Questions to Ask a Hosting Company
Questions to ask a hosting company before you sign up, for anyone choosing a first web host or leaving one, whether the site is a shop, a blog or a client's project. Put them to the sales chat or the support desk and keep the replies in writing. They run in the order the decision does: which plan fits and where its limits sit, uptime and speed, backups and security, support and the move itself, what the bill becomes after the first term, and how you would get out again.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The plan
Which of your plans would you put a site like mine on, and why that one?
Why ask it
Describe the site before you ask: the platform it runs on, roughly how many visits a month, whether it takes payments. A useful reply rules a plan out as well as picking one. If the top tier is recommended before anyone has asked a single thing about your site, you are being read a price list.
Is this shared hosting, a virtual server, a dedicated machine or cloud hosting?
Why ask it
The labels are used loosely, and 'cloud' in particular can describe an ordinary shared plan. Follow up with how many other customers sit on the same machine and what happens to your pages when one of them has a busy afternoon.
What does 'unlimited' mean on this plan, in numbers?
Why ask it
Unlimited storage or bandwidth normally comes with an acceptable use policy that sets the real ceiling. Ask for the link to that policy and for the usage at which accounts get slowed down or told to upgrade. A host that will not give a figure has one anyway.
What happens when my site goes over a limit: is it slowed, suspended or billed extra?
Why ask it
All three exist, and each host picks its own. Ask whether a warning email goes out first and how long you get to react, because the limit is most likely to be hit on your best day: a sale, a launch, a post that gets shared. If one of those is planned, ask whether you can go up a tier for that month and come back down.
How many websites, databases and email accounts can I run on this plan?
Why ask it
Count what you have today and add what you plan for the next year. Check the email part closely: some plans include no mailboxes at all, in which case a separate email service belongs in your price comparison. If the site sends order confirmations or a newsletter, ask for the hourly cap on outgoing messages too.
Besides storage and bandwidth, what are the limits on processor time, memory, number of files and simultaneous visitors?
Why ask it
A growing site tends to run into these long before it runs out of disk space, and they are often missing from the comparison table. Find out where in the control panel you can watch your own usage, because a limit you cannot see is one you discover by hitting it.
Where are your data centers, and can I choose the one closest to my visitors?
Why ask it
Distance adds a little delay to every page, so a shop whose customers live in one region is best served from nearby. If you hold customer details, the country the server sits in may also matter under the privacy rules where you trade, which is something to confirm with an adviser and not with a sales chat.
Which versions of PHP, databases and other software do you run, and who decides when they change?
Why ask it
Mostly one for developers and for anyone with an older site. A forced upgrade can break code that has worked for years, so ask how much notice is given and whether you can set the version for each site yourself.
Do I get SSH access, Git, scheduled tasks and a staging copy of the site?
Why ask it
The first three matter if someone technical looks after the site. Staging matters to everyone: it is a private copy where you try an update before it touches the live pages. When it is reserved for a higher tier, add that tier's price to your comparison.
Can I move up or down a plan later without moving the site?
Why ask it
Within one type of hosting an upgrade is often a button and a few minutes. Going from a shared plan to a virtual server can be a full migration with a new address, so ask which it would be and whether the site goes offline. Ask about moving down as well, which some hosts make far harder.
Uptime and speed
What uptime do you guarantee, and how is it measured?
Why ask it
The percentage means little until you know who does the measuring and what counts as down. A server that answers while your site shows an error may still count as up. Have them send the page of the terms where the figure is defined, and read the definition before the number.
If you miss the guarantee, what do I get back, and do I have to claim it?
Why ask it
Find out whether the remedy is a credit on a future bill or money returned, whether it is capped, and how many days you have to file a claim. Then work out what it would come to on your plan. On an inexpensive plan the sum is usually small, which tells you the guarantee is a statement of intent and not insurance for lost sales.
What does the uptime guarantee leave out?
Why ask it
Scheduled maintenance, attacks on the network and faults in your own code are the usual candidates. Ask how many hours of planned maintenance there were last year and at what time of day it is done, since three in the morning for the host may be mid-morning for your customers.
If the machine my site is on fails, what happens next, and how long before the site is back?
Why ask it
You are asking whether the site moves to working hardware by itself or waits for a technician to rebuild the server from a backup. Get a time estimate for each case, and the date it last happened. On a plan that runs on a single server the honest reply may be several hours, which is better heard now than in the middle of a sale.
Do you own and run the servers yourselves, or resell space from a larger provider?
