Why the review has to start before the charge date
Most hosting renewals are automatic, so the real deadline is not your expiry date. It is the last day you can still change course without paying for another term. That day comes earlier than many site owners expect, and it is different at each host.
WP Engine's terms say the agreement renews automatically for a term equal to the previous one, and that either party must give notice of non-renewal no later than 30 days before the active term expires. Renewal fees are at WP Engine's then-current rates. If your review starts 30 days out, you are already at the deadline. SiteGround's help centre says plans with a renewal period of 12 months or more are auto-renewed 15 days before expiry, and monthly plans 5 days before. Kinsta's terms say plans renew automatically for the shorter of the previous subscription period or 12 months, that you can schedule a termination in the dashboard at any time, and that after a promotional period services renew at the standard fee.
A review that starts 45 days before the renewal date leaves two weeks to gather numbers and decide, plus time to give notice, migrate or change plan before anything is charged.
| Host | When you are committed | Price at renewal | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| WP Engine | Non-renewal notice due no later than 30 days before the term expires | WP Engine's then-current rates; increases must be notified before the opt-out deadline | WP Engine terms of service (fees and term sections) |
| SiteGround | Auto-renewal charged 15 days before expiry on 12-month-plus plans; 5 days before on monthly plans | Regular price shown on the plan page (see the next section) | SiteGround help: When will I be billed for renewal? |
| Kinsta | Renews automatically for the shorter of the prior period or 12 months; termination can be scheduled at any time and takes effect at the end of the period | Standard fee after any promotional period | Kinsta terms of service (auto renewal and fee sections) |
Check 1: twelve months of usage against the plan limits
Pull the usage figures your host actually meters, not the ones in its marketing. For a course site the useful view is the peak month, because launches, cohort starts and sales cause spikes that an average hides.
Kinsta shows visits, server bandwidth, disk space and CDN bandwidth under Dashboard, then Plan usage, and emails alerts at 80 and 100 percent of a limit by default. Its overage rates are published: $0.50 per 1,000 visits, $0.50 per GB of server bandwidth, $2 per GB of disk per month and $0.05 per GB of CDN bandwidth. Upgrades do not apply retroactively, so overages already incurred still appear on the next invoice. WP Engine's terms say that where your order sets a usage limit such as visitors, you are responsible for the overages, invoiced monthly in arrears; its plans page also notes that overages may apply at checkout. SiteGround's shared plans advertise unlimited traffic, so the number to watch there is server load: its help centre shows CPU seconds and executions under Client Area, Services, Settings, Statistics, CPU Seconds, and says that is the graph you will be sent if you are contacted about CPU usage.
Worked example on Kinsta rates: a site that went 10,000 visits over its cap in a launch month and sat 5 GB over its disk allowance all year would pay $5 for that visit overage and $10 a month for the extra disk, or $120 a year. If overages like these recur, compare them with the price of the next plan up before renewing.
| Host | Where to find usage | What to record for the review |
|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | MyKinsta: Dashboard, Plan usage | Peak and average monthly visits, server bandwidth, disk, CDN bandwidth; any overage lines on the last 12 invoices |
| WP Engine | The usage limits in your order and your monthly invoices (overages are invoiced monthly in arrears) | Visits, storage and bandwidth against the limits in your order; overage charges by month |
| SiteGround | Client Area: Services, Settings, Statistics, CPU Seconds | Busiest days and hours for CPU seconds and executions; any CPU usage warnings received; storage used against the plan quota |
Check 2: the renewal price, not the price you first paid
Introductory prices are common, and the renewal invoice is where they end. SiteGround's WordPress plan page lists StartUp at $2.99 a month, GrowBig at $4.99 and GoGeek at $7.99, each marked "Renews at" $17.99, $29.99 and $44.99 a month respectively, prepaid for 12 months. Kinsta's terms say services renew at the standard fee after a promotional period. WP Engine's renewals are at its then-current rates.
Worked example: a GrowBig plan bought at $4.99 a month costs $59.88 for the first 12 months. At $29.99 a month the next 12 months cost $359.88, a $300 rise. That is not a reason to leave on its own, but it is the number to compare against alternatives, and it should be in your budget before the charge lands. SiteGround also says renewing for a longer period gives a lower average monthly price, so ask for the renewal quote at more than one term length.
Put three figures side by side in the log: what you paid last year, what the renewal invoice will be at the regular rate, and the total cost of the best alternative including any migration work. If the alternative only wins by a small margin, the risk and time of a move usually decide it in favour of staying.
Check 3: add-ons and extras you are still paying for
Add-ons are easy to buy during a launch or an incident and easy to forget. List every line item on the last invoice and ask, for each one, whether anything on the site used it in the past 12 months.
Examples of what to look for: Kinsta lists an additional site at $30 a month and extra disk at $20 a month per 20 GB, and a paid external backups add-on with a $1 per GB bandwidth charge. Its pricing page and its backup documentation give different base prices for that add-on ($10 per 500 MB a month versus $2 a month per site), so read the actual figure from your invoice. WP Engine's plans page lists optional add-ons such as uptime monitoring, a managed web application firewall and application performance monitoring without public prices, so check your own order. SiteGround offers a paid Premium backup add-on with hourly backups for the last 48 hours; its price is not stated in the help article, so read it from your invoice.
