Every website lives on a computer somewhere, called a server. Web hosting is simply renting space on that server. It is easy to treat hosting as a small technical detail and pick the cheapest offer, but your hosting decides how fast your site loads, how often it goes offline and how safe your data is. Here is how to choose sensibly.
The main types of hosting
Shared hosting puts many websites on one server. It is affordable and fine for small business websites with modest traffic. The downside is that a busy or badly behaved neighbour on the same server can slow you down.
VPS (virtual private server) gives you a guaranteed slice of a server. It costs more but is more stable and flexible, and suits growing sites, online shops and web applications.
Cloud hosting spreads your site across several machines and can grow with demand. It is powerful but usually needs technical skills to manage well.
Managed hosting means the provider also handles updates, backups and security for you. It costs more, but for a business without an IT team it can be good value.
What to look for
Reliability (uptime)
Ask what uptime the provider promises and what happens if they miss it. A site that is offline even a few hours a month loses enquiries. Look for real customer reviews, not just marketing claims.
Speed and location
Visitors in Tanzania will usually get faster load times from servers that are geographically closer, or from providers that use a content delivery network (CDN). Test a provider's demo or existing customer sites on your own phone using mobile data.
Resource limits
Shared hosting plans often limit how many processes, how much memory and how many simultaneous visitors your account can handle. When you hit those limits, your site shows errors or stops responding. Ask what the limits are and how you will be warned when you approach them.
Backups
Find out how often backups are taken, how long they are kept and how easy it is to restore one. Ideally, keep an extra copy of your own somewhere else too.
Security tools and bot protection
Good hosts include firewalls and malware scanning. But be careful: aggressive bot protection can accidentally block Google from reading your website, which hurts your search ranking and can stop services like Google AdSense from approving you. Make sure search engine crawlers are allowed through, and test your pages with Google Search Console's URL inspection tool.
Many hosting plans include business email on your own domain. Check storage limits and whether messages reliably reach Gmail and Outlook inboxes rather than spam.
Support
When your website goes down at 8 p.m. before a big launch, you need help quickly. Check support hours, response times and whether you can reach a real person by chat, phone or WhatsApp.
Questions to ask before you pay
- What are the resource limits on this plan, and what happens when I exceed them?
- How often are backups taken, and how do I restore one?
- Do you offer free SSL certificates (HTTPS)?
- Can I upgrade later without moving my website?
- Who owns the account – and can I get full access to my files and database?
Keep control of your account
As with your domain name, make sure the hosting account is in the business's name, with login details stored safely. If a developer manages it for you, ask for your own access as well.
When to upgrade
Consider moving to a bigger plan if you notice regular slowdowns, "resource limit" errors, frequent downtime, or if you are adding heavier features such as an online shop or customer accounts. Upgrading is usually cheaper than the customers you lose to a slow or broken site.
Daraja sets up and manages hosting for business websites and web applications. Ask us for advice.