If we want to have a website, it is essential to host it in the cloud so that it is accessible from anywhere.
Web hosting is a computer, where we store our website so that it is available 24 hours a day and from anywhere. That is, it is a computer plugged into the internet 24 hours a day.
What types exist
To better understand the types that exist we will give an example. For this we are going to buy a web hosting with a house. So let’s look at the different types that exist.
Shared
It is the most basic option and therefore the most economical, it is ideal to start with your website.
If we compare it with a house, it would be like sharing a flat. You share CPU, RAM, and space with other people. Just like in a shared room, if your partner uses a lot of hot water (CPU and RAM), you will run out of water.
VPS / Cloud
This level is great for projects with more needs, something bigger or with specific needs.
Comparing to a house would be like having a full floor of a building. It’s your home and no one can take away the resources allocated to you. If you have assigned 2GB of RAM you do not share them with anyone. This is good as other users won’t affect your performance.
The advantage of Cloud VPS is that you can also expand the resources if you need to, it is like buying the next floor to make a bigger house.
The advantage of this type mainly is to have guaranteed resources and the possibility of growing.
Dedicated
This type is only recommended for very specific projects since it has the limitation of growing. It is not a computer as in the previous cases but the whole computer for you.
Compared to housing, this would be like having a whole block of housing for you. It’s great because you can do everything and you have very large resources but you can’t expand.
A VPS usually starts at 1GB of RAM but a dedicated server can have 2028GB of RAM or even more, so if you are starting out you will have enough but if you grow a lot you will lack “site” and you will have to buy another “building” to move.
Recommendation
If you are just starting out, hire a shared server and when your website grows in visitors and needs move to a VPS server.
What to keep in mind when hiring a web hosting
Mainly you have to take into account a number of features:
- CPU (1 vCPUs minimum)
- RAM (1GB minimum)
- Storage space (Explained below)
- Allowed bandwidth
- Number of concurrent connections
- PHP memory (recommended greater than or equal to 768MB)
- PHP version (7.4 or higher)
- SLA or uptime (Explained below)
What is HDD, SSD or NVMe storage space
Anyone who has a computer will have heard of the hard drive, because a server also has a hard drive and depending on the type that is affected by performance.
NVMe are the fastest and most modern, SSDs the most widespread and also have good performance but lower.
HDDs are the oldest and slowest. They are not recommended to host a website, so if the hosting company you want to hire uses them, run away now that you can!
How much space do I need for a WordPress website
For a normal corporate website, you will need less than 512MB (0.5GB) but for an online store (WooCommerce) you will need 1024MB (1GB) and up.
What is uptime
In short, the most important fact you have to know when hiring a web hosting service. The pity is that this data is sometimes difficult to find on the websites of companies that offer web hosting or even sometimes do not publish it.
This data is measured in % and an ideal rate is 99.99% this means that your website would be available 99.99% of the time. Any rate below 99.95% is bad.
You may ask me, is a hosting with 99.95% uptime not recommended? No, it is not recommended and I will give you numbers so that you can see that % difference is relevant.
A year has 8,760 hours (365 days x 24 hours). If we calculate 0.01% of 8,760 it comes out 52 minutes that your website will not be available so it is great.
Now let’s look at a hosting that offers 99.50% uptime: 0.50% of 8,760 are 43 hours, almost two days that the web is not operational.
You can not give it importance or take it into account and choose a web hosting that does offer that 99.99% SLA (uptime).
Conclusion
Now that you know which factors are the most important, it will be easier for you to choose a web hosting company. If you have questions, want to expand concepts or want a recommendation, do not hesitate to contact me.
