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Mar Considerations when using shared hosting

Shared hosting is by far the most popular hosting option. Every host has has them in multiple packages. They are popular because they are extremely cheap and are adequate for the majority of users. There are however some issues with using a shared hosting package that users should be aware of:

Unlimited does not mean unlimited

Shared hosting packages promise unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth etc but when exceed, the hosting company will cite some minutiae in the agreement to suspend your site. An example of this is when a site on a shared host gets some viral social media traffic. That spike of traffic will most definitely get your site suspended. In this example it could be for extreme levels of CPU usage.

Package changes

As your site grows, you will most likely want to change packages. One thing to look out for are package change charges. Some hosting services charge for any package or feature change. Please note that every package change will incur a charge.

Features

Some features are only available on certain packages. These features, such as static ip’s are only available on the more expensive options. These are the incentives hosts use to encourage users to jump to a higher package.

Before you sign up for a shared hosting package, breakdown all the features etc that you will need and then choose. Take the feature example I used above, static ip’s. In order to setup and install an SSL certificate, the website needs a static IP. If you package does not get one, or does not support it as an addon, then you will need to upgrade. That will incur a charge. You will then get charged for the static ip. Plan ahead and get charged once for the package you need.