Last Updated on April 3, 2023 by Obaro Alidou K.
Do you want the best unlimited web hosting service to host as many sites as you want with no limitation at affordable prices? Here is your best chance. Learn the secrets behind unlimited hosting, how to get one that is reliable (avoid scam), and find the best unlimited web hosting offers in the market. Let’s go!
Before we dive into the details, it is first important to understand…
What Is Unlimited Web Hosting
The most common advertising jargon from the web hosting industry is “unlimited hosting”. Companies use it to attract clients and make them spend money. After all, who doesn’t want unlimited features for his websites?
Simply put, unlimited hosting is a hosting offer that includes:
- Unlimited disk space
- Unlimited bandwidth/monthly visits
- Unlimited Email accounts
- Unlimited MySQL databases
- Unlimited FTP
- Unlimited Hosted Websites
Is Unlimited Hosting Really Unlimited?
Can a Hosting Company Truly Provide Unlimited Hosting?
Most website owners are running after “unlimited hosting offers” and honestly, I can’t blame them. What would be your answer if someone asked you this question: Do you want “unlimited hosting”? I’m quite sure your answer would be YES and it would be the same for me too. But wait, is it really unlimited? The answer will surprise you…
Let me be clear—No hosting company can truly supply unlimited web hosting offers.
Why?
For the simple reason that there is no server with unlimited disk space. No matter how many servers a company owns, they have a limit in storage. It could be 100K, M or 100B TB or higher; there is still a limit.
The question now is…
Why Do Web Hosts Claim Unlimited Hosting?
The answer is, again, damn simple.
Just browse the web for 1 or 2 hours; you’ll fairly notice that most websites on the internet are small or medium-sized ones.
They are more often personal blogs, small eCommerce, business websites which means they are using a small amount of disk space. You will also notice that big websites are less abundant.
Besides, unless you use your server as online storage (not allowed) and keep useless files, it is hard to use 20GB of storage. Guess what; web hosting providers are conscious of that better than you and I. They know that most website owners will use less than 10GB.
Finally, as people easily fall in love with unlimited offers, companies use it in their advertisement to grab as many clients as possible. It is just psychological.
But wait, it is not that simple and things don’t stop there. An industry that consumes technology and where there are billions of dollars to be made can’t just rely on a psychological fact. Hence, they have set up a whole system to prevent people from abusing the servers which we will discuss below.
The Secrets Behind Unlimited Web Hosting Offers
Unlimited hosting comes in shared hosting only. And, as you are sharing the server with many other customers, companies try their best to make sure you won’t disturb your fellows by using all the resources for your only needs.
As said just above, the web hosting industry uses a system to prevent servers’ abuse. In fact, while you are allowed to host unlimited websites and use as much disk space and bandwidth as you want, they make use of some metrics to limit your actions on the back-end.
Here are the top 2 ways hosting companies can limit your actual usage. It reveals not only the secrets behind unlimited hosting deals but also how the whole web hosting industry is running.
#1. Can’t Use Your Server as Online Storage
In a traditional world, your hosting account works exactly like DropBox, Google SkyDrive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc. where you can store any file you want (music, video, documents…).
When you are using a metered hosting account, you can do that. You are allowed to store everything you want on your server in the limit of your disk space.
But with unlimited hosting offers, you are not allowed to do that. While you are not limited by storage, your server can’t host files not related to your websites.
In effect, to avoid server misuse, web hosts don’t permit you to store everything you want in your server as with metered hosting. However, you are allowed to upload unlimited files, images and videos for use on your websites (in blog posts and pages).
In short, with unlimited web hosting, the only files you are allowed to upload to your server are those you want to include in your blog posts and web pages plus your site backups. This is the first way web hosting companies put limits on unlimited hosting deals to preserve their servers.
#2. Inodes Limits
In addition to the fact you can’t use your server as online storage, you are also limited in the actual number of files you can upload to your server.
By “number of files”, I just mean inodes. Sure, you can use unlimited disk space but you can’t upload as many files as you want. There are inode limits you can’t exceed.
In case you exceed the inodes limits, you won’t be able to upload any more files or publish any blog post or web page. Bear in mind, though, that inode is not typical for unlimited hosting offers only. Regardless of your hosting plan; unlimited or metered; if it is shared hosting, there are limits to the number of files your hosting account is allowed to use.
Therefore, you should pay more attention to the inodes limits than any other unlimited features when shopping for unlimited hosting. But you know what? Don’t worry, I have got you covered. I have already done the hard work and listed the best unlimited hosting offers where you won’t suffer from inodes limitation further below.
Hand-Picked Post: Inodes Limits: The #1 Web Hosting Metric That Can Break Your SEO-The Definitive Guide
There are other limitations like the CPU usage, the Entry process limits, and the I/O that I can’t discuss here. Reason being, they apply to every shared hosting plan and are not typical for unlimited hosting only. Read my shared hosting guide to discover all the limits and the secrets web hosting providers will never tell you openly.