Why ask it
Neither reply is a bad one, but it tells you who is actually repairing things during an outage and whether the company you pay can do more than pass a message along. Several hosting brands can also belong to one parent company, so ask who owns this one before you count it as a separate option from another name on your shortlist.
Do you publish a status page that keeps a history of past incidents?
Why ask it
Open it before the conversation. Dated incidents with a cause and a fix written up are a better sign than an unbroken wall of green. Pick the worst entry and ask about it by date.
What was your longest outage in the past twelve months, and how did customers hear about it?
Why ask it
The second half is the part you can judge. Emails sent during the outage and a written explanation afterward show a company that expects to be held to account. A reply that there were none is worth checking against the status page and a quick search.
How will I find out my site is down: from you or from my customers?
Why ask it
Many hosts watch their servers and not each customer's site, so a fault that affects only yours may go unreported. Whatever they say, set up an independent uptime monitor on day one. Its log is also your evidence if you ever claim under the guarantee.
What is included to make pages load quickly: caching, a content delivery network, solid-state storage?
Why ask it
A feature list proves nothing about speed, so ask for the address of a real customer site on the plan you are considering and run it through a free speed test yourself. Also ask whether caching is switched on from the start or left for you to configure.
Backups and security
How often is my site backed up, and does the backup include the database and email?
Why ask it
Files without the database are half a site on WordPress or any shop platform, because the posts, orders and settings live in the database. Ask what time of day the copy is taken too. That tells you the most work a restore could cost you.
How long are backups kept, and are they stored away from the server my site runs on?
Why ask it
A copy kept on the same machine is lost in the same failure. Retention matters for a different reason: a hacked file or a bad edit is often noticed a week or two late, and a host that keeps only a few days of copies will have nothing clean to give you.
Can I restore a backup myself, and can I bring back one file or one database instead of the whole site?
Why ask it
Have them show you the restore screen in the control panel. Rolling an entire shop back to yesterday to recover one deleted image also wipes every order and comment since, so the ability to pick out a single item is worth more than it sounds.
Is there a charge for backups, or for restoring one?
Why ask it
Some plans include both, some sell backups as an add-on, and some take the copies free but bill for each restore. Learn which before the day you need it. Whatever the answer, keep a copy of your own somewhere the host does not control.
Is an SSL certificate included, and does it renew without me doing anything?
Why ask it
The certificate is what puts the padlock and https on your address. Free certificates that renew automatically are widely available, so when a host charges a yearly fee, ask what the paid one adds. Check that it covers every domain and subdomain on the account, not only the first.
Do you scan for malware, will you tell me if you find any, and who cleans it up?
Why ask it
Those are three separate services and a host may offer only the first. Ask what a cleanup costs and whether an infected site is taken offline until the owner fixes it. If it is, find out how much warning comes before the suspension.
How is my account kept separate from the other sites on the same server?
Why ask it
On a shared plan, a neighbor's hacked site should not be able to read or write your files. You are listening for a plain description of how accounts are walled off from each other. 'We take security seriously' is not an answer to this question.
Can I turn on two-step login for the hosting account?
Why ask it
That one login controls the files, the databases and often the domain and the email, so it is worth more to a thief than your site password. If two-step login exists, switch it on the day you sign up. If it does not, weigh that heavily against a host that offers it.
Is there a firewall or attack protection in front of my site, and is it part of the plan?
Why ask it
A web application firewall filters out common automated attacks before they reach the site. Hosts differ on whether it is built in, an add-on, or a referral to a partner with its own bill. Get the monthly cost and ask what the plan does without it.
Which updates do you apply and which are mine: the server software, WordPress itself, its themes and plugins?
Why ask it
The server is normally the host's job. The software you install is normally yours unless the plan is sold as managed, and even then 'managed' covers different things at different companies. Ask which updates run automatically and whether there is a one-click way back if one breaks a page.
Support and migration
When is support open, and can I reach it by phone, by live chat or only by ticket?
Why ask it
'Around the clock' can describe a ticket form that nobody reads until morning. Ask which channels have people on them overnight and at weekends, and which time zone the main team works in. Then compare that with the hours your own site is busiest.
Are the people who answer support your own staff, and can the first person I reach log in to my server?
Why ask it
An outside call center is not a problem in itself. What slows a fix is a first line that can only read from a script and open a ticket for somebody else. Describe a fault, such as a site showing a database error, and ask who would be the first person able to look at the server and how the request gets to them.
How long does a first reply usually take, and how long before someone who can fix the problem is looking at it?
