Web Space? How much Web Hosting Space is enough?

How Much Web Space is enough?

How much web space is enough? Isn’t that the most important question on our minds, before investing in a website, or purchasing web space. But does web space to host a web site always have to be purchased? Read on to find out the answers to all of your web space based questions, arranged in the form of a Web Space FAQ

1. How much free web space can usually I squeeze out of a web space provider before I have to start paying for Web Space?
The best free hosts on the web will give you about 15-25 Mb of disk space, 250 Mb -2Gb of monthly data transfer, along with other freebies thrown in like web designing software, web mail sub domains, counters, etc.

With premium (or paid hosting), you usually get upwards of 100 Mb of disk space, 10 Gb – 100 Gb monthly data transfer capability (or bandwidth) , free domain name (usually for life), the ability to install customized web applications (for specialized transactions like online shopping, bill payments, portfolio management, etc), IMAP or POP mail, databases (Oracle, MySQL, etc) of you choice, 24/7 world class support, along with technical documentation of the solution provided to you. Paid hosting usually starts at about $6.5/ month.

2. What is the number of users that this kind of free web space can support?
The number of users your web space (or web site) can support is driven by the kind of infrastructure supporting your web site. The amount of web space you have been given or have purchased does not determine the number of users your web space (or web site) can support.

3. What is the Bandwidth per Month that will be offered to me?
Bandwidth is the amount of actual data that can be transferred from the web server that holds your website, to the person who is looking at your website, and is stated as a monthly limit in either MB or GB. As explained in point 1, for free hosting, the bandwidth offered per month ranges from 250 Mb – 2 Gb. For paid hosting, depending upon the hosting service provider and plan you opt for, you could have a bandwidth of anywhere between 10 Gb or an unlimited data transfer plan.

4. If I do have a lot of money to spend, and want to buy a lot of web space, how much web space should I be looking at to host even the most data intensive applications?
Data intensive applications like Audio and Video Streaming, Audio and Video downloads, Macromedia Shockwave, MIDI File Support, etc would typically require upwards of 10 Gb of web space, upwards of 25 Gb of bandwidth, add-on domain capability, multiple sub domain capability, Database support, and ftp account capability. These requirements would typically cost you upwards of $10/month.