• Free hosts have no obligation to offer you support.
• Free hosts have no obligation to keep your site running.
• Free hosts have little obligation to upgrade, maintain, and secure their servers.
• Probably advertising on your site.

• It's cheap – prices start at $3/month.
• But it's reliable. You sign a contract with a company, which consolidates all services you're guaranteed.

If your monthly unique visitors is about X

If your monthly unique visitors is about X

• Dynamic content using PHP, CGI, etc.
  • In addition, PEAR extends PHP, and is used by a lot of PHP scripts. Make sure that your host has the more popular PEAR scripts installed.
• Access to server logs for your site.
• Support for .htaccess files or equivalent.
• Database access (MySQL or equivalent).
• Shell access via SSH.
• HTTPS support.
• E-mail hosting (with IMAP) or forwarding.
• Support for sendmail or something similar (so you can send emails using PHP).
• Timed process scheduling via cron or equivalent.
• The latest version of each software this host supports. You don't want to be running an outdated version of PHP.

• Free hosts have no obligation to offer you support.
• Free hosts have no obligation to keep your site running.
• Free hosts have little obligation to upgrade, maintain, and secure their servers.
• Probably advertising on your site.
• Low uptime (means your site will be down a lot)

• It's cheap – prices start at $3/month.
• But it's reliable. You sign a contract with a company, which consolidates all services you're guaranteed.
• Good for small websites, because if you only have a few viewers a month then dedicated hosting is a bit too expensive

If your monthly unique visitors is under 500

• Free

• Shared

• Cloud

If your monthly unique visitors is about 50,000

• Cloud or dedicated

If your monthly unique visitors is about 100,000

• Dedicated or managed

If your monthly unique visitors is about 500,000

• Dedicated, or managed

• Ask your host

• Ask your host

• Dedicated

• Go shared to start off with, then you can update it

• Mabye go shared?

• You could use dedicated.

• Dynamic content using PHP, CGI, etc.
  • In addition, PEAR extends PHP, and is used by a lot of PHP scripts. Make sure that your host has the more popular PEAR scripts installed.
• Access to server logs for your site.
• Support for .htaccess files or equivalent.
• Database access (MySQL or equivalent).
• Shell access via SSH (that means you get full control)
• HTTPS support. (of course)
• E-mail hosting (with POP3 or IMAP) or forwarding.
• Support for sendmail or something similar (so you can send emails using PHP), good for contact forms.
• Timed process scheduling via cron or equivalent.
• The latest version of each software this host supports. You don't want to be running an outdated version of PHP.

Possibly, but always check. Some hosts run a cheap service, but they do an extremely good job.

#1. What are your requirements? To start your search, it helps to have a rough idea of your:

#2. What types of web hosting are there? The hosting market is awash with different products. This section describes them.

##Free web hosting It's possible to find free web hosting, but very few professional webmasters will recommend that you use it.

Good services (as of 2018) include Github Pages. ##Shared web hosting

##"Cloud" web hosting This covers a variety of services which can be split into three groups - Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service. This Wikipedia article describes the differences.

##VPS web hosting This is where it looks like you have a server all to yourself although you are physically sharing it with other people.

##Dedicated web hosting

##Colocated web hosting

##"Managed" hosting

#3. What product is best for you? You can use the five criteria we listed at the start (budget, traffic, technology, ability and location) to determine what product would suit you.

##Shopping for hosting by budget ###If you are unwilling to pay anything at all

###If your budget is about $10/month

###If your budget is about $50/month

###If your budget is about $100/month

###If your budget is about $1000/month

##Shopping for hosting by monthly traffic ###If your monthly unique visitors is about 1,000 ###If your monthly unique visitors is about 10,000 ###If your monthly unique visitors is about X ###If your monthly unique visitors is about X

##Shopping for hosting by technology requirements ###If you need a particular programming language ###If you need a particular server architecture ###If you have very specific custom requirements

##Shopping for hosting by technical ability ###If you're new to web hosting ###If the idea of using hosting without a control panel scares you ###If you're comfortable using a command line

#4. How do you build a shortlist?

##Where to find web hosts?

##What makes a good web host?

##What technical features should a good web host provide?

#5. Bonus tips

##How do I know when I need to upgrade?

##Is expensive hosting better?

##Does it matter where my site is hosted geographically?

#6. Hosting forums and review sites Often times, websites that claim to offer hosting reviews are really out to make money from affiliate links or through other channels, and as such they will not offer an honest review. Never trust just one site, and always check multiple sites before buying.

#7. Further reading and resources

1. What are your requirements?

To start your search, it helps to have a rough idea of your:

2. What types of web hosting are there?

The hosting market is awash with different products. This section describes them.

Free web hosting

It's possible to find free web hosting, but very few professional webmasters will recommend that you use it.

Good services (as of 2018) include Github Pages.

Shared web hosting

"Cloud" web hosting

This covers a variety of services which can be split into three groups - Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service. This Wikipedia article describes the differences.

VPS web hosting

This is where it looks like you have a server all to yourself although you are physically sharing it with other people.

Dedicated web hosting

Colocated web hosting

"Managed" hosting

3. What product is best for you?

You can use the five criteria we listed at the start (budget, traffic, technology, ability and location) to determine what product would suit you.

Shopping for hosting by budget

If you are unwilling to pay anything at all

If your budget is about $10/month

If your budget is about $50/month

If your budget is about $100/month

If your budget is about $1000/month

Shopping for hosting by monthly traffic

If your monthly unique visitors is about 1,000

If your monthly unique visitors is about 10,000

If your monthly unique visitors is about X

If your monthly unique visitors is about X

Shopping for hosting by technology requirements

If you need a particular programming language

If you need a particular server architecture

If you have very specific custom requirements

Shopping for hosting by technical ability

If you're new to web hosting

If the idea of using hosting without a control panel scares you

If you're comfortable using a command line

4. How do you build a shortlist?

Where to find web hosts?

What makes a good web host?

What technical features should a good web host provide?

5. Bonus tips

How do I know when I need to upgrade?

Is expensive hosting better?

Does it matter where my site is hosted geographically?

6. Hosting forums and review sites

Often times, websites that claim to offer hosting reviews are really out to make money from affiliate links or through other channels, and as such they will not offer an honest review. Never trust just one site, and always check multiple sites before buying.

7. Further reading and resources

##Shared web hosting

##Shopping for hosting by budget ###If your budget is about $10/month

Good services (as of 2018) include Github Pages. ##Shared web hosting

##Shopping for hosting by budget ###If you are unwilling to pay anything at all

• Free web hosting

###If your budget is about $10/month