Why ask it
These are two different numbers, and an automatic acknowledgement counts toward neither. You can test the first one free: send the pre-sales chat a slightly technical question at an awkward hour and time the reply.
What will support help me with, and where does it stop?
Why ask it
The line usually falls between the server and what you have put on it. Give two examples from your own setup, such as a plugin that crashes the site and email that stops arriving, and ask which side of the line each one lands on.
Will you move my existing site over for me, and is that free?
Why ask it
Find out what the offer covers: one site or all of them, the email as well, and whether a person does it or you are handed a plugin and a help page. Get the number of sites included in writing before you rely on it.
How long does a migration take, and will my site be offline while it happens?
Why ask it
A careful move copies the site to the new server, lets you check it at a temporary address, and only then points the domain at it. Ask for that preview step by name. Keep paying the old host until the new copy has run without trouble for a week or two.
What happens to my email during the move?
Why ask it
Mailboxes held at the old host do not follow the website by themselves. Ask whether existing messages are carried across, which settings on your phone and computer will change, and pick a quiet day for the switch. Email is often the first thing an owner notices is broken.
Which control panel do you use, and can I try it before I pay?
Why ask it
Some hosts run a common panel such as cPanel or Plesk and others have built their own. A custom panel can be pleasant to use, but the tools that move a whole account between hosts work best when both ends share a panel. A demo login shows you in five minutes whether you could find the backup screen unaided.
Can I give my developer a separate login with limited access?
Why ask it
Separate users mean you can remove a freelancer's access the day the job ends without changing your own password. A host that allows only one login pushes people into sharing the owner's, which is one way owners end up locked out of their own account.
Price
What will this plan cost when it renews, as opposed to the first term?
Why ask it
The advertised figure often applies only to the first term, and the regular rate can be several times higher. Ask for both prices in one message, then add up three years. That total is the number to compare between hosts.
How long do I have to pay for up front to get the advertised price?
Why ask it
The lowest monthly figure commonly assumes one to three years paid in advance. Ask what the same plan costs month to month. The difference is the price of being able to walk away, and for a host you have never tried it can be worth paying.
What is not included that most customers end up adding?
Why ask it
Go through them by name: backups, mailboxes, malware scanning, domain privacy, staging, a dedicated address. The checkout page is a useful preview, so open it and note which boxes arrive already ticked.
Is a domain name included, and what does it cost from the second year?
Why ask it
A free domain is usually free for one year. Ask the renewal price and whose name it will be registered under. Plenty of site owners keep the domain at a separate registrar so that a dispute with the host can never put the address itself at risk.
Does the plan renew automatically, and how far ahead do you send a reminder?
Why ask it
With a stored card and automatic renewal, the first you see of the regular rate may be a charge that has already gone through. Ask how to switch renewal off and where the setting is. Put the date in your own calendar a month early instead of trusting the reminder to arrive.
Is there a money-back period, and what does it leave out?
Why ask it
Get the number of days, then ask whether the domain fee, setup charges and add-ons are refunded along with the plan. Use the window properly: move the site in the first week and test it, so that the decision is made while a refund is still possible.
Are there discounts for nonprofits or students, and will you match a price I was quoted elsewhere?
Why ask it
Worth one sentence in a sales chat, since staff sometimes have a code the website does not show. Ask whether the discount carries over at renewal or applies once. A lower first bill that resets to full price changes little over three years.
Leaving
If I decide to leave, how do I get a full copy of my files, databases and email?
Why ask it
It should be something you can do yourself from the control panel, in a format any other host can import. Try it in your first month. An export you have downloaded and opened is your exit, and one you have only been told about is a hope.
How do I cancel, and how much notice do you need?
Why ask it
Some hosts have a button, others want a ticket or a phone call, and a few need notice some days before the renewal date. Ask whether cancelling stops the next charge at once. When the day comes, keep the written confirmation.
If I cancel partway through a term I paid for in advance, do I get any of it back?
Why ask it
The policy on unused months varies from a prorated refund to nothing at all once the money-back window has closed. The reply changes the sums on a long prepayment: a discount for three years up front is worth less if two unused years would be forfeited.
If my domain is registered through you, how do I transfer it out, and is there a fee or a waiting period?
Why ask it
Ask where to unlock the domain and get its transfer code, and whether you can do both without contacting support. Check too whether a domain that came free with the plan has to be paid for if you leave inside the first year.
How long do you keep my files after a payment fails or the account is closed?
Why ask it
Two different situations sit in this question. With an expired card, you want to know how many reminders go out and how many days pass before the site is taken down and then deleted. After a deliberate cancellation, you want to know when your data is gone for good, which matters if it held customer records.
