Web Hosting in Kenya: What It Costs and What to Look For
Short answer: web hosting for a business website in Kenya usually costs a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of shillings a year, depending on the type of hosting, the size of the site and the traffic it gets. Our business web hosting starts from KES 10,000 a year with a free SSL certificate included. Backups are available as a paid add-on. The cheapest plan is rarely the cheapest choice: slow or unreliable hosting costs you customers.
Below we explain the types of hosting, what affects the price, what to look for and the mistakes we see most often when businesses come to us with a slow or broken website.
Web hosting costs in Kenya at a glance
| Type of hosting | Best for | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Small business websites with modest traffic | The lowest price; resources shared with many other sites |
| Managed business or WordPress hosting | Business websites and blogs that need to be fast and reliable | Our hosting starts from KES 10,000 a year, SSL included |
| VPS or cloud hosting | Online shops, busy sites and web applications | Higher, priced by server size and traffic |
| Dedicated server | Large platforms with heavy traffic | Highest; usually needs a technical team |
Hosting is separate from your domain name (such as .co.ke or .com) and from website maintenance. Plan for all three as yearly costs. For the full picture, see our website cost guide for Kenya.
What affects the price of hosting
- Size and traffic: more pages, images and visitors need more resources.
- Type of site: an online shop or web app needs more than a five-page website.
- Storage and email: mailboxes on the same server add to the load. Many businesses use Google Workspace instead.
- Backups: regular, off-site backups cost extra with most hosts, including us.
- Support level: a ticket queue abroad, or a local team that knows your site.
- Renewal price: many hosts advertise a low first-year price and renew much higher.
What to look for in a web host
- Speed. Fast servers and caching. A slow site loses visitors on mobile data and ranks lower on Google. See WordPress speed optimisation.
- Free SSL. Your site must load on https. It’s included with our hosting.
- Uptime. Your site should stay online, with monitoring when it doesn’t.
- Backups. Know how often they run, where they’re stored and how fast a restore is. With us, backups are a paid add-on.
- Security. Firewalls, malware scanning and up-to-date server software.
- Support. Real people, in your time zone, who answer on WhatsApp or phone.
- Domain in your name. The domain should always be registered to you, not your developer.
- Honest renewals. Check the second-year price before you sign up.
Common hosting mistakes
- Choosing the cheapest plan for a business site and then losing sales to a slow or offline website.
- No backups, so a hack or a bad update means rebuilding from scratch.
- The domain in someone else’s name, which makes moving hosts difficult.
- Hosting with no maintenance. Hosting keeps your site online, but it doesn’t update WordPress or plugins. Outdated sites are the ones that get hacked. If yours already has been, see WordPress malware removal.
Hosting vs maintenance: what’s the difference?
Hosting is the server your website lives on. Maintenance is looking after the website itself: updates, security checks, speed and small fixes. You need both. Our care plans cost KES 60,000 (USD 600) a year, billed annually. See WordPress maintenance and what a care plan should include.
Moving your website to a new host
If your current host is slow or unreliable, moving is usually straightforward. We move the website, email and domain with minimal downtime and check everything afterwards. See our website migration service and our website launch checklist for what we test.
What’s included in our hosting
- Fast servers tuned for WordPress and business sites, with caching
- A free SSL certificate
- Domain registration or transfer, in your name
- Business email set-up, or Google Workspace on your domain
- Support on WhatsApp from the team that builds and maintains your site
- Backups as an optional paid add-on
Questions to ask before you pay for hosting
- Is SSL included? It should be. Ours is included in every hosting plan.
- Who makes the backups? Find out how often backups run, where they are stored and how fast a restore is. With us, backups are a paid add-on, so you only pay for them if you want them.
- Who do I call when the site is down? A local team that answers during Kenyan working hours saves a lot of stress.
- What happens at renewal? Some hosts offer a cheap first year and a much higher renewal price. Ask for the renewal price in writing.
- Do I own my domain and files? You should. Our clients always own their website.
Do you need a care plan as well?
Hosting keeps your site online. It does not update plugins, fix errors or make content changes. If you would rather not manage that yourself, our care plan costs KES 60,000 (USD 600) a year, billed annually, and covers updates, security checks and support.
We’re rated 5.0 on Google, with 14+ years of experience and 1,200+ projects delivered since 2012.
Frequently asked questions
How much does web hosting cost in Kenya?
It depends on the type of hosting, the size of the site and its traffic. Our business hosting starts from KES 10,000 a year with a free SSL certificate included. Busy shops and web apps cost more.
Is SSL included in your hosting?
Yes. Every hosting plan includes a free SSL certificate so your site loads securely on https.
Are backups included?
Backups are available as a paid add-on. We recommend them for every business website.
Is hosting the same as website maintenance?
No. Hosting keeps the site online. A care plan keeps it updated, secure and fast. Our care plans cost KES 60,000 (USD 600) a year, billed annually.
Can you move my website from another host?
Yes. We move your website, email and domain with minimal downtime and check everything after the move.
What happens if my website goes down?
Contact our team during working hours and we will investigate the server and the website. If you also have a care plan, we handle fixes to the website itself.
Need hosting that just works?
Tell us about your website and we will recommend the right hosting. During working hours (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm EAT) we reply within minutes on phone or WhatsApp at +254 705 828 000.
Prefer it in writing? Request a quote.
Written by Vincent Ochieng, founder of Butterfly Prime Solutions (since 2012). Last updated: 25 October 2026.
