How Much Storage Does Your Website Really Need? A Guide to Choosing Hosting Space

Storage is a specification that you need to be aware of when you are picking a web host. Web hosting companies might have 5 GB, 10 GB, 20 GB, 50 GB or even an unlimited amount of storage capacity. However, how much storage does your website really require?

Using a storage capacity that is less than required may cause problems in the future as your website develops, but choosing one that is way more than what you actually need will result in additional expenses in your hosting cost.

The ideal option here would be to first determine your current storage requirements, the expected future storage needs and ensure that you have ample storage space left for your additional information.

The following article will cover the subject of website storage needs and explain what consumes website storage.

What is Website Hosting Storage

Website hosting space refers to the total disk space provided by your hosting service where you can store your website files and data. The website hosting space varies from one hosting plan to another and could comprise files, images, video, database, email, log files, etc.

A simple business site might need only a few gigabytes but an e-commerce or media-laden site could need far more. It all comes down to what kind of site you have and how fast it is growing.

What Takes Up Website Storage?

There are several elements on your website that may use up your hosting storage space.

1. Website Files

The files in your website, along with themes, plugins, scripts, and other applications, take up storage space. A WordPress website is bound to have thousands of files as you keep installing and uploading more and more stuff on it.

2. Pictures and Other Media

Pictures, videos, audio files, PDF files, and downloads can rapidly eat up storage space. Pictures and videos of high resolution are especially resource-intensive.

3. Databases

Databases are used on dynamic websites to store information about posts, pages, product information, customer data, comments, and orders.

4. Emails

If the plan that you have subscribed to contains the feature for email services, then you may find that the emails and attachments take up some space from your allotted storage.

5. Backup

Backups might be taking up more space than required by your service provider. Some hosting companies might keep backups separate from storage space, while others might include them.

Storage Needs of Websites

Although there is no definite storage needed for each and every website, here is an idea of what to expect for each site:

These are only the practical minimum ranges that one needs to consider; it may take less or much more depending on the website one is dealing with.

Is 5 GB Enough?

A simple website that consists of several pages, has well-optimized images, not too much e-mail storage and little downloadable content, can do with 5 GB.

Nevertheless, with regular increases in content, your website might grow beyond the capacity of 5 GB very fast.

Is 10 GB Sufficient?

With regard to smaller enterprise websites, blog sites, portfolios, and even WordPress sites, 10 GB will be good enough.

It is enough space for expansion and will not necessarily have to cost you much space that you will not be using.

When Do You Require 20 GB or More?

Use 20 GB or more when your site has considerable media, downloadable material, an expanding inventory, multiple email accounts, or a huge database.

A site that posts often could also be helped by some extra space.

Do You Really Need 50 GB for Your Small Business Website?

Absolutely not. A basic company website with several pages, optimized pictures, form contact, and minimal email will never use up 50 GB of storage.

It only makes sense when the website has lots of media files, product details, downloadable files, email archives, etc.

Storage Requirements of WordPress Website

WordPress doesn’t take up much space but your WordPress website storage needs can grow considerably with time.

Some important things to consider:

• Themes & Plugins
• Database files
• Media files like images etc.
• Backup files, where applicable
• Core files of WordPress
• Temporary and Cache files
• WooCommerce Products & Orders

A brand new WordPress website may require quite limited space. Yet, after a number of years when posting articles, adding pictures, downloading plug-ins, and storing database records, the storage needs become greater.

When it comes to WordPress, measure your current storage space and estimate how quickly it grows.

Calculating Your Required Hosting Storage

A very easy way to do this is as follows:

Required storage = Current usage + expected growth + extra requirements + safety buffer.

First, measure how much space is required for your website right now. Next, determine how much additional space you will require over the next one or two years.

For instance, if your site is currently using:

Website files and database = 2 GB

Media = 2 GB

Email = 1 GB

Future content = 2 GB

This leaves you with around 7 GB with some headroom. A plan of 10 GB could thus be a better choice than 5 GB, depending on your service provider’s backup and storage policies.

This is because it is not necessary to determine the exact quantity down to the last byte. What is required is that one does not choose a plan that is almost full.

Checking Storage Usage

When upgrading or buying hosting services, you should be aware of how much space your website occupies. In case your hosting company employs cPanel, then the Disk Usage part may prove helpful in identifying the folders and files that take up the most space.

For WordPress, you should examine the following:

• Themes & Plugins
• Backups
• Database
• Cache
• The Media/uploads folder
• Unused big files
• Emails

It will be helpful for knowing if you really need more storage space or if you just need to clear out some unnecessary stuff.

Storage vs Bandwidth – What Is the Difference?

Storage and bandwidth are two separate sources.

Storage is the quantity of information that can be stored in your web host account. Bandwidth is the quantity of information exchanged between your site and its visitors.

In another instance, a web site could have used up only 5 GB of space on its hard drive, but it would consume considerable bandwidth due to thousands of downloads.

So do not consider space alone while selecting your web hosting provider. Look at bandwidth, CPU, RAM, etc. as well.

Do not Forget About Backups and Email

In computing the amount of storage, you should keep in mind that your hosting package will also be storing backups and emails.

Prior to purchasing any package, check:

• If backups will use up your storage space
• The ease of upgrading
• How many backups are being kept
• If inode/file count limitations are placed
• If email storage is provided
• If databases use up your storage space

This information will significantly affect your comparison of hosting packages.

What Happens if Hosting Space is Full?

With the approaching capacity of your hosting account, you may find it hard to upload new files or create more content.

Depending on the hosting service used, being out of space can also impact your website backup, emails, temp files, etc.

Keep an eye on your storage rather than leaving it till your website runs out of space completely. Delete any unnecessary files, or upgrade if your website actually needs more space.

Is Unlimited Web Hosting for You?

The choice of “unlimited storage” option sounds great, but the amount of the storage space offered does not have to be the sole consideration for you.

There will still be certain terms related to use, files that you can host, number of inodes, or any backup restrictions. If you only need 10 GBs on your website, having an option to have way more is not going to be very useful for you.

Selecting an Appropriate Web Hosting Storage

Before choosing a web hosting service, it is important to know:

• How much space does my site require currently?
• What is the growth rate of my website?
• How much media do I want to post on my website?
• Do I plan to host business emails in the same server?
• Are there any limitations in inodes and file counting?
• How big will my database grow?
• Is it easy to expand if my website expands?

For some smaller sites, 5-10 GB will be sufficient. However, as the usage of your WordPress or e-commerce website grows, you might need 10-30 GB or even more, depending on the website type and media content used.

Conclusion

The appropriate storage for your website depends on your existing storage use, information, emails, back up requirements, and growth expectations. Rather than going for the biggest storage capacity, opt for one that will meet your storage requirements with some room for expansion.

Select Web Host that Meets the Requirements of Your Website

More is required by your website than just storage; you will need web hosting services that have enough capacity to meet the demands of your website currently and in the future.

HarmonWeb provides hosting options which include shared, WordPress, and VPS hosting. You should go for a hosting option depending on your needs at the current moment and even have an option of upgrading later on.