Search the web for ‘cheap web hosting’, and a multitude of options pop up. Prima facie, it looks like a very good deal. As it is, you have spent money on designing your website and probably paid the web design company a decent amount of money. You therefore see this as an option to save some money. After all, hosting is hosting, right? Whatever the cost, ultimately a hosting company simply provides you space to connect to the internet backbone using their hardware, correct?. Well, yes and no. 

Let us first analyze how hosting companies can afford to offer cheap hosting. After all, these companies are in the business to make money – not for charity. The rationale is simple. Such companies usually let everyone buy space on their server. They will want as many websites on the server as possible to maximize their profits. Secondly, they usually scrimp on security. Thirdly, their technical support usually leaves a lot to be desired. And lastly, these companies will charge you for every little enhancement you want. 

i. Your website becomes slow as the same bandwidth is shared by everyone.  

ii. The load on the server increases. Unless they are really fast and loaded with lot of RAM, the servers become overloaded and may even crash. Just imagine if that happens when you are running an important marketing campaign! 

iii. Since cheap hosting is affordable, most antisocial elements choose such companies for hosting their website. So, in all probability, you will be sharing your website with an adult website or their ilk. 

iv. Most companies use their websites to send lot many mails. With so many websites on a single server, it is highly likely that even a single website will cause the server to be blacklisted. You therefore get penalized for no reason.

v. If one website gets hacked due to lack of security, the hacker gets access to the entire server, and your data would get compromised.

Cheap hosting is ok for vanilla websites that will attract little traffic and is not dependent on mails for their business. In the long run, you would certainly repent opting for a web hosting company simply because it is cheap. 

The axiom ‘you get what you pay for’ is very true as far as hosting is concerned, and if you really consider your website as an important part of your business strategy, you would be better off going for a professional web site hosting company.