Web hosting companies provide the services and technology required for websites to be stored and viewed online. Shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server hosting, cloud hosting, and managed hosting are the major forms of web hosting. Each provider has numerous services capable of influencing your decision, but one of the most important factors to consider is the price. The top hosting providers include HostGator , DreamHost, Accuweb, Domain.com, Hostinger, Yahoo Small Business, FatCow, iPower, A Small Orange, and 1&1 Ionos web hosting.

The choice between a budget and a costlier web hosting service can be a difficult and confusing one. However, the factors given below will help you understand the actual difference between cheap and expensive hosting.

Uptime

Uptime can make all the difference between cheap vs. expensive web hosting. It is one of the most crucial factors for a website to stay online as your clients and customers need the site to be running round the clock to facilitate their needs. Most premium web hosting services provide guaranteed uptime to keep your website online 99.99% of the time. Compare services online and understand why certain web hosting services, be it cheap or expensive provide a guaranteed uptime clause in their contract.

Data limits

This is one of the more crucial points in the debate between cheap vs. expensive web hosting. Cheap web hosting plans allow for some amount of data transfer but impose certain restrictions on the process. Also, cheap plans have storage caps that must be confirmed with the provider beforehand. For example, even some of the top web hosting services including AccuWeb Hosting, FatCow Web hosting, and A Small Orange Web Hosting do not allow unlimited monthly data transfers over a shared network. With expensive web hosting, you will have the liberty to explore maximum data transfers and no specific storage caps to support all your web hosting requirements.

Page performance

Often, cheap web hosting services run shared hosting platforms which translate into limited control and use of resources. More often than not, there is a catch with shared hosting over bandwidth space that can significantly reduce your server response time, ultimately affecting the page performance. Note that a slower page load time will significantly affect your customer base as nobody likes a slow website. On the other hand, expensive web hosting services provide dedicated and VPS hosting to ensure guaranteed page performance with minimum glitches to ensure a good looking and functional website.

Security

Security is another crucial point when it comes to deciding between cheap vs. expensive web hosting companies. A web hosting provider must take the appropriate measures to safeguard your online business data and protect your customers’ interests. Note that a cheap hosting plan will only provide the basic security checks in place to ensure the website does not get hacked. An expensive web hosting plan will take more reliable and effective steps to ensure that the data being shared over a public network is secure with the necessary protocols in place. These commonly include sending data over a secure SSL network with proper monitoring, malware detection and removal, and also includes DDoS prevention. The additional protocols in place enhance the reliability of hosting services and instill a sense of confidence in the customer.

Shared vs. managed WordPress hosting

The type of hosting can make all the difference between cheap and expensive hosting. A shared hosting plan is available with affordable hosting providers wherein your business shares bandwidth and resources with another business. The drawback of this is having no control over the resources on the same server. This can result in split traffic between two sites and cause performance issues during peak hours. On the other hand, managed WordPress hosting providers offer dedicated resources for a premium tariff. These include daily backups, fast and secure servers, core updates, and privileged customer support. Using a shared hosting service is fine in the short term, however, you might want to consider switching to a dedicated hosting after you expand business operations.

Customer support

When it comes to deciding between cheap vs. expensive web hosting, customer support can make all the difference. A cheap plan, for example, will not offer dedicated support and may take a significant amount of time to respond to your email queries and grievances. An expensive web hosting plan offers dedicated phone, email, and chat support for their premium customers. Customer grievance redressal is their main priority and these services also offer technical assistance for when there is a need to troubleshoot without affecting website uptime. A cheap plan may cause delays in customer support resulting in possible page crashes which will not be good for your website, especially if you are in the business of selling products. Most of the top web hosting providers barring A Small Orange Web Hosting, provide 24/7 support.

Price

As said earlier, price is perhaps the most critical point of discussion in the debate between cheap vs. expensive web hosting. Most cheap web hosting companies are very particular about what forms a part of the basic service agreement and may charge you extra if you request for advanced services. An expensive web hosting plan, on the other hand, tends to cover everything from the basic hosting services to more specific technical support for the extended price. Some of the cheapest web-hosting providers including InterServer, TMD Hosting, FastWebHost, and WebHostFace offer plans that start at under $7/month. On the other hand, premium web hosting plans are more expensive. You can directly check their official website to get quotes for specific services.

Depending on the type of small or medium business website you plan to launch, choose a hosting service only after you have thoroughly understood the difference between cheap and expensive web hosting.