Web hosting - help with choosing a package

If you have particular requirements to use scripting or databases the choice between Unix or Windows 2003 should be fairly straightforward:

• If you want to use PHP and MySQL you should choose Unix (although PHP and MySQL are available on Windows 2003 also).
• If you want to use ASP or ASP.NET and Access databases or MS SQL Server you should choose Windows 2003.
• If you want to use CGI scripts you should probably choose Unix. Many CGI scripts will work equally well on Windows 2003, but using CGI, particularly to send mail, can be more complicated on Windows 2003, so Unix would probably be the better choice.
• If you have no requirement for any kind of scripting and just want to use ordinary static web pages Unix hosting would probably be the best choice, but it doesn't really matter too much.

If you just want a simple web site and a simple email setup, the Silver Package will probably suffice.

However, if you want something a little more advanced the Gold Package will be the best choice. It is tempting to just see the extra web space as the only advantage of the Gold Package over the Silver. But the Gold Package provides more than just additional web space. The main advantages of the Gold Package compared to Silver are:

• More mailboxes and a more flexible email setup.
• More bandwidth allowance (10 Gb per month on Unix instead of 2 Gb).
• Ability to add further domains on Gold Package, so you can effectively have multiple sites operating within the same package (no need to take a Silver Package for each site), subject to additional cost.
• Much larger space allocation.

Please also bear in mind that we do make an administration charge for upgrading packages from Silver to Gold, so it is cheaper to choose a Gold Package to begin with than to start with Silver and then upgrade.

For more details on Gold Package Unix please see:
Gold Package Unix FAQ

For more details on Gold Package W2K please see:
Gold Package Windows FAQ

For more information on technical aspects of web hosting please see our Support Help.

All services are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

Prices for UK domains (co.uk, org.uk, and ltd.uk) include Nominet registry fees for 2 years.
For .com, .net and .org domains CORE registry fees are included for one year (thereafter annual fee will be included in annual hosting charge).