You may want to use “externalâ€/online storage to host personal videos or important data that you want to have backups of, or perhaps you have videos you don’t want to host on YouTube/Vimeo for different reasons, that’s where Storage Hosting comes in mind.
Storage Hosting will also refer to “Block Storage†and Cache Storage, so you will be able to host a lot of content that you will be able to serve your clients quickly without overloading your main server.
The Concept of Block Storage
A web hosting provider featuring block storage allows you to save data in volumes, called blocks. Usually, a storage attached network (SAN) presents these raw volumes of data storage to servers.
Each volume block has its own location ID assigned by the operating system. Therefore, each block can act or function as an individual hard drive or storage repository.
The manufacturers’ hardware capabilities and the storage architect’s infrastructure design determine the size of each block and the allocation of files. Selecting the proper block size for each client can essentially affect the client’s performance. Usually, files are split into evenly sized blocks of data on a SAN.
As the end-user, you will see the block storage as a mapped drive or a local hard drive on the server’s operating system.
Web Hosting providers usually include block storage as a popular service in their managed plans. Essentially, block storage on a cloud allows users to extend volume capacity and do it for an affordable price. In turn, users get to have on-demand storage allocated to any cloud instance within minutes.
Top 4 Storage Hosting Providers Compared
Sure, you need to check the standard web hosting features, such as uptime, reliability, speed, privacy features, and support. Still, it would be best to review some block storage-specific features.
Fast forward, let’s see what the top four market performers offer in terms of block storage qualities so that you can understand the overall idea.
| Kamatera | InterServer | DreamHost | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Features |
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| Pricing |
Now that you get the overall picture let’s get into more details.
Kamatera
Kamatera offers a range of storage hosting options that cater to various needs, making it a flexible choice for businesses and individuals. Their hosting plans are scalable, allowing users to adjust storage capacity as required.
Kamatera offers cloud block storage. It’s cloud block storage is designed to emulate a virtual private hard disk for cloud servers, featuring a centralized architecture. The block storage is adaptable to the size of your server and database. The storage volume is customizable to meet specific business requirements, and users have complete control over their data, with the ability to modify individual blocks without rewriting the entire file.
Regarding costs, Kamatera’s plans start at very competitive rates. For example, their basic cloud hosting plan includes 20 GB SSD storage and 5 TB bandwidth, along with 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM, starting at just $4.00. This plan scales up to more advanced options, offering up to 40TB of storage, catering to users with high storage demands.
One of the highlights of Kamatera’s service is its customizable approach. Users can choose the amount of storage they need, along with other resources like RAM and vCPUs, tailoring the service to their specific requirements. The storage is SSD-based, ensuring fast and reliable performance.
Additional block storage costs are quite affordable, priced at only $0.05 per GB per month. This pricing model is straightforward, charging by the minute and aligning with the server’s billing cycle to which the storage is attached. With no extra charges for IOPS and no limits on IOPS, users can achieve up to 20,000 IOPS for each cloud block storage object. The service allows for the adjustment or removal at any time, with charges applicable only for the period of usage.
In summary, Kamatera stands out for its flexibility in storage options, allowing users to tailor their hosting plans according to their needs.
InterServer
Interserver provides Storage Hosting. As a customer, you cannot purchase storage exclusively. Instead, it comes in package deals along with Transfers, Domains, Sub Domains, Unlimited Users, File Manager, MYSQL, PHP, CGI, and Control Panel.
Intersever’s offers range between 100GB and 10TB to store images, videos, backups, and more to archive data privately or publicly. Better yet, as the end-user, you can upgrade or downgrade anytime.
Customers also benefit from an easy-to-manage control panel powered by DirectAdmin. It provides for easily adding domain names, subdomains, FTP accounts, and MySQL databases. Their web server, in turn, is powered by the NGINX, accounting for fast content delivery.
On each storage hosting plan, the user can install OwnCloud, which essentially allows them to assess the stored data from anywhere, anytime.
In addition to all this, Interserver provides 24/7 support and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
DreamHost
DreamHost offers a range of storage hosting options designed to cater to various needs, emphasizing ease of use and reliability. These options include shared hosting plans and cloud storage solutions.
For shared hosting, DreamHost provides two main plans: Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited. The Shared Starter plan, priced at $2.59 per month initially and $5.99 upon renewal, offers 50GB of storage and is suitable for hosting a single website. The Shared Unlimited plan, starting at $3.95 per month with a renewal price of $10.99, includes unlimited SSD storage and the ability to host an unlimited number of websites.
Apart from shared hosting, DreamHost also offers DreamObjects, their cloud object storage service. DreamObjects is designed for web app development, backups, and storing various files like photos, music, and videos. It is priced at 2.5¢ per GB of storage per month and 5¢ per GB for downloads each month.
DreamHost’s storage solutions are recognized for their balance between performance, ease of use, and affordability. They offer unlimited disk storage on certain plans, catering to users with varying storage demands. This wide range of options, combined with the provider’s reputation, makes DreamHost a competitive choice in the web hosting market.
IONOS
IONOS offers a wide range of hosting storage options, catering to various needs from shared hosting to dedicated servers. They provide a variety of plans, ensuring scalability and flexibility to suit different website requirements.
For shared hosting, IONOS presents three plans. The Essential plan offers 10GB of storage and is designed for hosting a single website. Upgrading to the Business and Expert plans, users get unlimited storage and the ability to host multiple websites. The Business plan is particularly economical, starting at $1 per month for the first year and then $10 per month thereafter.
In terms of Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, their cheapest VPS plan includes only 1 core, 512MB of RAM, and 10GB of storage.
Dedicated hosting with IONOS is more robust, offering plans that include up to 64GB of RAM and 800GB of SSD storage. These plans are more suitable for websites with high traffic, providing plenty of power and storage capacity.
IONOS also offers storage server solutions with options for both HDD and SSD storage. The server configurations include various combinations of CPU power, RAM, and storage capacity. For example, one of their plans offers an Intel Xeon Gold processor with 96GB of RAM and up to 38.4TB of SSD storage. They offer by-the-minute billing and no minimum contract term, providing flexibility for users.
Conclusion
Storage is an essential feature you should check before you purchase a web hosting provider. Specific web hosts provide additional options to upgrade or scale disk space and bandwidth, which is essentially the best-case scenario. This way, you only pay for what you use, and you can always decide to scale up or down, depending on your business needs.
Still, you need also to consider backups, whether they are automated and how much they cost. Another essential component is the cloud options, meaning if you can assess your stored data from anywhere at any time.
All the above-mentioned storage hostings satisfy all these criteria and more. So, make sure to review them before you spend your resources on storage hosting.
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