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Short answer: you can start a real, self-hosted blog for about $36 in year one, and most “you need $2,000 to start a blog” articles are selling you the $2,000. Longer answer: there are a few costs beyond hosting worth planning for, and one renewal-price surprise that catches almost everyone.

I have run this blog for years — over a thousand posts — so this breakdown is based on what I actually pay for and what I have happily cancelled. The bare minimum today is hosting with a free domain, which is about $3 per month at SiteGround on the current promo. Everything else on this page is either optional, free, or a year-two problem.

Let’s build the honest budget, line by line.

The bare minimum: hosting and a domain

A self-hosted WordPress blog needs exactly two things: a domain name and hosting. At SiteGround — the host this blog runs on — the StartUp plan is $2.99 per month on the current promotion, paid 12 months upfront. That is roughly $36 for your first year, and the plan includes the domain for free, plus SSL, email accounts at your domain, daily backups, and a CDN.

The WordPress software itself is free, and so are solid themes like Kadence and Astra and every essential plugin a beginner needs. So the popular idea that a “real” blog costs hundreds up front is simply wrong — the current SiteGround promo covers the whole technical foundation for less than a takeaway dinner per year.

Now the honest part most posts skip: promos end. After year one, StartUp renews at $17.99 per month — about $216 per year — and your domain starts costing a regular renewal fee too. Cheaper hosts exist (Hostinger, for example), premium ones cost multiples more (Kinsta). I have stayed at SiteGround at renewal prices because the speed and support have earned it, but plan year two with open eyes.

The legal bits almost everyone forgets to budget

If your blog uses affiliate links, ads, or analytics — and any monetized blog does — you need a privacy policy, a cookie solution for EU visitors, and clear disclosures. This is not optional under GDPR and similar rules, and it is the line item nobody puts in the cute “start a blog for $36” graphics.

You have two realistic options: assemble the pages yourself from templates and keep them updated (free, fiddly, easy to get wrong), or use a service like iubenda, which generates and auto-updates your privacy policy, cookie banner, and terms as regulations change. Check current pricing on their site — it is a small subscription, and materially cheaper than either a lawyer or a fine. I count this as the second real cost of a monetized blog.

Genuinely free (do not pay for these in year one)

  • Email marketing: Kit’s free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends — you will not outgrow that for a long time.
  • Design: free tools like Canva cover blog graphics and Pinterest pins.
  • SEO: Google Search Console and a free SEO plugin do everything a new blog needs. Paid keyword tools are for later, if ever.
  • Analytics: free, whichever privacy-friendly option you pick.
  • Stock photos: free libraries are good enough until the blog earns money.

Optional costs that can be worth it

A premium theme or page builder. Typically a modest one-time or yearly fee. Nice, never necessary on day one — free themes are genuinely good now.

Education. Most blogging courses are overpriced motivation. The exception I recommend, once you are publishing and want the monetization side handled properly, is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing ($197 one-time, with a 30-day refund policy) — the course I took myself, by a blogger who built her affiliate income past $50,000 per month. Buy it when you have content and some traffic, not in week one. Not ready to spend anything? My free affiliate marketing tips ebook is the zero-dollar starting point.

A logo or branding. Skip it. A clean text header has carried many successful blogs, including plenty you read. Rebrand later with revenue.

Three example budgets

Bare bones — about $36 for year one. SiteGround StartUp promo with the free domain, free theme, free email plan, DIY legal pages. Completely workable; this is the “prove to yourself you will stick with it” setup.

My recommended starter — roughly $100 for year one. The same hosting, plus a proper legal setup with iubenda and a little margin for a paid plugin or theme if a specific need appears. This is the setup I would build today: nothing vanity, everything that protects and grows the blog.

Money-serious — roughly $300 in year one. Everything above plus the $197 affiliate marketing course once your first posts are live. Only sensible if earning from the blog is an actual goal rather than a nice idea.

What it costs per month, realistically

Averaged out, a lean first year runs $3 to $8 per month depending on how much of the optional list you adopt. From year two, with renewal pricing, a realistic range is $20 to $30 per month for a serious hobby-to-side-business blog. That is the number to sanity-check against your commitment — if $25 a month would sting for something you might abandon, spend three months writing consistently first, then buy.

If you are still weighing whether blogging fits you at all, my blogging for beginners guide is the better place to start than any spreadsheet.

FAQ

Can you start a blog for completely free?

Yes — on free platforms like WordPress.com or Medium. For a hobby journal, fine. For anything you hope to monetize, no: you cannot fully control ads, affiliate links, or SEO, and you are building on a platform you do not own. The $36 self-hosted route exists precisely to avoid that dead end.

What is the cheapest way to start a blog properly?

A promotional hosting plan with a free domain included — currently about $36 for the first year at SiteGround — plus free WordPress, a free theme, and a free email plan. Prepaying 12 months locks the promo price, which is the cheapest honest path.

How much does a blog cost per month?

Year one: roughly $3 to $8 per month on a lean setup. After promotional pricing ends: plan on $20 to $30 per month including hosting renewal, domain renewal, and the legal tooling a monetized blog needs. Blogs get more expensive as they earn more — and by then the costs stop mattering.

Are blogging courses worth the money?

Most are not. The one I recommend, for bloggers specifically focused on affiliate income, is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing at $197 — after you have content to apply it to. Free content (including the archives of blogs like this one) covers the basics; I collect the common starter questions in my blogging questions FAQ.

What hidden costs should I expect?

Three: renewal prices after the promo year (the big one), domain renewal fees, and compliance tooling once you monetize — a cookie banner and maintained privacy policy via something like iubenda. None are scary, all are cheaper when you plan them instead of discovering them.

The bottom line

The real cost to start a blog in 2026 is about $36 for a bare-bones first year, around $100 for a setup I would actually recommend, and $20 to $30 per month once renewal prices kick in — not free, and nowhere near the four-figure numbers used to sell you courses. Head over to SiteGround to lock in the promo price with your free domain, keep the rest of your wallet closed for now, and spend the savings on the only thing that grows a blog: time to write.