Knowledge Base

What is Bandwidth?

The quantity of data your website can send to your users in a given period is referred to as bandwidth in website hosting. The usage of Gigabytes (GB) is typical in calculating and selling bandwidth. The simplest way to comprehend bandwidth is to imagine it as a pipe's diameter.

A pipe with a bigger size can transport a larger quantity of water than a tiny one. That is because a larger tube has a greater capacity to do so. Similarly, having greater bandwidth ensures the transfer of more website data at once.

Why is Bandwidth Important?

During peak traffic times, the total bandwidth you have influences how fast your website can provide content to your users. It is a critical component of expanding your readership and improving your revenue. Higher bandwidths let website owners include more than enough dynamic features as well as material on their websites, making them more enticing to readers.

How can I check my Bandwidth?

If you own a website, you can easily keep track of your bandwidth by logging into the dashboard of your hosting account.

Look for a component in the control panel that provides you with information on your site's resource activity. Each host will have a slightly different take on this. Some web providers make this simple by presenting an indicator or link that shows your site's bandwidth usage.

Here's an example of how it appears in the VPSExtra control panel (DirectAdmin):

When you search in the search bar “Stats” a suggestion will appear, then click on the it and bandwidth usage will display trends split down by time, allowing you to monitor the bandwidth consumption of your website 27X7X365.

How much Bandwidth do I need?

You must pick a plan that provides enough bandwidth for your website.

While paying for too much bandwidth is unnecessary, not having enough might result in your website going down.

The bandwidth quantity you'll want is dependent on the amount and length of your web pages, the number of visits your website has, and the pages each user views.

If your site is new or does not have too much content/visitors, you won't require enormous amounts of bandwidth.

However, if your site seems to have a significant number of consumers and a lot of graphics, video, audio, photos, visits, and downloadable content, you'll require additional bandwidth.

The simplest way to determine how much bandwidth you'll require for an already existing site is to go into your web hosting account and examine the traffic logs in your control panel. These kinds of reports are available from almost any web host.

If you're hesitant, you may consult with a hosting provider, who will help you choose the best package for your needs.

It does not matter whether you start with a lower plan with a shared hosting service, the hosting won't shut down your website if it exceeds the bandwidth limits. Instead, they will notify you and then make modifications to enhance your resources for the sole reason that your website's visitors must always have the best user experience possible.

What happens if I exceed my Bandwidth?

If you go past your bandwidth limit, one of three things will happen: your website will be suspended, you will be charged overage costs or your plan will be automatically upgraded to the next level, giving you extra bandwidth.

How can I reduce my Bandwidth?

If you aren't ready to upgrade your current hosting service yet, decreasing your website's bandwidth is worth considering. That is accomplishable by compressing photos and lowering the size of large downloads/videos on your website.

You should also take into consideration installing a cache plugin to enable CSS,  JavaScript, and HTTP compression. You can also store static material on a CDN (Content Delivery Network) near your viewers, which will reduce server load.