How to Avoid SiteGround Renewal Price Sticker Shock

Last updated on February 19th, 2019 at 02:23 pm

As a new blogger, you don’t want to overspend on your first 1-2 years of hosting, that’s why everyone looks for cheap hosting. I was hosting this blog on SiteGround for 2 years and in order to avoid the SiteGround renewal price, I migrated to a different hosting account. (I’ll reveal who I am with now later on)

What is Hosting?

Hosting is nothing more than a place that hosts your website files and allows it to be served on the Internet. Think of it as your cable company.

You can have a television, but without paying for cable, you wouldn’t have access to your favorite shows.

If you’re planning on creating a self-hosted blog then you need hosting.

Related: How Do I Know If I Installed WordPress.org or WordPress.com

Do You Need to Pay for Hosting?

As I mentioned above, if you want full control over everything, themes, plugins, and the ability to monetize however you choose, you need to invest in hosting.

If you’re just testing the waters to see if you want to pursue blogging, then you can start on a free platform. Just be aware, that eventually, you will need to migrate to a self-hosted blog.

Why SiteGround

This is a great hosting service for new bloggers who are just getting started. In fact, it won’t be hard to find a lot of positive SiteGround reviews online, here’s mine.

When I started this blog, I was hosting it with Hostgator. After experiencing some issues with Hostgator, I started looking for a new service.

So I went to the Internet and did what most people do. I started looking for the best and cheapest service I could find. After all, no one wants to overpay on a blog that isn’t making any money.

Yes, we know that eventually, it will make money. But from day one, you’re not making a penny.

After reading tons of reviews, I finally made the decision to move forward. They had affordable pricing plans and the best part is that I was able to pay for 3 years in advance.

Why Pay for More Than One Year

Most web hosts offer a special discount for new customers. If you sign up through this link, you can save 60% on your web hosting services.

Now that sounds amazing right. I mean who doesn’t want to save money? For the first year on the GrowBig plan, which is what I highly recommend for new bloggers, you can pay the following:

• 12 months: $71.40 (special $5.95 per month pricing)
• 24 months: $142.80 (special $5.95 per month pricing)
• 36 months: $214.20 (special $5.95 per month pricing)

You even get to avoid a website migration cost, because they’ll move you for free. Amazing right. Well, it can be if you pay for more than one year, this will give you enough time to grow your blog.

CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP

You Need Time to Grow A Blog

Most people make the mistake of signing up for one year because they think their blog will be making tons of money at that point.

The truth is that you need time to grow your blog. There’s a very good possibility that it won’t grow very fast in one year.

At least that hasn’t been my experience. I made a ton of mistakes on this blog and for the first year, I wrote a bunch of articles that weren’t getting any traffic.

It was all due to not understanding keyword research. But that’s a different story, read this if you need help finding low competition keywords you can write articles on.

Make sure you give yourself time to grow before you get stuck paying for the renewal prices.

SiteGround Renewal Costs Higher Than You Think

Now let’s take a look at what you’ll pay when you no longer qualify for the special offers for new customers.

These are the prices at the time of this writing, depending on when you’re reading them, they may have changed.

I’ve just figured the basic costs, I didn’t include any extra services like SG Site Scanner, which would make the price more.

StartUp Plan

• 12 months: $143.40 ($11.95 per month)
• 24 months: $286.80 ($11.95 per month)
• 36 months: $430.20 ($11.95 per month)

GrowBig Plan

• 12 months: $239.40 ($19.95 per month)
• 24 months: $478.80 ($19.95 per month)
• 36 months: $718.20 ($19.95 per month)

GoGeek Plan

• 12 months: $419.40 ($34.95 per month)
• 24 months: $838.80 ($34.95 per month)
• 36 months: $1,258.20 ($34.95 per month)

As you can see, these prices are high, I did read that if you contact their support, you can get a discount. It doesn’t hurt to try the most they can tell you is no.

How to Disable Autorenewal On Your Dashboard

I’ve read that many people have been sticker shocked to see their credit cards charged for those high fees. I know that it costs money to run a business and there’s nothing we can do.

But if you’re like me, you don’t want to look at your credit card statement and see an outrageous charge that you completely forgot about.

The great thing is that you have total control over whether or not you want to renew your services. You can set a reminder on your calendar and iPhone, but what if I told you that you could go into your dashboard and turn off auto-renewal.

You won’t have to worry about getting sticker shock and the best part is that if you do decide to renew, a copy of your account will be kept for a maximum of 7 calendar days.

This is enough time to go in there and renew your plan or move to a different host should you choose to.

