Best Cloud Web Hosting for 2024
Website builders and content management systems
Website builders and content management systems are different types of tools used to create websites.
one website builder is a visual design tool, often used with front-end editing, that allows you to see how your changes will appear to your visitors. These tools are easy to use and there is no need to install extensions or update software yourself. Website builders often have limited design flexibility. Most website builders are also proprietary, making it difficult to switch hosts later.
one content management system A CMS is a tool used to build, maintain, and organize blog posts and other website pages. They usually require no code, but you will need to install themes (website templates) and extensions. The most popular CMS is WordPress — Powers 43.4% of websites — An open source tool that you can install on any third-party web host for free.
Easy to use
Buying cloud hosting can be a highly complex process, as most web hosts use complex pricing structures, but once you’re on board, you should have no trouble finding server management and website creation tools. Most web hosting companies use cPanel to achieve this.
Managed vs Unmanaged
hosting This is where the host handles all the details of server maintenance and management, often including automatically updating the CMS.
Unmanaged hosting requires you to update the CMS yourself, and may also require you to configure things like the server operating system and security software. Unmanaged hosting may have lower upfront costs, but you’ll need to invest time or money to make sure everything is kept up to date.
Using a proprietary website builder means your hosting will be managed by default, as the hosting company does all software maintenance and updates for the website builder.
Safety
Your cloud hosting service should provide at least three layers of security:
- Secure Sockets Layer— SSL protocol – Certification: A security protocol that encrypts data sent to and from your site, protecting critical information such as email addresses submitted through contact forms. SSL certification also tells browsers and VPN Your website is secure, some websites don’t even allow users to open the website without it. Google might as well Penalize websites without SSL certification.
- firewall: This software scans all data submitted to your website/webserver and filters out malware and spyware. Firewalls can’t guarantee 100% protection – new malware is created every day – but a good firewall can filter out most malware to keep your website safe.
- Domain name privacy: if you are Register your domain name With the hosting service you choose, make sure the company offers domain privacy. This ensures that your contact information is not WHOIS database.
Many cloud hosting services also offer additional layers of protection such as distributed denial of service – Distributed Denial of Service – and strong protection.
uptime
Uptime measures the time your website spends online. This is important because visitors who can’t reach your site will go elsewhere, resulting in lost traffic, lost trust, and potentially lost revenue.
The industry standard for regular web hosting is 99.9% uptime, which means server issues and maintenance shouldn’t take your site down for more than 10 minutes per week. Some cloud hosting services go beyond this, promising 99.99% or 100% uptime – a promise achieved by using multiple servers.
site speed
Website speed refers to the time it takes for a website to load. The faster your website loads, the better – Bounce rate dropped by 32% When load time goes from three seconds to one second.
Most cloud hosting services offer the following tools to increase server/site speed:
- cache: A system that stores website data in a dedicated storage layer called a cache that runs at the speed of the server’s CPU (and sometimes the visitor’s CPU), often faster than the RAM traditionally used to access the data.
- content delivery network or CDN: A group of interconnected servers that store website data around the world, allowing a user’s browser to pull data from the data center closest to their location.
storage
Storage space determines how many files (such as blog posts and landing pages) your website can host. Generally speaking, 1GB can store 10 large pages or up to 100 smaller pages. For most static websites, 5GB is enough, but long-running blogs and e-commerce sites often require more storage.
You also need to consider the type of storage. Most consoles use SSDs— solid state drive Storage – for fast, reliable performance. some offers NVMe — Non-volatile Memory Express — storage that provides faster, more reliable performance than regular SSD storage. If a host’s storage type is not specified in this list, it is assumed to use an SSD; applicable NVMe storage has been indicated.
bandwidth
Bandwidth, sometimes expressed as data transfer, determines how much data a server can send to a user each month. Cloud hosting plans often express bandwidth in gigabytes or terabytes. This makes it tricky to calculate how much bandwidth is needed because each visitor accesses a different amount of data. If 100 people visit your site every day and view 5 pages with an average size of 5MB, you will need 7.5GB of bandwidth. If these 100 people view 10 pages, you will need 15GB of bandwidth.
The good news about cloud hosting is that many plans come with 1TB or more of bandwidth (or 1,000GB), which means you don’t need to worry about this math until you get over 1 million monthly visits.
customer support
If your website goes down, you should be able to quickly contact customer support and get helpful solutions. Most quality web hosting companies offer 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email. Many companies offer both general customer support and dedicated WordPress experts.
Technically, having access to 24/7 support doesn’t always mean you’ll get the help you need. Some hosting companies have very slow customer service and/or rely on poorly trained customer service agents, making it difficult to get help with advanced issues. This is a site like Trust pilot Come in: You can read reviews there – or web hosting reviews on CNET – to get an idea of how effective a company’s customer support is.
Pricing
Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering web hosting prices:
- Introductory pricing: Many web hosting companies offer deep discounts on the first term – often 50% or more. When your contract renews, you will pay what is usually listed as the “regular price.” Always factor price increases into your long-term budget.
- Contract term: You may need to sign a two- or three-year contract to get the best discounts. This means you have to multiply the monthly price listed on the website by 24 or 36 to get an idea of how much you’ll actually pay.
- Additional fees: These include things like your domain name, maybe Email hosting and security tools. Some companies offer domain registration for free during the first year of hosting, but you will need to pay an annual domain registration fee in future years.
There are also two specific pricing options for cloud hosting:
- Package pricing: Cloud hosting packages include resources (such as bandwidth and processing power) and costs that are predetermined by the hosting company. These packages often allow you to do a significant amount of website growth before needing to upgrade.
- Modular pricing: You create a package by selecting the exact bandwidth, storage, and processing power you need, with pricing based on the resources you need. You can then add resources incrementally as your site grows, such as 100GB of storage at a time. Incrementally adding resources may be more economical than upgrading from one preset package to another.
Plan pricing is easier to understand, especially if you’re new to web hosting, but modular pricing can be more cost-effective.
