Much like trying to figure out the cost of a website build, working out how much your web and email hosting will cost can be difficult as there are a number of factors that contribute to the overall price.
We’ll be covering these factors in this article, so you can be aware when discussing your needs with a hosting provider.
To kick us off…
Web hosting #
We’ll be looking at the type of website you have, the size of the website, the expected traffic and how they effect the hosting cost.
Type of website #
You may have an online shop or just a simple, small blog. But why do hosting companies often want to know what type of website you have? Why is this important to know?
In short, the answer is to make sure the right security measures are in place.
Small blogs and brochure sites tend to contain very little personal data – they are designed to inform customers or advertise a business, whereas online shops and web apps will often hold huge amounts of personal data. Data such as customer addresses, phone numbers, emails, passwords and so on.
With personal data, extra security precautions need to be taken & put in place to reduce the risk of hacks & data breaches.
With this increased security comes an increase in price.
Size of the website #
We’re not necessarily talking about the number of pages (although that plays a part), we’re actually talking about the size of the website’s files and database(s).
Websites can range greatly in size from a few megabytes to petabytes (1000terabytes or 1015bytes).
Small blog sites can start from just a few megabytes, whereas online shops and web apps from around 150 megabytes.
A larger site will require more server space and with that comes an increased cost.
Traffic (or expected traffic) #
Traffic is the life blood of a website. Without traffic, there’s no point in having a website.
However, with more traffic comes more bandwidth (internet) usage.
The server your website is hosted on will need to be able to cope with the traffic or expected traffic so it doesn’t crash out every other hour!
If your site’s volume of traffic is large, for example 30,000 hits a month, then you will need a better server specification and bandwidth allowance than a website receiving just 500 hits a month.
Email hosting #
There are two main variables that make a difference to the cost of email hosting. These are the number of email accounts and the size of the mail boxes.
Number of emails #
The shear volume of email accounts will effect the cost because they will effect:
- Server space required,
- Administration from the hosting provider.
As the number of email accounts go up, both the server space required and administration time will increase.
Size of the mail boxes #
The size of the mailbox will determine the amount of data (emails & attachments) you can keep in your mailbox before it becomes full.
Most hosting companies offer tiered levels of email storage.
For example, some companies offer 1GB email storage as standard and will often charge to upgrade to 10GB or 50GB.
Extra’s #
Many hosting companies will charge extra for things like SSLs (secure socket layers – a level of encryption) and installing apps like WordPress and Joomla.
It’s worth reading the small print on these before signing up with a hosting provider.
Side note: we have a some guide prices laid out in a user friendly table which can give you an indication of cost.