Web Hosting Handbook, Directory and Expert Reviews

How much Bandwidth and Disk Space do I really need?

Posted in Hosting News at 2:43 am by Jim Sutton on Jul. 8, 2008

Bandwidth is relative to the amount of visitors (traffic) you have to your site. 99% of web sites currently on the Net use an average of 2GB of bandwidth a month. It’s only sites that are expected to produce a large amount of traffic that will require a larger rate of monthly bandwidth, like adult sites, or large search engines like, Google and Yahoo.

So don’t fall foul of those Unlimited bandwidth offers, for a start it’s a myth. All Web Hosting Providers have to pay for their bandwidth, so to offer an unlimited service is just crazy talk. And don’t be wowed over by providers offering large rates of bandwidth, more doesn’t necessarily mean better, so unless you know your site is going to enjoy a lot of traffic stick to the basics.

As for Disk space, well that really is solely dependent on the content of your web site. Most web sites average around 2-3MB with a single web page taking up around 40-50KB, many Web Hosting providers will offer a minimum of 20MB which is more then enough for most individuals and small to medium businesses.
However, it is worth considering just what the content of your website will be, will there be banner ads, will you have a lot of graphics, video media and or photo’s, will your web site be database driven, or have much downloadable software. For the average advanced user 50GB is usually plenty.

Basically the more advanced your web site the more disk space and probably bandwidth you’ll need but again, a reminder, you don’t have to go crazy.

To help you reach a decision check out as many Web Hosting reviews as possible, it may mean a little work on your part but you’ll soon find out who cuts the best and more importantly most reliable deals.