Unlimited Hosting
Many hosts, such as myself, advertise "unlimited plans" on their hosting. This means that you get unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, and other features. However, it is not truly unlimited. Why? Well, because that's impossible.
Connection Speeds
Every server has certain connection speeds. Sometimes these speeds can be temporarily increased (referred to as burst), but are often set at 1Gbps by popular datacenters.
A 1Gbps connection equates to around 10TB of data transfer (bandwidth) per day. This means that although you're being told "unlimited", you and ALL the other users on the server only technically can transfer 10TB of data per day, collectively. This means that although you have "unlimited", you and every single other user on the hosting really only has 300TB of data transfer per month, if you're on a 1Gbps server. If you're on a server with a 500Mbps connection, you're getting 150TB of data transfer each month, for the whole server.
When you divide this by how many people are on the server (just for the sake of simplicity), each user should ideally be using a set amount of bandwidth each month. If a server has 100 users on it, and it's a 1Gbps connection, then in an ideal world, each user would use just 3TB of bandwidth each month. This is more than enough, but 3TB is a LOT lower than "unlimited" implies.
CPU
However, even if bandwidth is fine, you have to take CPU into account. To use up all that bandwidth, your site needs to have visitors and files being downloaded. This equates to CPU use. Every server is different, but in many cases your account would actually break the ToS of the host for using too much CPU BEFORE it could reach the bandwidth cap (for ex: 3TB).
The reason hosts are able to get away with unlimited/unmetered plans is because they put the CPU caps in the small text (ToS). They always set it up so that the CPU % you're allowed to use at any given moment is low enough that you'd never actually be able to use all the potential connection speeds/bandwidth of the server. Since the CPU % caps are often the same for unlimited plans as other plans, an unlimited plan is actually just as restricted as smaller & cheaper plans, or if the unlimited plan IS better - it's not better by much.
Disk Space
Let's be real about disk space. There is no such thing as unlimited disk space unless the host plans on adding storage units to the server to accommodate a single user (hint: they're not willing to do this).
Each server has a set amount of space. For example, my server has 1TB of SSD disk space. This means that no matter what I tell my clients, collectively they only have 1TB of space. Right now, my free plan is 20GB per user. This means that I can only technically have 50 free users on my server.
Overselling
However, hosts are in the business of overselling. 20GB of disk space sounds little (compared to unlimited), but even unlimited plan clients usually use less than 1GB of disk space each. Most clients on major hosts only use a few GB of bandwidth each month as well which is a lot lower than that 3TB bandwidth example for 100 clients on a 1Gbps server.
Hosting works like this: People want sweet specs, so hosting providers sell them giant packages that they don't need. Hosts can get away with this because they know if they oversell / give people tons of bandwidth/disk space that nobody will actually use the full amount that they're given and it'll all be okay.
The Problem
Since most users will never use their full account specs, there isn't a major problem with overselling, right? Wrong!
It's kind of like banking systems. The banks are placing bets on the assumption that the whole US population won't try to withdraw their money at the same time. Do you know what would happen if everyone tried to take out their money at the same time? The same shit that happened the last time this happened - banks collapse, require bailouts (or imprisonment as in the case of Sweden), and the country's economy is at risk.
Similarly, if every user attempted to use their full account specs on their host at the same time, the host would go under. If every user suddenly received more traffic, and decided to upload more files, the servers that these hosts provide would not be able to handle all of it and would crash / be unable to take new connections.
That is a major downfall of overselling.
Another problem with overselling is that users pay more for what they don't need. Here is an example of hosting plans...
Basic: $2.99 (10GB space, 50GB bw)
Medium: $3.99 (20GB space, 100GB bw)
Large: $4.99 (50GB space, 250GB bw)
Unlimited: $5.99 (Unlimited space, Unlimited bw)
^These are fake specs/prices that I just made up, but represent common pricing options. Many users will see that and think "Oh, well Unlimited is only $5.99 and is so much more than everything else, so I'll go with that." Although $5.99 isn't much to pay per month, it's a rip off if you consider the following...
The majority of users (on shared web hosting) would never even use 10GB of disk space or 50GB of bandwidth... Meaning that most users on popular hosts would often be totally fine with the smallest plan available. However, many of these users are misled and will buy the Unlimited plan, or a larger one. As you can see, the amount of money being lost by each individual user is small & often nothing to worry about... but major hosts receive thousands of dollars (if not millions) that they would not earn if they actually educated their users on what type of hosting plans are best for them.
And that's it folks! I hope this guide helps you understand what an Unlimited plan is and is not, for hosting.
