How to choose web hosting
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Define your project
List your website type, number of sites, anticipated traffic, and whether you need ecommerce or email.
Compare like with like
Look at the full contract price, renewal, storage, backups, support, security, and cancellation conditions.
Plan for ownership
Keep control of your domain registration, maintain independent backups, and know how to export your site if you switch hosts.
A decision worksheet
Write down five non-negotiables: the software you need, the number of websites, your backup recovery target, who will administer the site, and the maximum two-year budget. Compare only plans that satisfy all five. This prevents an attractive discount from distracting you from a missing essential feature.
Avoid expensive mistakes
Do not register a domain in an account you cannot access, assume the host stores unlimited backups, or rely on a “free domain” without reading its renewal and transfer conditions. Save an independent copy of the site and database before changing providers.
Put this guide to work
Use this short worksheet before making changes or purchasing a service. Keep your answers with your website records so you can revisit them when your needs or contract change.
- Define your project: List your website type, number of sites, anticipated traffic, and whether you need ecommerce or email. Write down what this means for your own website, identify the information you still need, and verify it using your current account or the relevant provider’s documentation. Do not substitute a general marketing claim for a plan-specific answer.
- Compare like with like: Look at the full contract price, renewal, storage, backups, support, security, and cancellation conditions. Write down what this means for your own website, identify the information you still need, and verify it using your current account or the relevant provider’s documentation. Do not substitute a general marketing claim for a plan-specific answer.
- Plan for ownership: Keep control of your domain registration, maintain independent backups, and know how to export your site if you switch hosts. Write down what this means for your own website, identify the information you still need, and verify it using your current account or the relevant provider’s documentation. Do not substitute a general marketing claim for a plan-specific answer.
If an answer is uncertain, pause that part of the decision and verify it. For changes to a live site, make a restorable backup first and test the result before deleting the previous configuration.