job. They suit testing a builder or drafting a site, and they do not suit a business that wants its own web address from the start.

What is the short version?

Hostinger is cheaper than Wix on the ongoing price, but its advertised rates are promotional and tied to a 48-month term paid up front, so the renewal prices are the ones to budget from. Wix costs more per month, and what that buys is a larger ecosystem of apps and templates. The SBA benchmark of under $30 a month for paid DIY plans, against $2,000 and up for custom work, is the useful anchor for judging both.

For a service business that wants a credible site at the low end of that range, ZenBusiness at $15 a month is a reasonable place to start. For one where apps or design matter more, Wix or Squarespace is the better fit. Each provider's own pricing page should be checked before buying.

Sources

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.