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Client hosting is less a technical decision than a commercial one. Who holds the account, who answers the phone when it breaks, and what happens when the relationship ends. Traxio itself is free for 30 days with no card, then 99p a month.

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Ownership, not infrastructure

Every freelancer eventually has to decide how client hosting works, and the decision has more consequences than it appears to. Reselling hosting looks attractive — a small recurring margin, and control over the environment — but it also makes you the first line of support for every server problem, the party responsible for someone else's uptime, and the person holding a site hostage in any dispute, whether or not you intended to be.

The alternative arrangement, where the client holds the account and you hold access, is less lucrative and considerably less complicated. Which one is right depends on what kind of practice you are running.

Two arrangements, side by side

Two ways to arrange client hosting
You hold the account Client holds the account
Billing You invoice, you carry the margin and the admin Client pays the host directly; you invoice only for your own work
Support burden Every server problem reaches you first Server problems go to the host; site problems come to you
Handover at the end A migration, at an awkward moment Remove your access; nothing else to do
Risk if you stop trading Client sites are entangled with your arrangements Client is unaffected
Client perception Simpler for them — one point of contact Slightly more setup; clearly better for their independence

What you are really charging for

If you do resell, be honest with yourself about what you are selling. Reselling a £0.99 plan at £10 a month is selling a support commitment, not storage — and the commitment is one that no upstream host is making to you. That is a legitimate business, but price it as the support product it actually is.

Five things that make client hosting work

  1. Set the support boundary in writing, early

    State plainly which problems go to the host and which come to you. The commonest freelance dispute is not about cost, it is about whose problem something is at eleven at night. Traxio's published support scope is a useful thing to point at, because it is explicit.

  2. One account per client site

    You can add a client’s domain to your own account for a £0.99 one-off, but a separate account per client is usually cleaner: separate credentials, separate limits, and one client’s traffic cannot affect another’s.

  3. Use subdomains for your own staging

    Your own account can carry demo and staging subdomains for work in progress — subdomains are included, one bill. Password-protect them. Staging properly.

  4. Match the host to the client, honestly

    A small plan suits a brochure site. It does not suit a client with real traffic, a busy shop, or an expectation of a support phone line. Putting a client on hosting that will not carry them is a problem you have scheduled for later.

  5. Document the handover before you need it

    Registrar, host, logins, database names, what is where. Written down and given to the client. It costs an hour and it is what separates a professional handover from an argument.

Which client work this suits

Works well for

  • Brochure and small business client sites
  • Small WordPress builds with modest traffic
  • Your own portfolio and demo environment
  • Clients who want to own their own hosting relationship
  • Keeping a former client's site alive cheaply after handover

Not appropriate for

  • Clients whose revenue depends on uptime during business hours
  • Busy shops or high-traffic sites
  • Anything needing Ruby or root access
  • Clients who expect a guaranteed response time or a phone line
  • A managed-hosting product you intend to resell with an SLA attached

The last item matters most. You cannot sell an SLA on top of a host that does not offer one — you would simply be absorbing the risk personally, usually without pricing it.

Simple web hosting for £0.99 a month

One plan with everything included. Your first 30 days are free with no card required, then it’s £0.99 a month if you choose to continue — with no setup fee and no price rise at renewal.

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Traxio web hosting

  • 3GB NVMe disk spaceIncluded
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  • DirectAdmin control panelIncluded
  • Free SSL, issued and renewed automaticallyIncluded
  • An email account on your own domainIncluded
  • One-click WordPress and 400+ appsIncluded
  • FTP, SFTP and a browser file managerIncluded
  • A MySQL database with phpMyAdminIncluded
  • PHP 7.4 to 8.3, switchable per domainIncluded
  • Cron jobs and daily offsite backupsIncluded

First 30 days£0.00

Then, per month£0.99

No setup fee. No VAT or card fees added.

Freelance hosting questions

Yes. You can add extra domains to one account for £0.99 each, paid once, but a separate £0.99 account per client is usually better practice — separate credentials, separate resource limits and a clean handover.
Having the client hold the account in their own name is generally the better arrangement. It removes you from the billing relationship, avoids you becoming their first line of support for server problems, and means the site does not disappear if your own arrangements change. You keep access; they keep ownership.
If the account is in their name, nothing to arrange — you remove your access and the site continues. If it is in yours, you have a migration to do at exactly the moment relations may be least cordial. That asymmetry is worth thinking about before the first invoice, not after the last.
For brochure sites, small business sites and small WordPress builds, yes. It is not suitable for a client with real traffic, a busy shop, or a support expectation — there is no response-time guarantee at this price. Matching the host to the client is part of the job.
Be explicit that hosting support covers the server and the platform, and that anything about the website itself comes to you. Setting that boundary in writing at the start prevents the most common freelance support argument, which is about whose problem something is.

Hosting for Small Business

What your typical client actually needs, and when they should pay more.

Hosting for Portfolios

Your own site, which is also a sales tool.

Published Support Scope

The boundary to point clients at, in writing.

Testing and Staging

Demo subdomains for work in progress.

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