As you all know WordPress is a free open source program for the world to use and create any type of website. But what are the real costs for this program. To get things to work correctly WordPress uses free plugins that are at 25% capacity of what you really need.
In my view the first plugin you need is a backup
I recommend UpDraft of course starts of free
The cost for the upgrade is $70.00 per year
A great article on this can be found at UpdraftPlus Review
I do have two plugins that really are Free and works great and protects your site from abuse while your site is being created.
My Private Site: This keeps everyone from seeing your site unless you are the Admin. Easy to use and setup and nothing to worry about.
When ready to go live just turn it off and the site is ready for the world to see your Masterpiece.
WordPress comes with Gutenberg editor. I do not like it but maybe because I can create a site without a visual designer. I use Classic Editor which is free.
Speaking of abuse how are you going to keep all those spammers away from your blog posts?
This is a real necessity: Akismet Anti-Spam
A great article on the Askimet Plugin
The upgrade costs for this plugin starts out at $8.33 per month if you pay for the year total of: $99.96 for the year
Now we need a form on the site for the user to contact us. Of course we have the free versions.
Kali Forms is one which I tried and do not like it whatsoever. Free of course but to get the forms you would actually use the upgrade is: $89.00 per year
I like WPForms which of course you can upgrade for (discounted) $39.00 per year usually $79.00 per year for year two and beyond
Of course every free Theme you get has a fee of $39.00 – to $149.00 or so for all the extra bells and whistles, average out to $100.00
Total cost so far for your free site: $288.96 per year starting costs.
Of course there is more cost if you want E-commerce; such as WooCommerce for selling online. As you know it is free but what are the actual costs???