Article: Before you start looking at hosting plans, you'll need a good idea of your basic needs. Use this list of questions as a guide for determining the type of service that will best suit your website:  Do you have, need, or want your own domain name? Do you have (or want) a blog? Do you need a specific blogging platform (e.g., Wordpress)? Are you tech-savvy or a beginner? If you're not a developer, you might consider a host like Squarespace, Wix, or Weebly. These hosts make it easy to create a stylish personal or professional site without any technical know-how. Do you really need a paid webhost or could you get by with a free option? If you plan to have a personal blog without your own domain name, consider free options like Tumblr, Blogger, or Wordpress.com. Do you rely on (or want) a visual panel like cPanel to install software and updates? Do you need to migrate an existing website to a new host? If so, does your site require specific tools (a certain blogging platform, support for certain types of apps, etc.) to run? Do you need to be able to sell products or services and take payments? Web hosts often charge different rates depending on how much traffic your site gets and how much space your content takes up. Is your business expanding? Do you foresee a significant increase in visitors? There's a chance that what works for you now will need to be scaled up in the near future. When choosing a web host, keep the future in mind and plan accordingly. If you have access to your current website's statistics, use that information to gauge growth. There are three general types of plans offered by web hosts:   Shared hosting: Shared hosting is great for personal websites, bloggers whose sites are mostly text-based, and small businesses who use external ecommerce sites like Shopify or Etsy to handle their sales. Your website will be hosted on a server that also hosts other peoples' websites, which means you'll be sharing resources, such as bandwidth, hard-drive space, CPU power, and RAM.  As the most affordable and user-friendly type of web hosting, shared hosting plans typically offer website-building tools, one-click management panels, and limited support. Many shared plans also come with a free domain name. Bandwidth and hard drive space are limited. If a shared server becomes overcrowded or hosts resource-intensive websites, your site's performance may suffer.    Dedicated hosting: Dedicated hosting is ideal for large businesses with server administrators, as well as high-traffic/resource-intensive websites with lots of customization needs. With this type of hosting, you'll have an entire server dedicated to your website.  You'll control every aspect of your website, including maintaining all applications and databases relied on by your website. You'll also be responsible for ensuring that your server is secure, patched, and up-to-date. If you don't have a server admin and aren't technical yourself, you'll need a "managed" service plan, which can be pricey.    Virtual Private Servers: This plan is recommended for businesses whose sites rely on more customization than what's available on a shared server, but don't require as much bandwidth or storage space as what comes with a dedicated server.  VPS service is similar to dedicated hosting in that you'll have your own operating system and the ability to manage all aspects of your server's backend tools. It's also similar to a shared server because you'll be sharing the physical hardware with other customers. Like a dedicated server, you'll need advanced technical know-how (or a managed support plan) to build and maintain your site.

What is a summary?
Determine what your website (or website idea) needs to function. Consider size and potential growth. Learn the difference between different types of web hosting.