Hosting is essential for running any kind of website and e-commerce business. But the type of plan you choose will depend on your requirements, the type of website and its features, the target audience, the expected traffic, and many more factors. Another factor that needs to be considered while buying hosting plans in India is your budget. Cheap hosting plans make sense for new businesses or ventures with limited resources and other requirements. Here we need to mention that cheap does not mean that you compromise your website’s performance. It means you do not overpay for the services included. You can do some research and buy domain and hosting plans at attractive prices by availing of the promotional and other offers made by various hosting companies.

How to Get Hosting at Low Rates?

The key to getting hosting at low rates is identifying the different options available in the market and comparing them not only in terms of cost but their features too. One hosting provider may offer you hosting services at very low prices but include access to only limited resources and no or low level of security. Such a hosting plan may be low on your pocket initially but frequent downtime and security issues may force you to seek professional help frequently. This may prove to be quite expensive for you.

A hosting plan that offers you adequate resources to run and maintain your website smoothly will prove to be more cost-effective than the one that is priced very low. Here are some features that you should compare when you are looking at the domain and hosting price quoted by different service providers:

• Resources– Compare the different plans based on disk space, bandwidth, and other resources essential to run your website. Smaller or new websites can afford to go for plans with limited resources. You always have the option to scale your plans with the growth in your business and an improvement in your affordability.
• Security Features– Go for a plan that includes features like SSL certification, regular malware checks, and backups to protect your website’s data. In case you are targeting customers across the globe, buy a domain and hosting plan that includes speed-boosting CDN.
• Business Promotion Tools– Do check for tools like email, SEO, and email marketing tools that are essential for promoting your business.
• Technical Support-A major feature to look out for in a hosting plan is the level of support provided to ensure the continued running and higher uptime of your website.

A comparison of the various hosting plans in India based on these features will help you choose the most suitable one for your website.  Some other points to be considered while looking for a cheap hosting plan are:

• Approach a hosting company that has its own data centre and does not rely on or share the data centre of another hosting service provider. Having own data centre reduces operational costs which in turn allows them to offer hosting at cheaper rates.
• You can look out for trial offers by established players. And once your website becomes popular and starts getting good traffic you can buy a hosting plan according to your budget and requirements.
• Go for purchase of hosting plans in bulk, say for a year or two, and get some good discounts. Commitments to renewing your hosting plans beyond a certain period may also entitle you to certain discounts.

To conclude, cheap hosting plans make sense if they include all the essential features that are required to run and maintain your website efficiently.