For what reasons can you suspend an account, and could I still download my site if you did?
Why ask it
Terms of service tend to give the host wide room to suspend over complaints, resource use or content. Have them point to the clause and ask what the process is: a warning first or not, and who you would appeal to. Access to a backup during a suspension is the detail that decides how bad such a day gets.
What reason do customers who leave you give most often?
Why ask it
A good last question, and an unusual one for a sales team to hear. Price after renewal and outgrowing the plan are candid replies, and each tells you what to watch for. If the reply is that nobody leaves, weigh everything else you were told accordingly.
How to question a web host before you sign up
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you open the sales chat
Put your site into numbers
Note the platform the site runs on, the monthly visits from your analytics, the disk space it uses today, how many mailboxes you need and anything out of the ordinary, such as a shop, a booking system or a large photo library. A salesperson can only match a plan to figures. Without them you will be matched to whatever is on promotion.
Read three pages first
Find the terms of service, the uptime or service level page, and the acceptable use policy, then take a plan as far as the checkout to see the renewal price and the pre-ticked extras. Ten minutes with those pages turns half the questions here from 'what is your policy' into 'your terms say this, is that right'.
Ask two or three hosts the same things in writing
Chat and email leave a record, and the same question put to several companies makes the vague replies stand out. Save each transcript. If a problem comes up in month eight, what you were told before you paid is worth having.
Where to spend your time, by kind of site
A blog or a small brochure site
Price and Backups and security carry most of the weight. An inexpensive shared plan is usually enough for a site like this. What catches owners out is the renewal bill and finding out, on the day something breaks, that backups were an add-on they never bought.
A shop, a booking site or anything that takes money
Start with Uptime and speed, then the restore questions, then support hours. An hour offline has a price for you, a whole-site rollback loses orders, and support that closes at five is little use to a shop that sells in the evening. Ask what happens over a limit, and what happens when the hardware fails, with your busiest day of the year in mind.
A developer or an agency running several sites
The plan group is yours: resource limits per account, software versions, SSH, staging and how many sites a plan carries. Add the questions on separate logins and on how accounts are isolated, because one client's compromised site should not become every client's problem.
Switching from a host you already have
Go to Support and migration first, and check the renewal date on your current contract so the move is finished with time to spare. Ask the new host how long the change of address takes to reach every visitor. Leave the old account running until the new one has been live and checked, email included.
Reading what you are told
Prefer a number to an adjective
'Fast', 'robust' and 'enterprise-grade' cannot be checked. A retention period in days, a reply time in minutes and a renewal price in dollars can. When the reply is an adjective, ask once more for the figure, and note it if none comes.
Ask where it is written down
If a promise made in a chat window contradicts the terms of service, expect the host to go by the terms. For anything you are relying on, such as a free migration, a refund period or a backup schedule, ask for the link to the page that says so.
Test what can be tested free
Several replies can be checked before you spend anything: the status page history, a speed test on a customer's site, a demo of the control panel, and the time it takes pre-sales chat to respond late at night. A host whose claims hold up in the parts you can see has earned some trust for the parts you cannot.
Know who you are talking to
Sales staff know plans and prices well and may be guessing about restore times or process limits. For the technical questions, ask to have a support engineer reply, or accept 'I will find out and email you' as a good sign. A confident wrong reply is worse than a slow correct one.
Mistakes that show up on a later bill
Choosing on the first-term price
The introductory rate is the one number every host competes on, so it is also the least informative. Two plans a dollar apart in year one can be far apart in year two. Compare the three-year total with the extras you would really buy.
Paying for three years before trying one month
The long term gives the best headline rate and the least room to leave. If the refund policy on unused months is poor, consider a shorter first term at a higher rate, and commit for longer once you have seen how support behaves when something is wrong.
Treating the host's backup as the only backup
A host's copies sit inside the same company and often the same account as the thing they protect. A closed account, a billing dispute or a breach of the hosting login can take both. Schedule a second copy to storage you control and restore from it once, so you know it works.
Leaving the domain, the email and the site in one basket
Bundling all three with one host is convenient until you want to leave or the account is suspended, when the address, the inbox and the pages go quiet together. Keeping at least the domain registration somewhere separate means you can always point it at a new host.
Cancelling the old host on moving day
Problems with a migration tend to surface days later: a form that sends nowhere, a missing mailbox folder, an image library that did not copy. An extra month of overlap costs little next to rebuilding from a deleted account.