Getting Started
Cost Breakdown
This stack can run for as little as $0–$4/month.
Total Monthly Cost Tiers
Free
$0/mo
Learning, prototypes, personal sites
Starter
$3–5/mo
Small NGOs, portfolios, blogs
Professional
$25–30/mo
Businesses, client work
Enterprise
$100+/mo
High-traffic production sites
WordPress Backend Hosting
| Provider | Plan | Monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Shared Starter | $0–$3 | Perfect for headless — only handles API requests |
| Hostinger | Business | ~$9 | Staging environment, more resources |
| Kinsta | Managed WP | $35+ | Auto-scaling, built-in CDN |
| WP Engine | Scale | $290+ | Full SLA, dedicated resources |
Next.js Frontend Hosting
| Provider | Plan | Monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hobby | Free | 100GB bandwidth, great for side projects |
| Cloudflare Pages | Free | Free | Unlimited bandwidth, global CDN |
| Netlify | Starter | Free | 100GB bandwidth, 300 build min/mo |
| Vercel | Pro | $20 | Team collaboration, analytics |
Key WordPress Plugins
| Plugin | Free? | Paid | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Custom Fields | ✓ Core | $149/yr Pro | Custom post type fields |
| Contact Form 7 | ✓ Full | Free | Contact and subscription forms |
| Headless Mode (WP Engine) | ✓ Full | Free | Disables WordPress frontend |
| JWT Authentication | ✓ Full | Free | API token authentication |
| Yoast SEO | ✓ Basic | $99/yr Pro | SEO metadata via REST API |
Our setup: Hostinger Shared ($3/mo) + Vercel Hobby (Free) + Namecheap domain (~$20/yr). Total: ~$3–4/month.