Metered vs. Unlimited Hosting
Should you choose unlimited or metered web hosting?
Unlimited hosting doesn’t destroy metered hosting by any means. Unless you have a huge disk consuming website, I don’t see the actual difference between the two.
I have seen metered web hosting offers that provide much more value than some unlimited hosting. A clear example comes from BlueHost and FastComet.
While BlueHost claims to supply unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and hosted websites, they have one of the lowest inodes limits ever. In fact, BlueHost allows users 50,000 inodes even if you purchase the priciest plan.
At the same time, FastComet allows 250,000 inodes on its entry-level plan! And it goes up to 500,000 inodes when you purchase the FastCloud Extra plan.
Now, which one is the best? FastComet obviously and BlueHost is nowhere near.
Hand-Picked Post: BlueHost Brutally Honest Review: Is it still worth the money?
So, unlimited or metered doesn’t matter until you check the inodes limits. I also recommend you to see the pricing in addition.
Here is what I mean:
You have probably heard of SiteGround. It is one of the best web hosting providers in the market today. But, when compared to A2 Hosting, it doesn’t make sense in my opinion.
In fact, SiteGround is a metered hosting and costs much more than A2 Hosting. At the same time, A2 Hosting offers unlimited hosting and allows up to 4x more inodes than SiteGround. Therefore, if I had to choose one, I won’t think twice. I would definitely pick A2 Hosting because it provides more value.
Must Read: SiteGround Vs. A2 Hosting: #14 Hidden Facts you didn’t know
Finally, there is, however, one area where unlimited hosting beats metered plans and it is…
Backup Storage
Backups take place on the server. With unlimited hosting, you more often get a huge space to keep your sites’ backups. A2 Hosting, for example, will perform up to 50GB backups for free and your backups will be kept longer, which no metered hosting can do unless you get a company that provides offsite backups (like FastComet and ChemiCloud).
To help you out, I couldn’t end this blog post without giving you the ….
Top #5 Best Unlimited Web Hosting [2021]
Here are some best web hosting with unlimited features ranked by CPU usage, Entry process, and Inodes limits. To make it complete, I also considered backups’ storage, support, security, and cost.
Best Unlimited Web Hosting Offers In A Nutshell
| Inodes | Security | Support | Price | ||
| A2 Hosting | 600k | 10 | 9 | $3.92/mo | Visit |
| Hostwinds |
600K | 9 | 8 | $3.29/mo | Visit |
| InterServer | 400k | 10 | 8 | $5/mo | Visit |
| GreenGeeks | 150k-450k | 10 | 9 | $2.95/mo | Visit |
| TMDHosting | 200k-600k | 8 | 10 | $2.95/mo | Visit |
#1. A2 Hosting
Lite: 600,000 inodes
Swift: 600,000 inodes
Turbo: 600,000 inodes
#2. Hostwinds Business
Business hosting is where Hostwinds excels in inodes limits.
BASIC: 600,000 inodes
ADVANCED: 600,000 inodes
ULTIMATE: 600,000 inodes
#3. InterServer
Single plan: 400,000 inodes
Visit InterServer#4. GreenGeeks
Ecosite Starter: 150,000 inodes
Ecosite Pro: 300,000 inodes
Ecosite Premium: 450,000 inodes
#5. TMD Cloud Hosting
STARTER: 200,000 inodes
BUSINESS: 300,000 inodes
ENTERPRISE: 600,000 inodes
#5 Best Unlimited Web Hosting Complete Table
| Inodes | Security | Speed | Price | ||
| A2 Hosting | 600k | 10 | 0.350s | $3.92/mo | More Details |
| Hostwinds | 600K | 8 | 0.701s | $3.29/mo | More Details |
| InterServer | 400k | 10 | 0.473s | $5/mo | More Details |
| GreenGeeks | 150k-450k | 10 | 0.550s | $2.95/mo | More Details |
| TMDHosting | 140k-600k | 8 | 0.500s | $2.95/mo | More Details |
If you don’t mind, there is also metered web hosting with good and even unlimited inodes.
Best Metered Web Hosting
| #1. FastComet | #2. ChemiCloud | |
| Disk space | 15GB-35GB | 15GB-35GB |
| Monthly visits | 25,000-100,000 visits | 25,000-100,000 visits |
| Inodes limits | 250,000-500,000 | 100,000-300,000 |
| Concurrent Connections | 20-40 | 10-30 |
| Price/month | $3.95 | $3.95 |
| More Details | More Details |
Unlimited Web Hosting Secrets: Final Thought
Unlimited hosting deals are not what you were thinking they are. They hide some limitations like inodes. However, inodes also apply to metered hosting offers. So, the most important thing to consider is VALUE.
Want unlimited hosting but don’t know which one to choose? Just go with the top #1: A2 Hosting
Now I Turn To You
What do you think about unlimited hosting? Which one do you prefer; unlimited or metered? Ask your questions and share your thoughts or experience in the comments below.
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Cheers!
Obaro