Most small businesses do not need to buy web hosting separately. If your site runs on Wix, Squarespace, or a managed monthly plan like ours, hosting is already bundled into the fee you are paying. You only need a standalone hosting account if you run self-installed software — most commonly WordPress — on your own server. The question worth asking is not "do I need hosting" (every live website needs it somewhere); it is "am I already paying for it, and is it any good."
This guide explains what hosting actually is, when you do and do not buy it separately, and what it typically costs in CAD across the platforms Canadian small businesses actually use. For the other three layers a real care plan should cover — updates, edit hours, and SEO — see the website maintenance package guide. This page is just about the server your site lives on.
What web hosting actually does
Hosting is the computer that stores your website's files and serves them to a visitor's browser when they type in your domain. Alongside that, a hosting setup normally needs to handle an SSL certificate (the padlock and "https"), enough capacity that the site does not slow down or fall over under normal traffic, and some form of backup so a bad update or a hosting outage does not erase the site. None of that is optional — a site with no hosting is not a website, it is a folder on someone's laptop.
When hosting is already bundled in
Wix, Squarespace, and similar builders host the site for you inside the subscription — there is no separate hosting bill to think about, which is one of the real reasons those platforms are popular with owners who do not want another vendor relationship. A fully managed website works the same way: hosting, the SSL certificate, and daily backups are part of the flat monthly CAD fee, not a line item you shop for separately. If you are on either of those, buying "hosting" on top would just be paying for the same thing twice.
When you do buy hosting separately
Self-installed WordPress is the common case. WordPress itself is free software, but it has to run on a server somewhere, and that server is a separate purchase from a host — Canadian or otherwise. That is the split we cover in Low-Maintenance Website vs. WordPress: WordPress gives you more control, but hosting, SSL, backups, and applying updates all become your job (or your developer's) rather than being handled for you as part of one platform fee. Agencies that build a custom site and hand it off often unbundle the same way — the design invoice is separate from the hosting bill that starts the month after launch.
Typical Canadian hosting pricing, by setup
| Setup | Typical CAD cost | What is and is not included |
|---|---|---|
| Wix / Squarespace builder plan | $20–$60/mo | Hosting bundled into the subscription. No separate hosting bill; you are still doing the building. |
| Ordinary self-hosted WordPress | $10–$40/mo | Server space and an SSL certificate. Updates, backups, and speed tuning are usually extra effort or a separate retainer. |
| Managed WordPress hosting | $40–$80+/mo | Faster, more secure hosting built for WordPress specifically. Still does not include content edits or SEO work. |
| Agency hosting after a custom build | $15–$50/mo | Server space only, on top of a $3,000–$8,000 build invoice. Content changes are usually billed hourly. |
| Fully managed monthly site (Web Maintained) | Included in $129–$449/mo | Hosting, SSL, and daily backups bundled with edit hours and SEO foundations — one CAD invoice, no separate hosting bill. |
For the full build-vs-maintain comparison across DIY, agency, WordPress, and managed sites over 3 and 12 months, see How Much Does It Cost to Build and Maintain a Small-Business Website in Canada?.
How to tell if your current site's hosting is any good
- Check the padlock and the certificate expiry — a lapsed SSL certificate means nobody is watching hosting at all.
- Ask when backups run and whether anyone has actually tested restoring one. A backup that has never been restored is unproven.
- Load the homepage on a phone on mobile data, not office wifi. Slow hosting shows up first on a phone.
- Find the invoice. If "hosting" is not a named line item anywhere, either it is bundled into a platform fee (fine) or nobody is paying for it and you are exposed (not fine).
- Ask what happens if the site goes down outside business hours. "We'll notice eventually" is not a hosting plan.
How Web Maintained handles it
Every Care, Care Plus, and Care Pro plan includes hosting, an SSL certificate, and daily backups as part of the flat monthly CAD fee — there is no separate hosting invoice, and no upsell to "premium" hosting later. If you already own a domain, it stays where it is; we simply point it at the new hosting. If we buy a standard domain for you, it is handed back to your own account free of charge if you ever leave. What we host, we also keep updated, backed up, and monitored — see what makes a website easy to maintain for the fuller picture of what that looks like day to day.