{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "hostpapa",
 "name": "HostPapa",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "hostpapa.com",
 "category": "IT & Productivity",
 "task": "Hosting & websites",
 "summary": "Small-business web host with cPanel shared and WordPress hosting, VPS and dedicated servers, domains, business email and a website builder, with free migration, 24/7 phone, chat and email support and published renewal prices.",
 "best_for": "small businesses and first-time site owners in North America who want cPanel shared or WordPress hosting with phone, chat and email support, free migration, and a host that publishes its renewal prices in a table",
 "skip_if": "you look only at the first-term price and will not move after three years, you need several sites on the cheapest plan (Essentials hosts one), or you want backups included beyond the first year without paying extra",
 "honest_knock": "The $2.95 is a first-term price on a 3-year term for new customers only, and the regular rate is three to four times higher: Essentials renews at $8.99 a month on a 3-year term and $12.99 month to month. Essentials hosts one site. Automated backups and the domain are free for the first year only, and cancelling inside the first term costs a non-refundable domain fee whose amount the page does not state. The home page puts VPS hosting at $2.95 a month while the web-hosting page says VPS starts at $19.99, so read the VPS page itself before you plan on it. Prices exclude taxes. The support and customer figures on the site are HostPapa's own claims, and we have not used HostPapa ourselves.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "$2.95",
  "entry_price_terms": "Web Hosting Essentials · per month on a 3-year discounted first term, new customers only",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(read 2026-10-12 in a live browser on hostpapa.com/web-hosting-plan and hostpapa.com/renewal-pricing; US site, prices in US dollars excluding taxes) Shared web hosting comes in four cPanel plans, each shown at a promotional price that the page says applies to the first term only, on a 3-year discounted term, for new customers. Essentials is $2.95 a month for 1 website, 25GB NVMe storage and 1x server resources. Growth is $5.95 for 5 websites, 100GB and 2x resources. Premium is $6.95 for unlimited websites, 200GB, 4x resources and a premium SSL certificate. Elite is $9.95 for unlimited websites, unmetered NVMe storage, 8x resources and a wildcard SSL certificate. Every plan includes a free domain for the first year, a CDN, staging, a standard or better SSL certificate and automated backups that are free for the first year only (1GB on Essentials, 5GB on Growth and Premium, 10GB on Elite); Protection Power security is included from Growth up. The renewal page gives the regular rates. Essentials renews at $12.99 a month on monthly billing, $10.99 on a 1-year term (billed $131.88), $9.99 on 2 years and $8.99 on 3 years (billed $323.64). Growth renews at $17.99, $15.99, $14.99 or $13.99; Premium at $24.99, $21.99, $20.99 or $19.99; Elite at $30.99, $29.99, $28.99 or $27.99. Optimized WordPress hosting uses the same four prices. Dedicated servers start at $59.95 a month at a fixed price that renews at the same rate. Every plan carries a 30-day money-back guarantee, but the footnote adds that if you cancel in the first term a non-refundable domain fee is applied for the free domain; its amount is not stated on the page.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-12",
  "source_url": "https://www.hostpapa.com/web-hosting-plan/"
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "renewal_jump",
   "label": "Renewal price jump",
   "evidence": "(read 2026-10-12 in a live browser on hostpapa.com/web-hosting-plan and hostpapa.com/renewal-pricing; US site, prices in US dollars excluding taxes) Shared web hosting comes in four cPanel plans, each shown at a promotional price that the page says applies to the first term only, on a 3-year discounted term, for new customers.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-12",
   "source_url": "https://www.hostpapa.com/web-hosting-plan/"
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Hostinger",
  "why": "Hostinger is in our dossiers too, re-verified on 9 October 2026: Premium at $2.99 a month on a 48-month term ($143.52 up front) for 3 websites, renewing at $10.99. HostPapa Essentials, read on 12 October 2026, is $2.95 a month on a 3-year term for 1 website and renews at $8.99 a month on a 3-year term or $12.99 month to month. The headline prices are almost the same; the differences are site count (Hostinger's entry plan takes three, HostPapa's one), term length (48 against 36 months) and the renewal you choose. Compare both at the renewal rate for the number of sites you actually run."
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/hostpapa.json",
  "review": "https://officesoftwaremarketplace.com/hostpapa-review.html",
  "marketplace": null,
  "vendor_site": "https://hostpapa.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-101832528-10513989-1626390665000",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "hostpapa:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "hostpapa:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "hostpapa:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "hostpapa:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_checked",
   "detail": "We could not read the vendor's pages as plain HTML.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}