I chose to move my site to BigScoots and so far I am really happy with them. (I’ll be writing a review soon)

Disabling Auto-Renewal

I decided to create a step-by-step tutorial on how to disable the auto-renewal feature because I thought that it would help others. Plus, it took me a long time to get the courage to cancel my account because I thought that my account would be terminated right away.

But it won’t be as long as you follow these steps. You’ll still be able to use your account until the expiration date, you’ll just have to make you sure you renew your account or migrate to a different host.

Login to Your Account

Go to Home >> Billing >> Cancel Services

There are 3 steps you need to take and the first one is the most important. As soon as you click on Cancel Services, you’ll have 2 options.

1. At Expiration
2. Immediately

Make sure you choose the “at expiration” option. This option will allow you to keep using your account until the service expires on the expiration date.

 

Next, you’ll be taken to a page that shows you the plan you are getting ready to cancel. All you’ll want to do is click on “Proceed With Cancellation.”

Finally, you should see a notice that your auto-renewal has been deactivated. If you don’t see it, you can go Home >> Update Credit Cards.

If everything was done correctly, your credit card should no longer be tied to your account. Instead, you’ll see a notice that says, you should have at least one active file to prevent service interruptions.

This gives you full control over your business expenses. If you’re like, me you don’t want to have to worry about being overcharged on your hosting when that time comes.

You’ll have the option to decide if you want to stay with SiteGround longer or move your blog.

Why I Am Choosing Not to Renew

I chose to move this blog to BigScoots because my traffic is continuing to grow and I didn’t want to pay that much for shared hosting anymore. I still have one more year with them and my second blog is still hosted.

But take a look at what I’ll be asked to pay when that time comes around. (although I picked up a great Black Friday deal there’s a great chance I won’t be renewing)

You know how people switch credit cards to keep getting a lower interest rate? I used to do this, but I don’t anymore.

Well, I’ve decided to do this, I signed up with GreenGeeks Black Friday deal to snag a low 3 year introductory price that way when my service ends on SiteGround, I can move there.

I’ve already moved one site there and this is what I plan on doing instead of paying high fees for shared hosting. I’m so glad that I know how to move websites, otherwise, I would have to pay them to move more than one site.

Where I Moved This Blog

After reading tons of different reviews and asking questions in Facebook groups, I’ve finally made the jump to BigScoots. Grayson from iMark Interactive recommends it, so I figured it can’t be bad.

Well, I signed up on November 15, 2018, and so far, I can say that I am very satisfied. Since migrating my site, I’ve also noticed that my traffic has increased.

I’m not sure if this is because my site load speed increased when I made the jump to BigScoots. Honestly, I really don’t care, all I know is that I’m happy with them.

I also haven’t had any issues with CPU usage overage, which is something that I had to deal with on SiteGround.

They do offer shared hosting plans, just know that you won’t find any discounts online. They don’t do any promos, so you will be paying the same price now and after your site has been there for a year or more.

You can check out their shared hosting prices to see how they compare to SiteGround.

Should You Move to A New Hosting Service?

Most people believe that they will choose a webhosting service and stay with them forever. Maybe because they think that migrating a site is hard? Or maybe they just get comfortable and don’t want to experience change.

I get it, who really wants to spend their day researching hosting companies, when they don’t have any problems with their current one.

If you’re a brand new blogger with very little traffic, SiteGround is perfect for you. I would actually recommend them over BlueHost, or any other EIG (Endurance International Group) hosts.

However, once you start getting CPU overages and your blog starts getting a lot of traffic, it may be time to get off of shared hosting. Yes, you’re going to pay more, but at that point you should be making money and it will be well worth it.

As a business owner you will have to decide when it’s right from you to move away from shared hosting. I personally wouldn’t do it until the blog could at least pay for itself.

I chose the Managed WordPress hosting plan at BigScoots for $34.95 per month. It’s a lot of money compared to what I was paying, but I won’t have to move my site again for awhile.

Final Take Away

It costs money to run a blog and build a successful business. This doesn’t mean that you should overpay for hosting just because you don’t want to move or get a little bit uncomfortable.

Most hosting accounts will migrate your site for free, just make sure you ask them before you sign up. I’m NOT saying that SiteGround isn’t a great hosting account, they are, especially, if you sign up at their discount prices.

When you sign up, sign up for more than one year and then work hard on growing your blog. You won’t have to worry about paying any renewal fees and when the time comes to renew, you should be making enough money to get off of shared hosting.

Don’t be scared to invest in good hosting, it makes a huge difference on your blog. As I’ve mentioned, since I’ve moved this site, I’ve noticed a huge difference in my traffic.

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Have you moved off of shared hosting? If so, what helped you make the decision and are you happy with the choice you made? Let me know, I’d love to hear about your move and why you made it.