Choosing a web host — another boring post about choosing a new web host? Not really boring. Until a month ago, I was thinking that only uptime, web space, bandwidth, and cost were the points to note when choosing a host. But those are only one side of the coin.
Reliability, support, and limitations are the other side of the coin and the most important part of this decision.
Recently I witnessed it with Chetan‘s “Don’t Laugh” — his self-hosted WordPress site was suffering from account suspension by the web host. Reason: CPU usage overload. This was something I had never considered. The site was having around 1,500 unique visitors consuming its resources. No notification, nothing — the site was just suspended. Just because of the load of visitors? A site is made to have visitors, and “Don’t Laugh” was punished for exactly that.
After reading the host’s terms of service, we found that only 10% of CPU usage was allowed. The hosting was from a local reseller. Since PayPal payments weren’t available in those days (the early days of my and Chetan’s internet use), but many PayPal hosting providers like Host Gator, Mc Kremie, and DreamHost provide a very high percentage of CPU usage compared to that awful host.
Now Don’t Laugh is back. Enjoy the site — but remember these points when choosing a web host.