The Best Web Hosting Unlimited Bandwidth

Unlimited hosting is the best solution for site owners with multiple small to moderately sized sites with low to moderate traffic volume. It is an excellent choice for those just starting out on the web with Internet marketing, blogs or personal / content sites; basically anyone who needs multiple domain web hosting. Small businesses who need a web presence (a website containing information about their company) can also be served well by unlimited hosting.

Below is a listing of the top unlimited hosting providers. Each has their own set of features. Key features are listed in each row so you can easily compare these unlimited hosting plans and make an informed decision.

Our Editor’s Choice for best unlimited bandwidth hosting service is Hostgator. They have a top notch support staff and they typically do not suspend accounts without warning for exceeding the limits. If you are doing business on the web, having your site up and running is critical, even if your business is outgrowing your hosting plan. For this, and their comprehensive professional feature set, Hostgator delivers outstanding performance.

Unlimited Website Hosting Ratings
Host Name	Plan	Unlimited						Uptime	Money Back	Web Host Ratings
	Business $12.95/mo Baby $7.95/mo							99.9%	45 Days
	Unlimited Pro $7.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Premium $6.95/mo							99.9%	Any Time
	Professional $6.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Professional $6.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	Eco Site $4.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	ProLogic $5.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
	ProPlan $5.95/mo							99.9%	30 Days
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What is Unlimited Bandwidth Hosting?

Unlimited bandwidth hosting is a type of shared hosting in which many key features have no usage limits. Unlimited hosting is a great hosting option to choose if you are just starting out on the web or have multiple websites with low to moderate traffic volume.

Choosing an unlimited hosting provider is easy if you know what to look for. Different unlimited hosting plans have different features. Knowing the type of website(s) you will have and the services you will need are the first steps in selecting an unlimited hosting plan (or any hosting plan).

Features provided by unlimited hosting companies can include any of the following (though a good unlimited web host will have many of these if not all of them).

• Unlimited Storage (also referred to as unlimited disk space)
• Unlimited Bandwidth (also referred to as unlimited transfer hosting)
• Unlimited Domains (multiple domain web hosting, also referred to as unlimited add-on domains)
• Unlimited Subdomains
• Unlimited Parked Domains
• Unlimited FTP Accounts
• Unlimited MySQL Databases
• Unlimited POP3/IMAP Email Accounts
• Unlimited Autoresponders
• Unlimited Email Forwards
• Unlimited Email Aliases
• Unlimited Mailing Lists

This is why you will find unlimited hosting referred to as “Multiple Domain Web Hosting”, “Unlimited Bandwidth Hosting”, “Unlimited Domain Web Hosting” and “Unlimited Website Hosting”. Most of the time, all of these titles refer to the same type of hosting plan.

Is Unlimited Hosting Really Unlimited?

There is really no such thing as truly unlimited bandwidth hosting. If there was, we would have no need for dedicated servers, reseller hosting or other types of hosting beyond shared. Any server, shared or dedicated, can handle a finite amount of load based on its processor speed, memory, storage space and Internet backbone connection. These are the hardware limits present on any computer, whether it’s the computer you’re using right now or a supercomputer at NASA.

Since unlimited hosting is a form of shared hosting, limits exist based on the shared hosting model. Basically, this means that the load on the server, which is shared between however many accounts are on it, has to be both evenly distributed between accounts and kept within the server’s hardware capacity.

While you may never exceed your “bandwidth” limit (a web host can’t limit bandwidth specifically if they advertise it to be unlimited), they can limit other things that contribute to bandwidth and server load. Limits that are commonly placed on shared hosting accounts are a running processes limit and an inode limit. Unlimited hosting providers do not always display their server load control methods on their websites or in their knowledgebases – you often have to ask (and we encourage you to do so).

Running Processes

Every time a program runs, it generates a running process. This includes shopping cart usage, posting in your blog, checking your website email and running scripts. Processes usually open and close quickly, so low to moderately trafficked sites are not often at risk of reaching that limit. However, if your site has a large number of users, or incorporates a lot of scripts and has tons of visitors, you may max out your running processes allowance.

The good news is the speed at which the processes open and close. You need to have a considerable amount of traffic before you are likely to have 20-50 processes (typical limits) running simultaneously. One advantage to this is that through your control panel, a shell command or a support ticket, you can monitor these processes. If you find one stuck running, it may alert you to a malfunctioning script or a server error.

If you reach your running process limit on a good host, the visitors may see an “Error 500: Internal Server Error” message until the processes slide back down to permitted levels. A good host won’t shut down your site(s) or account without warning if you pass the threshold. They typically kill some of the processes to reduce the server load. Your host may alert you if this begins happening regularly. If so, you either need to optimize any databases for faster queries (there are numerous tutorials about this) or, more commonly, your site has outgrown shared hosting and it’s time to upgrade.

Inode Limits

The inode limit is more straightforward. An inode is a data structure that describes an individual file on a traditional Unix-style file system. Inodes are used to keep information about a file on your hosting account. The number of inodes indicates the number of files and folders you have. This includes everything on your account including emails, files, folders, images, webpages – anything you store on the server.

You should be able to view your inode usage in your control panel. If not, a periodic live chat or support ticket can get you that information. As with running processes, a good host will not suspend your account without warning if you exceed the inode limit. Instead, you will typically receive notification or a warning so you have the opportunity to clean out some files.

One thing that can raise a red flag about your account with regard to inodes is the frequent creation and deletion of large numbers of files (hundreds or thousands at a time). Another is if you have hundreds of thousands of files. Remember, your hosting account is not a backup server for your personal hard drive and webhosts frown upon you using it as one.

Since an inode is created for every type of file, 1 email will equal 1 inode. In fact, a very common reason for a web site owner to exceed their inode limit is by enabling their catch-all email account and never checking it. Your catch-all email allows you to capture all email directed at your domain for any address not specified. In other words, if your email is me@home.com, enabling your catch-all email would let you capture all emails sent to any other address @home.com (like asdfg@home.com or the typo ne@home.com). As you can see, with all the spam and typos out there, it’s easy for the catch-all to fill up quickly. If you choose to use it, remember to check it regularly.