Before removing anything, check what depends on it. An extra site slot might hold a staging copy you still use; external backups might be your only off-host copy. Removing an add-on is a change to test, not just a saving to bank.
- Extra site or environment slots: is each one a live site, a staging copy in use, or an abandoned test?
- Extra disk: does current storage still need it after clearing old backups, logs and unused media?
- Backup add-ons: if you drop one, what is your off-host copy afterwards?
- Security, monitoring and performance add-ons: does something else (a plugin, a free monitor, a CDN) now do the same job?
- Domain, email and SSL lines billed through the host: are they still on this account, and do they renew on the same date?
Check 4: restore one backup, do not just confirm backups exist
A backup you have never restored is an assumption. The renewal review is a natural time to prove one works, because the result might change whether you need a backup add-on or a different host.
Kinsta takes daily backups (its pricing page lists 14 days of backup retention on the plans it shows, so confirm yours), allows up to five manual backups, and lets you restore a live backup to any environment, including a staging site you create first. Downloadable backups can be generated once a week and are available for 48 hours. WP Engine creates daily checkpoints, keeps 30 days of backups, and warns that restoring is destructive; to restore to another environment you use Copy Site with a backup point. Prepared ZIP downloads stay available for up to seven days. SiteGround's standard shared hosting keeps up to 30 daily copies, gives five on-demand backup slots on GrowBig and higher, and lets you restore all files and databases, selected files, a database or email accounts, with no preview before restoring. Downloading a SiteGround backup requires its paid Premium Backup service, and each generated download link lasts 24 hours.
The test: restore yesterday's backup to staging (not production), log in as a test student, open a lesson, check a recent order or enrolment exists, and note how long it took. Then download a full copy and store it somewhere other than the host. Record the restore time and any gaps in the log.
| Host | Daily backup retention | Restore to staging | Off-host copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | 14 days on the plans its pricing page lists; check your plan | Yes, live backup to any environment | Downloadable backup once a week, available 48 hours; paid external backups add-on |
| WP Engine | 30 days | Via Copy Site, Push to, Custom, Backup point | Full or partial ZIP, downloadable up to 7 days |
| SiteGround (standard shared) | Up to 30 daily copies | Restore tool restores in place; restore files to a folder for review | Backup downloads need the paid Premium Backup service (link valid 24 hours); otherwise export your own copy |
The decision log
Write the review down. Next year you will want to know why you stayed, what the usage was, and which add-ons you removed. A short table in a shared document is enough; the point is that the decision and its deadline are recorded before the charge, not reconstructed after it.
Possible decisions are renew as is, renew on a different plan or term, remove add-ons, or give notice and migrate. If you choose to migrate, the notice deadline and the cut-over date both go in the log, and the old plan should not end until the new host has passed acceptance checks.
| Field | Illustrative entry |
|---|---|
| Renewal date and last safe decision date | Renews 1 March; WP Engine notice due by 30 January; review started 15 January |
| Peak and average usage versus limits | Peak 41,000 visits in launch month against a 25,000 cap; average 18,000 |
| Overages paid in the last 12 months | Total from invoices, by month |
| Renewal price at regular rate | Invoice estimate for 12 months and for any longer term quoted |
| Add-ons kept and removed | Removed: unused extra site slot. Kept: external backups |
| Backup restore test | Restored to staging in 22 minutes; student login and last order confirmed |
| Decision and owner | Renew on next plan up; owner and date of the change |
Checklist: 45 days before renewal
- Find the renewal date and the last date to give notice or change plan in your host's terms and billing page.
- Export 12 months of usage and invoices; note the peak month and every overage charge.
- Price the renewal at the regular rate for the term you would choose, and for one longer term.
- List every add-on and decide keep, remove or replace; check dependencies before removing.
- Restore one backup to staging and confirm a student login, a lesson and a recent order.
- Download a full backup and store it off the host.
- Check the payment card on file will still be valid on the charge date.
- Record the decision, owner and dates in the log; set a reminder for next year's review 45 days before renewal.
Questions before you decide
How far before renewal should I review my hosting?
Start 45 days before. WP Engine requires notice of non-renewal no later than 30 days before the term ends, and SiteGround charges 12-month plans 15 days before expiry, so a review that starts 30 days out may already be too late.
Will my hosting renew at the price I first paid?
Often not. SiteGround lists GrowBig at $4.99 a month renewing at $29.99, Kinsta renews promotional plans at the standard fee, and WP Engine renews at its then-current rates.
What does a Kinsta overage cost?
Kinsta publishes $0.50 per 1,000 visits, $0.50 per GB of server bandwidth, $2 per GB of disk per month and $0.05 per GB of CDN bandwidth. Upgrading does not cancel overages already incurred.
Is checking that backups exist enough?
No. Restore one to a staging site and confirm a student can log in and a recent order is present. WP Engine notes its restores are destructive, so test on another environment rather than production.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- WP Engine: Terms of Service Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Plans Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Restore a backup Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: When will I be billed for renewal? Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: WordPress hosting plans Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: How to renew a hosting plan Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: CPU resource usage graph explained Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: Backup service Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Terms of Service Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: WordPress hosting overages Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: WordPress backups Accessed 30 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.