Table of contents
- Introduction
- What is hosting?
- What do I need web hosting for?
- What types of hosting are there?
- What is the cost of hosting?
- Is cheap hosting wise?
- What should you look for when choosing your hosting?
- Read reviews about hosting parties
- Which hosting companies are well regarded?
- Which hosting package suits you?
- Registering domain names with hosting

Last updated January 28, 2025
Introduction
If you're going to create a Web site for your business, one of the most important steps is choosing your hosting. This comes more closely than you might think, because good hosting can contribute nicely to the success of your site. Server speed, adequate response to problems: these are all things that ensure your website runs as smoothly as possible. With possibly more sales as a result.
What is hosting?
Hosting is renting web space, storage and memory on a server. On that server, which is usually located in a data center, your Web site runs. The server is continuously connected to the Internet, so your Web site is always accessible.
What do I need web hosting for?
Web hosting is necessary to make your website accessible and available on the Internet. When you create a website, it consists of several files, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and other media. These files need to be stored somewhere so that visitors from all over the world can access them when they visit your website. Web hosting provides the storage space and infrastructure needed to store and serve these files. In short, hosting provides your website's availability, speed, security, technical support, scalability, and domain and email services.
What types of hosting are there?
There are several types of web hosting available. Which one best suits your business depends on specific needs, budget and technical requirements of the website. We list the types of hosting for you:
- Shared hosting:
With shared hosting, multiple websites are hosted on the same server, sharing costs between different users. This is an affordable option for small websites and startups, but may have limitations in terms of performance, speed and customization options. - Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting:
VPS hosting divides a physical server into multiple virtual servers, with each virtual server operating independently of the others. This offers more control and flexibility than shared hosting, but is usually more expensive. VPS hosting is suitable for medium-sized websites with more traffic and need for customization options. - Dedicated hosting:
With dedicated hosting, you rent an entire physical server for your Web site. This offers maximum control, performance and customization options, but is significantly more expensive than other options. Dedicated hosting is suitable for large websites with high traffic and complex technical requirements. - Cloud hosting:
Cloud hosting uses a network of connected servers that work together to provide Web resources. This provides a high degree of scalability and reliability because the website is not dependent on a single server. Cloud hosting is suitable for websites that are growing rapidly or experiencing fluctuating traffic. - Managed hosting:
With managed hosting, the hosting company takes responsibility for managing and maintaining the server, including security, updates and technical support. Managed hosting can apply to shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud hosting, and is suitable for website owners who lack technical expertise or want to save time on server management. - Reseller hosting:
Reseller hosting allows users to set up their own Web hosting business by purchasing server space and resources in bulk and then selling them to their own customers. Reseller hosting is suitable for web developers, designers and other professionals who want to offer web hosting as a complementary service.
What is the cost of hosting?
As we just indicated, the choice of type of hosting also depends on your budget. Therefore, we list the average prices per hosting for you. Note that prices may vary depending on the specifications of the hosting package you choose and any additional services offered.
- Shared hosting:
Shared hosting is usually the cheapest option and usually costs between €2 and €15 per month, depending on the amount of disk space, data traffic and other features included in the package. - Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting:
VPS hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, but offers more control and flexibility. The cost of VPS hosting usually ranges between €20 and €100 per month, depending on the amount of RAM, disk space, CPU power and other specifications of the virtual server. - Dedicated hosting:
Dedicated hosting is the most expensive option and typically costs between €80 and €500 per month, depending on the specifications of the physical server, such as processor, RAM, disk space and bandwidth. - Cloud hosting:
Cloud hosting is often offered on a "pay-as-you-go" model, where customers pay only for the server resources they actually use. The cost of cloud hosting varies widely depending on usage and scalability, but can start at about €5 per month for smaller Web sites and go up to hundreds or even thousands of euros per month for larger Web sites with high traffic. - Managed hosting:
The cost of managed hosting depends on the type of hosting (shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud) and the level of management and support offered by the hosting provider. Managed hosting is typically more expensive than comparable non-managed hosting packages, with prices ranging from €20 to €500 per month or more, depending on the hosting package chosen and the services offered. - Reseller hosting:
Reseller hosting packages are usually designed with profit margins in mind, and costs vary depending on the amount of server space and resources purchased. Reseller hosting packages can start at about €10 per month and go up to €100 per month or more, depending on specifications.
Is cheap hosting wise?
In the Netherlands, there are countless hosting companies. It seems like they all offer the same thing, so it is tempting to just choose the cheapest one. But that is not a good idea. It is very important that your hosting is top quality. Suppose you run a web shop. Your website needs to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If your site is down all the time, that means an immediate loss of sales. The same applies if your site is extremely slow because your hosting uses a slow server. Chances are that visitors will drop out before they can view your offer.
What should you look for when choosing your hosting?
If you are going to choose a hosting company, here are the points to consider:
- Quality of hosting: how often does something go wrong, how reliable is the hosting?
- How user-friendly is the hosting? Can you easily arrange and adjust things yourself?
- How are the support and service? Nothing as annoying as having to wait a long time for a response when you have a problem with your website. Do you understand the back end of websites yourself? Then you might need a little less help from your hosting. Do you know next to nothing yourself? Then it may be a good idea to pay a little more for extra service and good support.
- How fast is the hosting and how secure are the systems? Are backups well organized so you can easily restore a recent version of your site if you have problems? Are your visitors' data and privacy secure? To guarantee that, an SSL certificate, for example, is necessary.
- Does the cost of hosting fit the purpose of your Web site? The cheapest party is certainly not always the best choice, but neither is the most expensive necessarily. The most expensive companies are especially suitable if you have a complex website with a web shop that has several people working on it.
- Keep the future in mind. Is it easy to upgrade your hosting package, for example, if your shop or number of visitors grows rapidly?
Read reviews about hosting parties
It is good to compare different hosting companies and especially to read a lot of reviews. Not the reviews on the sites of the hosting companies themselves, but Google reviews, for example. If necessary, also ask advice from other entrepreneurs. In this way, you will quickly discover which hosting companies come out well and to whom you can trust your website with confidence.
Which hosting companies are well regarded?
You can begin your search for the right hosting company by checking out these five providers. These are well known and get excellent reviews:
Which hosting package suits you?
Hosting companies offer different packages. For most website, a basic package with these features is enough:
- 1 to 5 GB of disk space.
- 2 GB data traffic.
- An SSL certificate (necessary for the security of your website).
- A MySQL database (necessary to use a CMS, such as WordPress).
- One-minute script from WordPress and others.
- E-mail, so that the extension of your e-mail address is the same as your domain name.
You can always expand the package at a later stage. If it turns out that you attract thousands of visitors a month, you may need more data traffic. If you write blogs with lots of images, then more disk space will come in handy. Talk to your host about what suits your website best.
Registering domain names with hosting
If you are going to create a website, then in addition to hosting, you will need a domain name. You also register that with a hosting company. You pay a fixed amount each year for your domain name. It is convenient (but not necessary) to place your domain name and hosting with one party, so they can easily make the link right away. If you also want to sell products or services on your website, it is good to think about which e-commerce platform to choose.
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