Choose The Best Web Hosting Service (Shared, Business, VPS, Cloud, Dedicated Server)

With so many choices for web hosting services, like Shared and Business web hosting, Cloud and VPS servers, even Dedicated servers, it may seem daunting to pick the right web hosting service. At Hostwinds, you have all of these options for your web hosting services, each of which is tailored to different specific needs. To begin to assess which of our services would be the best fit for you, there are a few basic questions that can help you make the right decision.

What Type Of Content Will My Site Contain?

With few scripts or more static content, our Shared Web Hosting service is a great, cost-effective option for the most basic sites. It is compatible with PHP and Perl scripting as well as basic HTML, CSS, and Javascript. WordPress sites that don't have many plugins or themes, or are limited to simple ones, also work well for this hosting. There is a PHP memory limit of 256 MB, and you can have up to 10 entry processes running at once on this service, so if you're migrating from another host and your site falls within those ranges, shared web hosting should be great for your needs.

Our Business Hosting has higher PHP memory limits (512 MB) and allows for 20 entry processes if you need a more robust service. This would be more suited for sites with multiple scripts running at once or larger WordPress installations with more resource-intensive themes/plugins or a lot of plugins.

If you require a Linux or Windows server where you need full root/administrator access, the ability to install commercial or custom software, PHP extensions, and modules, or need multiple computing cores or higher amounts of RAM, then a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server may be right for you.

If you are looking for the next step of cPanel hosting after our Business hosting, we recommend a managed tier 5 Linux VPS with 4 CPU cores, 8 GB RAM, 150 GB of SSD disk space, and 3 TB of bandwidth so that you have the resources you need and have a smooth transition to a VPS.

Basic vs. Advanced vs. Ultimate

Which One Is Best For Me?

Our Basic, Advanced, and Ultimate options for Shared and Business packages determine how many domains you can have on an individual hosting package. The Basic packages allow for a single domain to be hosted. The Advanced allows for up to four domains to be hosted (one primary domain and 3 addon domains). The Ultimate package does not have a limit to the number of domains being hosted.

All of the resources for the service (CPU, RAM, and Disk Space) are shared between all sites hosted on it, so if you have many sites, it may be advisable to choose a VPS or Dedicated Server. With a VPS or Dedicated Server, you can allocate resources based on each site's needs rather than sharing one set of resources across everyone.

Is Email An Important Part Of My Hosting?

Our Shared and Business web hosting services do come with an email service through your cPanel account. However, there are email limits that may affect which plan will work well for you. For example, shared web hosting has an email limit of 25 outbound emails per hour, while our Business Hosting allows for 250 outbound emails per hour per domain.

If you find yourself needing something outside of those limits, you will need a VPS or Dedicated Server.

How Much Space Will I Need?

Our Shared and Business web hosting services have unlimited disk space, which means the files used to build your sites (and stored emails) can be as large or small as you need. Rather than limiting your file size, there is an inode limit in place. This means that you have a limit on the number of files on your hosting rather than the filesize. For example, our Shared Webhosting has an inode limit of 250,000, while our Business Hosting has an inode limit of 600,000. For context, a fresh WordPress 5.3 install with no themes or plugins uses about 2,095 inodes.

Our VPS options do not have inode limits and are measured by disk space and the resources you choose when creating your server. Unlike our Shared and Business services, whose limits are inflexible, you can always add more disk space to your VPS in the form of volumes or upgrading your VPS, so you have more resources.