Over my time as a webmaster, I’ve often heard the question “is cheap web hosting good enough for my site?” It’s asked a lot, and since it’s and individual question, there is no one answer. I can safely say that 90% of the time, the answer will be yes. However, that’s no way to judge things and make a decision. If you are wondering if your current site is too big or has too much traffic to be hosted on cheap web hosting, here are some tips to help you decide.
First of all, you should look at your total storage usage. Most hosts have this information displayed pretty prominantly when you log into your account, but with other hosts you may have to do some digging. Once you do find it, write down what it is. Then, while you’re browsing for hosting, take a look at the storage limits on cheap web hosting plans. If you notice that these limits are even CLOSE to your current storage usage, you should probably consider something more than cheap web hosting. However, if your current storage usage is only about 75% or less of what the limits are, then you’ll probably be fine with a shared hosting account.
The other thing to consider is bandwidth. Bandwidth is harder to measure than storage, but if your host displays your bandwidth usage it will be easy. If they don’t, just use your traffic stats. Generally speaking, if you’ve got less than 500 page views/day you will definitelly be fine with cheap web hosting. I’ve personally ran sites getting 1,000+ PVs/day on shared hosting, but anything more than that would be a bad idea. If you’re unsure, just purchase a cheap web hosting plan and upload your site. If after a few days everthing’s going smoothly, then you’re good to go.
Written by Web Hosting Expert on Dec 23, 2009.
