Unlimited Hosting – The Contenders for the Best Service Around
Shared hosting plans today often come with a treasure trove of unlimited features: unlimited bandwidth hosting, unlimited storage space, unlimited websites, unlimited FTP accounts, unlimited emails and email accounts – all for one low price.
Sadly, unlimited hosting plans can’t actually guarantee unlimited resources – after all, they only have a finite number of servers. However, they do offer ample resources with flexible caps that let you run your website without constantly having to check how much of your resources you’ve used up each month.
Tempted to opt for an unlimited plan? Before you sign a contract, take a good look at the following specs:
- What are the actual limitations in the terms of agreement?
- Is your host using state-of-the-art server hardware to maximize the resources you’re getting?
- What actions does the host take if you’re way over your resource allotment?
- How easy is it to scale?
While we’ll touch on other important unlimited hosting factors to keep in mind, these questions should give you a good indication about the quality of service you’ll receive from an unlimited host.
Read our unlimited hosting expert reviews, then head on over to our user reviews to discover the best unlimited hosts for your website.
What is Unlimited Hosting?
Unlimited hosting is a subset of shared hosting in which certain features, such as bandwidth and storage space, aren’t given a hard limit. In general for web hosting unlimited storage is not really possible, as servers have finite capacity. Some unlimited hosts replace the word unlimited with unmetered to indicate that these features aren’t being watched too closely.
That said, just about every unlimited host does have a certain set of restrictions on the amount of resources your website is actually entitled to. To make sure you know what you’re getting into with an unlimited plan, it’s worth reading the unlimited host’s terms of service to understand how much of the server’s shared resources you can take up before you need to upgrade to a bigger plan.
In general, unlimited hosts are able to offer these very affordable unlimited packages because they (correctly) assume that most websites won’t actually hit these upper limits laid out in the ToS.
Why do You Need Unlimited Hosting?
Unlimited hosting is perfect for small and medium businesses, blogs and personal websites that typically don’t need a large amount of resources in the first place. On the other hand, unlimited hosting isn’t meant for and cannot accommodate websites with huge resource demands, such as streaming websites or websites that are very media-rich.
Like other types of shared hosting, most unlimited hosting solutions give you a wide selection of tools and features to customize your website’s look and back-end at a cheap price.
Similarly, the best unlimited hosting solutions help you make the most of your resources by using state-of-the-art hardware, updating their servers’ software, and using caching and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) so that your website is secure and loads quickly.
The added value that unlimited hosting provides is that you don’t have to lose any sleep over the resources you’re using. If you do start to take up too much of the shared resources on a consistent basis, your unlimited host’s support team can help you instantly upgrade to a bigger plan with greater resource allocation.
What are the Benefits of Unlimited Hosting?
- It’s very budget-friendly. As a subcategory of shared hosting, unlimited hosting is a very affordable choice for small businesses and personal websites looking to grow their customer base. If you’re planning on scaling or if your existing audience is already larger, for a few dollars more per month you can get an unlimited plan that’s geared towards the size of your audience.
- It can accommodate sudden spikes in traffic. While it’s true that certain unlimited hosts can be unsympathetic if your website suddenly start to consume more resources, for the most part unlimited hosts work with you to figure out the best ways to incorporate this newfound traffic into your payment plan.
If the spike was just a one-time thing, your host may require you to pay a few dollars to cover the cost of the extra resources you used. If, however, your audience and your traffic is growing, you’ll probably need to upgrade to a bigger plan.
What Factors to Consider for Unlimited Hosting
- What amount of resources does your website need to function well? This is a preliminary step you should take before you even start researching the unlimited hosting options available. If, for instance, you know that you’re going to be streaming many videos or that your monthly traffic is in the hundreds of thousands, unlimited hosting isn’t going to work for you.
- Are its servers optimized for speed? If you are going to be sharing a server with other users, you want to make sure that the server is optimized for speed. Look for unlimited hosts that utilize SSD storage, CDNs and that give you a choice of datacenter location so that you’re getting the max amount of speed.
- Has it invested in adequate security? Shared servers can be more vulnerable to hacking than VPS or dedicated servers, so it’s important to choose an unlimited host that puts security first. Firewalls, spam and malware filters, daily backups and 24/7 network monitoring are some of the security features you should expect from a top-notch unlimited host.
- How simple is it to scale? Small-scale unlimited hosting packages are a great place to get started with web hosting, but if you want to grow your business you won’t be able to stick with the most basic plans forever. The best unlimited hosting providers make it incredibly easy to scale, either by yourself or with the help of the support team, so when the time comes you’re only a few clicks and a few dollars away from the resources you need.
Choose the Best Unlimited Web Hosting
As one of the most affordable and feature-rich types of hosting, unlimited hosting is a terrific way for individuals and small businesses to ease into web hosting. To find an unlimited web hosting solution that hits all the right notes, read through our user reviews and see which unlimited hosts are winning people over with their service, features, and prices.