Website Hosting Cheap May Be A Bad Decision

Why Buying Cheap Web Hosting May Be a False Economy

The costs involved in running a website are a fraction of what they were only a few years ago. Nonetheless, many businesses try to save a little money by trusting their online presence to the cheapest host they can find. Here are six reasons this can be an expensive mistake.

Cheap Hosting Servers

A bargain-bin host is unlikely to be running the latest and greatest servers. Your site may be hosted on outdated technology, probably somewhat underpowered for the task at hand, and possible even on refurbished hardware coming to the end of its reliable life.

Poor Hosting Connectivity

Although servers themselves are a large part of a host’s running costs, it’s in bandwidth and connectivity that you’ll often see cheap hosts trying to cut corners. The advertisements may state an impressive figure for their datacenter’s connection speed, but if dozens or hundreds of servers are all using the same connection then the share for each site will be far lower. Often, the speeds quoted will be the maximum obtainable speed – or burst connectivity – rather than a more realistic figure that’s sustainable over longer periods.

Shared Resources

It’s common practice to host dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of sites on a single server. This is fine so long as the hardware is up to the job, but cheap hosting all-too-often means that each server hosts more sites than it can handle smoothly. At busy times when the server is trying to run many websites at once, yours may slow to a crawl.

Irresponsible Users

Another problem with highly shared servers is that there may be little control over the activities of other sites hosted on the same machine. If another user runs inefficient, badly written software, for example, it can slow every site on the server down to a crawl. While this is a risk in any shared environment, cheaper hosts tend to be less proactive in monitoring and remedying this particular problem, often only taking action when the server finally grinds to a halt.

Unreliable Backups

Hardware failures are a fact of computer life. However, high-quality hosts will have robust backup procedures in place to ensure that if a server fails, all or most of the data can be recovered. Cheaper hosts may not dedicate the resources to ensuring their backup regime is as bulletproof as you’d like it to be.

Patchy Technical Support

Computer hardware nowadays is relatively cheap. Humans aren’t. This means that when there’s a problem, it can be difficult to get timely, expert technical support if the cheap host has cut corners on its staffing costs. If your website is down when it should be earning you money, how long do you want to wait before the issue is dealt with?

Of course, there are some excellent-value hosting packages on the market, and the average cost has plummeted over the last decade. However, as the old adage says, you get what you pay for. If your business relies on your online presence, it makes sense to invest in a professional-level hosting solution rather than trying to cut corners with the cheapest deal you can find.