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9 Important features to look for in shared web hosting

If you are like most people looking for affordable, easy-to-use, out-of-the-box web hosting, you are likely looking for shared web hosting.

This type of web hosting generally consists a service that leaves configuration, maintenance, and installation of a server outside of your control. The trade-off though from this loss of control means that you do not need to be an IT expert just to get a website online.

With the abundance of web hosting companies competing for business, along with hard to discern package options and loosely used language in service descriptions, it is understandable that choosing a web hosting company can feel like a roll of the dice. This though is an important decision, and should not be left to chance. You should be aware of what questions to ask and what features to look for. You should also know what must-haves are a must, and what red flags to look out for.  

Choosing the wrong web hosting company can have consequences that span from costly technical problems to being forced into poor development practices.

In this post, we’ll be looking at 9 crucial questions you need to ask before signing up for shared web hosting. These are not listed in any particular order of importance, but are instead listed simply alphabetically.

9 Crucial Questions to Ask Before Signing Up for Shared Web Hosting

  • Access
  • Features
  • Price
  • Recovery
  • Reliability
  • Reputation
  • Restrictions
  • Security
  • Support

 

Access

  • Services
  • Software
  • Email

Whether you’re a diamond devOps god or just a weekend WordPress guru, there’s a minimum level of access that you should expect from a shared server.

To be contender:
A shared web host should, at minimum, grant you access to these privileges:

  • SSH
  • SFTP
  • FTPS

Features

  • Services
  • Web mail
  • Scale
  • Storage
  • SSL
  • Domains
  • Add-on Domains
  • Disk space
  • Cloud Hosting
  • VPS Hosting
  • Dedicated Hosting

 

Price

  • Contracts
  • Plans
  • Fine print

 

Recovery

  • Backup and disaster recovery

 

Reliability

  • Downtime

 

Reputation

Domain authority score

Restrictions

  • Content restrictions

Security

  • SSH, SFTP, FTPS, SSL

Support

  • 24 hours a day / 7 days a week

 

 

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