What you pay for to have a website, besides the domain
The domain is just the address. To keep your website online you also pay for hosting and, depending on what you need, email on your domain and maintenance. Here is what you pay once and what comes back every year.
Besides the domain, to have a website you pay for design and development (once) and for hosting, the server where your website lives (every year). The security certificate usually comes with the hosting, and there are two optional costs: email on your domain and monthly maintenance.
Here I break down each one: what it is, how often you pay it and what defines its cost, so that when someone sends you a quote you know exactly what you are paying for.
What is each thing, and why is it paid separately?
Think of it as a storefront on a street. The domain is the address: yourbusiness.com.ar. The hosting is the store itself, the space on a server where your website files are kept so anyone can visit. The development is what you put inside the store: the design, the copy, the photos, the WhatsApp button, the contact form. And the security certificate (SSL, the little padlock next to the address) is what tells the browser the connection is secure.
Each of these is provided by someone different or renews at a different time, which is why they show up as separate payments. Having a registered domain does not mean you have a website: it is like having an address written down but no store at that address.
What do you pay once, and what comes back every year?
Here is the full picture. The final number depends on what your business needs.
| What you pay for | What it is for | How often | What defines the cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design and development | Building the site: design, pages, WhatsApp, contact form, looking good on phones | Once | How many pages, how much content, and features like forms or a catalog |
| .com.ar domain | Your internet address, registered with NIC Argentina | Every year | The official registry's yearly fee |
| .com domain (optional) | An international address, if you prefer it or want to add it | Every year | The registrar you choose |
| Hosting | The server where your website lives so it stays online | Every year | The size of the site and how many visits it gets |
| Security certificate (SSL) | The padlock: a secure connection with no "not secure" warnings | With the hosting | Usually included |
| Email on your domain | Mailboxes like hello@yourbusiness.com.ar | Monthly or yearly, depending on the provider | Depends on the provider and how many mailboxes you need |
| Maintenance | Changes, backups, renewals and monitoring | Monthly plan, optional | Depends on the plan you choose |
If you want a detailed look at what development costs by type of site, I explain it in how much a website costs in Argentina.
What is the minimum you pay per year to keep a website online?
Once the website is built, the only things you must pay to keep it online are the domain and the hosting. Everything else is optional.
That number is the floor. If you add email on your domain or a maintenance plan, the yearly total goes up. The key point is that these costs are predictable: they do not appear out of nowhere, they renew once a year and you can put them on your calendar.
If you want to understand in detail what happens when a website is not maintained (expired domains, sites that go down), I covered it in how much it costs to maintain a website. Here I stick to the list of what you pay for.
Is the security certificate paid separately?
Almost never. These days most hosting providers include the security certificate at no extra cost, and it renews automatically. Even so, ask, because if a website does not have one, the browser shows visitors a "not secure" warning, and that scares anyone off before they read a single line.
An easy way to check: open your website and look for the padlock next to the address. If it is there, it is working.
Do you need to pay for email with your business name?
It is not required. Many businesses do perfectly well with WhatsApp (the main business channel in Argentina) and a free email account. But an address like hello@yourbusiness.com.ar has two concrete advantages: it looks more professional when you send a quote, and it stays tied to your domain, so if the person handling it changes, the email still belongs to the business.
Keep in mind that email on your domain is usually a separate service from the website hosting, with its own cost per mailbox. Before signing up, ask whether it is included or billed separately, and how many mailboxes you really need: sometimes one is enough.
Is monthly maintenance required?
No. Maintenance is an optional plan. If your website barely changes and you are comfortable requesting a specific change every now and then, you can pay only for the domain and the hosting.
Where it does make sense is when you do not want to keep track of anything. On my services page I have two maintenance plans. Essential includes hosting, domain and the security certificate, minor changes every month, monitoring to know if the site goes down, backups and WhatsApp support during business hours. Active adds more changes per month, a monthly report on how the website is doing, and optimizations. The advantage of a plan like this is that all the separate payments in the table above become a single one.
What should you ask before accepting a quote?
These questions save you surprises. You do not need to know anything about technology to ask them:
- Will the domain be registered in my name? A .com.ar is registered with NIC Argentina using your clave fiscal (your AFIP tax login), and ideally it should list you or your company.
- Does the development price include the first year of hosting and domain, or are they paid separately?
- Is the security certificate included with the hosting?
- Is email on my domain included, or is it a separate service?
- Are there licenses, templates or plugins that need renewing every year? The custom-coded websites I build have no paid templates or plugins to renew.
- How many rounds of changes are included in the price? My website plans include 2 rounds of revisions.
- What do I need to provide? Usually the client supplies the logo, copy, photos and business details.
Are there costs that are not about the website but worth keeping in mind?
Yes, and it is worth keeping them separate so you do not mix up the numbers. Paid advertising (on Google or Instagram) is not a website cost: it is a separate decision you may or may not make. The same goes for professional photos or someone writing your copy: they add a lot, but they are not required to have your website online.
If you are going to sell through the website, payment processing fees also come into play: MercadoPago, Latin America's leading payment platform, for example, charges a percentage of each sale that varies depending on how quickly the money is credited to you. That is a cost of the sale, not of the website, and I go into more detail in how much an online store costs.
And if you are still not sure whether you need a single page or a site with several sections, that changes the development cost quite a bit. I explain it in landing page vs full website.
Frequently asked questions
Is a domain alone enough to have a website?
No. The domain is the address (for example, yourbusiness.com.ar), but the website has to be stored on a server so people can see it: that is the hosting. And someone also has to design and build the site. Domain, hosting and development are three separate things, paid for separately.
How much do you pay per year to keep a website online?
The minimum is the domain and the hosting, both renewed every year. The hosting cost depends on how big the site is and how much traffic it gets. The security certificate is usually included. Email on your domain and maintenance are optional and come on top. If you tell me what you need, I send you a fixed quote within 48 hours.
Is the security certificate (SSL) paid separately?
In most cases, no: it usually comes included with the hosting. Still, ask before signing up, because without that certificate the browser shows your visitors a warning that the site is "not secure".
Do I have to pay for monthly maintenance?
No. Maintenance is an optional plan. If you would rather make changes yourself or request them now and then, you can pay only for the domain and hosting. A plan makes sense when you want someone to handle renewals, backups, changes and keeping the site from going down.
Do I need an email address with my business name?
It is not required, but an address like hello@yourbusiness.com.ar looks more professional than a free one and stays tied to your brand. It is a separate service from the website hosting, with its own cost depending on the provider.
Whose name should the domain be registered under?
Yours or your company's. In Argentina, a .com.ar is registered with NIC Argentina (the official registry for .ar domains) using your clave fiscal, the online login issued by AFIP, Argentina's tax agency. So ideally you register it yourself (or get help doing it with your own details). If it ends up under someone else's name and the relationship ends, getting it back can be a problem.
If you want to know what it would cost to get your website online with everything included, tell me what you need and I will give you a clear number, separating what you pay once from what renews every year. Message me on WhatsApp and we will go over it.