Choosing the optimum web hosting services provider is critical for the success of your website. If you pick the incompetent one, you may experience site crashes, security flops, poor site loading speeds, or the endless headache of dealing with poor support.
Here are some tips for you to consider while choosing a web hosting provider for your needs:
Discover what types of hosting are available (shared, cloud, special, etc. )
There are many different types of web hosting out there, and choosing the right one for your needs is a major part of setting up your site for success in the long run. Not every web host offers all types of hosting, so it’s crucial to check ahead about this.
The different types of hosting include:
- Shared web hosting – the most common type with different options available by means of different packages.
- VPS hosting – ‘virtual’ private server hosting
- Cloud hosting – a new name to VPS hosting but with a difference of cloud
- Dedicated hosting – that is, web hosting based dedicated host, infrastructure, etc.
- WordPress hosting – special hosting designed to suit WordPress-only hosting needs.
As indicated above, most web hosts provide shared hosting, because it’s the most popular, but other types of hosting – for example, cloud hosting – are more hit and miss, but the trend is going up in the direction towards selling out cloud hosting besides shared hosting and other types of hosting among hosting providers.
Think about which type of hosting best suits your requirements, and make sure that your web host has what you’re seeking.
You also need to plan in advance. For example, if you’re starting out with shared hosting, it’s also worth looking at your web host’s VPS plans, since that’s the natural step up once you’ve outgrown your shared plan.
But, please keep in mind the following too:
How many plans are included in each hosting type? For example, if there are only two plans, that doesn’t leave much room for scaling up (hence that host will say to change your hosting type - directly from shared to VPS hosting - might be.
Is there room to grow? If you’re planning to stick with the same hosting provider long-term, make sure it has good VPS/Cloud and dedicated plans, as well as a starter, shared hosting plans - more than two at least.
Note the difference between the hosting packages. For example, if a web host is offering WordPress hosting, then what WordPress-specific features make it different from normal hosting? Delve deeper into what’s offered – don’t be attracted by just the name of the hosting plan.
Compare pricing between more than one hosting provider
It’s important that you can easily afford your hosting plan, with money left to utilize for the other costs of running your site – whether that’s buying new plugins, paying freelancers, or keeping a custom domain.
Fortunately, there are lots of shared hosting plans available which are affordable. Shared hosting is the most common type and could be cheaper to opt for. However, in the long run, it could have a limiting factor in the future when you want to outgrow it.
Also, do not decide purely on pricing factors but see the provided features as well. Cheap hosting could be appealing but the money saved will not be worth the issues faced in such low-cost hosting plans (which could be but are not limited to things such as server speed, lack of security, and other features (such as monthly backups instead of weekly or daily), etc.
Remember, a hosting plan offers a good value if:
- It has a money-back guarantee.
- If their renewal price is not much higher than the initial one.
- Is there a discount if you choose on long-term plan (like for a year or two)
- You are getting valuable benefits for example a free paid SSL instead of a free Let’s Encrypt one.
- If there a good and affordable add-ons available.
Discover Customer Support Reviews
Thoroughly analyze the hosting provider’s reviews, online support material, and participation in various product forums (for example, see, if there are posts from them in forums of famous hosting control panels, such as cPanel, DirectAdmin, or Plesk).
Do check their own Knowledgebase (KB) and How-TOs available on their website and what communication channels are available such as live chat, phone calls, and video calls, the availability of all of those, and the minimal turnaround time. Which social media platforms they are available on and respond there as well.
It is recommended to contact hosting providers' technical or sales support before buying their hosting plan or any other product. In this way you will get an indication of their response times, their agents' technical knowledge, politeness, etc. in advance.
Do maintain a checklist with various factors related to hosting for all hosting providers you will compare in your exercise or ‘home-work’.
Those factors in their hosting plans could be:
- The provided storage (or disk) space and storage types (these days, SSDs and NVMe SSDs are the most important to look for).
