Choosing a Web Host

If you're looking to start your own website, you'll have to find someone to host your site. There are countless options out there, some free, some not, but for the most part, they're similar enough that it's hard to really determine what the best option is. This guide should help introduce you to web-hosting terms to know, and give you some ideas about where to go to get your site hosted.

Things to Know

When choosing your host, be familiar with the terms below and have an idea about which are most important to needs. Different sites require different plans, and you don't want to be paying $20 dollars a month for more than you need.

• Uptime and Downtime: this refers to when your site is online and functioning, and when your host's server (where your website data is stored) is having difficulty and visitors cannot access your site. How important 100% uptime is depends on your site. I don't mind mine being down every once in a while, but if I owned, say, a hospital website with paying customers, I'd want my site online all the time.
• Domains: Your domain is the name of your site. For example: http://etsy.com/ Different extensions (.org/.net/.com) cost different amounts. Domains always cost money, whether you pay for it seperately, or if the cost is factored into the price of a hosting plan.
• Subdomains: Like a domain, but with a small appendage at the end, as in www.figmint.zzl.org or mysite.hostei.com. You can usually get these for free, or very cheap from individual site owners who want to make a little money hosting.
• Space (Diskspace): How much memory all the files of your site take up. Be sure that your host provides enough space! For reference, Figmint takes up about 450 MB, and a personal blog site'd probably take up a lot less, since I have an inordinate number of images hosted on mine.
• Bandwidth: The more vistors you have on your site ("traffic"), the more bandwidth you'll need. Not having enough can make your site slow. For a more detail explanation on bandwidth, go here.
• MySQL Databases: Databases are used to store information, and you'll most commonly need these if you're using pre-packaged software like Wordpress and Drupal that need to stash information like blog entries and comments.

comparing hosts

Here I've reviewed a short list of hosting companies recommended by my fellow webmasters at icecaves, and listed the different services they offer side by side. I've organized the information I found into two charts, one for companies with free hosting plans, and one for paid hosting only. Select the chart you'd like to view below, and click on the screenshot thumbnails to visit the company website.

Compare: [Free Services] or [Paid Services]

Bias and Reliability

Note that I found this guide particularly hard to write because many companies twist the truth about their plans a lot. I've based my information on a wide range of review sites, and the information provided on the companies' own websites, while keeping in mind bias.
I've also done this from the perspective of a small site owner. If I was writing this article for a large business where any downtime at all is not an option, it might look a little different.

info

Welcome to Figmint. I'm Frisby, an artist, writer, and all around creative person. I post all sorts of different things at my site here, including blogs, graphic design resources, tutorials and activites. Please explore and have some fun! :3

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