Seven questions to ask before you buy hosting, and what a good answer sounds like

The short answer: price is the question everybody asks; the ones that matter are the others. These seven show you, in ten minutes, who you will be dealing with. Ask them of us and of any other company. For each one we say what to look for in a good answer and where we explain ours.

The seven questions

Question A good answer Ours
1. Who are you, and how do I reach you? Company name, address, tax number and several contacts, written on the site itself. Support tickets and complaints.
2. What is included, and what has a limit? A clear list, with no unexplained “unlimited”. What is unlimited and what has a limit.
3. What about backups? It says how many it keeps, for how long and how one is restored. How long we keep backups.
4. What support do you give, and in what language? It says what it covers, what it does not and the reply time. How far our support goes.
5. What does renewal cost, and when do you charge? The renewal price is clear from the start, and notices arrive beforehand. Renewal.
6. Can I leave, and take everything? It says how to cancel, how to take the site and what happens to the domain. Leaving and taking everything.
7. How do you protect it, and how do you warn me of a problem? It says what it does for security and how you find out the site is down. An alert when your site goes down.

How to use the list

1 Write the questions down and send them in writing to whoever you are considering. The answer is on record.
2 Notice what they do not answer. A vague reply or a “we’ll see” to a simple question is already an answer.
3 Compare like with like: the same type of service, the same period. See The comparison of shared hosting, VPS, Cloud and dedicated.
4 Read the terms before you pay, especially cancellations and refunds: Refunds and cancellations.
Beware of prices far below the rest and of promises of “100% uptime” or speed with no explanation. If the first year’s price is low, ask about the second. And do not pay anyone who only answers by anonymous message.
Not sure what you need? Start with Domain vs web hosting: what is the difference and tell us what you want to do.

Want to ask us these seven questions? Ask them in a ticket and we will answer each one.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

"Unlimited": what really is unlimited, and what has a limit

How far our support goes: what we handle and what is yours

Leaving a hosting provider: how to take everything with you before you cancel

How to make a complaint and how we handle it

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