How to Choose Best Web Hosting Service in 2024

Let’s face it: there are a lots of web hosting services out there. How do you choose the best one for your website?

It is no easy task, because there are so many players in this space, it can be difficult to determine which company offers the best value for your needs as a website owner.

There are some important considerations you should consider before making a final decision on which web hosting service to sign up with.

What is Web Hosting? BTW

A web host is a company that offers to store the files for your website on a server and make them available to online users.

To put it another way, if you choose the correct web hosting company, you can rent some space on a server to upload the files for your website.

This makes it possible for you to be present online without needing to own or run a server.

Even if the explanation provided above is somewhat simplistic, it is nevertheless important to have a general understanding of web hosting because it can affect the functionality, security, and financial health of your website.

How to Choose Best Web Hosting Service

There are several factors that you need to consider before you zero down a single Web hosting Provider.

1. TYPES

Web hosting Providers Offer many kinds of Plans to suit there subscribers need.

Be it Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a Cloud Server Hosting, knowing the types of Hosting is important to balance down your Need and Price.

So it is always better to decide the type of hosting before you jump into buying one.

2. PRICING

Pricing varies from plan A to plan B. There are also some also premium services like Managed hosting where the Hosting provided takes all the headache of the Server maintenance.

If you are a Beginner, you need to choose some Web hosting plan which don’t cost you an arm or a leg.

3. SPEED

Speed of your server is of utmost importance. This a make-or-break signal for your Business website or your blog.

The Google search engine or any search engine for that matter, stores your website speed.

This parameter is used while calculating your web page ranking in Search Engine result Pages (SERP). Shared hosting is slower and VPS/Dedicated hosting are faster.

4. UPTIME

Each Hosting provider has an average Uptime that they maintain and generally publish it publicly. In most general case an Uptime of 99.9 % is a MUST for any provider.

That too if this is the case there is a Downtime probability of 0.01% means your site may get down by 1 hr. each month. Even this can be detrimental to some businesses who may lose brand value and money due to this.

5. SECURITY

Security provided by your Web hosting provider is of utmost importance.

Free SSL is a general norm nowadays when you buy an Web hosting plan. SSL protects sensitive information by encrypting any information sent between your website and visitors.

If you operate an online store or ask users to enter any personal information on your website, you must have an SSL certificate.

You need to also check if your Hosting Provider, is providing a Firewall against unauthorized intruders and also are they checking for Malware in their servers at a regular basis.

6. STORAGE

Storage space is mainly disk space that your Hosting provider will allocate to your website plan.

As a beginner this may not be that of a importance but sooner or late you find out that your Storage pace is getting consumed by your Images and other files and you need more.

Also there is HDD and SSD variants of disk drives available to hosting providers. SSD is faster than HDD, always look for this before buying.

7. BANDWIDTH

Similar to the storage space, you may not be aware of how much bandwidth a website needs until the cap has been reached.

The likelihood that you’ll need to upgrade your hosting package to handle the increasing traffic increases as your site receives more visits.

Therefore, it is a good idea to choose a hosting plan with higher bandwidth right away.

8. SCALABILITY

Initially when you start resource scarcity may not pinch you, but as you grow in your business or Blog there will be necessity to have greater Space or Bandwidth or Speed.

Whatever might be the reason, look for a provider who has all Types of Hosting in its offering, so that you can scale up as per your needs whenever required.

For instance you are in a Shared Hosting Plan, its always better when the same Hosting company also offers a VPS or Dedicated or Cloud Hosting, so that you can seamlessly scale to higher plans.

9. DOMAIN NAME

The Domain name is the online Identity of your website. Many Hosting providers offer a Free Domain, when you Book a Hosting plan with them. This Free domain will Last for only the 1^st Year.

From next year onwards you are supposed to pay up for the Domain name renewal.

Beware that when Renewing, in most cases you will be paying an exuberant amount for the Domain, since its quite obvious that the Free Domain Name offer is a Catch.

You can consider some of the best domain registrars, that will provide you multiple years of Domain booking with a huge amount of Discount if you go with them.

