Name the problem first
| Problem | Likely fix | Leave Kinsta? |
|---|---|---|
| Regular visit overages | Switch to the bandwidth-metered variant or the next visit tier | Not necessarily |
| One expensive launch month | Pay the overage for that month; Kinsta alerts at 80% and 100% | Rarely |
| Several small sites, each needing a plan | Multi-site plans, or a host with more site slots per plan | Maybe |
| Total price for a small, steady course | A cheaper managed or shared plan | Yes, if the trade-offs below are acceptable |
| Need server-level control | Managed VPS or cloud server | Yes |
Kinsta's published numbers
From Kinsta's pricing page on 29 October 2026, single-site plans come in pairs at the same price, one metered by visits and one by server bandwidth. The page also showed a Launch card at $35 listing 75,000 estimated visits and 15 GB bandwidth, which does not match the Single 35k row in the comparison table; confirm which plan the checkout shows. Additional sites are $30 per month and an extra 20 GB of disk is $20 per month.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | Visits variant | Bandwidth variant | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single 35k / 20GB | $35 | $30 | 35,000 | 20 GB | 10 GB |
| Single 65k / 40GB | $50 | $42 | 65,000 | 40 GB | 10 GB |
| Single 125k / 65GB | $90 | $75 | 125,000 | 65 GB | 10 GB |
| Single 315k / 125GB | $170 | $142 | 315,000 | 125 GB | 10 GB |
| WP 2 | $70 | $59 | 70,000 | 40 GB | 20 GB |
| WP 5 | $115 | $96 | 125,000 | 65 GB | 30 GB |
Visits or bandwidth: which suits a course site
Kinsta counts a visit as unique IP addresses seen within 24 hours, estimated from logs and shared across sites on a plan. Bandwidth-metered plans charge for server data traffic instead. Which is cheaper depends on how many distinct people arrive versus how much data each pulls from the server.
Worked example with assumed figures: a course gets 50,000 visits a month, mostly marketing traffic with light pages, and serves 15 GB from the server. On Single 35k it runs 15,000 visits over, adding $7.50 a month. On Single 20GB it stays within 20 GB and pays nothing extra. Reverse the pattern, with 20,000 visits but 40 GB because lesson PDFs and video sit on the server, and the visits plan wins while the bandwidth plan would add $10 at $0.50 per GB.
Pull three months of visits and bandwidth from your hosting analytics and compute both before switching hosts. Kinsta's overage document says an upgrade only applies going forward, and an extreme overage, equal to the plan cost or $500 whichever is less, can lead to a required payment, an upgrade, or temporarily limited site access.
Alternatives by budget
| Option | Published price | Metering | Trade-off compared with Kinsta |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround GrowBig | $4.99/mo first 12 months prepaid, then $29.99/mo | About 100,000 visits guidance; no overage rate on page | Shared hosting; CPU and RAM not published; renewal much higher than first year |
| Liquid Web Pro, 1 site | $19/mo for 50,000 visits; $39 for 150,000 | Visit tiers; overage rates not on plan page | 14-day backups on Pro; confirm visit counting and overage terms |
| WP Engine Essential | From $28/mo billed annually, first-year pricing | Visits, 25,000 to 400,000 by tier | Disallowed plugin list; $2 per 1,000 overage on plans named in its visit article |
| DigitalOcean Droplet | $12 (2 GiB) or $24 (4 GiB), plus 30% for daily backups | Transfer allowance only | You manage the server entirely |
| KnownHost Basic managed VPS | $43.25/mo; JetBackup add-on $8.95/mo | 3 TB bandwidth, no visit meter | Server management included, WordPress plugins best effort |
When Kinsta is still the right call
- Your traffic fits a plan without regular overages, once you have tried both metering variants.
- You value free staging environments and unlimited migrations, both listed on every plan.
- Nobody on your team wants to touch a server, and the extra cost over a Droplet is less than the time it would take.
- You run one important site rather than many small ones, so the $30 per additional site charge does not apply.
Who should look elsewhere
- Owners of several small course or landing sites, where per-site pricing adds up faster than on Liquid Web's multi-site plans or SiteGround's unlimited-site plans.
- Courses that store large media on the server and outgrow 10 GB of storage, unless the disk add-on is cheaper than moving.
- Teams that want server-level control, custom software or no visit metering at all, and have someone to run a VPS.
- Very early courses with little traffic where a first-year shared price is enough; budget for the renewal from day one.
Checklist before switching
- Compute your last three months on both Kinsta metering variants.
- Price each alternative at renewal for a full year, with backups and expected overages.
- Confirm the alternative's visit definition and overage rate in writing.
- Check plugin compatibility, especially caching, backup and membership plugins.
- Rehearse the migration on staging and test login, checkout, enrolment and progress saving before DNS cutover.
Questions before you decide
What is Kinsta's cheapest plan?
On 29 October 2026 the pricing page listed single-site plans at $35 per month, or $30 per month billed annually, for 35,000 visits or 20 GB of server bandwidth.
What does Kinsta charge for overages?
Its overage document lists $0.50 per 1,000 visits, $0.50 per GB of server bandwidth, $0.05 per GB of CDN bandwidth and $2 per GB per month of disk.
Is there a Kinsta alternative with no visit limits?
A managed VPS such as KnownHost or a DigitalOcean Droplet is not metered by visits; you pay for a server size and bandwidth allowance instead, and take on more responsibility for the server.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Kinsta: Pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Kinsta: Overages Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: WordPress hosting plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- SiteGround: Shared hosting features Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- Liquid Web: Managed hosting for WordPress plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: How visits are counted Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- KnownHost: Managed VPS hosting plans Accessed 29 Oct 2026
- DigitalOcean: Droplet pricing Accessed 29 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.