- Monthly bandwidth (transfer in + transfer out).
- Number of email accounts, daily email sending limits, and marketing email support.
- Types of Control Panels provided if this is your preference (for example, free panels (like SolidCP for Windows, CWP for Linux) or paid (like, Plesk for Windows/Linux, cPanel and DirectAdmin for Linux)).
- Backup frequency and retention (daily backups or weekly and how long they are kept- a year?)
- Level of control provided (for example, root-level access in case of VPS hosting)
- Free migration support if you are switching or ‘coming in’.
Choosing a web host can feel overwhelming because there are so many features available – it can be hard to keep track! Creating a priority list will make it easier to eliminate options and stay focused on what’s really important, instead of getting drawn in by cheap prices or non-essential freebies.
Do not compromise on Security
Your hosting provider is responsible for securing their web servers, mail servers, database servers, etc where your site, emails, and databases are hosted. Look for the following features:
- Anti-DDoS support in case of Distributed Denial of Service attacks.
- Web App Firewall (Local or Cloud-based).
- Anti-malware/Virus scanning (Local or Cloud-based).
- Brute force attack protection (Local or Cloud-based).
Please also note that some web hosts do not provide all the details for their security measures for security reasons.
Other features to look for are SSL and Domain Privacy for your websites/domains. Domain privacy will make WHOIS information redacted.
Pay attention to speed and reliability
A poorly performing website will struggle to succeed online. Loading speeds can make or break a website, from user experience to SEO – and your web host is a vital tool for ensuring fast delivery. Although it can be hard to tell how speedy and reliable a web host is at first, there are some things to look for:
Uptime is the percentage of time that your server (and therefore your website) will be up and running. 100% uptime isn’t possible, because all servers experience downtime at some point, even if it’s just to run updates.
You should aim for at least a 99.97% uptime guarantee, which equates to around 150 minutes of downtime per year. Ideally, you don’t want any more downtime than this.
Most web hosts make their uptime guarantee easy to find on their websites – by their uptime reports or their "status" systems.
The more server locations a web host has, the faster your website will load for people across the planet. The closer a visitor is to your server, the faster your website will load, so it’s extremely beneficial to have multiple servers to choose from.
If your hosting provides an option to choose a location for your web hosting, this is indeed a great feature to consider.
Also, see if your provider has CDN support included in the hosting package. CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, which means a network of servers at different locations working together to deliver your content as quickly as possible. Using a CDN can hugely improve your site’s performance, which keeps your visitors – and search engines like Google – happy. This might be one of the major reasons you will be more inclined towards that hosting provider.
Consider any specialties you are looking for
If you are planning to only host a WordPress-powered website then look for your hosting provider’s hosting plans specific to WordPress Hosting.
Usually, two main categories of WordPress hosting exist:
- Shared WordPress Hosting: For small WordPress websites, blogs, brochures, or portfolio sites.
- Managed WordPress Hosting: Another type of WordPress hosting in which your hosting provider is responsible for managing the WordPress, which includes but is not limited to its security, timely updates, incidental malware removal, etc. Usually, online store/eCommerce business owners tend to opt for this type of WordPress hosting.
Look for other features such as Automatic WordPress installation and updates, timely backups, WordPress-specific support, and custom themes in a good hosting provider.
These features not only make your life easier, but they also help your site succeed by keeping it up-to-date, secure, and running smoothly.
Please see Web Design Labs hosting plans to meet your requirements
Most hosting plans are Linux hosting – it’s the most popular choice and tends to be the default. However, if you have specific needs such as ASP.NET, MSSQL, or any specific mail server (such as Hosted Exchange or Hosted CRM (such as CRM Dynamics)) then you may want Windows hosting instead.
Reseller hosting is often used by businesses looking to set up their own hosting company, as it allows them to resell their own hosting space to others. It’s not offered by all web hosts and is a little more technical than other hosting types – such as shared hosting, as an example.
