· Jeff · Doory · 2 min read
Don't Get Fooled: What Web Hosting Companies Don't Tell You
Marketing has a job to do; that is to market. Don''t get fooled into buying products and services that you dont need. Do better!
Those Long-Term Contracts? Yeah, They’re a Trap
You’ve probably seen those tempting introductory rates. Hosting companies love to lure you in with dirt-cheap prices, only to hit you with sky-high renewal fees when your contract auto-renews. They’re banking on you forgetting about that renewal date (we’ve all been there).
”Free SSL for the First Year” Is a Red Flag
Here’s something that really grinds my gears: companies charging for SSL certificates.
Let’s be clear—SSLs should be completely free nowadays. If you see a hosting provider advertising “free SSL for the first year ($99 value!)” and planning to charge you at renewal, it’s time to look elsewhere. The only exceptions are specialized cases requiring extra security insurance.
The “Unlimited Websites” Offer Isn’t As Great As It Sounds
Hosting multiple websites on one account seems like a steal, right? Not so fast.
There are two major drawbacks:
You’re sharing a fixed amount of CPU and memory across all those sites. More websites = slower performance for each one.
All your websites live in separate folders within the same account. One wrong click while managing one site, and you might accidentally delete another!
Speed and reliability should be your top priorities with hosting. Cramming multiple sites onto one account compromises both.
”Premium CDN” Services? They’re Usually Just CloudFlare
Recently, I spotted a host charging extra for “2x faster website speeds with CDN.” What they don’t mention is that this CDN is basically just CloudFlare, which is completely free to set up yourself. Don’t pay for something you can get at no cost with minimal effort.
Massive Disk Space Is Usually Just Marketing Fluff
“Pay 50% more and double your disk space!” Sounds great until you realize the average small business website only needs about 3GB of storage.
The fine print in hosting terms of service always states that you can’t use your hosting for general file storage anyway—just for website-related files. If you genuinely need tons of space, you’ve probably outgrown shared hosting and should look into a VPS instead.
Remember: when it comes to hosting, speed and reliability matter far more than impressive-sounding storage numbers.