Many hosts, such as myself, advertise "unlimited plans" on their hosting. This means that you get unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, and other features. However, it is not truly unlimited. Why? Well, because that's impossible.
Connection Speeds
Every server has certain connection speeds. Sometimes these speeds can be temporarily increased (referred to as burst), but are often set at 1Gbps by popular datacenters.
A 1Gbps connection equates to around 10TB of data transfer (bandwidth) per day. This means that although you're being told "unlimited", you and ALL the other users on the server only technically can transfer 10TB of data per day, collectively. This means that although you have "unlimited", you and every single other user on the hosting really only has 300TB of data transfer per month, if you're on a 1Gbps server. If you're on a server with a 500Mbps connection, you're getting 150TB of data transfer each month, for the whole server.
When you divide this by how many people are on the server (just for the sake of simplicity), each user should ideally be using a set amount of bandwidth each month. If a server has 100 users on it, and it's a 1Gbps connection, then in an ideal world, each user would use just 3TB of bandwidth each month. This is more than enough, but 3TB is a LOT lower than "unlimited" implies.
CPU
However, even if bandwidth is fine, you have to take CPU into account. To use up all that bandwidth, your site needs to have visitors and files being downloaded. This equates to CPU use. Every server is different, but in many cases your account would actually break the ToS of the host for using too much CPU BEFORE it could reach the bandwidth cap (for ex: 3TB).
The reason hosts are able to get away with unlimited/unmetered plans is because they put the CPU caps in the small text (ToS). They always set it up so that the CPU % you're allowed to use at any given moment is low enough that you'd never actually be able to use all the potential connection speeds/bandwidth of the server. Since the CPU % caps are often the same for unlimited plans as other plans, an unlimited plan is actually just as restricted as smaller & cheaper plans, or if the unlimited plan IS better - it's not better by much.
Disk Space
Let's be real about disk space. There is no such thing as unlimited disk space unless the host plans on adding storage units to the server to accommodate a single user (hint: they're not willing to do this).
Each server has a set amount of space. For example, my server has 1TB of SSD disk space. This means that no matter what I tell my clients, collectively they only have 1TB of space. Right now, my free plan is 20GB per user. This means that I can only technically have 50 free users on my server.
Overselling
However, hosts are in the business of overselling. 20GB of disk space sounds little (compared to unlimited), but even unlimited plan clients usually use less than 1GB of disk space each. Most clients on major hosts only use a few GB of bandwidth each month as well which is a lot lower than that 3TB bandwidth example for 100 clients on a 1Gbps server.
Hosting works like this: People want sweet specs, so hosting providers sell them giant packages that they don't need. Hosts can get away with this because they know if they oversell / give people tons of bandwidth/disk space that nobody will actually use the full amount that they're given and it'll all be okay.
The Problem
Since most users will never use their full account specs, there isn't a major problem with overselling, right? Wrong!
It's kind of like banking systems. The banks are placing bets on the assumption that the whole US population won't try to withdraw their money at the same time. Do you know what would happen if everyone tried to take out their money at the same time? The same shit that happened the last time this happened - banks collapse, require bailouts (or imprisonment as in the case of Sweden), and the country's economy is at risk.
Similarly, if every user attempted to use their full account specs on their host at the same time, the host would go under. If every user suddenly received more traffic, and decided to upload more files, the servers that these hosts provide would not be able to handle all of it and would crash / be unable to take new connections.
That is a major downfall of overselling.
Another problem with overselling is that users pay more for what they don't need. Here is an example of hosting plans...
Basic: $2.99 (10GB space, 50GB bw)
Medium: $3.99 (20GB space, 100GB bw)
Large: $4.99 (50GB space, 250GB bw)
Unlimited: $5.99 (Unlimited space, Unlimited bw)
^These are fake specs/prices that I just made up, but represent common pricing options. Many users will see that and think "Oh, well Unlimited is only $5.99 and is so much more than everything else, so I'll go with that." Although $5.99 isn't much to pay per month, it's a rip off if you consider the following...
The majority of users (on shared web hosting) would never even use 10GB of disk space or 50GB of bandwidth... Meaning that most users on popular hosts would often be totally fine with the smallest plan available. However, many of these users are misled and will buy the Unlimited plan, or a larger one. As you can see, the amount of money being lost by each individual user is small & often nothing to worry about... but major hosts receive thousands of dollars (if not millions) that they would not earn if they actually educated their users on what type of hosting plans are best for them.
And that's it folks! I hope this guide helps you understand what an Unlimited plan is and is not, for hosting.
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