If I’m new to the blogging industry, my first thought would be how much should I pay for web hosting before going through other questions such as how much can I make from blogging and how to find relevant keywords to rank on Google.
In this article, I’ll share with you some simple guidelines in terms of web hosting pricing, so that you won’t get cheated or disappointed.
The different types of web hosting (and pricing)
Web hosting comes in many forms and here are the most common ones that you will come across.
- Shared hosting
- Semi-dedicated hosting
- Managed hosting
- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
- Dedicated hosting
- Cloud hosting
Let’s go deep into each of them, and how much you should be paying for them monthly.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting or shared web hosting is the most common and cheapest hosting package you can find in the market.
Shared hosting is best for beginners who are just starting out in the blogging industry and doesn’t require much server performance.
Question: How much should I pay for shared hosting?
On average, you will be paying anywhere between $2 to $15 per month. Major web hosting companies such as BlueHost offers shared hosting as low as $2.99 per month.
As shared hosting is the lowest tier in the hosting world, you can easily start a blog on a shared web hosting without burning a hole in your wallet.
Question: How to choose the best shared hosting service?
Do not be tempted with the super low price for shared web hosting services. Low prices often results in overselling the server (cramping 10x more customers into a server than what the server can take) which leads to massive performance issues such as server uptime.
Only bad web hosting companies will oversell the servers to maximize the profit. Paying a few dollars extra every month for shared web hosting could easily give you peaceful sleep at night and close to zero downtime. And if you are looking for a good web hosting service, I recommend using my own shared hosting service here, Host With Me with 60 days money back guarantee (no questions asked).
Semi-dedicated hosting
Only a handful of web hosting companies like this one offer semi-dedicated package. Semi-dedicated hosting is very popular especially for website owners who are not entirely newbie/beginner and would prefer a stronger server to manage the traffic.
Semi-dedicated web hosting is best for website owners who doesn’t want a sardine-packed server which will affects the website performance (loading speed).
Question: How much should I pay for semi-dedicated web hosting?
Semi-dedicated web hosting will costs you around $15 to $25 per month. You are still using a shared web hosting environment but you will be in an environment where there is lesser accounts which helps a lot in terms of website security and server performance.
Question: How to choose the best semi-dedicated web hosting?
For me, it is all about the reviews and performance. If you are looking for a good semi-dedicated web hosting, HostWithLove (starts at only $14.93 per month) is the best in the market in terms of performance, pricing and stellar support.
Do you really need a semi-dedicated web hosting?
Probably not. If you are using a good shared web hosting, it is much cheaper (affordable) and much similar to other performance metrics such as uptime and support.
Not sure where to start? Try this web hosting service for only $6.99 per month and with 60-days money back guarantee!
Managed Hosting
Managed hosting is popular, and I mean P-O-P-U-L-A-R especially for enterprise and medium/big websites.
Managed hosting is often the best option for you if you are geeky, dead serious about website performance and security matters.
Examples of managed hosting are managed WordPress hosting and managed Magento hosting.
Managed hosting (for example managed WordPress hosting) comes with WordPress optimized environment (shared) and virtual private servers (VPS or dedicated servers).
Question: How much should I pay for managed hosting services?
Managed hosting services are often priced at a higher range and you should be expecting to pay around $15 to $30 per month for a small to medium website.
Question: How to choose the best managed hosting service?
WPEngine is often regarded as one of the best managed hosting service for both small and enterprise websites. WPEngine pricing is often priced higher than most of the managed WordPress hosting in the market but they guarantee excellent performance, great support and security features. WPEngine pricing starts at $30 per month and comes with inbuilt cache plugin and integration with MaxCDN (click here to see how you can get 2 months free web hosting with WPEngine).
FlyWheel is another great option when it comes to managed hosting services. FlyWheel pricing is much affordable at only $15 per month and they provide pretty much similar features as WPEngine except for the Content Delivery Network (CDN) services which is an addon feature. You can register a free account with FlyWheel using this link.
Editor’s Note
Looking for a managed hosting that works on Google Cloud Platform? Try Kinsta highly optimized servers for super fast website loading speed and performance.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS)
VPS is a great web hosting solution for both small and big websites. VPS allows you to have 100% control over the server and you will enjoy 100% of the server performance.
While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself.
Question: How much should I pay for a Virtual Private Server (VPS)?
VPS costs as low as $5 per month for unmanaged VPS and above $10 for managed VPS.
What is the differences between unmanaged and managed VPS?
Unmanaged VPS means that you need to do all the coding works. As VPS doesn’t come with cPanel or WHM by default, you would need to install everything through coding. Unmanaged VPS is often considered messy because you need to have the expertise to maintain and manage your VPS. Unmanaged VPS starts around $5 per month on Digital Ocean.
Managed VPS is a web hosting option where everything is managed by a third party (in this case, it is the web hosting company). You don’t have to install anything, including maintenance and security features. Cloudways is a best option for affordability and performance for managed VPS. Cloudways pricing starts at $10 per month.
“While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself. Meaning, that you must do a proper research on VPS hosting providers before buying anything.”
Question: What is the best Virtual Private Server (VPS)?
There are a few answers to this question and here goes.
- Digital Ocean if you know coding and server maintenance
- Cloudways if you are looking for affordable managed VPS service
- SiteGround offers decent pricing and performance managed VPS service
- FlyWheel offers value-for-money managed VPS services for WordPress
- WPEngine if you are looking VPS solution for enterprise
Dedicated Hosting
If you are looking for massive server performance and high traffic website, dedicated hosting is right for you.
Dedicated hosting works like a Virtual Private Server (VPS) and the only differences are the performance and pricing structure.
With a higher price tag, dedicated hosting offers the best server uptime and performance beyond most of the competitors.
Question: How much should I pay for dedicated hosting?
On average, you should be expecting to pay at least $100 a month for a dedicated web hosting service.
The good side about dedicated web hosting is that everything is unmetered. From bandwidth or visits, you don’t have to worry about being overcharged.
Question: What is the best dedicated hosting service?
Most dedicated hosting in the market today are pretty much on par. If I have to choose, it would be the following:
- BlueHost offers the cheapest dedicated web hosting with serves around the world
- SiteGround offers decent dedicated web hosting with live chat support and databases around the world
- FlyWheel offers cheaper dedicated hosting solution for high traffic WordPress websites
- WPEngine if you are running on WordPress and cares a lot about server performance
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is something new and rather than being hosted on one single instances of a physical server, hosting is delivered on a virtual partition which draws its resource, such as disk space, from an extensive network of underlying physical servers.
Cloud hosting is a great option especially when dedicated hosting pricing is too expensive for you.
Question: How much should I pay for cloud hosting?
The cheapest cloud hosting service is BlueHost at $9.99 $6.95 per month. There are also higher range cloud hosting which is around the $100 per month mark.
Question: Which is the best cloud hosting service?
The answer is simple. If you are looking for super cheap cloud hosting service, BlueHost is definitely a great option. At $6.95 per month, there is no denial that it is going to be really easy on your wallet.
If you are looking for more server firepower, Kinsta is a great option as it runs on Google Cloud Platform. You can try Kinsta for free here (limited time only).
Alternatively, SiteGround also offers affordable cloud hosting which starts at $80 per month.
Summary: How much should I pay for web hosting?
The answer to this depends heavily on your needs. For example, shared web hosting is a great choice for bloggers and beginners who don’t want to spend a whole lot of money. VPS and managed hosting on the other hand are better fit for bigger websites and enterprises who run their business online.
Not sure where to start? Start with shared web hosting and scale from there on!