You can never get the right web host without knowing what you need. So before you go any further put everything aside and think about what you really need.
- What kind of website are you building?
- Do you want something common (a WordPress blog, perhaps)?
- Do you need Windows applications?
- Do you need support for a specific script (e.g. PHP)?
- Does your website need special software?
- How big (or small) can your web traffic volume go?
These are some of the basic questions you need to answer for yourself.
Picture in your mind what you want your website to be now, then build on that idea until you're roughly 12 months ahead of that. Don't just consider what you want to offer, but also what may want or need.
This ultimately boils down to one very simple fact. How much resources will your website need? If you are running a personal blog or small to medium website, it is unlikely that you will require the extra capabilities of a VPS host.
If you are running a large business server or carrying out a lot of eCommerce activities, then a VPS or dedicated server may be needed to manage a larger volume of traffic as well as for the extra reliability.
At the end of the day, each choice has its own cost level and features, even among the two categories of web hosting I've described here. Attention needs to be paid to detail and matched with the requirements of your website.
Server Upgrading Options
There are different types of hosting servers available in market: Shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is often the best choice for beginners, bloggers, and personal website owners since it's the cheapest form of web hosting, costing around 100 Rs. to 1000 Rs. per month.
With shared hosting plans, you'll be sharing your server resources with other users, which means you pay less for the hosting since the cost of it is shared among other users.
Who should go with shared hosting?
Generally, if you're getting less than 300 visitors per month, then it's better to go for shared hosting. When your website grows bigger and you're getting more visitors, you might want to move to a more powerful server.
VPS hosting
A VPS is similar to shared hosting in that it shares one physical server. The difference is that you have your own server resources that's separate from other users.
With VPS hosting, it's basically a step up from shared hosting in terms of power and speed but is still cheaper than getting your own dedicated server.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting combines hundreds of individual servers together to function as one giant server. The idea with cloud-based web hosting is that you can easily scale up and upgrade your server needs when necessary.
For example, if you're suddenly faced with an unusually large amount of web traffic, you don't have to worry about being shut down since the hosting company can easily accommodate the surge of traffic by adding more server resources.
The pricing for cloud hosting tends to vary as they normally use a form of a pay-for-what-you-use pricing structure.
Dedicated hosting
Dedicated server hosting is when you have an entire physical server that's dedicated to your website. Not only do you have full control of your server resources, but you also don't have to worry about other websites taking up your resources and slowing your website down.
