How to Host Client Websites and Bill Them Monthly

When you finish a website for a local business, someone has to keep it online. It can be the owner, who will probably forget to renew something. It can be a hosting company the owner signs up with and never logs into again. Or it can be you, for a monthly fee.

Hosting client sites is one of the simplest ways for a freelancer to build recurring income. It also makes you responsible for something that has to work every day. This guide covers whether to take that on, the main ways to host, who should own the domain, how to bill monthly without chasing invoices, and how to write exit terms that protect both sides.

Should you host client sites at all?

Designers split on this, and both sides have good reasons. In a 2024 r/webdev thread on exactly this question, the top-voted answer suggested offering both: a higher one-time price where the client takes the site elsewhere, or a lower upfront price with a monthly plan and a minimum term. Others said they always have clients own their own hosting, "just in case something happens to me."

Most designers who host do not sell hosting on its own. They sell a care plan that includes hosting, updates, backups and a set amount of edit time. Website maintenance pricing covers how to price one.

Your hosting options

There are five common ways to host small business sites. Prices change often, so check each provider's current pricing before you build your margins on it.

The right choice depends on how you build. If every client site is WordPress, managed WordPress hosting or a reseller account keeps things consistent. If you build static sites, a static host is cheap and fast but leaves you to set up forms and billing yourself.

Whatever you choose, host all your client sites the same way where you can. Ten sites on one platform, with the same backups and monitoring, take far less time than ten sites on five different hosts.

Who should own the domain

The client should own their domain. This is the question that causes the most trouble when a designer and client part ways, and it is easy to get right at the start.

• Register it in the client's name, or in a registrar account the client controls, using an email address they check.
• Give yourself delegated access instead of using their login, if the registrar supports it.
• Put the renewal on the client's card, or on yours with the cost built into the care plan, but keep the registration in their name either way.
• Write down where it is. Your records should say which registrar holds the domain, whose account it is in and when it renews.

How to bill clients monthly

Manual monthly invoices are the most common mistake. They take time to send, some clients pay late, and you end up chasing $79 payments. Set up automatic billing from the start.

Take a card on file at the start

Collect payment details when the client pays the deposit or accepts the proposal, and set up the monthly plan to charge automatically from launch day. Stripe is the common choice, and its fees look like this:

Most invoicing and accounting apps offer recurring card billing too, with their own fees.

Offer annual billing

Some owners would rather pay once a year. One charge means one card fee and no monthly failures. A small discount, such as two months free, is a common incentive.

Write down the late-payment steps

Decide in advance what happens when a card fails, and put the steps in the agreement so pausing the site is something the client already agreed to, not a threat. A common sequence:

1. 1

   Automatic retry

   Let the billing tool retry the card on its own before anyone gets an email.

2. 2

   Reminder at 7 days

   A friendly note with a link to update the card.

3. 3

   Final notice at 14 days

   State the date the site will be paused, as written in the agreement.

4. 4

   Pause the site at 30 days

   Restore it as soon as the balance is paid.

Bill hosting and care together

One monthly line for "hosting and care" is easier to explain than separate charges for hosting, backups and edits. The client sees one number for one service.

When an all-in-one platform makes sense

Some platforms combine the build, hosting and client billing, which removes several of the steps above. Before you move client sites onto one, check five things:

1. How many sites the plan covers. A per-site fee that looks small adds up across twenty clients. Look for a site allowance that fits the book of clients you expect to have in a year.
2. Who holds the domain. The client's domain should stay in the client's registrar account, pointed at the platform with a DNS record, with SSL issued and renewed for you.
3. Whether you can bring sites in. Sites you built elsewhere should deploy without a rebuild, from a ZIP file or a Git repository.
4. What billing costs. Find the platform's cut of the sale and of the monthly fee, and whether you or the client pays it.
5. How you leave. You should be able to download a site's files and hand them over if a client moves on.

As one example, SiteSeeker hosting is included in the Pro and Max plans (up to 50 and 100 sites, see pricing). It deploys sites you built elsewhere from a ZIP or a GitHub repository, attaches the client's domain with SSL issued for you, and can also sell a new domain in the app. You can sell a site through a Stripe checkout link with a one-time price and an optional monthly maintenance fee, paid out to your bank. SiteSeeker keeps 2% of the sale and 1% of the monthly fee. Site files can be downloaded as a ZIP from the hosting dashboard.

A platform like this makes the most sense when you build many similar small business sites and want fewer moving parts. If you need full control over the server, or your clients need custom back-end features, a traditional host will suit you better.

Hand-off and exit terms

Every hosting arrangement ends eventually. The client sells the business, hires an in-house marketer or decides to move. Clear exit terms make that a routine task instead of a dispute. Put these in your agreement:

• Notice period. 30 days' written notice from either side is common.
• What the client receives. A copy of the site files, any content they supplied and a list of the services the site depends on (forms, booking, analytics).
• Domain. Confirmation that the domain is theirs, with help moving the DNS to the new host.
• Timing. You keep the site online through the notice period, as long as payments are current.
• Minimum term. If the build was discounted or paid monthly, the remaining minimum term is due before the hand-off.
• Paid help. Migration work beyond handing over the files is billed at your hourly rate.

Being generous here costs you little. An owner who knows they can leave cleanly is more comfortable signing up in the first place, and a client who leaves on good terms still recommends you.

A checklist before you host your first client site

• Decide on one hosting setup you will use for most clients.
• Set up backups and uptime monitoring for every site.
• Register domains in the client's name, and record where each one lives.
• Set up automatic card billing, with annual billing as an option.
• Write your care plan tiers and include hosting in them.
• Add late-payment, notice and exit terms to your agreement.
• Test a full export of one site so you know the hand-off works.

If you are still setting prices for the build itself, start with how much to charge for a website, then come back to this list.