What Is Hostinger? Hosting, Domains and an AI Site Builder
By Joris van Huët · Hostinger's own site
The short answer: Hostinger's $2.49 a month is a 48-month price paid upfront, $119.52 in one payment, and the Premium plan then renews at $10.99 a month (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026). Hostinger sells web hosting, domains, business email and an AI Builder that writes a website or web app from a prompt, and it suits a team that wants a campaign site or small business site live without a developer and can commit to a long prepaid term.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.
Read every price as a total:
- What leaves the account on day one. For example, Premium is 48 x $2.49 = $119.52 and Unlimited is 48 x $3.49 = $167.52, before VAT, per the pricing page, which says all plans are paid upfront.
- The domain you already own. The free domain comes only with yearly or longer plans, must be registered within 12 months and is non-refundable under the refund policy. If you own one, connect it instead.
- The 30 days that count. Refunds run 30 days from the date of the transaction, and a renewal counts as one, per the same policy. Publish, test and decide inside that window.
What Hostinger is now
Its homepage calls Hostinger an agentic platform: websites and web apps from AI Builder, WordPress hosting, domains, email, email marketing through Reach, and VPS. AI Builder has a drag-and-drop manual mode and an agentic mode where a chat writes the code, sets up the database and shows a live preview, per the AI Builder docs. Hostinger Agent, a support and site-management chat, is free with every plan, and the Hostinger Connector links Cursor, Claude Code or VS Code to the account over MCP.
Who it suits
A marketing lead who needs a landing page, an event site or a small business site live this month, with domain and mailboxes in the same order and no developer on hand. Less so a team that cannot commit four years of budget at once, or a site that needs server access: AI Builder sites have no FTP, SSH or File Manager, per the publishing docs.
Plans on 26 October 2026
From the Hostinger pricing page, in USD a month without VAT, on the 48-month term the page shows during its Black Friday offer:
| Plan | Per month, 48 months | Paid upfront | Renews at | Websites | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | $2.49 | $119.52 | $10.99 | 3 | 20 GB SSD |
| Unlimited | $3.49 | $167.52 | $16.99 | Unlimited | 50 GB NVMe |
| Ecommerce Startup | $7.99 | $383.52 | $25.99 | Unlimited | 100 GB NVMe |
The crossed-out regular rates beside them are $12.19, $18.99 and $27.99 a month on the same pricing page. During the offer, a 48-month plan carries double the usual AI credits as a one-time gift, 500 instead of 250 on Premium.
Next to 10Web, Bluehost and Cloudways
- 10Web also builds from a prompt, but onto WordPress, with AI Starter at $10 a month billed annually and 100 AI credits a month on its pricing page. Choose it for WordPress underneath; Hostinger's agentic builder writes its own React and Node.js app.
- Bluehost sells 12 and 36-month terms, with Starter at $3.99 a month over 36 months, renewing at $9.99, per its pricing page. A shorter lock-in for a slightly higher entry price.
- Cloudways bills a managed server by the hour from $11 a month, nothing prepaid, on its pricing page. Pick it when traffic swings and capacity should follow.
How to start
The free route first: AI Builder has a 7-day trial with 250 AI credits in agentic mode and no card, started from a template during Black Friday, and trial sites cannot be published, per the trial article. How to use Hostinger takes a campaign landing page from prompt to custom domain. Mind the frame of the price you compared: every plan card shows the 48-month figure, so the number that wins the comparison is the one that asks for four years of payment on day one.
FAQ
Do AI credits renew every month?
Not the ones that come with hosting, which are a one-time gift. Monthly credits come from an AI credit plan and roll over for one month, and top-ups expire three months after purchase, per the credits docs.
Will search engines index the free subdomain?
No. The hostingersite.com address is blocked from indexing; a custom domain makes the site discoverable, per the SEO docs.
Can I get a refund on a standalone AI Builder plan?
Within 30 days, and only if fewer than 30 messages, counted as AI credits, have been used, per the refund policy. Hosting plans follow the standard 30-day terms.