Benih DigitalNo. 4 Jom Cuba · Try this week
Where to put your website, and what it really costs
About 20 minutes, once
One Malaysian hosting company advertises "from RM16.50 a month". Its one-year plan costs RM240.90, about RM20 a month. The RM16.50 applies only if you pay RM594 for three years at once. So what will you pay this year, and next year? A domain is your web address (like benih.my). Hosting is the rented computer that keeps your website online. Domain and hosting together are about RM165 to RM321 a year. Building the pages is a separate cost, and no plan we read includes it.
- Write down what you need: a website, email addresses with your name, or online donations.
- Find the domain ending you can use: .org.my for a society registered with the Registrar of Societies (send the registration certificate), .com.my for a company or registered business.
- On each provider's order page, read the total for 1, 2 and 3 years. In November 2026 the lowest monthly prices needed 3 or 4 years paid at once. Write down your year-one price, the regular price after any offer, and the years you must pay at once. Add 8% service tax.
- Check four features: SSL (the security setting that shows the padlock in the browser), automatic backups, a money-back period, and support when the site breaks.
- Register in the organisation's name, with an organisation email, not one person's Gmail.
What you should see
For two or three options, a first-year cost and a second-year cost side by side, with a note where the provider would not say. None of the five order pages we opened on 4 Nov 2026 showed the year-two price, so ask in writing what you will pay in year two, and keep the reply.
Where it needs more than one sitting: moving an existing website, setting up email on your own domain, and choosing between rented hosting and a website builder (a monthly service where you drag and drop your pages).
You can also try it with your own AI tool: paste the prompt from the template and fill in the blanks. The AI will tell you which domain ending you can use and what to ask each provider. It cannot see today's prices.