Last updated on September 3rd, 2022
When you have an online business and plans to host its website, you will look for the perfect web hosting server. However, even before buying the web host resources, two significant elements have to come under consideration – the amount of bandwidth and disk space required. If you want to safeguard your website’s growth and efficient working, you need to estimate the amount of both the elements that your website will require. This guide will give you the better understanding of both these terms and how they play an essential role in the design of website. Further, you will get insights into how you can calculate bandwidth and disk space requirements for your business website.
What is Hosting Bandwidth?
The bandwidth is the maximum limit of data that can be delivered in a particular time, typically measured in seconds. The bandwidth is determined and sold by gigabytes(GB). However, various web hosting companies may provide you with unlimited bandwidth.
The amount of data that one can transfer in a month is defined by the number in “data transfer”. However, the speed with which the data is transferred will be defined by the number in “bandwidth”. To illustrate, let’s think of a water pipe. The width of a water pipe can be supposed as the bandwidth, and the amount of water flowing out of the pipe can then become the data transfer. The water flow speed (data transfer) will depend upon the width of the water pipe(bandwidth).
Thus, the more the bandwidth, the more data can be transferred. That is why site owners opt for a web host whose company renders the large amount of bandwidth as it will help for the better speed, network, and connectivity.
What is Disk Space?
The disk space serves the empty area you can design and utilize however you desire for your website. Just as the web hosting bandwidth, disk space also plays a role of a key component in the web hosting plan. The disk space is also recognized by the terms – storage and web space. The host will provide you the disk space on the server that will allow you to store your website’s content such as text, images, code, databases, etc.
You can reserve publicly viewable information like your logo, blog posts, pictures, etc., in your allocated storage space rendered by a web host service. Moreover, you also will be able to store the files such as PHP, CSS, or JavaScript files. These files consist of crucial codes and data that run to display and operate the websites the way you want.
Therefore, getting a considerable amount of secure and fast disk space for your website can boost online business success. Let us jump upon the further subsequent sections to comprehend how you can calculate the bandwidth and disk space requirements.
How to Calculate the Bandwidth I need?
It will only make sense to your website when you purchase the right amount of bandwidth required. If you tend to buy the small bandwidth, your online business will have to face the trouble. That is why, before everything, you need to know your website’s precise bandwidth requirement to opt for the service that can work in your favor. Then, you must consult with web hosting providers who can give you scalable solutions.
Here are the steps mentioned to help you calculate the required bandwidth for your website:
- Evaluate the average page size of your site in kilobytes units.*
- Multiply the estimated average page size (in KB) by the monthly average number of website visitors.
- At last, you need to multiply the acquired result in the previous step by the average number of page views per visitor.
Further essential computations –
- Needed Website Bandwidth + Redundancy (without user downloads)
To make this calculation, utilize the following formula:
The bandwidth needed = Average Page Views x Average Page Size x Average Daily Visitors x Number of days in a month (30) x Redundant Factor.
- Average Daily Visitors: The total number of monthly visitors divided by 30.
- Average Page Size: The average size of your website page.
- Average Page Views: The average page viewed per visitor.
- Redundant Factor: A safety factor ranged from 1.3 – 1.8.
- Needed Website Bandwidth + Redundancy (with user downloads)
If your website does not employ or permit downloads, then utilize the following formula:
The bandwidth needed = [(Average Page Views x Average Page Size x Average Daily Visitors) + (Average Download per day x Average File Size) ] x Number of days in a month (30) x Redundant Factor
- Average Daily Visitors: The total number of monthly visitors/ 30.
- Average Page Size: The average size of your website page
- Average Page Views: The average page viewed per visitor
- Average File Size: The total file size divided by the number of files
- Redundant Factor: A safety factor ranged from 1.3 – 1.8.
How to Calculate the Disk Space I need?
To calculate the disk space requirement, make the following estimates, and you will be able to figure out how much disk space your website requires.
- Evaluate the average page size of your website.
To evaluate the average page size of your website, create a specific page and make the measurements. You need to confirm the dimension of the files you are thinking of having on your website average page. It will also help if you can consider the website pages that will incorporate web apps, for example, shopping carts or contact forms.
- Discover the potential number of webpages your business requires.
You can count on your fingers the number of pages required if you are planning a blog website. In the case of an e-commerce website, you can estimate the number of pages according to the products you will represent on your site.
To ease up counting the potential number of website pages, you can build a site map. A site map will assist you in getting an idea about how the overall website will resemble. That will make you estimate the number of pages and the types of file that has to be there on each page.
- Determine the number of monthly visitors to your website.
The amount of bandwidth requirement is also affected by the accessing, viewing, uploading, downloading, and changing the web pages. You also need to estimate the number of pages that the visitors may view during their visit. It will be a wise decision to account for web hosting space for the current files as well as permit the additional room for future growth where you may need to add features with the development in business and the number of visitors.
Does Bandwidth and Disk Space calculations really matter?
The bandwidth and disk space calculations do matter when it comes to considering the future evolution and expansion of your online business with respect to pages, products, visitors, and services. Making educated estimates for bandwidth and disk space needs will help you operate and support your business flexibly. Further, your site will able to manage the web traffic at unexpected times when it gets a good search engine ranking. Both the bandwidth and disk space components are crucial for your website’s smooth running on the internet.
Read More: Metered Vs. Unmetered Vs. Unlimited Bandwidth – Major Differences
Conclusion
When you put all the factors explained above together to calculate the bandwidth and disk space, you will realize the precise requirements to initiate your website and online business. However, there might be a slight chance when the bandwidth and disk space limits can exceed. That is why, once you determine your website needs, you must opt for the hosting companies that can enable you to upgrade your space needs whenever it becomes necessary.
