Best web hosting
Compare web hosting plans to align with your needs
Choosing a web hosting plan is a vital step when you get started online. It is the space that hosts your website, including files (HTML, PHP, etc.), one or more databases, as well as various services such as email. With so many services available, it’s sometimes difficult to choose. We’ve compared the web hosting plans available at OVHcloud, the market-leading French web hosting provider offering a range of solutions to cover a wide range of uses.
How do I find the best web hosting plan for my project?
When the time comes to create your website, you might be wondering about web hosting plans. There are as many hosting plans as there are website types. A static page, a website developed with or without a content management system (CMS) and an e-commerce site all have different needs. You will need to analyse the services your website requires to work properly. You may want to think about how it will develop as well, to ensure that the hosting plan you have chosen can meet your future needs.
What services do I need?
This is an essential element, regardless of the type of website you create. The domain name is the address (e.g. myprofessionalwebsite.com), which will be displayed in the URL bar for your website visitors. It is also the address displayed in search engines when your content appears in a user search. Finally, the domain name is often used in marketing communications, as well as in emails (e.g. contact@myprofessionalwebsite.com).
A website refers to files written in programming languages such as HTML, PHP or JavaScript. These files need to be stored somewhere in order to be searchable on the Web. This is the main purpose of a web hosting plan: it offers a storage space that can host and process the website files. Of course, this space is continuously connected to the Internet, making your content accessible without interruption.
Being able to communicate via a professional email address linked to your domain name conveys trustworthiness to your visitors, especially when it comes to your future customers. If included with your hosting, this service allows you to easily create and manage your addresses, without having to configure an email server. All you need to do is manage your email accounts and passwords.
The SSL certificate is now recognised as an almost-mandatory step to secure your website. Without this, your website may be considered by search engines as risky, or even possibly fraudulent. This certificate enables HTTPS protocol on all your pages. It guarantees that any data exchanged between the user’s browser and your website is encrypted.
To understand the various technical aspects of a web hosting plan, you can ask a web developer about the technical specifications required for your website to work properly (supported languages, software versions used, storage and database requirements, etc.). If you are using a content management tool (CMS), you can find this information on the tool’s official website. Are you developing your website locally in a development environment? Check the dedicated space (back office).
You can subscribe to a range of web hosting options, including advanced SSL certificates for companies, a CDN for better navigation on your pages or even additional databases. Even if these options are not always needed when you start your website, they can become useful further down the line. That’s why it is always important to know what your hosting plan offers when you subscribe to a service.
The success of your website may result in extra needs. You may need more disk space, additional email addresses, or new resources to speed up the processing of your website and the delivery of your content to visitors. So make sure that you don’t get stuck in a cramped web hosting space.
| For creating your website or WordPress blog | For business websites | For multi-site projects and online stores | |
| Domain name* | Free for the first year | Free for the first year | Free for the first year |
| Multi-sites (recommended number of websites) | 5 | 10 | unlimited |
| Disk space (high availability) | 100 GB | 250 GB | 500 GB |
| Resources | Shared | Shared | Guaranteed: CPU: From 1 vCore RAM: From 2 GB |
| Optimised for | WordPress | WordPress Joomla! | WordPress Joomla! Drupal PrestaShop |
| Email accounts | 10 x 1GB | 100 x 1GB | Up to 1,000 x 1GB |
| SQL databases (Shared) | MySQL (shared): 1 x 200MB | 3 x 400MB 1 x 2GB | 3 x 800MB 1 x 4GB |
| SQL database (Private server) | Optional | Optional | 1 x 512MB RAM - Included |
| CDN | Optional | Optional | Basic - Included |
| SSL Certificate | Let’s Encrypt SSL - Free | Let’s Encrypt SSL - Free | Let’s Encrypt SSL - Free |
| Backup | Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| High availability | - | - | Included |
| Supported languages | Static sites (HTML, CSS, JS) Dynamic sites (PHP) | Static sites (HTML, CSS, JS) Dynamic sites (PHP) | Static sites (HTML, CSS, JS) Dynamic sites (PHP) |
A solution for every website
Which is the best website hosting provider?
The best website hosting provider is the one that meets all your expectations. With more than 20 years of experience in web hosting and the cloud, OVHcloud offers you a comprehensive web hosting plan. The many services included, plus added options for professionals, cover the full range of uses for a web hosting plan. Keen to support its customers globally, our company is made up of passionate people who work every day towards a digital world where customer confidentiality is respected. Our prices are transparent, with no surprises. For example, unlimited bandwidth means that your network usage will not suddenly be blocked.
What is a CMS?
The term CMS, meaning content management system, is used to describe a web content management tool. The best known are WordPress, PrestaShop, Drupal, Magento and Joomla!. Most of these tools give you the ability to create a website without any prior knowledge of web development. Pre-designed themes or templates allow you to create a unique and adjustable graphic design for your site. On the technical side, free or paid plugins can be integrated into your CMS. These extensions give you access to additional features for your website: contact forms, script execution, cache optimisation to reduce loading times, etc.
What is a web hosting provider?
A web hosting provider is a company that offers products and solutions for hosting websites and web applications. All of this is carried out in datacentres: facilities that house servers connected to the internet. The provider uses its expertise and proven techniques to offer its customers shared and private hosting plans that are reliable and continuously available.
How do I choose the right web hosting provider?
When choosing your web hosting provider, you want a website hosted on a professional service that meets the requirements of your business as your main criteria. If the service meets your technical needs, ensure that it also offers the services you need to support you throughout your business. At a time when the issue of data remaining confidential as it passes through the web is key, you can choose a data hosting provider that respects your information and your work.
What type of web hosting should I choose?
This comparison of OVHcloud’s best web hosting plans offers the solutions you need. Everything has been designed to make your job easier, with offers that each meet a specific need: hosting a webpage, personal blog, business or e-commerce website, and so on. You can choose the best web hosting plan depending on the technical specifications of your website, the email accounts required for your business, the databases and the level of service required.
Which plan should I choose: shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS or cloud?
Let's briefly compare the different solutions you may encounter.
Shared hosting. This is often the most affordable solution, and it comes with services that are specific to running a website. Generally, it involves shared computing servers, so that they can be used simultaneously by different customers. This method comes with the lowest price tag, and each customer keeps their own storage space.
Dedicated hosting. Often referred to as a dedicated server or bare metal server, this type of hosting is a server that the customer has full control over. They can install any operating system they want, as well as any development, network, and security tools, and get a 100% customised solution.
VPS. A virtual private server is a more affordable machine than a dedicated server. Using a virtualisation system, the customer receives a virtual server that is sized to suit their needs. It can be scaled to increase resources (e.g. processor, memory or disk space). As with a dedicated server, you can install different types of software on it.
Cloud. Cloud computing is based on server virtualisation, and offers users a wide range of possibilities. There are two main solutions: Public Cloud, a group of flexible, ready-to-use solutions; and Hosted Private Cloud, which can be considered a private datacentre dedicated to one customer.
* Domain name creation and transfer is free for the first year only if included on the same order as the hosting plan. Renewals are charged at the annual price of the extension from the following list: .com, .net, .biz, .info, .org, .name, .fr, .re, .eu, .be, .es, .it, .de, .at, .co.uk, .me.uk, .org.uk, .nl, .us, .ca, .cz, .ch, .in, .lt, .dk, .pm, .so, .se, .yt, .tf , .wf, .pt, .ovh, .xyz.