Choosing web hosting: what should you look for?

What types of hosting are there?

There are roughly four types. They differ in price, speed and how much work they leave for you.

• Shared hosting: you share a server with many other websites. Cheap and fine for a small site with few visitors. The downside: if a neighbour gets lots of traffic, you notice it too.
• VPS (virtual private server): your own fenced-off part of a server. More speed and freedom, but you have to handle updates and security yourself, or have someone do it for you.
• Managed hosting: a provider manages the server for you, including updates, backups and monitoring. A bit more expensive, but it saves you worry.
• Cloud and edge hosting: your site runs spread across servers worldwide. Often used for modern websites that need to load fast wherever the visitor is.

For most freelancers (zzp'ers) and small businesses, good shared hosting or managed hosting is enough. If you have an online store, a client portal or a site with lots of traffic, you are more likely to need a VPS or cloud hosting.

What to look for when choosing web hosting

When comparing web hosting, many people only look at the monthly price and storage space. That says little. These points matter more:

• Speed: ask what kind of storage the server uses (SSD or NVMe is fast) and whether there is caching. A slow server makes every page slower.
• Server location: servers in the Netherlands or the EU are faster for Dutch visitors and make it easier to comply with the GDPR (AVG in Dutch).
• Backups: daily, automatic, kept for at least a few weeks and easy to restore. Also ask whether the backups are stored somewhere other than your website.
• SSL certificate: the padlock in the address bar. This should be free and renewed automatically.
• Uptime: how often the server is reachable. Ask what happens when things go wrong and how quickly they respond.
• Support: by email and phone, in a language you are comfortable with, from people who know what they are talking about technically.
• Room to grow: can you easily move to a bigger plan as your site grows?

Hosting and speed: why it matters

Google measures how fast and stable your pages load with the Core Web Vitals. One of them is LCP: how quickly the largest element on your page becomes visible. Google wants that under 2.5 seconds. A slow server already costs you time here before the browser can show anything.

Hosting is not the only factor. Large images, too many plugins and heavy scripts also make a site slow. But with poor hosting it is almost impossible to get a fast site. Read more tips in our article on making your website faster and the explanation of Core Web Vitals.

How much does web hosting cost?

Prices vary widely and change regularly. As an indication, and always check the current price with the provider:

• Basic shared hosting: a few euros up to about fifteen euros a month.
• Managed hosting for a business site: roughly between fifteen and fifty euros a month.
• VPS or cloud hosting: from a few tens of euros a month, depending on capacity and who does the management.

Watch out for teaser prices. Many providers give a big discount in the first year and raise the price afterwards. So look at the price after the promotional period, and at what you pay extra for backups, email or an SSL certificate.

Common mistakes when choosing hosting

• Hosting, domain name and email with a provider without having access yourself. Make sure everything is in your name and that you have the login details.
• No backups, or backups that have never been tested. A backup you can't restore is not a backup.
• The cheapest plan for an online store or busy site. Then everything slows down as soon as it gets busy.
• Servers outside the EU without thinking about privacy. With personal data, the GDPR applies. If in doubt, ask a lawyer or check with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).
• Nobody keeping the server up to date. Outdated software is one of the most common causes of hacked websites.

That last point is closely linked to website maintenance. Good hosting without updates is like a good lock on a door that is left open.

Switching to a different hosting provider

Not happy with your current provider? Switching hosting is quite doable if you plan it calmly. Here is how to go about it:

• Make a full backup of your website, database and email.
• Set the site up on the new server and test it via a temporary address.
• A day in advance, lower the TTL of your DNS records so the change comes through faster.
• Update the DNS so your domain name points to the new server.
• Check your forms, email, SSL certificate and Google Analytics.
• Only cancel the old hosting once everything has worked well for a few days.

Moving your email too? Plan that separately. Losing email during a move is the most annoying thing that can go wrong.

How we help with hosting and management

At Violexa we build custom websites and apps. For every site we look at which hosting fits: fast, in Europe and with good backups. A custom website starts from €1,799 excl. VAT (€2,177 incl. VAT), including design, development, a design that works on every screen, basic SEO, Google Analytics, a CMS connection and guidance.

Want someone to look after your hosting, updates and backups? There are maintenance plans: Silver €179 (€217 incl. VAT), Gold €299 (€362 incl. VAT) and Platinum €699 (€846 incl. VAT) per month excl. VAT. The first 12 months are fixed; after that you can cancel monthly by email with one month's notice. All prices are also on our pricing page.

Unsure about your current hosting, or want to know what could be better? Book a free quickscan. It is a 30-minute conversation, online or on location. Afterwards you get short written advice with a price indication, with no obligation.

Frequently asked questions