WordPress Starter Offers Web Hosting for $5/Month

WordPress.com is introducing a new website hosting plan that combines a custom domain name, a generous amount of storage space, and the ability to accept payments on your site for just $5 per month.

It’s called WordPress Starter(Opens in a new window), and hosts your website on WordPress.com managed hosting along with the promise of unlimited site traffic. In return for your $5 every month, WordPress.com is offering a custom domain name for free for the first year, as well as 6GB of storage for any photos and images required on your site.

For accepting payments, three options are available: The Donations Form block allows you to accept credit and debit card payments for donations, contributions, and tips. The Premium Content block allows you to accept one-time, monthly, or annual payments for exclusive original content of any type, including images, text, and video. Finally, the Payment Button block allows you to accept payments and create paid subscriptions using the Stripe payment service.

WordPress Starter also includes Google Analytics integration, which should allow you to keep an eye on how much traffic your site is getting as well as insights into what types of content works best.

WordPress Starter is a nice step up from the free plan where storage is limited to just 1GB and a custom domain isn’t included. If your website outgrows the Starter plan, then the WordPress Pro plan is available for $15 per month. It increases the storage limit to 50GB, adds a full range of ecommerce and payment tools, and unlocks a whole range of other features including premium themes, expert support, and the ability to earn ad revenue on your site.