I hosted a WP blog for years. It hit the front page of Reddit multiple times and #1 once and it never cost more than $10/month. These days, the same blog could easily run on a $5/month VPS. You could also host a WP blog for free, using their hosted service.

Even as a non-programmer back then, I didn't find the complexity bad at all. It was certainly a lot less than what's involved with the OP's setup.