Practical guide · verified against the real thing
Which hosting type do I need? — a 2-minute decision tool that shows its working
In one line: Six questions, one hosting recommendation — with the reasoning shown: static free tier, shared, managed WordPress, VPS, or cloud, at honest renewal prices.
Six questions, one recommendation, and the reasoning shown. Most “which hosting” content is a ranked list of sponsors. This is a decision tool: it asks what you’re building, how it will be used, and what you’re comfortable running — then names one of five paths (static free tier, shared, managed WordPress, VPS, or cloud), tells you which of your answers drove the call, and prices it at honest renewal rates instead of banner rates. If the answers change, the recommendation changes — that’s the point.
Why these six questions (and not ten)
Every hosting decision reduces to four facts — what runs (static files, a standard CMS, or custom server code), how hard it works (steady, spiky, or unknown traffic), who maintains it (your comfort with servers), and what it may hold (payments, personal data, residency rules). Budget decides which version of the answer you can afford, not which answer is true — so it’s asked last, and it changes the tier, never the type. Anything beyond those is marketing.
The five outcomes, at honest prices
| Outcome | True cost (renewal) | Who it’s for | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static free tier | $0 + domain ~$15/yr | Portfolios, landing pages, docs, static generators | You need a CMS or server-side code — where to host free, and what free means |
| Shared | $9–$16/mo | Blogs, small business sites, first stores | Neighbours slow you down, or you need software the panel won’t install |
| Managed WordPress | $9–$20/mo | CMS sites with no server admin in the house | Outgrowing plugins into custom code |
| VPS | $12–$60/mo | Custom apps, steady load, guaranteed resources — what a VPS really is | Traffic gets spiky enough that flat provisioning wastes money |
| Cloud (elastic) | Usage-based; a small steady app often lands $10–$50/mo | Spiky or growing workloads, autoscaling needs | Never, if you cap it — uncapped autoscaling is the exit |
All bands are renewal-rate reality, sourced on the hosting costs page — including the 3-year calculator and what changes by country (tax, currency, domains). The full side-by-side lives in hosting types compared, and the honest starting point for $0 sites is free vs paid hosting. More paths through the money: the cloud & hosting cluster.
What this tool deliberately does not do
- It doesn’t rank providers. The right host depends on your region, stack and support needs — a six-question tool that pretends otherwise is an affiliate funnel.
- It doesn’t certify compliance. If you handle payments or personal data, the tool flags it and points you to verify the provider’s own compliance docs (PCI DSS, GDPR, NDPA) — it cannot audit them.
- It doesn’t phone home. No analytics on your answers, no localStorage, no network calls — the whole thing is one script running in your tab.
Sources
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