Unlimited web hosting is all the rage these days, and the majority of bloggers or online entrepreneurs always look out for unlimited web hosting plans when launching a website or blog. After all, why pay for a limited plan, when you can get unlimited resources at your disposal while paying a slightly higher price? Therefore, it’s not really surprising that everybody search for the “unlimited” plan without even considering their requirements, and more importantly the pros and cons of unlimited hosting. Let’s have a look …
The Cons
- To start with – It’s not really unlimited:
If you thought that unlimited web hosting plans will really provide you with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, domains, and all, then you are a little too naïve and unworldly. The fact of the matter is that there’s nothing really unlimited on this unlimited and same is the case with hosting plans. It’s true that a good company providing unlimited hosting will provide more than enough resources for an average user, but it’s not that you can keep piling up domains after domains, and enjoy visitors in millions, and still the host will keep putting up with all the load. It’s only a matter of time that you will be getting some kind of “limit exceeding” notice from the host.
- Paying the Price:
Unlimited plans are costlier than the limited plans (that was a no brainer), and even though the prices are just slightly higher than the routine shared hosting plans, still not everybody has the dollars to waste on resources that they are never going to use. Remember that the entire cost of these hosts is divided amongst the users; therefore you might be paying equally high for resources that only others are utilizing to the fullest.
- Sharing:
Not to forget that unlimited hosting plans are still “shared hosting plans” at the end of the day, which means you will be sharing the server space with many other blogs and websites (all of whom are promised unlimited hosting), so all the limitations and downsides of shared hosting applies.
Pros
- Host multiple domains:
Unlimited plans allow you to host unlimited domains (again, you might not be able to keep piling up domains, unless they are all being used as parked domains) still you can host multiple domains. Therefore, if you are looking to host 4 – 5 domains, an unlimited plan will let you do exactly that without having to pay for and manage different web hosts.
- Overall a better service:
A web hosting provider will need sizeable resources to even offer such plan, so you can expect slightly better service and technical support from the well-known hosts offering unlimited plans (e.g. bluehost.com or hostgator.com). Not only the resources, but the technical support is better as well, mainly because these companies have the resources to hire the best available staff, unlike some small sized hosts, where a handful of entry level employees are managing all customers (and failing comprehensively).
- Hosting Big Websites:
Unlimited hosting might not be unlimited in the truest sense; still it offers quite some space and bandwidth, which makes it an ideal option for blogs or websites looking to put a lot of images, videos, and other huge files on their websites.
So, do you really need one?
Coming to the million dollar question i.e. do you really need an unlimited hosting plan? Answer to this question will obviously depend on your own requirements, but the aforementioned points will help you take a more calculated decision when choosing a hosting plan. Generally, you’ll be better off with an unlimited plan if you are looking to launch more than one blogs/websites. You must decide while keeping in mind your long term requirements, because in most cases you will be paying on yearly basis, therefore if you think that you will be needing much better and bigger service in near future, than it’s better that you start with good unlimited hosting plans, so that you wouldn’t have to go through the hassles of transferring your website and data from one host to another.
Joel is an online entrepreneur with good understanding of different web hosting plans. He writes for a coupon code website where you can find Anhosting coupon. You can also use a Midphase coupon. Anhosting is currently offering a 3-month free hosting package and Westhost is offering 6 months free.