How Does Web Hosting Work?
Web hosts work by offering space on their webserver for a monthly fee. The amount of storage space and bandwidth varies according to the web host and your service plan. Storage space refers to the amount of data you can keep on your site/sites and is measured in gigabytes. Bandwidth, also measured in gigabytes, determines how much data your visitors can access per month.
“There are many many web hosting companies that are competing for your business and one way they attract customers is offering unlimited web hosting? ”
Customers interested in unlimited web hosting may be led to believe that their monthly fee will entitle them to unlimited space or bandwidth, but this is almost certainly not the case. Since the company’s servers do not provide unlimited space, it is hard to imagine them providing unlimited space to clients for a reasonable price.
So What is Unlimited About it?
When a service advertises unlimited web hosting, they are probably offering an unlimited service within their package. One example might be unlimited domain names, e-mail accounts etc. This means you are able to have as many domains as you can register and maintain on the server. Of course, your use of these sites will be limited by the amount of storage space and bandwidth available to you.
Back to the real world
What usually comes with your unlimited plan:
- Domains & sub domains
- E-mail accounts
- Databases
and what does not…
- Memory Usage (usually fixed, ask if you have a “heavy” site)
- File Usage, most hosts have a limit on how many files you can have, this is usually not shown but aslo not a problem in most cases BUT if you have one or more large WordPress / Woocommerce site you should check how many image sizes are created by your theme. This really can add up, esp. if the creator of the theme is not that good… A store with 100 000 products with 10 image sizes that adds up quite quickly.
- Bandwidth, as long as you’re not hosting videos this should not be a problem, but there is always a limit.
In conclusion
When considering hosting plans the “unlimited” part be only one of your considerations. Actual storage space, bandwidth, price and reputation should be carefully considered. If you find a few web hosting services that interest you, check out a few reviews on the web and see what others who have used them have to say about them.
You’re entrusting your money and your website to the service you choose, so make sure you choose carefully. There are few things more boring, and time consuming, than switching hosting providers.
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