10. EMAIL ACCOUNTS

A professional email like [email protected], always stands out from business emails with some public domain such as Gmail or Yahoo.

Most Hosting services gives you email service that is Inbuilt to account. This uses the native email sending engine (SMTP) to send and receive mails.

This is sufficient when you need a couple of emails, but if there is a need to accommodate your Teams members email or Customers email. This arrangement will Fall flat.

You can check some Best Business email Providers, that you can integrate with your present system of Hosting Plans.

11. CONTROL PANEL

The control Panel is the heart of maintaining your Hosting server. There are several types of Control panel most popular is cPanel.

With cPanel you can set up FTP (file transfer) users, create emails, Install WordPress or other CMS, Change DNS configuration and endless other functions.

Hostinger has its own hPanel which serves as the control Panel. Windows servers use Plesk as control Panel.

12. QUICK CMS INSTALL

In the long run, content management systems (CMS) can save you a ton of time and work, and their quick installation is a useful benefit.

Most hosting providers nowadays throws a Free feature name One-Click Install which generally helps you to install the latest version of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and other CMS systems quickly.

You just need to give information such as creating a Database name and DB User and a Admin User Name and Password, and the Program will do the rest of the Hard work.

So the one-click install name is an exaggeration but still very useful feature, that you need to look out.

13. BACKUPS

Any hosting service should perform routine backups is a standard practice.

This guarantees that you can quickly restore your website to a previous state in the event that hackers manage to access it.

You won’t ever have to worry about losing any data because some hosting companies even give real-time backup.

14. ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY

When selecting a web hosting provider, consideration for the environment is becoming more and more crucial.

Environment friendly Green hosting refers to actions the business takes to reduce its carbon footprint.

Choosing a green web host might provide you peace of mind that your website isn’t doing any damage to the environment.

Maintenance Costs and Effort

Setting up a balanced Website budget can be aided by understanding the costs involved in maintaining your website.

Sadly, some users disregard the expense of website maintenance once it has been created.

Nine key components that contribute to the upkeep of your website are explained below.

1. Domain Name Renewal

Every website needs a domain name, and they typically cost between $10 and $90 each year to renew.

2. Web Hosting Renewal

A typical web hosting average cost is around $2–$80/month, depending on the web hosting type and subscription length

3. SSL Certificate Renewal

The price of SSL certificates varies according to how many domains or subdomains they cover. Prices for a single-domain SSL range from $7 to $860 per year. Wildcard SSL certificates for many subdomains typically range in price from $50 to $1,000 per year.

4. Email Services

Generally Costs between $1–$18/user/month. Depending upon which hosting provider you have chosen, sometimes this can be free for a year or so but of course with limitations.

5. Tech Support Cost

Priority Tech support Ranges from $2-$100/month. The majority of hosting companies include free email and live chat assistance with each subscription. If you manage a personal or small business website, the Free support option should be enough.

6. Website Design

For self designing the cost ranges to 0–$17/month, whereas if you are hiring a designer this may go up to $500–$1,000/year for regular maintenance. There are many Website Building Tools which can help you out in getting your website beautiful.

7. Plugin Subscriptions

The most essential and must required Plugins for WordPress may cost you around $0–$597/month.

8. E-Commerce Features cost

Due to features like payment gateways and inventory management, eCommerce websites require more upkeep than conventional websites. That comes with a Cost that ranges from $15-$1,000/month

9. Marketing and SEO

The cost of marketing and SEO is inevitable and varies largely with your Website and business needs.

The Best SEO Tools may cost between $12–$150/month.

Popular email marketing tools from $0–$310/month.

Content Marketing may vary heavily on how much and what type of Content you are using and can range $50-$2,000/project.

Social Media Marketing, on an average business spends $6,000–$10,500 each month on social media managers, ads, and digital marketing tools.

FAQ’s

Wrapping Up

A good online presence or a failed one may depend on the web hosting server you select for your website.

There are numerous things to take into account in this circumstance, but by keeping the aforementioned advice in mind, you can be sure to select the ideal solution for your requirements.

Remember that you typically get what you pay for when selecting a web hosting service, so don’t be hesitant to spend a little more if it means having a better, more dependable service.