Shared hosting pricing is one of the few consumer markets where the advertised price is understood by the seller to be temporary and by the buyer to be permanent. A $2.95 monthly rate on a 36-month prepay renews at $14.95. That is not a secret — it is in the terms — but it is not on the card either.
What it costs us to be honest about this
We have run the test. A pricing card showing only the intro price converts about 22% better than one showing intro and renewal side by side. On our volume that is a meaningful number of signups we do not get.
We keep the renewal price on the card anyway, for a reason that is commercial rather than noble: the customers we lose to the honest card are the ones who would have churned angrily in month thirteen, left a one-star review, and cost us a support conversation on the way out. The ones who sign up having seen both numbers renew at roughly three times the rate.
| Metric | Intro price only | Both prices shown |
|---|---|---|
| Signup conversion | +22% | baseline |
| Renewal rate at month 13 | 31% | 89% |
| Refund requests in first 7 days | 11.4% | 2.1% |
| Support contacts about billing | 1 in 6 accounts | 1 in 41 accounts |
The uncomfortable part
Our intro prices are still intro prices. Starter is $1.95/mo on a three-year term and renews at $8.95. That is a 4.6× increase and we are not pretending otherwise — we are just refusing to hide it. If you want a price that never moves, the VPS and dedicated lines renew at exactly the rate you sign up on, and always have.
“Transparency is not the same as being cheap. We are transparent about not always being cheap.”
The one thing we will commit to: the renewal price on your confirmation email cannot change during your term, and we email you the exact figure 30, 14 and 3 days before it is charged, each time with a one-click cancel.