WordPress review

by WordPress open source project (WordPress.org)

The free open source software most web designers build on, which gives a trade owner a site they fully own and can extend with plugins for booking, quotes and reviews, as long as somebody keeps it hosted, updated and backed up.

What it costsas of August 2026

WordPress.org software: $0Free open source; hosting and domain billed separately
WordPress.com Free: $0/moCarries WordPress.com ads and a wordpress.com address
WordPress.com Personal: $6/moAnnual renewal rate; $4 first year, $9 monthly
WordPress.com Premium: $10/moAnnual renewal rate; $8 first year, $18 monthly
WordPress.com Business: $30/moAnnual renewal rate; $25 first year, $40 monthly
WordPress.com Commerce: $57/moAnnual renewal rate; $45 first year, $70 monthly

The WordPress.org software is free but hosting is a separate real bill: budget roughly $5 to $30 a month for hosting and about $10 to $20 a year for the domain, plus any paid theme, booking plugin or maintenance. Shared hosting advertises about $3 to $8 a month but renews closer to $10 to $30, and managed WordPress hosting runs about $20 to $50 a month.

Read our full WordPress review

What WordPress does

Pricing & terms

Starts atThe real monthly cost to get in the door, before add-ons.

Software is free, but a real site runs about $5 to $30/mo once hosting renews

How pricing worksFlat tiers, per user, or per job. This decides how fast the bill grows as you add people.

You pay a host, not WordPress; themes and plugins are bought one at a time

Free trial or planCan you try it with your own jobs before paying?

Software is free to install, but you pay the host from day one, no trial

ContractMonth-to-month vs a year-plus commitment you can't easily leave.

WordPress locks you into nothing; hosts push 1 to 3 year prepay for low rates

Fit & support

Ease of useHow hard it is to get a non-technical crew actually using it.

Hardest option here. Updates, backups and breakage are yours or your guy's

SupportWhat owners say about reaching a human when something breaks.

No vendor support line. Community forums, plus whatever your host will help with

What it does

Templates you can run yourselfYou should not need a developer to change your hours.

Thousands of free and paid themes, though most shops pay someone to set one up

Booking built inThe point of the site is turning a visitor into a booked job.

Nothing built in. A booking plugin adds it, free tiers up to about $150 a year

Takes paymentsDeposits and payments online, not just a contact form.

Nothing built in. WooCommerce or a form plugin takes cards and deposits

SEO basicsSo people searching your trade in your town can actually find you.

Best SEO control of the bunch, with a free plugin like Yoast or Rank Math

Domain & hostingWhat is bundled versus billed on top.

Hosting, SSL and domain are all on you to buy, but the whole site is portable

How WordPress compares

Squarespace

Alternatives to WordPress

Other tools that do the same job for a trade business. Prices are what each vendor publishes, dated when we checked.

GoDaddy Website Builder

A point-and-click site builder from the company most trades already bought their domain from, so the website, the domain and a matching email address all sit on one bill, with appointment booking on the middle plan and up.Free plan, then Basic $9.99/mo, Premium $14.99, Commerce $20.99 paid yearly

Squarespace

A hosted website builder with polished templates and built-in hosting, so a trade owner can get a professional-looking company site online without a developer, and take appointments through Acuity Scheduling, which Squarespace owns but bills as its own subscription.Basic $19/mo paid yearly, $25 month to month; no free plan, only a trial

Wix

A drag-and-drop website builder with a built-in booking calendar, so a trade owner can get a simple site online without hiring a developer and let customers request or book a job straight from the page.Free plan, then Light $17/mo, Core $29, Business $39, Elite $159 paid yearly

How we research this

Pricing comes from WordPress open source project (WordPress.org)'s own pricing pages and is dated at the time we checked it. Features are taken from the vendor's documentation, not from a sales call. We are independent and rank on fit, never on what a tool pays us. See how we review.