What do you consider most in choosing a web hosting service?

[webster]

Well, in general there are some aspects to consider in choosing a web hosting service:
1. storage space
2. monthly transfer
3. uptime
4. reliability
5. price

Amongst those factors, which one do you consider most?

 

[datahosts]

Uptime of the DC as well as SLA

 

[SenseiSteve]

For me, it has to be total package, with emphasis on uptime and support.

 

[Fellow]

Like Steve says, overall quality is very important. If you get a great price but have your site down a lot and no support then you might as well not even waste your time in trying to have a site at all.

 

[csn-uk]

I personally would look out for the less obvious such as SSL certs on "secure areas" and more obviously money back guarantee’s and their limitations or extents.

A good payment provider such as PayPal is also advisable as they do offer payment protection and their resolution department is very fair and prompt if issues arise but please read the TOS of hosts (lookout for hidden restrictions or terms, quite boring I know but can protect you in the long run)

 

[Henry Leed]

Support offered by the company, the price of the hosting packages and servers, the reliability and the time for which the hosting provider has been offering hosting services.

I think these are some of the important points which should be considered while choosing a hosting provider

 

[ldcdc]

3. uptime
4. reliability

Those would be my most important requirements, adding server performance. I generally don't need support, and thus need it usually when something goes wrong. But if uptime and reliability are there, my interactions with the company will consequently be few and far between, helping me to be more patient in case support isn't all that great.

Thing is though, if the company manages the server right, it's unlikely to be the kind that will have atrocious customer support.

For any website with a purpose, hosting ends up being a small cost in the overall scheme of things, so the pricing is important only as far as getting decent value for the money.

 

[Hosting India]

If i have to choose among this options, i will go for Uptime and the reliability, Uptime because this is very important for you to keep alive on internet and your business, reliability refers to the security of your data and the trust you have on your hosting provider

 

[rumsfo]

They are all important things but that is more important to have good experience with that company and feel comfortable.

 

[David Towler]

Uptime, Reliability, SLA and Support.

 

[sydeny]

All above mentioned things should be keep in mind.

 

[BobyKirov]

most of all consider reliability.

 

[hosttalk]

1. storage space

If you a small business, then you won't need a vast amount of storage, if this is the case then the price will be small. Therefore, you will have covered both points 1 and 5 in one hit.

2. monthly transfer

This transfer bandwidth limit will need to be high if you have a lot of large images on your site, as everytime a visitor clicks on these it will put load on your bandwidth. Consider this if your site has a lot of visitors and there are lots of large files being clicked upon/downloaded.

3. uptime

The most important factor I would say bar-none. You don't want to be paying money for a site that can hardly ever be accessed as it's constantly off-line, whether it's a critical service or not.

4. reliability

Comes under up-time really and of course speed, which will all encompass a monthly transfer package that accommodates the demand users put on your bandwidth.

5. price

You get what you pay for, stay away from cheap packages that offer unlimited everything.

Hope that helps. As for most important, then uptime, but as you can see from my response ALL factors should be considered based upon your requirements.

 

[ronweeks]

I think they need to be realiable and support is very important.

 

[HostEase]

I think all of above are important.but the most important of all is uptime and reliability.

 

[InstantPH]

I don't mind paying a little extra if I know that my websites are hosted on quality servers backed by knowledgeable staff that respond promptly to support tickets. I really hate waiting days for technical support.

 

[JamesCWilson]

The most important things for me would be reliability, honesty, integrity, and having excellent and fast customer service. Any good web host should offer all of these things, in my honest opinion. Pricing and value are also important to me, but I do not mind paying more if the difference in money is worth my while.

 

[onlinehost]

Some very good points here but the one thingthat is missing is what sort of sites are you hosting with? With shared hosting you are hosting alongside other websites, as for a business would you want to be hosting on the same IP as spammer websites or websites with malicious content. With this brings problems as your site IP may end up on a blacklist for something other users do, this is out of your control. The points other members have mentioned like SLA, Uptime and support are also major factors. To see what sites are hosted on any shared server you need to use a reverse dns tool. Another major factor is are they RESELLERS of RESELLERS. A general rule of thumb is call there telephone number and actually speak to these companies, get a feel for the company. If you dont really care about your site then 1$ hosting would be fine

 

[HostColor]

Definitely uptime and reliability. Any unreliable hosting service with a poor uptime does not afford the money no matter how cheap it is. I would even get it for free.

 

[TravisBMA]

I have to agree with JamesCWilson. Staff integrity and personability are key points in picking a host. You have to respect your clients in order to keep them, in my opinion.