When the $4/month plan is fine, when it absolutely isn't, and the hidden cost of "free SSL" most agencies never mention.
The honest tier map
- Hostinger Premium ($4–$11/mo): brochure sites, WordPress for under 5k monthly visitors, small WooCommerce stores. Sydney datacentre available.
- SiteGround GrowBig ($30/mo): WordPress sites that need staging, daily backups and AU phone support.
- AWS Lightsail Sydney ($10–$40/mo): Laravel/Node apps, custom platforms, anything that needs a real Linux box.
- AWS EC2/RDS Sydney ($120+/mo): Multi-tenant SaaS, anything with audit/compliance needs (NDIS, fintech, health).
When the cheap plan is enough
If you're a tradie, allied health practice, single-location restaurant or any business where the website is a brochure + contact form — Hostinger Premium will serve you faithfully for years. We use it for 70% of our SMB website clients.
When it absolutely isn't
- You take payments above $5k/month. Move to a managed WordPress host (SiteGround / Kinsta) or Shopify.
- You serve regulated industries. Aged care, NDIS, healthcare data — AWS Sydney or Azure AU only. Compliance documentation matters.
- You have predictable traffic spikes. Book launches, AFL grand final tie-ins — you need autoscaling.
The "free SSL" gotcha
Every host advertises "free SSL". What they don't tell you is that:
- Some hosts charge a $30 one-off SSL "install fee" the first time.
- Wildcard SSL (covering subdomains) often isn't included.
- Auto-renewal can fail silently if your DNS is hosted elsewhere.
Always ask: "Is Let's Encrypt with auto-renewal included for both root and wildcard, no extra fees, ever?" If they hesitate, walk.
Brandwings' default 2026 stack
- WordPress / static: Hostinger Premium AU.
- Laravel SMB apps: AWS Lightsail Sydney + Cloudflare.
- Next.js apps: Vercel + Upstash + Neon AU.
- Compliance-grade SaaS: AWS EC2 Sydney + RDS + S3 + WAF.
Boring choices, low surprise bills, easy to hand over. That's the whole game.