subject: Cheap Web Hosting - Is It Worth It? [print this page] In the web hosting world people often think that cheaper isn't any better than more expensive hosting. This could not be any further from the truth. It is a fact that the hosting industry is very competitive and there are hundreds upon thousands of web hosting services to choose from. I want to make it perfectly clear that you do not make the mistake of overlooking a web hosting service just because they might not be charging as much as a competing company.
Each and every web hosting company has their own setup. They will offer you a number of different packages which include shared, reseller, vps, and dedicated. One misconception I want to clear up is that you should never consider running your site with a free hosting provider. There are all kinds of drawbacks that come with free hosting. There is no guarantee that your site will be up all the time. Better yet, your site will be junked up with various advertisements that will lead people away from your site.
So a more feasible option would be to choose a hosting company that is cheap, rather than going with a free hosting service. An option that about 85-90% of webmasters are choosing everyday is to go with shared hosting because it is very cheap. In fact, you can lock in web hosting for $5-6 per month. This is certainly a an affordable solution for many webmasters.
In fact, once you start with shared hosting you are not locked down to just shared hosting. There is always the option to upgrade to VPS (virtual private server) or even a dedicated package. I would actually encourage you start with shared hosting that way you are not throwing money away.
So most small to moderate sized business go with shared hosting just because it is cost effective and reliable. Better yet, a handful of web hosting providers will offer you unlimited bandwidth, MySQL, PHP, Perl Ruby (support), and sometimes an free web domain.
I would carefully consider a number of hosting providers when making your decision. Read around the Internet and see what others are saying about them. I would highly recommend that you even call them and see what you think, prior to talking to them. If you don't want to call them you can always send them an email or talk to them via "live support". Prior to doing your research you should be able to make a good decision on choosing the best cheap web hosting company that is right for you.
