Whether you're helping one other stokvel or setting this up for a whole federation of branches, there are four honest ways to do it — pick the one that matches how hands-on you want to be.
The plugin licence is rarely the biggest line item over a year. If you're quoting a group (or budgeting for your own), here's a realistic breakdown so nobody's surprised later. Figures are estimates from published hosting pricing — always confirm the current rate before you quote someone.
| Item | Realistic cost |
|---|---|
| Web hosting (Hostinger Business/WordPress plan) | ~R60–100/month on a discounted intro term, renewing at roughly R300–320/month |
| Domain name | Often free year 1, renews ~R150–350/year (~R15–30/month) |
| SSL certificate | Free — included with hosting |
| Email for magic links | R0 on a free-tier SMTP relay (Brevo/SendGrid, ~300 emails/day) — or ~R25–35/month for a dedicated mailbox |
| Backups | Free tier (UpdraftPlus) usually sufficient |
| Realistic all-in monthly total | ~R80–130/month early on, ~R330–380/month once hosting renews at full price |
This is exactly why Hosted carries a setup fee plus R399/month rather than just the R149/month Pro licence — it needs to cover real provisioning work, hosting, ongoing support, and a fair margin, not just server costs. Only relevant if you're comparing to DIY — Direct and Hosted already fold this in.
Running this across several branch sites for an umbrella body? The Federation licence (R329/month, DIY) or Hosted Federation (R3,000 setup + R799/month, we host it) lets you remove Stokvel Chommie branding and adds phone/WhatsApp support — worth it once you're managing more than a couple of sites.
Tell us how many groups you're thinking about and whether they already have a website — we'll point you to the right option.