Avoiding Additional and Extra Web Hosting Fees

One of the tips I give to prospective web hosting buyers is to avoid having to pay hidden or extra fees when purchasing your hosting plan. You can accomplish this goal two ways. First, make sure you carefully go over the hosting plan features list to know exactly what is included in your base hosting fee. Ideally, your web hosting plan already includes what you need for your website. You don’t want to get caught having to pay more money for features that are considered extras. And speaking of surprises, that brings us to the second thing to watch out for—pre-selected addition add-ons when you make your purchase.

For example, I was recently about to sign up for a basic hosting plan to test out a certain web host. The price looked good, so I started the check-out process and was startled to see some of the features that would incur additional charges. While I can understand paying extra for things like an SSL certificate and a dedicated IP, this company was charging extra for features like nightly backups and cPanel—which you can find for free at other places.

Years ago, when I signed-up for hosting at Fat Cow, I was stunned to find that certain additional options had been pre-selected for me at check out. I didn’t notice and was charged the extra money. I finally got the charges reversed—but it was kind of a hassle. Unfortunately, I recently reviewed the Fat Cow checkout process and those options for malware protection and daily backup fees are still pre-selected for you. So, be careful.

Remember, carefully review your web hosting plan feature list to be sure what is included with your monthly base fee. And, when making your web hosting purchase, be sure to verify that there aren’t additional features pre-selected and checked-off which will incur extra charges.