IONOS Web Hosting Plus costs $1.00 a month for the first 12 months and renews at $14.00 a month. Hosting for WordPress Grow is the same story: $1.00 a month, then $12.00.
We checked these prices on 6 October 2026. The $1 plans are not the cheapest IONOS plans to keep. Over three years, Web Hosting Essential costs less than either of them.
IONOS renewal prices, plan by plan
IONOS sells its hosting plans with a 12-month intro term. The 3-year cost below is the first year at the intro price plus two years at the renewal price.
| Plan | Intro price | Term | Renews at | Jump | 3-year cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web Hosting Essential | $4.00/mo | 12 months | $8.00/mo | +100% | $240.00 |
| Web Hosting Starter | $6.00/mo | 12 months | $10.00/mo | +67% | $312.00 |
| Web Hosting Plus | $1.00/mo | 12 months | $14.00/mo | +1,300% | $348.00 |
| Web Hosting Ultimate | $10.00/mo | 12 months | $18.00/mo | +80% | $552.00 |
| Hosting for WordPress Start | $5.00/mo | 12 months | $8.00/mo | +60% | $252.00 |
| Hosting for WordPress Grow | $1.00/mo | 12 months | $12.00/mo | +1,100% | $300.00 |
| Hosting for WordPress Boost | $12.00/mo | 12 months | $17.00/mo | +42% | $552.00 |
| Hosting for WooCommerce | $16.00/mo | 12 months | $22.00/mo | +38% | $720.00 |
The $1 plans, in numbers
Web Hosting Plus costs $12.00 for the whole first year. Year two, on the same 12-month term, costs $168.00. That single renewal is fourteen times what you paid for year one.
Over three years, Plus costs $348.00. Essential costs $240.00 and Starter $312.00, even though both start at a higher monthly price. Plus does give you more: 350 GB of NVMe storage and 4 mailboxes, against 100 GB and 1 mailbox on Essential, and 200 GB and 2 mailboxes on Starter. If you need that, Plus is a fair deal. If you only want the cheapest IONOS plan to keep, it isn't.
WordPress Grow follows the same pattern. It costs $300.00 over three years, against $252.00 for WordPress Start. Grow has 50 GB of SSD storage and 5 mailboxes; Start has 25 GB and 1 mailbox. Both host 1 WordPress site.
When the renewal hits
The intro price covers the first 12 months only. When the term ends, IONOS renews you for the same term length at the renewal price, so a 12-month plan renews as another 12 months at the new rate:
- Essential: $48.00 for year one, then $96.00 for year two.
- Starter: $72.00, then $120.00.
- Plus: $12.00, then $168.00.
- WordPress Grow: $12.00, then $144.00.
Which plans have the smallest jump
Hosting for WooCommerce has the smallest jump at 38% ($16.00 to $22.00), followed by WordPress Boost at 42%. Among the regular web hosting plans, Starter has the smallest at 67%.
The cheapest plan to renew is a tie: Essential and WordPress Start both renew at $8.00 a month, the lowest renewal price in the IONOS hosting range.
IONOS also sells Cloud Cubes, which are billed monthly at a flat price with no intro discount, starting at $5.76 a month for Cloud Basic Cube XS. Those are virtual servers rather than managed web hosting, so they suit a different kind of buyer, but they have no renewal surprise.
What's included
Mailboxes come with 2 GB of storage each on every plan that includes email. The WooCommerce plan doesn't list mailboxes in our data. IONOS offers a 30-day refund.
How to pay less at IONOS
- Compare the 3-year cost, not the first month. A $1.00 plan can cost more over three years than a $4.00 plan, as Plus and Essential show.
- Buy the plan you need at renewal. If Essential's 100 GB and one mailbox are enough, it is the cheapest IONOS plan both to start and to keep.
- Put the renewal date in your calendar. With a 12-month intro term, the higher price arrives at the start of year two. Decide before then whether to stay.
- Ask before you renew. Support can sometimes offer a lower rate to a customer who is planning to leave.
The bottom line
IONOS's $1 plans are a good way to try a host for a year, and a poor way to pick the cheapest host for three. Web Hosting Plus renews at $14.00 a month and costs $348.00 over three years. Web Hosting Essential, at $4.00 then $8.00, costs $240.00 over the same period and is the cheapest IONOS hosting plan to keep.
For how IONOS compares with other hosts on renewal, see our guide to hosting renewal prices.