Hosting is the least exciting part of a website, right up until your site goes down during a sale or takes eight seconds to load. It's also where many businesses try to save money and end up paying for it in lost enquiries.
Note: if you're on Shopify, hosting is included and managed for you. This guide is mainly for WordPress and other self-hosted websites.
The main types of hosting
Shared hosting
Your site shares a server with many others. It's the cheapest option and fine for very small, low-traffic sites. The downside is that other sites on the same server can slow yours down, and resources are limited.
Managed WordPress hosting
Hosting tuned specifically for WordPress, usually with built-in caching, automatic backups, staging sites and security features. More expensive than basic shared hosting, but often the best value for business websites.
VPS and cloud hosting
Dedicated resources on a virtual server. Faster and more flexible, but may need technical knowledge unless it comes with a management panel or managed service.
What to check before choosing
Server location. If most of your visitors are in India, servers in or near India generally mean faster load times. A CDN helps too.
Speed features. SSD or NVMe storage, server-level caching and support for current PHP versions.
Backups. Automatic, frequent and easy to restore. Ask how long backups are kept.
Security. Free SSL, malware scanning, firewalls and account isolation.
Support. Available when you need it, in a language you're comfortable with, and actually knowledgeable. Test by asking a question before buying.
Uptime. Look for a stated uptime commitment and read recent reviews.
Renewal price. Many hosts advertise a heavily discounted first term. Check what you'll pay at renewal.
Red flags
- "Unlimited" everything for a tiny price
- No backups, or backups only as a paid add-on
- Support that takes days to respond
- Hosting and domain registered in your developer's name instead of yours
How much hosting do you need?
A typical small business website with a few thousand visitors a month doesn't need a powerful server. It needs a reliable, reasonably fast one with good backups. Start there, and upgrade when traffic genuinely demands it.
Ownership matters
Whatever you choose, make sure the hosting account and domain are in your business's name, with your email as the main contact. It makes switching developers or hosts painless later.
Speed problems on your current host? See how to speed up WordPress. We also recommend hosting as part of our WordPress packages. Ask us.